March 26, 2002
desktops for all
We added a special section for desktop pictures while adding another one to the list. The latest is a scan of a London Underground boarding pass for the Turnham Green Station. We acquired this while on a trip to England back in 1992.
posted @ 9:22 AM
March 24, 2002
one year
Hard to believe, but it’s true. Over the last year we have learned a great deal about what makes for a good website. When you begin creation on a project, you start to notice what others have done, how they did it and why it rocks. Having spent time with some very techie friends (of the Wintel / Linux nature), we don’t ever expect to be a ground breaker when it comes to the latest technology. We do want to stay current though. This site is valid XHTML. First site we’ve built that is. *Note : this does not apply to the past years worth of posts. Only from here on out.
posted @ 10:50 AM
March 23, 2002
yet again, a new focus
This weblog will be one year old tomorrow. About three weeks ago we decided that it should take on a different tone. We became quite self-righteous and planned on making this site the one stop shop for Buddhist resources on the internet. In fact we went so far as to write out a mission statement: Provide an ongoing, current look at what is happening with Tibetan Buddhism and the Internet. A zeldman.com for Buddhists, Blue Jean Buddha for the Internet. The place to discuss what it’s like for (mostly) younger American practitioners. How the current social, political and economic situations affect the way Americans practice. Continuing in the personal weblog style, but with a more focused purpose and playing for a larger audience.
We don’t doubt that a resource like this would be invaluable to the world. It should be done correctly, though. A domain should be purchased. A group of individuals all in collaboration should be making the posts. In other words, it should be done correctly. It is a task we would like to head up someday, but for now we just enjoy writing for the fun of it. Maybe some friends or family will read this site. Maybe not. Maybe we are the only ones who ever read it. The goal now is to create a well written, fun site with no higher purpose. No major goal. Entertainment for entertainment’s sake.
Oh, yeah… the site design has changed. In many ways. Details tomorrow.
posted @ 10:21 AM
March 12, 2002
tibetan uprising day
March 10th, Tibetan Uprising Day, spurred the Chinese government to issue a report about the failings of U.S. human rights. We can’t say that we disagree with many of the criticisms brought forth, especially in lieu of the United States’ recent report that in an emergency situation the Pentagon would gladly drop nuclear bombs on China.
The Citizens Against Communist Chinese Propaganda did an hour and a half demonstration just two miles from Disney Wold in Florida. See pictures, RealVideo and His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s March 10th statement.
Meanwhile in Indianapolis…
March 10th, 2002 in Indianapolis
In Indianapolis, one young dog named Jampa and about 30 people including five Tibetans braved the cold and wind to walk over 5 miles on March 10th, Tibetan Uprising Day. The “March for Tibet’s Independence” was organized by the International Tibet Independence Movement (ITIM). The walk began at 1:30pm from the Governor of Indiana’s Mansion sharing His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s statement with a representative to the Governor and then reciting a prayer and singing the Tibetan National Anthem. Carrying flags and numerous banners, the group walked down the major road of Indianapolis. Walkers at both the front and rear of the line carried the sign, “Honk for Tibet.” As a result, numerous vehicles honked their horns to support Tibet. Each time this happened, the walkers responded with loud slogans and big smiles.
Along the route, walkers distributed informational flyers to passerbys. On two occasions, Asian individuals when faced with the March, decided to pass a red light rather then risk interacting with the walkers. On another occasion, three Asians on the street when approaching the March, yelled “what do you know about China?” “get real,” and “get a life.” These shouts ended when the three unknown individuals who were also carrying a video camera realized that there were Tibetans in chubas walking. At this point, the unidentified persons ceased eye contact and looked at the ground.
During the course of the March, 50 more young people from Chicago were expected to join the walk. However, it was discovered about one hour into the March that they had miscalculated their driving time, and in their haste to join the March, they were stopped for speeding.
Upon arriving at the Indiana World War Memorial at the Circle downtown at 4:30pm, the walkers circumambulated the structure three times. At the conclusion, a female Tibetan fulbright from Dharamsala read His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s March 10th Statement. The walk ended with the recitation of another prayer.
