Hey Johnny, Phineas, and Dave. You're so silly! I love you guys so much...

Here's me with my nephews (from left) Phineas, David, and Johnny, and my friend and their ex-babysitter Amith. Thanks Amith for helping me see Amma this year!

Silly, but useful...

I'm sitting here folding laundry, and thought I should share with y'all a great way to fold shirts that I learned about on the internet. Visit this website and watch the short video that shows you how. http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/fold.php

AMMA!

Jane Goodall called Amma "universal love in a human body." The amount of charitable work she and her devotees do is mind-boggling. She feeds a quarter of a million people every month. She has built over 30,000 homes for the homeless. She spent over 40 million for those affected by the tsunami. She has build schools and universities, trains the poor in various trades. She give free sewing machines to village women. One of her organisations plants 100,000 saplings a year. She has built and runs hospitals, nursing homes for the elderly, and orphanages. She gave one million to the victims of Hurrican Katrina. And she does all this while running her various centers around the world, and hugging literally thousands of people everyday. She only sleeps 1-2 hours a night, if at all. She said that her life is an offering to the world. She is undoubtedly a living saint, and if you have a chance to see her, don't pass it up. Jai Ma!

Amma giving hugs. When you get a hug, you never forget it. She smells like roses, and her scent can linger with you for a long time.

I got this and the next two pics from Amma's website: http://www.amritapuri.org/ This is the main hall in San Ramon. John Swearingen helped design this building.

An Indian lady did this at the entrance to the main hall. She drew with her fingers using a medium of what looked like a soupy flour and water combination, which later dried and held up quite well.

Ganesha under a willow tree.

Some swans that live at the pond.

You can see where everyone goes for shade on the other side of the pond. A great place to go for a nap or to eat your lunch.

More lotus pond with the hills in back.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a retreat for three days with Amma right after the one with Jetsun Kushok. The land is in San Ramon. It was super hot those three days, sometimes over a hundred degrees. During the hotest part of the day, it was nice to hang out at the lotus pond. I never had my camera out when the lotuses were blooming, but I got some good shots anyway.

I just discovered Helena's pictures of Rigdzin Ling while I was talking to Timothy in the Three Dollar Bill Cafe yesterday. This pic is from her collection, and is of the feet of the Quan Yin statue. She's taken pics of lots of details that only a staff member there would have the time to do, and also of the retreat center in winter, which I've never seen before. When you visit her site, be sure to click on the right-hand button where it says "size" to see the photos in a larger form, and of course you can click on the pics to get a full-sized version and slideshow. http://picasaweb.google.com/odsal.lhamo

This is a rather fuzzy pic of Jetsunma. You can see her bio at http://www.sakyadechenling.org/jetsun.html

And Padmasambhava on top

There's a Padmasambhava statue there in construction, and here you're seeing the base.

A short way away from the yurt is this little waterfall and pool, a relaxing and magical spot. I didn't get a picture of this, but Yeshe Ling is in hills surrounding Napa Valley, and from the land you can see the valley for miles all laid out below you, a beautiful sight.

I went to Yeshe Ling in Napa for a Prajnaparamita empowerment and practice retreat for the weekend with Jetsun Kushok. This is the altar in a yurt they use for the shrine room. The large statue there is of Red Tara.

And here's the other half. Both of these photos are from John's Gallery.

We had about 150 people attending by the end of the drubchen. This pic shows one half of the people attending (I'm there on the lower right in a black t-shirt playing the conch)...

Jigme Rinpoche and the other lamas and chopins (ritual specialists) are bringing down the blessings with multicolored silks. I like how they look like rainbows. Another of John's great pics.

Dorje and Ken are presenting offerings to the lamas. These hats always remind me of King Kamehameha's. John took this great photo.

Dorje has just put on the torma you saw in the previous picture of the table of offerngs on top of the fire.

After oil is poured onto the fire, it can get really big.

This one is also from John's gallery of me at the fire puja. I was a bit tired, which happens at drubchens.

