It was most gratifying to receive an email from somebody today. She said,
There was a moment today to read your blog and I found it uplifting and
amazing to be so in touch with where you are - even though I tend to think
'real life is too short for reading blogs'.

There you have it. Just one such message, letting me know that visiting Jademountains makes a difference, has me uplifted and inspired to writing. Being in touch is a two way street and I always like to hear from readers either via email and or via comments. So please don't hang back, leave a comment. (I moderate comments so you will not see what you said until I've had a chance to read the comments.) Just saying something simple like, I'm here still means I get a feel for the people who are reading and that in turn has an impact on what I write about.

I've just updated my schedule by the way.

The crickets are chirping away in the night and cool air on a light breeze is wafting in the window. Wonderful! This is high country and the air at the moment is dry and thin. Sounds travel remarkably long distances. A dog is barking now, or is it a coyote. I hear tell of wild flowers, abundant in spring, and of seasonal rains and even a drop of light snow in winter. I'm so glad to have been able to spend these days here with two close fellow monastics. It has been a tonic.

Links removed from this post because they didn't work so well.

Walking up the hill in the early morning

to find Hotei had arrived already. Full of joy - together.

Later, in town. Oranges - on a tree!

and from Disneyland, or maybe outer space....these trees!

Film Review:
K-PAX. This is a film in which a psychiatrist comes up shining, compassionate, thoughtful and kind. And patients get better. What could be better! Serious matters such as life and death and cause and effect are set against a backdrop of mystery. All this, coupled with humour, making this a must watch again film.

Dharmaflix has a review too.

Thanks to Walter for his comment on this post which included this translation of the quote by Hippocrates, the Greek Father of Medicine:

Ars longa,
vita brevis,
occasio praeceps,
experimentum periculosum,
iudicium difficile

Usually translated as:

[The] art is long,
life is short,
opportunity fleeting,
experiment dangerous,
judgment difficult.

A pause now, for thought.....

See also here for more on the Oath.

Also Jacks comment (and Angie's) on the The Other Side Of Medicine - Easing Death.

This post has been modified on 3rd August. The Hippocratic Oath and the quote above, while related, are not the same thing. It would seem....

While I am traveling I carry a photograph of Rev. Master Jiyu and that is, in effect, my altar. What I bow to. The image is of her leading a procession for a ceremony done during Jukai. (Jukai is a set of ceremonies when people formally become Buddhist and receive the Buddhist Precepts during one of those ceremonies.) The procession is called Following where the Precepts Lead. She is wearing the hat worn by those on an Alms round, carries a small alms bowl and uses a staff. She is a simple monk pilgrim on the road. Anybody who wants to follow along may do so. I like this image, taken many years ago, and it seems a fitting one for me to carry with me as a travel about.

Anyway, somebody who went to Jukai this year at Throssel sent me a link to a posting on her blog in which she describes setting up an altar. I rather like the direct way she thinks about the business of having an altar - the altar gives the Buddhist something to bow in front of.... The Buddhist can always do with something to bow in front of, and if there is no altar handy - well there are lots of other things to bow in front of. I thought you would enjoy this article as much as I did. Here is the start of it.

Not long after my week long retreat at Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey, I gave some thought to the Reverend's comment "If you haven't already got an altar, now is the time to get one". So, looking around the room I found these items to put together to provide an area for Buddhist practice. The altar gives the Buddhist something to bow in front of, and bowing is very important to Zen Buddhism.

Modern medicine is good at staving off death with aggressive interventions—and bad at knowing when to focus, instead, on improving the days that terminal patients have left.

From an article in The New Yorker.

The subject matter discussed in this article is dear to my heart. I have not had a chance to read the whole thing but what I have seen looks interesting.

Thanks once again to Julius in London who regularly turns up valuable web content.