As a number of the walkers had participated in previous longer “Walks for Tibet’s Independence,” they discovered that some other Tibetans were also on this year’s walk in spirit while not in the flesh, including Ani Panchen, Palden Gyatso, Pema Lhundrup, Ani Kelsang, and Yeshi Togden. The people of Tibet were thought to be walking along side this year’s walkers as well!
Courtesy of Rangzen.com
posted @ 9:59 AM
March 3, 2002
live buddhism
A spiritual guide - yes, but not one that we wished to continue being employed by. We were considered the enemy. We were the token liberal. The politically green, vegetarian with a fondness towards Eastern religion and non-violence. It allowed him to say, “look at how open I am… I even let HIM work here.”
We are extremely excited by the recent live broadcast attempts of LamRim.com (see below). This could lead to, as Roy Harvey says. “possibilities [that] are truly infinite.” We have been thinking about radio programming and Dharma. Teachings, of course with some good meditations, are the only way out. Making the teachings available on the internet with no charge is probably a sure fire way to have prosperous rebirth. We think, however, it might be interesting to have a Buddhist call in talk show, a half-hour show of Buddhist news, or like an A&E Biography on the great lamas of past and present. Maybe not as karmicly wonderful, but I think would be very beneficial to the world-wide Buddhist community.
* SUCCESSFUL LIVE BROADCASTING TESTS — Late Thursday night (actually early March 1st), we ran some preliminary experiments to see whether or not live broadcasting would work on Lam Rim Radio. If you were listening during that time you probably heard my scratchy voice croaking out “Testing 1… 2… 3…” I’m happy to report that initial results were quite positive! There will probably be a few more tests over the next few weeks. If all goes well, we’ll start doing a few initial LIVE teaching broadcasts in the coming months, both from our studio here in Mountain View California as well as “on location” at various teachings. The possibilities here are truly infinite.
posted @ 8:47 AM
March 1, 2002
spiritual guide
John Stokes pushed our beliefs. He is known for pushing people’s buttons and being the über-antagonist. We always maintained a mutual level of respect. By three o’clock in the afternoon when we would stroll in to play music for the kids, the fires of the morning had been put out. Today’s highly controversial topic was a laughable matter. “Give me a break, I’m more concerned about shit falling out of airplanes than I am about chemtrails.” or the morning after he interviewed a guy who explained the finer details of tax evasion, “You’ve gotta be pretty f---in’ stupid if you think you can beat the IRS.” So, he clearly doesn’t believe everything he talks about on the air. It doesn’t make it right, but it does make him a little less ’evil’ than he’s made out to be.
He walked out the door, the place was ours for the evening… free to talk on the phone and play some good music for the Flathead valley. Or not. When he stepped into the room the mic was his no matter who was there or what time of day it was, “So, I was about to leave when I noticed this bumper sticker on your car. ’Free Tibet’. What’s that all about? Do you know any Tibetans? Why do they need to be free? What about Montanans, don’t they need to be free?” We became quite embarrassed and tried to defend the bumper sticker, but truth be told - we were unprepared. We didn’t know any Tibetans (not that you need to in order to have just cause for believing in their struggle, but…). We couldn’t remember the exact years that China invaded Tibet. We weren’t sure why it was more important for Tibet to be free than Montana.
We would have never know about the Drepung Loseling monks being in town to make a sand mandala if it weren’t for John. “Hey, Tommy - it’s Stokes.” Much to our dissatisfaction or probably because of our dissatisfaction, he called us Tommy off the air. “You probably already knew about this, but there is going to be some Tibetan monks here at the Hockaday this week.” We went to the mandala every single day it was here, we took time off of work to watch the song and dance. We now know several Tibetans. We learned why it was equally important that Tibetans gain their freedom and Montanans keep theirs. We will never forget 1949 as being the year the Chinese first invaded and 1959 as the year the Dalai Lama left Tibet. We now call ourselves Buddhist because we were forced to learn more about our beliefs, defend our ideals.
The man being credited for stirring up hate and dissension in our town is one of our true spiritual guides.
posted @ 9:22 AM