Iza 'nother roaring success

Some of you may have seen the tabloid headlines back in May ‘Iza no Mirekal – the finest food in Bristol served up with a spicy dash of stand-up comedy – and all for charity’.  For those who didn’t, herewith. . .the news. . .

Firstly our apologies to those fine folk who volunteered and supported the May Meal for the long delay in posting this piece.  Those who know us well will know that we’ve been a bit tied up in some of the finer details of the expansion of our family – but now three have become four in our household – back to blogging.

All who reported back have told us that the May Meal was a resounding success, both as an occasion, and in terms of the cuisine.  The amazing Iza served up many excellent dishes, and Shé-zér – herself something of a pudding aficionado – said the Rhubarb and Elderflower tart was absolutely to die for. You should check out Iza’s website.  Her latest tweet on La Cuizine made us think of what Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche wrote about money-as-energy in his book Work, Sex & Money and reminded us to use our energy with awareness.

14 paying diners (and non-attending donors – thank you!) brought in nearly £400 for the appeal before food costs – with all chefs, kitchen staff, helpers and comedians providing their services free of charge.  A tip from Iza -  apparently getting covered in cake is far preferable to getting covered in mud when it comes to raising money for a good cause (and Mirek remains in fine fettle too, for all of you who may be concerned he might have got his hands dirty).

Gary Hooley, our comedian for the evening, had no advance warning that the audience would largely be comprised of people for whom English was their second language (Sorry Gaz – I’ll give you a heads up next time!).  Nonetheless and the contingent from France, Finland, Poland, (along with those from Wales, America, Yorkshire, South Africa and Australia) have all expressed appreciation for his bold bravado in getting belly laughs from a international contingent of (largely) Buddhist diners.  None of those who attended will ever quite look at a pillow in the same way again.

The planned raffle had to be postponed –because we didn’t quite get everything in place in time - but we plan now to hold several more fund raisers over coming months.

This will include the raffle, a Natural Dignity Ball (complete with some new 17^th century Jane Austen dances) and, by popular demand, we will have another charity meal at some point next year.

Thanks once more to all involved.  It’s great to be able to raise money for a great cause and have fun at the same time.

Green Man Challenge

On Saturday June 30th - fifteen apprentices and friends of the Aro Tradition will be undertaking the Green Man Challenge as a sponsored walk to raise funds for the Drala Jong Appeal.

The Green Man Challenge follows the 45 mile course of the Community Forest Path around the city of Bristol.

We will be undertaking the challenge as a relay team with people undertaking legs of between 4 and 22 miles each depending on their age and ability. Two hardy souls - Naljorma Thrin-lé and Drowang Pawo have both committed to completing half the walk each - 22 miles, and our younger participants Tomas (age 5) and Raechel (age 9) have committed to walk 4 miles each.

If you would like to sponsor our team effort you can do so via Paypal or for other methods please get in touch. 

Just 5 pence per mile for Thrin-lé & Drowang's efforts would make all the difference.  Send your £2.20 donation to sncd.treasurer@gmail.com via www.paypal.co.uk and if you are a UK income tax payer include your name, house number and post code marking it 'Gift Aid' and we'll claim 55p tax relief on your donation.

 Now we're just hoping it won't rain. . .

Tibetan Buddhst Calligraphy Gallery & Charity Sale - Scorpion Seals aplenty

Well, you lucky people, here is an opportunity for you to indulge your own artistic interests, your desire to acquire, AND your charitable spirit. 

Some of the calligraphies created by Ngak'chang Rinpoche for the talk in Bristol have found their way into our tender care, and we display them here for your delight and delectation, and most importantly your purchase!

Below are images of the last remaining calligraphies created for the Drala Jong appeal. . . get 'em while they're hot!  Each of the calligraphies pictured here is for sale (bar the last one - see below) and each is a unique and original artwork.

Price: £150 plus postage and packaging (£4.99 UK, £9.99 airmail Rest of World)

Orders can be placed and payments made via the e-mail address at the top of this page.

