No Accounting

Hokay, I’ve been puzzling over why no one wants to discuss their reactions to Jetsunma’s new music. So here’s my theory, that I have, which is mine...aaaaa-hem (Anne Elk Monty Python sketch reference for the culturally impaired): yer all a bunch of wheezin’ geezers with atrociously outdated musical taste who think you’re “rocking out” when you plop a James Taylor cassette in your player and/or get all choked up from Celine Dion’s latest batch of bombastic treacle. You don’t want to say anything cuz you didn’t like it and/or didn’t “get it” and you’re too polite to say so here cuz I’m obviously an enthusiast.

That’s my theory. Let’s test it.

Do elements of your life suggest songs to you sometimes, like a soundtrack? This happens to me all the time. For example, one of my cats is named Nita. I’m guessing that if you thought about it, her name might suggest morphing The Beatles’ “Lovely Rita” into “Lovely Nita” or, if the situation’s completely hopeless, Huey Lewis & The News’ “I Need A [Nita] New Drug.” On the other hand, when I see her, I immediately think of, and sing out loud, the chorus from The Damned’s “Neat Neat Neat.”

Mooj I don’t have a song for; that’s a hard one. With Floki it was always Iggy & The Stooges’ “Now I Wanna Be Your Dog” or Robert Johnson’s “Hellhound on my Trail,” not “How Much is that Doggy in the Window.”

Let’s try another. I sent y’all to the site called The Worst Horse, where the lead horse reviewed Jetsunma’s Revolution of Compassion CD. When you see that site’s name, what song does it suggest? Those of you with a glimmer of hope might have come up with The Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses” or America’s “A Horse With No Name” (featuring the most grammatically convoluted lyric of all time: “In the desert you can remember your name/'Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain” – triple negative! With a half twist!). Extra points if Patti Smith comes to mind, but if your inner soundtrack kicked up the jingle from “My Little Pony,” only through summoning forth all my training in equanimity and great compassion will I resist banishing you for all eternity from DODR. My mind, conversely, pulls up both Motörhead’s “Iron Horse/Born To Lose” and the lyric “If you want to ride, don’t ride the white horse” from Laid Back's irresistible 1983 jam (“horse” is street slang for heroin, or used to be).

{here's a funny from the hoss' blog, especially good if somebody's got a case of the Mondays}

There. Have I insulted just about everybody? Yes? Hands? Good. I dunno. I think it’s fascinating that Jetsunma is setting mantra and Dharma ideas to “block-rockin’ beats,” as The Chemical Brothers would have it. But maybe I’m just a “special case”. My doctors seem to think so. After all, the first two records I bought when I was in, like, 6th Grade, were Aerosmith’s Rocks and Black Sabbath’s Paranoid. I've liked my sounds ruff an' tuff ever since.

ANYway, let’s move on. Last Friday I was honored to attend the 4th Anniversary Celebration of FPMT’s soup kitchen and community center and got a few nice photos to share.

Here, Doogie, the Community Center's Assistant Director, and Gloria, the center’s Managing Director, seem to be sharing a joke with the Dalai Lama:

FPMT Mongolia’s Director Ueli Minder does too:

I was so pleased to capture the following. This is the head cook for the soup kitchen, Namjilmaa. Isn’t she just so lovely? That beaming face, so pleased to have done some good in the world.

Finally, here is Migmarmaa, the trainer for the women’s sewing group, pulling together the MBRP’s order of cloth covers for the Nyingma text collection we will offer to Khamar Monastery on September 10. They did an excellent job, and I was really happy that these women could train on such an auspicious project. And I just loved the way the one sunbeam illuminated the result:

Comments

[Christian]

Well, since you insist: I did not like it.

Musically, it is foreign to me. Can't catch a melody, too much electronics, too much US-urban/world style, too much Bush:-)

The lyrics are often mantras, and I am uncomfortable with using mantras to please the ear. Call me Old School, but I think that Tibetan religious music is not supposed to be pleasant, contrary to Christian religious music, where it is assumed that beauty can be a mystic path which leads to God, from whence it came. I believe it is supposed to be efficient. (I remember reading something in those lines by late Lama Anagarika Govinda, a German-born monk.)

