Two monks from Shasta Abbey went to the Sakyadhita International Conference on Buddhist Women in Bangkok, Thailand in June. What stories they had to tell on their return. Their particular contribution to the conference was around the singing/chanting of scriptures in English. They did a brilliant job. Here you can see them singing the Scripture of Great Wisdom at the begging of the Conference. You see them about three minutes into the video.
And even better! Here are the two monks singing the Dedication of Merit at the close of the conference.
This is one of my favorite invocations. Sing along why not. Found on the Shasta Abbey website. Well done Rev. H – you have missed nothing out!
Another full day which included a two hour nap starting around 11.00 am! The mind and body can only take so much of this intense planning and organizing. This morning we mailed a parcel of clothes to the Funeral Home for Iain to be dressed in. Details, details, so many details to be taken care of.
I know very many of Iain’s friends and and on-line acquaintances are offering their best wishes and thoughts to his wife and family, and me. I mentioned to Iain when we last spoke on the telephone that spiritual merit was being sent and he said he knew that. Yes, he did know that. Deeply.
What on earth am I going to do without him watching over my posts and sending me emails when I made spelling blunders. Or worse, my language use slipped beyond his tolerance level. He loved language, among other things.
Many of us love language as well and hopefully can carry on for Iain, every time we help out, another bit of merit rises up and goes on! Last weekend we placed my Mom’s ashes in the ground in an aspen grove on my sister’s mountain property. I felt how there was a settling in the Earth and a settling in Being within my/our hearts as my Mom’s remains were laid to rest. A restful going on. All my best wishes to you and everyone involved in the process of setting to rest and settling and going on. A big bow and brightness from here in Colorado. Jack
Do you really want your spelling/punctuation corrected? I am hot on the use (and mis-use) of apostrophes.
Well, I will have to see how I go Angie. Apostrophes are way out there in the desert regions as far as I am concerned. However I am willing to learn. Mostly I am interested in words I use that any reader would know I didn’t mean to use but I didn’t catch it with my spell checker. Gentle not gentile for example. That was a bad one.
Thanks. Take care over there in the mountains. Seems we are both dealing with similar stuff at the moment.
The title of a small book I recommend, even if its sub-title is “The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation”!
Full of wise advice laced with humour, by Lynne Truss.
Angie might like the story from the “Beachcomber” column in The Express (of bygone days) about “the Apostropher Royal, an ancient an honourable post inaugurated in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. [The] story goes that a
humble greengrocer (in days of yore) was delivering potatoes to Good Queen Bess and happened to notice a misplaced apostrophe in a royal decree. When he pointed it out, the Queen immediately created the office of Apostropher Royal, to control the quality and distribution of apostrophes and deliver them in wheelbarrows to all the greengrocers of England on the second Thursday of every month (Apostrophe Thursday).
The book title (without the comma) refers to a Panda. With the comma…
In gassho