Size: 30" x 20" (75cm x 50cm)

(Apologies by the way for my imperfect photographic efforts - I was unable to get a completely square-on shot of the artworks, despite standing on various pieces of furniture and trying various tacks.  I did think of trying to suspend myself from the chandelier to get a better angle, but realised that might have hurt my back - not least because we don't actually have a chandelier).

Just as an aside - before proceeding - but did you know that the blog piece on the Scorpion Seal is the most read item on this site?

Anyway, on to the calligraphies. 

É Ma Ho:

wonderment

(exclamation of delighted-surprise, wonder, or amazement)

Hung:

Seed syllable

(2 available)

Ga’chen

empyrean ebullience

(enrapturement, great joy, overjoyed, boundless beatific delight)

**SOLD**

rLung

spatial wind

(the subtle motility  which animates being, breath, breathing, air, vital current [vayu / prana] the subtle energy which moves within the spatial channels)

Nu-thu

magical radiance

(dynamic appearances generated through conjuring with energy of phenomena)

Gyü’trül

miraculous vision

(sGyu ’phrul ’drwa ba chen po’i ting ’dzin – meditative absorbtion within the interconnectivity-web of reality)

Seals central 

Ma-kyé

immensity of empty-potentiality

(that which allows all phenomena to arise, uncreated, unborn, unoriginated, non-produced, unmanufactured, unobstructed, devoid of artifice)

Long

 vast expansiveness of reality

(space basis space, immensity, limitless scope, unboundedness)

Dzü’drül

spatial enchantment and miraculous orchestration of phenomena

(creation of apparitions, magical power and display, telekinesis / psychokinesis, et cetera)

Gyü’trül

miraculous vision

(sGyu ’phrul ’drwa ba chen po’i ting ’dzin – meditative absorbtion within the interconnectivity-web of reality)

Seals to the left

Chö

(chos)

as it is - reality

(Dharma [and dharmas as in ‘phenomena’], teaching of Buddhas, religion [teachings / doctrine / scripture / text / tenet /precept] quality, attribute, characteristic, ability)

**SOLD**

This is the only calligraphy which is not currently for sale.  You may notice both the fine profusion of ink spots, and accompanying Scorpion Seal - associated with Wrathfulness - and also the fact that this is the only calligraphy where the script lies outside of the circle.  When asked, Ngak'chang Rinpoche confirmed that this is the first time he has written script outside of the circle on any of his works.  Thus it is that this work is particularly distinctive - and particularly desirable.  Several offers have been made for this work, but none yet accepted, and the current thought is that it will be raffled auctioned at a charity dinner later this year.  If you wish to submit a speculative electronic bid for this work, you could chance your arm via the e-mail address above.  This *may* be the only calligraphy Rinpoche ever creates in this way in his lifetime. . .

[Update - this last calligraphy was sold by auction mid-2012, with a final bid several times higher than the normal sale price of the other calligraphies - thank you to those who bid]

BTW - Blues Masters up next.

Calligraphies - the Scorpion Seal

With the work of Ngak'chang Rinpoche, the calligraphy is not simply a brush-and-ink drawing.  Each piece carries seals and signatures, in unique combinations.  The most easily recognisable perhaps is the seal of scorpion is found in Tibetan calligraphy on the works of both Trungpa Rinpoche (see here) and some of the work of Ngak'chang Rinpoche.  Robert Beer describes the 'black Indian scorpion [as] a potent symbol of destructive malice' but of course within Buddhist Vajrayana the scorpion (Tib. sdig-pa) symbol is a transformative one, and Ngak'chang Rinpoche writes:

'The seal stamped in black is the scorpion which is used as the symbol of the Tantrika. The scorpion is symbolic of the power of transformation as the scorpion is known as the most dangerous and destructive creature. Because every aspect of duality—no matter how viciously deranged—remains undivided from the nondual state, even the most horrific states of mind can be transformed.'