Also, I fear that Tibetan Buddhism is going to be even more kitschified, if I may say, in the sense of Kundera. It risks becoming a product, perhaps even fashionable. Perhaps it already is? To me, the danger is to look like New Age stuff and find this CD packaged with a set of Lobsang Rampa's fictions.

I agree with Jetsunma that someone listening to the mantras could reactivate an ancient connection with the Dharma, and this is very positive, this is compassion in action. But, then, why not record REAL mantras in a REAL ritual?

Perhaps I lack compassion...

[Konchog]

Ah, the provocation worked! Some honesty! Anyone else?

[Lee Ann]

There's a jingle to My Little Pony?!?

Oh no. Nooooooooononononono.

There are times when my inability to pay attention really pays off, you know? :-)

[Zendette]

I think I commented on the music you posted a few weeks ago. If I recall correctly, I was the only commentator, but I digress.

Yes, A Horse With No Name came to mind. But with Floki, he is clearly a doggie in the window. Then again, you lived with him, so you know best.

I'm still bitter about missing the last quiz......waiting patiently for the next one.

[Konchog]

OK, Zendette, this one's for you. Country #109 begins with a "G", but I have my doubts whether I can really count it as a country at all. What is it?

And Lee Ann, well, maybe "jingle" is too impressive a term for the commercials where they just sing the words, "My Little Pooo-neee, My Little Pooo-neee."

This blog's getting very silly.

[Tom Robertson]

I haven't heard Jetsuma's cd yet, I've just not been in a place where I could really give it a listen. I will say that I have no issue with Mantras being used as music, as long as it is tastefully done. I really liked Lama Gyurme's Vajra Chants and thought that the keyboarding wasn't all that bad at all, and some of the tracks were absolutely, heartbreakingly beautiful.

I'll let you know when I can give Jetsuma's disk a real thourough listening to.

[Zendette]

Begins with G, but not exactly a country???? And it's especially for me? Ok, only one idea comes to mind, but you know, I hate to bring politics into your pristine domain. Could it be you have readers in Gaza?

If not, how about Guam, a US Protectorate?

What's wrong with silly?

[Rinchen Gyatso]

I didn't really get into it either. Too techno/world-beat for me as well. I'm more of a rock/folk guy. And don' be dissin' on James Taylor, dude. Back away from J.T.!

I don't have a problem w/ mantras in music, but my preference is for more traditional flair.

For the record, 8-tracks are still cutting edge in my book. :)

[Dab]

Gibralter, I'd say.

[Jim]

No offense, but she is no Neil Young!

[Megan]

I liked Jetsunma's music..it's playing on my buddhist myspace page.

[Konchog]

Dab! Very good! Gibraltar it is. Sorry, Zendette, when I said 'just for you' I meant I hadn't planned another quiz until you pouted.

Very interesting comments from the rest of you. Keep 'em coming!

[Zendette]

Awe shucks Konchog, I wanna play again. And it's called whining, not pouting. Plus, I truly found it hard to believe that you had a single reader in Gaza, place that airs children's programs like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_zrpgl8O1U (warning, do not watch if you are sensitive to animal cruelty). Say a prayer for the children exposed. Better yet, bombard them with Jetsunma's Dharma jams!

[Konchog]

OK, Zendette, turn that frown upside-down -- you get one more chance. A visitor from country #110 just came in. This is one of the few nations the name of which sports a conjunction. What is it?

[Zendette]

What, me frown? Nah, causes wrinkles. I'm just happy that you didn't chastise me for posting that other link. Trinidad and Tobago? I admit I had to look up exactly what constitutes a conjunction. I was never very strong at identifying grammar terms.

Other option: Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[Bolor]

Bosnia and Herzegovina?

[Dara]

Christian, your response is so interesting, because my understanding is that is exactly what Tibetan Buddhism did, transforming Buddhism into something recognizable to its country's practitioners. And so as dharma takes root in the West,we will have an American version that we can connect with, without losing any of the blessings and potency of the lineage. Music really gets us at a deep level, and I think this can not only connect more people with the path but deepen others' connection to the path. But I understand the genre is not everyone's cup of tea.

Why not record mantra in a traditional sense? I think because it limits the audience to dharma students, and this is about casting a wider net. Thanks for the opportunity to reply.

