shenpen and rigdzin shikpo

went straight from the strategy meeting, to euston and on to shenpen hookham's birthday celebration.

the meal was part of a two day event that included dharma talks and practice. i made it only for dinner, in a delightful tudor hall (timbers, minstrel gallery) in stanmore on the north edge of london.

the highlight for me was shenpen's little speech: a short one, that somehow managed to include by name almost all of the 50 guests who were there. the guests ranged from people who had been at infant school with shenpen, through family, people who had been students with her when she was at university and beginning to study the dharma, and some of her own students. the speech managed to build a bridge that linked those different worlds. shenpen very complimentary about the order. our connection with shenpen is turning into a constructive and appreciative one. a number of order members have learned from her thoughtful teaching from of the kagyu mahamudra tradition, though i know shenpen mainly from the meeting of buddhist teachers in europe.

next day, went to the naming ceremony of rohaan, amaragita's son, at the lbc. again, the same sense of worlds meeting. vajragantha, who did the ceremony pointed out that amaragita and her husband jeff both worked professionally to build bridges between different communities. and so, striking to have the shrine room full of people, buddhist and non-buddhist, family and sangha, black and white, unified around their good wishes for rohaan