Update and on the Road

Tonight I was just ready to push "send" with a blog entry when the lights
flickered off and then came back on. It was just enough time to completely
erase my latest blog entry as well as two months worth of mail in the "out"
box of my e-mail program. Impermanence in cyberspace. Reminded me of the
importance of the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project all together. Obviously,
you can't fight city hall or impermanence, but given that reality, the
dharma is especially precious. Dharma, in the sense of the teachings, seems
to have an amazing ability to survive in difficult circumstances. The
communist Chinese invasion of Tibet would be one such circumstance. A lot
was lost, but so much was also preserved, both within the country and by
those who carried the dharma out with them -- including the Venerable
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. By that standard, our circumstances are not at
all difficult. However, considering that this is the Darkest of the Dark
Age and looking at what's taking place in the world, indeed the teachings
that Trungpa Rinpoche worked so hard to give us should be guarded and
transmitted by us as well. Hmmm. How did I get so philosophical here? What
I sat down to write was simply that I will be leaving for Europe on
Wednesday, December 6th, where there will be CT Legacy Project meetings in
Paris, London, Cologne and Vienna. I'll do my best to keep up the blog on
the road. I would like to say a bit about the work on the online archive
project that Lynn Friedman has been investigating, but at any moment, the
power might go out again, so I think I should press send soon. Lynn has
been setting up a space for discussion of the project, on line, and we'll
soon try to invite others in for commentary and discussion. There was also
a lunch last week at Curry Village here in Halifax, taking advantage of
Judy Lief being in town to teach "Making Friends with Death." Eight of us
had lunch together to brainstorm ideas for a mentoring/apprentice program,
in part inspired by comments made by Barry Boyce and others at the Halifax
consultation, but also inspired by Judy Lief undertaking a set of three
books based on the Vajradhatu Seminaries, in depth, contemplative teachings
given to advanced students by the Vidyadhara over a span of 13 years. A
great project for an apprentice or two or three. In Boulder the Steering
Committee is meeting; elsewhere lots of conversations about the Legacy
Project. Still somewhat in the "yogurt" phase, for those who know that
expression of Chogyam Trungpa's. All right. Time to press send. I'll write
from the road.