[Konchog]

Ding Ding Ding! Zendette and Bolor got it: Bosnia and Herzegovina. Don't know why they took so long to visit; DODR gets tons of hits from Eastern Europe generally. The other choice off the top of my head was Turks & Caicos Islands, tho I don't know if that's an official nation.

[Zendette]

Yay, I was up early to see my score. I'm surprised it took this long to get a hit from there. With your loyal readership in other former Yugoslavian states, I would have assumed.
Welcome to our new friends from Bosnia!

Plus, must add, I'm just thrilled, thrilled I tell you, to have finally won. I'm ver happy to share the glory with Bolor :-)

Bolor, where are you located?

Konchog, I'm always interested in learning where your non-Anglo readership is located.

[Beaweezil]

Wow. I have come back several times to have a look. Antagonistic, baiting and purposely grating is not what I expect to find when I come to read about your adventures and thoughts.

I'm of the school of thought, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Besides I dont' feel I have the background or authority to critic your Lama's music. I do however hope you revert to your more thoughful, sensitive and thought provoking writing.

[Konchog]

Beaweezil: I know you're annoyed with me -- and fear not, Mr. Hyde will fade away anon -- but "antagonistic, baiting, and purposely grating" has just the right rhythm 'n' rhyme for a fantastic promotional phrase, say for a confrontational radio talk host. If you're not in marketing, you should consider a career change!

[Bolor]

Zendette: I live in Geneva, Switzerland.

Couple of thoughts on what Christian (his usual inquisitive self) and Dara have said. As we all know, attachment to sensory pleasure is not good. But what if beautiful makes ir easier to remember/recite? Personally, I find some mantras' melodies beautiful.

Adaptability, while retaining the essence, is probably the key. How? I suppose this one's for the masters...

[Konchog]

Zendette: Just to give you an idea, in the last 24 hours, this dopey li'l blog has received non-Anglo (presumably) visits from Japan, Israel (maybe that's you -- Hod HaSharon?), Singapore, Poland, Mongolia (of course), Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Germany, Brazil, Korea, Russia, France, Malaysia, Norway, India, Thailand, Yugoslavia, and Argentina. And that seems to me like a relatively small list compared to what a usual day is like. Internet's pretty remarkable, no?

[Lee Ann]

Canada chiming in. The music, not so bad. But I'm sorry...her voice, not so good. This is my honest opinion.

If you think JT's Steamroller doesn't rock, you need a jumpstart, dude.

(I. Am. So. Old.)

[Christian]

Dear Dara, Bolor and others who are not tired of me yet,

I am not against innovation in Buddhism, but I am very suspicious, to say the least, about innovations with self-consciousness (with all the connotations of the word), guided with pleasure in mind.

(I am not saying this with Jetsunma in mind, I truly speak in general terms.)

The way I see things, Buddhism is a medicine. There is no reason for a medicine to be pleasant, nor unpleasant: it has to be efficient. Medicine should not be marketed as pleasurable, flattering, easy-to-digest goods.

Historically Buddhism indeed always adapted to the local cultures it spread into, but these processes use to take at least centuries, with (or because of?) resistance from the native cultures, which had in impact on the outcome.

Nowadays, there are the mass media and, as a side-effect, a huge narcissism. Without mentioning that we are in a post-modern world, a century after "Modern Art" made urinals masterpieces and everybody an artist (or a web designer).

I remember some questions to the late Trungpa Rinpoche (quoting from memory): "Why couldn't we, Americans, visualise deities in blue jeans?" and "We, Americans, have no tradition of kingship, so it is hard to feel the adamant pride of the deities reigning after the union with her/him/it. Shouldn't the deity be the president of the mamdala?"

You can read Rinpoche's answers but I believe that the problem is "we", because even "I" is not established properly yet. Nonetheless, he was optimistic that one day, a variant of Tibetan Buddhism will take an American flavour, but he never traded tradition for the sake of pleasing an audience. Instead, he adapted the teachings themselves, which was an amazing feat (his English was so good and witty).

Just as the growth of grass, I hope that Buddhism will change organically in the West. But it has to be transplanted first, and we are very far from this moment.

Moreover, there are no constraints at all on the way Buddhism should adapt to America, so why not keep it as it is transmitted from our masters? Then, after a few centuries, people may realise that Buddhism did change in America.