In fact, the Tantric community of ngakpas and ngakmas, naljorpas and naljormas (collectively called the go-kar-chang-lo'i-de), owe the continuity of their tradition to the power of the scorpion, as this famous tale reveals:

'When in the ninth century, King Langdarma and his hostile ministers set about to suppress the Indian Buddhist teachings and to close the Buddhist monasteries such as Samye, he summoned the Tantric master Nubchen Sangye Yeshe and his disciples into his presence, although all of them were not Buddhist monks but rather Tantrikas (sngags-pa). The arrogant king challenged Nubchen, inquiring, "And what power do you have?"  "Just observe the power I can manifest merely from the reciting of mantras!" Nubchen replied and raised his right hand in the threatening gesture of tarjini-mudra.

Instantly, in the sky above the Tantric sorcerer, the king saw nine giant scorpions appear, each the size of a wild yak. The king was terrified at this vision. So he promptly promised not to harm the white-robbed Buddhist Tantrikas and to refrain from disrobing and exiling them as he had done with the maroon-robbed Buddhist monks. Then Nubchen pointed again into the sky with a threatening gesture, and lightning flashed from heaven, shattering into pieces a nearby boulder.

Doubly terrified, the king vowed, "I will not in any way harm you or your white-robed followers!" and he ordered that his prisoners be released. because of the mighty magical powers of this Tantrika Nubchen, the anti-Buddhist king could not destroy the esoteric teachings of the Mahayoga Tantras nor their white-robbed practitioners, the Ngakpas (sngags-pa, one who uses mantras.) Subsequently, this Tantric Order of Nyingmapa Buddhists has flourished among the Tibetans until this day.'


(From The Golden Letters - John Myrddin Reynolds)


In fact Padmasambhava himself is described as receiving the transmission of phurba practice - a practice almost synonymous with the go-kar-chang-lo'i-de - via the medium of 'a gigantic scorpion with nine heads, eighteen pincers and twenty seven eyes' which unearthed the phurba gterma - the heads of the scorpion being symbolic of the nine vehicles of the Nyingma Buddhist tradition, and the scorpion's sting equated with the tip of the phurba itself.

Ngak'chang Rinpoche reserves the scorpion stamp for the most dramatic and dynamic calligraphies he creates.  There will be an opportunity to ask about this and the other seals used in the creation of calligraphies at the talk on Friday 25th November, at Aro Ling in Bristol.

Tibetan Calligraphy

As next Friday's charity calligraphy sale at Aro Ling approaches, our thoughts are turning to focus fully on this modern art form (and of course to the sale itself).  Written words are sacred in Tibet because they carry the knowledge of liberation.  The scripts Ngak'chang Rinpoche uses are u'med and u-chen, and originate in part from the ancient script Lha-bab-yig-ge - meaning 'script symbols from the sky expanse'.

Trungpa Rinpoche is credited with being the first Tibetan Lama to work with calligraphy in this spontaneous style.  Examples of his work are relatively hard to come by but some examples can be found on the internet. 

Trungpa Rinpoche worked with both Tibetan and English script, as you can see here:

The second is from the weblink above, and is from Trungpa Rinpoche's Elegance series - titled 'Elegance overcomes aggression'.  His works are in the stewardship of the Shambhala organisation, but alas he passed away in 1987. His direct line of work did not end however, and is continued through the Sakyong.

Tai Situ Rinpoche also known to work with calligraphy and can be seen in the above clip, but the pool of artists working in this way within Buddhist Vajrayana is limited at present, and the art form in this context is in its infancy.. 

I myself have never even attempted to create a calligraphy. However it is still possible even for an ignoramus like me to be  appreciate the variety of approaches that can be seen in this clip. Even in the brief video here one can see themes reflected in the work of Ngak'chang Rinpoche and his students. I am particularly fascinated by the different effects that can be created, the different brushes, and even something so simple as seeing the different ways of holding the brush.  Next Friday Ngak'chang Rinpoche will be talking about some of these different approaches, stylistics, and in particular his own approach.  There will be ample opportunity to ask about the how- and why- of brush type, choice of ink, brush loading, the choice of paper, as well as the meaning of the calligraphies themselves, the ink spots and the seals and signatures that each work bears.

I look forward to seeing you there!