More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
This is a journey not away from reality but deeper into it, the better to feel its sting.
GS is the zoologist George Schaller.
Near Shey Gompa, “Crystal Monastery,” where the Buddhist lama had forbidden people to molest them, the bharal were said to be numerous and easily observed.
Himalaya—the alaya (abode, or home) of hima (snow).
Namas-te!”—a Sanskrit word for greeting and parting that means, “I salute you.”
The Sherpas are alert for ways in which to be of use, yet are never insistent, far less servile; since they are paid to perform a service, why not do it as well as possible?
Yet their dignity is unassailable, for the service is rendered for its own sake—it is the task, not the employer, that is served.
At this time of year, people pay homage to Durga, a dread demoness of ancient origin,
a strong expression of Zen culture, since to become one with whatever one does is a true realization of the Way.
I already had what Kierkegaard called “the sickness of infinitude,” wandering from one path to another with no real recognition that I was embarked upon a search, and scarcely a clue as to what I might be after.
Tukten has elf’s ears and a thin neck, a yellow face, and the wild wise eyes of a naljorpa, or Tibetan yogi.
the enlightenment experience (called kensho or satori)
Saint Catherine of Siena, who spent three years in silent meditation: “All the way to Heaven is Heaven,” Saint Catherine said, and that is the very breath of Zen,
The Hopi does not say ‘the light flashed’ but merely ‘flash,’ without subject or time element; time cannot move because it is also space.
What are in English differences of time are in Hopi differences of validity.”)21
This Tantric discipline to overcome ideas of “horror,” often performed while sitting on a corpse or in the graveyard in the dark of night, is known as chöd.
When one pays attention to the present, there is great pleasure in awareness of small things;
this wonderful silver-blue-gray creature is the bharal, the blue sheep of the Himalaya—in Tibetan, na—that we have come so far to see.
since OM MANI PADME HUM is dedicated to the Great Compassionate Chen-resigs, it is found inscribed on prayer stones, prayer wheels, prayer flags, and wild rocks throughout the Buddhist Himalaya.
Pronounced in Tibet Aum—Ma-ni—Pay-may—Hung, this
mantra may be translated: Om! The Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus! Hum!
Our true Bodhisattva Nature is Eternal, Joyful, Selfless, Pure.
We have had no news of modern times since late September, and will have none until December, and gradually my mind has cleared itself, and wind and sun pour through my head, as through a bell.
Having got here at last, I do not wish to leave the Crystal Mountain.
If the snow leopard should manifest itself, then I am ready to see the snow leopard.
Butter tea and wind pictures, the Crystal Mountain, and blue sheep
dancing on the snow—it’s quite enough!
Have you seen the snow leopard? No! Isn’t ...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
When I watch blue sheep, I must watch blue sheep, not be thinking about sex, danger, or the present, for this present—even while I think of it—is gone.
But I am not ready to let go, and so I shall not resolve my koan, or see the snow leopard, that is to say, perceive it.
I shall not see it because I am not ready.
If the snow leopard should leap from the rock above and manifest itself before me—S-A-A-O!—then in that moment of pure fright, out of my wits, I might truly perceive it, and be free.
I have the universe all to myself. The universe has me all to itself.
In worrying about the future, I despoil the present; in my escape, I leave a true freedom behind.
The path I followed breathlessly has faded among stones; in spiritual ambition, I have neglected my children and done myself harm, and there is no way back.
With the past evaporated, the future pointless, and all expectation worn away, I begin to experience that now that is spoken of by the great teachers.
For this is the Kali Yuga, the Dark Age, when all the great faiths of mankind are on the wane.
Here I am, safely returned over those peaks from a journey far more beautiful and strange than anything I had hoped for or imagined—how is it that this safe return brings such regret?