But now?? The danger of the spiritual materialism, so well stressed out by the late Trungpa Rinpoche, is more present than ever---nowadays "we", Buddhists included, of course, are all hippies in disguise, with legal but more powerful addictions.

[As a side-node, there is one field in which I would promote actively changes right now, it is the Vinayas, the monastic codes, and the interactions between the laity and the clerics, in Asia in particular, but this is another story.]

[Zendette]

Konchog, amazing! I communicate with people all over the world, and the Internet never ceases to amaze!

Christian, great post! Trungpa's "Cutting Through" is always on my mind when it comes to spiritual marketing. That said, I also don't see a problem with adapting spirituality as society evolves, so long as the adaptation remains loyal to the original message. Once it wanders too far from the original, it's no longer an adaptation, rather a new religion or sect. Buddhism has evolved to adapt to many cultures. The test, IMHO should be, "What would the Buddha say?"

[Konchog]

In Vajrayana Buddhism, one trains in seeing one's lama as inseparable from the Buddha, so the question could become, "What would my lama say?" Jetsunma shared her music with her root lama, HH Penor Rinpoche, and it got his wholehearted endorsement.

[Bolor]

Nice one Christian, agree with what you said. Substance vs. form, principles and their implementation...

[Leamur]

OK, I'll chime in here in response to Christian's thoughtful and informed posts. (With my mish-mash musings, not anything as thoughtful or informed, unfortunately. You might want to stop reading now if if people who believe science fiction can be beautiful and philosophical make you want to gag.)

I was looking for a particular quote by Philip K Dick that is something along the lines of "if you want to make people look at something new, you have to make them think they are looking at something they already know." My thinking in wanting to mention this is that I think it's the reasoning behind attempts like what Jetsumna's music is meant to do and what the Christian Rock bands are doing. People are drawn to the familiar and repelled by the unfamiliar, so if chanting can be made more familiar by embedding it in popular music, people who might otherwise be repelled will get closer to it.

What google got me instead of the quote I was looking for was this neat-o collection of Dick quotes and Dick's Gnostic principles.

Take a minute to read the gnostic principles or several minutes for the Wikiquotes. Anything look familiar?

Anyway, even though I didn't find the quote I wanted, maybe this one from How to Build A Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later (1978) answers Christian's objection somewhat:

Because today we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups...So I ask, in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing.

Yes, Jetsumna's music is a manufactured psuedo-reality, but so what? Each and every one of us is the all-manufactured-psuedo-reality-all-the-time channel. So it's harmless and there's potentially some benefit.

Of course, having said that the other Dick quote that must be mentioned is this one from A Scanner Darkly (1977):

"If I had known it was harmless I would have killed it myself."

;)

[Konchog]

I remember way back in...'92, maybe?...Jetsunma was making music under the name Sky Dancer and at the same time we were graced with a visit from the peerless Ngagpa Yeshe Dorje, a truly awesome yogi and very Old School Tibet. Jetsunma brought him in to hear the music she and the group had been working on. He listened, clearly delighted. Afterward, he made some very interesting comments. He said that whenever he traveled in the West, people would say, "Oh, Rinpoche, give us the Dzogchen teachings." [These are the highest teachings of the Nyingmapa -- of course Americans felt instantly qualified to start with the highest and best...] He said he wanted to, but knew people's minds weren't ready; it would be like throwing seeds on concrete. Then he said that what Jetsunma was doing with her music, even though it sounded modern, was absolutely traditional. He said that when Dharma comes to a new land, the first thing that happens is that the dakinis come there to sing. There's something about the vibrational quality of their voices that softens people's minds and allows for sublime spiritual teaching to penetrate deeper. And that's what he felt was happening with Jetsunma's music -- it was being efficient, as Christian would have it! He strongly encouraged her to continue.

Oh, I'm getting misty writing about him. I loved him so much -- may his incarnation swiftly manifest to liberate all beings!