This is a photo from John Swearingen's photo gallery. He had a few I couldn't resist putting here on my blog. Here Reagan is putting red-colored rice into the magnetizing fire, and Jigme Rinpoche, who presided over this puja, is there on the left. Please check out John's gallery at http://picasaweb.google.com/dharmaphotos He has an amazing collection of pictures not only from this year's Red Vajrasattva drubchen, but from many other events through the years. When you visit his site, be sure to click on the right-hand button where it says "size" to see the photos in a larger form, and of course you can click on the pics to get a full-sized version.

These are the offerings for the magnetizing fire puja we did the next day.

Ana Paula is here pouring oil into some long poles that have little cups on the end of them that Lama Drimed is holding. He recites some mantras as the oil is poured and then the oil is offered to the fire.

More offerings. The bowls are filled with yellow flowers, money, butter, and yellow grains including popcorn, which would pop and fly out of the fire after it was put in. There's also a tray of sticks drenched in butter.

A table of offerings for the fire puja. You can see the traditional offerings again in the front, though the water offerings this time are made with milk that has saffron added to make them yellow. You can also see a large yellow torma in the back. All these offerings will get fed into the fire.

We did two fire pujas (puja means ritual), and this one is for increasing, which it why yellow or gold is the predominate color. I helped make the sand mandala on which the wood is placed.

This is one of what are called the "little houses". There are four of them around the building where the main shrine room is. They are for offerings that are made to the kings of each direction. You can see a little plaque with a picture of one of the kings, this one of the western direction, and the traditional offerings of water for drinking, water for washing, flowers, incense, a butterlamp, (the scented water offering is missing, maybe there wasn't room for it), food in the form of a small torma, and music, and also some small tormas on the upper level in the back.

The Quan Yin fountain. You can't see it in this photo, but there are a series of small pools decending from the bit of water you can see in this photo. Also, around the pools are lots of rocks painted with mantras in many colors. This is a nice shady spot in the woods to relax.

Here's a closer look at the prayer wheels. There are 15 large wheels which turn automatically by electral power. The ones at Iron Knot run on solar. The small ones below you can turn by hand as you go around the building. Here's a quote from an online article about the prayer wheels: "The 3-ton, barrel-shaped cylinders are filled with rolls of ultra-thin paper that, if unwound, would stretch from Junction City (near Rigdzin Ling) to Denver. Close to 17 billion tiny Tibetan Buddhist prayers, called mantras, are inscribed on the paper. An additional 175 billion prayers on microfilm are in canisters inside the wheels..." You can see the whole article at http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=65,3105,0,0,1,0

Here's the prayer wheel house. It just got put up last year. You can see a "postcard" of the prayer wheels at Iron Knot Ranch here: http://www.ironknot.org/pc05-31-07.php I attended the consecration for them last year. When you're on that site, be sure to click on the "previous postcard" button.... And also check out the pics on their website here: http://www.ironknot.org/photos.php They have a beautiful place there in New Mexico.

This is Tara house...not the greatest picture (you'll notice some faint lines), but the best one I have of it. The temple, kitchen, and some housing is located in this building.

A rock stupa

This is a shot I took while walking from the campground. The stupas and the Padmasambhava pavillion are there in the distance, and in the foreground is a pond people like to swim in when it gets hot. This is a good shot to show a bit of the natural environment where the gompa is located, the Trinity Alps. Once while I was driving in the area with my friend Timothy I said that I felt like I was in Shangri-La, and he told me that in fact the movie Shangri-La was filmed there. What's not shown here are the more distant mountains to the left of this photo, one of which has snow year-round.

A close up of the red stupa.

Here's a shot from the other end of the line of stupas.

The stupas beside the Padmasambhava pavilion.

The Padmasambhava fountain. "I am never far from those with faith, or even from those without it, though they do not see me. My children will always, always, be protected by my compassion." - Padmasambhava

The butterlamp house at night

Here's a thanka of the mandala of Red Tara. It's very large, maybe 8'x6'. It was also made by Lama Pema Tenzin, an amazingly talented man, considered a national treasure of Bhutan.

This is a statue of Red Tara in one of the shrine cabinets.

Chagdud Rinpoche's stupa inside the shrine room at night.

Here's a view of the lamas from where I was sitting.

A view of the shrine room where the lama's thrones are.

This thanka depicts the mandala of Red Vajrasattva, and was made by the chant leader at the drubchen, Lama Pema Tenzin.

This is a thanka of Red Vajrasattva with consort.