Friday's Goodbye Day

Due to the alarming development of my laptop's registry and hard drive going into some kind of cardiac arrest -- it's at the clinic now -- I'm composing this at a very strange internet cafe I've discovered in the neighborhood. Each unit has huge monitors and comfy captain's chairs, but it's mostly given over to pre-pubescent gamers. And they should have scrimped on the chairs and invested in headphones. The air is filled with electronic voices urging, "Punch! Punch!" over and over. I'm inches away from succumbing to the power of suggestion.

Compound my laptop crapout with my wallet being stolen, and an admirably resilient viral illness that, after ten days, is pretty much all over except for the debilitating chronic fatigue and violently painful coughing, and a dog who, with impeccable timing, has finally mastered her excretory organs so that we are forced into the bitter, late winter winds 5-6 times a day to obey their relentless demands, and, well, this does not rank as my happiest week in Mongolia. But I do profer this litany as explanation for my hiatus from DODR posting.

It's weeks like these that make me scowl and mutter to myself, "I'm leaving this razzin frazzin country and they can just work out the razzin frazzin dharma for themselves."

Well, it seems that a departure, at least for a time, is on the horizon. A number of reasons, not the least of which being my venerable mama's upcoming 80th, are compelling me to spend a chunk of the summer in the States. Looks like I'll be flying to DC in mid-June and be around for 4-5 weeks.

Now, here's where you might come in.

I'm traveling, at least for part of the time, with some of the lamas associated with Danzan Ravjaa's Khamar Monastery. We're going to attend various events with HH Penor Rinpoche, at KPC Maryland, and at his retreat center in Greene, NY. But beyond that, my main goal is to raise some awareness of, and funds for, our Mongolian Buddhism Revival Project. Toward that end, I'm going to put together a really cool PowerPoint talk and, if it all works out, travel around the east with the lamas putting on events.

So. Wanna host us in your city or town? I need local promoters to participate. Ideally, we would present at dharma centers, given the natural interest of the members, but I'm certainly open to other ideas. The open dates would be, tentatively, June 21-27, and July 2-20. The later it gets, the more likely the lamas will have returned to Mongolia, but nothing is set yet. Anyway, please email me privately with serious inquiries about this.

In other news, I've finally gotten a commitment from the abbot of Erdene Zuu Monastery to take Floki. She packs her valise and gets on the bus Friday. More about this later, but I have to get outta here before the punches really start flying.

Comments

[Palzang]

I pray that you feel better soon. Look forward to your visit. I'll see if I can arrange anything in the West.

[Tom Robertson]

I hope I can meet you face to face when you get to the DC area.

[Christian]

Take good care of you...

[Kirt Undercoffer]

I hope that Floki will be happy and safe. Erdene Zuu is wonderful but will the monks care for her or will she kind of get lost there?