[Alana]

Hey, Konchog, interesting comments you badgered out of people. I'm too close to the situation, being her attendant, but I LOVE the music even though its not my 'style'; having listened several several times to the ROC CD, I find the lyrics stay in my mind and are actually producing inner change, which of course a dakini's voice would do; but then, I've had that experience from simple things she has said to me, even things like "the dog has a dirty butt" - sometimes there's a tonal teaching which to me simply proves what the Dharma teaches: sound that comes from the enlightented source is Dharma. Our concepts and habit of acceptance/rejection become so apparent when lamas do something 'we don't agree with', so in effect, it's all correct activity because they have mirrored our minds to us; I said to Jetsunma that we're gonna get some flack from the
Dharma Suits and she just said, "Well, its not for them; they already have the Dharma", so to me this indicates once again why there are 84,000 teachings for every poison. The post from Leamur was deadon: she's making a connection available to those who might not ever relate to the traditional presentation. She's not replacing Real Mantra in a Real Ritual - she's throwing a party where people can enter the door to the building and someday discover that on the top floor, treasure is hidden. Until they first find the door to the building, no way to find the treasure.

[Christian]

This is a slippy ground.

"View the teacher as Buddha." I understand that as "Trust his/her teaching as if it were coming directly from the Buddha's mouth", not as a blind pass to everything the teacher would do.

I remember Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche (who is currently teaching in France, in my community) telling us that he was not knowledgeable on everything, at least not as much as his own teachers, but that we could trust him about the true nature of the mind and how to recognise it. So I think that true masters are not omniscient: they can be wrong, relatively speaking.

I don't need to recall here some controversial aspects of the life of some Tibetan and Korean teachers in the West. Their alleged mistakes do not mean that they were not enlightened.

I believe that, as long as they have a body, they can be relatively wrong, while being absolutely right (about the nature of the mind) at the same time. It reminds me a Dogchen teacher who explained that people often misinterpret masters "never being distracted" as "never cutting one's finger when cooking." The statement is meant on the absolute level only ("never distracted from the natural state").

So there is nothing wrong with disagreeing with one's master as long as it is not about the absolute.

Then, as Alana pointed out, disagreement, especially if strong or repeated, or on details, perhaps means that the master could be in fact teaching us, offering us a mirror.

But then, the student, unwittingly, could be a mirror to the teacher too.

There is no absolute certainty in these matters.

It is alchemy.

(Hey, Konchog, what group's album (LP) from the 70's does this remind you?;-)

The anti-Bush song and other references to politics in the lyrics of Jetsunma lead me to a question for the American readership: are there any/some/many politically conservatives who are Buddhists? (That would be funny, because Christianity for sure does not create such a divide.)

Another: is it all right in America for a religious leader to call for a political crisis, like asking for the democratically elected president to step down?

[Leamur]

Sorry, Christian, you're in for another tackling by a pudgy primate with bushy hair.

It is our obligation to view the teacher as Buddha because this assists the teacher's practice of being Buddha if he/she gains experience being regarded as Buddha. ("Buddha" in this sense would not mean the historical Buddha, but the Buddha state.) We are helping to bring about the teacher's enlightenment, and we are doing so to the benefit of all beings. Regarding the teacher as Buddha is one of the more expedient means of benefiting beings, as our teacher is so much closer to attaining enlightenment than we are.

[I am thoroughly annoyed with myself that I can't find my reference for the above statement, but I guess that spares me from having to make the disclaimer that this is the Leamur-interpretation and not meant to represent the views, yadda yadda.]

Now for your Q & A:

Question One, are there any Buddhist political conservatives in US-ian politics. Answer: Are you kidding, Mitt Romney's in trouble for being Mormom fercryinoutloud. So, um, NO, and they wouldn't admit it if they were.

Question Two, is it "all right" for a religious leader to "call for a political crisis" with the example of "political crisis" being "asking a democratically elected [emphasis added] President to step down." (Oh my, where to begin.)

First of all "all right" covers a lot of moot (meaning debatable, not irrelevant) territory. "All right" with who? But legal, yes, despite the Patirot Act.

Whether he was democratically elected is also quite debatable, even 7 years in and after the subsequent election. Myself, I tend to think of him as apathetically elected.

So now let's talk about the meaning of "political crisis," which I guess was the real gist of your question anyway.

[Hey, K, que es mas macho? lightbulb or schoolbus? correcto! schoolbus es mas macho que lightbulb! heh]

Sorry, Christian, I'm back. What I'm getting at is which is the greater political crisis? Asking Bush to step down or the war? Judging from the number of bumper stickers on I-270 that just say "1-20-09" or go as far as "Bush's Last Day 1-20-09", I think it's safe to conclude that there are a number of commuters in the Washington DC Metropolitan area (which is primarily fed by the US Federal Government, mind you) who consider that we are already IN a political crisis and that the only way out at this point is to get rid of Bush.

