Cloudy and Grey, It Might Rain Today

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It is overcast and dark. An hour ago it was sunny and clear. It might rain today which is fine with me. The rain makes everything cooler and clean. Although it is much harder to get a taxi. We need to go out after 11:30 for a lunch meeting with two collectors of Tibetan art. I am hoping that they do not insist on also including 'bijou' with the meal.

Last night was the 5th class in the series on Tibetan Iconography. The class was big. Another ten plus people joined the already swelling class. There were more than sixty people who attended last night. Now the classes typically go until 9:30 with students still hanging about to ask more questions. The subject last night was difficult with both visual imagery and Tantric theory to explain the various forms and colour compositions. I was not completely happy with my performance and will re-structure the topic for the curriculum to both simplify it and make it more clear. It also requires a few outline pages to describe the importance of the Five Buddhas in Anuttarayoga and to make clear the hierarchy, especially when including the additional buddhas of Vajradhara, Vajrasattva, Vajradharma and the Samantabhadra of the Nyingmapa..

Yesterday morning was spent with Dobrub Rinpoche a very old Nyingma Lama from Gangtok, Sikkim. He is originally from the Golog region of Tibet. I had never met him before but he was interested in some Tibetan paintings that depicted figures and deities related to the Longchen Nyingtig tradition of the Nyingma. The Longchen Nyingtig is a relatively new 'Terema' tradition that started with Jigme Lingpa in the 18th century. It is however currently very popular in all the branches of the Nyingma. We stayed in the same hotel as Rinpoche and ate lunch before I left for the university about ten minutes away by taxi.

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