On the other hand, we have people like my cousin in rural Alabama who thinks he's a man of great moral stature and named her dachsund after him. (No kidding. Her dachsund's named George Bush. And he nearly bit me for picking up his sock last week!)

I don't expect that clarifies things for you, Christian, but perhaps it provides a little more info to feed into the old processor.

[Konchog]

The common mistake when we talk about the practice of pure view is focusing on the object. Is the teacher really pure? Is the teacher actually Buddha? That's not the point. It's the vajrayana student's practice, and precept really, to recognize all apparent phenomena as a manifestation of, and inseparable from, their enlightened nature.

That said, I do have to question my teacher's omniscience on "Step Down". If Bush did step down, as she urges, that would make Cheney president! {visualize Munch's "The Scream"}.

And Leamur? As much as I'm enjoying your commentary, what in the ever-lovin', blue-eyed world are you on about with your lightbulbs and schoolbusses?

[Leamur]

Well I appear to have found a limit to your infection by the virus. So naturally, I have to infect you with this part now. (This won't hurt.)

In Laurie Anderson's Home of the Brave, there's a song called Smoke Rings with roughly those lyrics in it. (Although now that I've been to that link and scrolled down to where the lyrics are, I see I've misremembered them. Which figures, since I'm at least as demented as Dick's Gnostic God.)

If you keep scrolling down beyond Smoke Rings, you get to Language is a Virus, which features one of my fav lyrics of all time:

Paradise is exactly like where you are right now, only much much better.

I guess I was going for an ironic reference to Home of the Brave and the false, game-show-esque dichotomy of que es the greater political crisis? step-down-Mr-President vs. war-in-Iraq? Quite a stretch, even if you knew Anderson.

She's AWESOME live, btw.

[Zendette]

Konchog, Tel Aviv, not Hod HaSharon, but my ISP may route through there.

Regarding the very interesting ongoing discussion, I've always been uncomfortable with religious leaders using their influence to preach politics. Living in a theocracy, I see it daily and know the impact that a few words spoken by religous authority figures will have on their followers. Izhak Rabin was assasinated after some authoritative right wing religios put a curse on him. Thankfully, I don't believe in curses, but have no doubt that that the act of the curse itself gave the assasin all the justification he needed.
People put their faith in religious leaders. IMHO, those leaders have a higher level of responsibility than your average rock star when expressing their views.

[Christian]

Konchog, good point about Cheney!

By criticising Bush, Jetsunma is going to turn away conservatives (whence my question) who, according the two last US presidential elections, are quite a bunch. I mean, I wouldn't buy a CD with a tune entitled "Buddha=Lie"!

Also, I would like to underline that there is no war in Iraq: it is a military occupation Bush as been very keen on forging the expression "War on Terror", because it is totally void of meaning (think twice) and doubly frightening if split into words. By using "war", liberals acknowledge that... there is a war, so, by stopping the war, i.e., calling back the boys, everything is going to be fine.

But it won't, because there is no war... It is a civil war, a continuous bloodshed among the natives, a puppet state, a playground for Iran and Syria and a future base for terrorists (which Iraq wasn't during Hussein's regime--- By the way, why the US press used to call him by his first name??)

You cannot possibly stop that by asking Bush to step down.

[KT]

Hi, Konchog--Whew! It just took me about an hour to catch up on the last week of posts and the comments!

I'm wondering whether you've seen this: https://pol.moveon.org/donate/cheneyvideo.html?r=2879&id=10983-7598110-fKJHzI. KT

[Leamur]

Christian, please be careful with the strawmen. I don't know anyone who has said that calling back the boys will make everything fine.

[Leamur]

Hmm. Lemme see if I can fix this.

OK, now?

[Christian]

I knew I was being bold, somehow...

[Zendette]

Konchog, I just found this article and thought of this discussion - Buddhist monks hit Tokyo club scene: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070821/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_japan_monks_club

[Leamur]

I love this Natori guy!

"...have some sake and experience Buddhism" he says. "If everyone did this, Buddhism would be much more popular."

Sign me up! :)

Thanks for the smile, Christian.

[Leamur]

OOPS!! Thanks to Zendette for the smile!