May update
How you are supporting others
(The Dharmachakra atop the temple at DGL Nunnery)
Our donor program
I am thrilled to let you know that, thanks to the loyal support of my paying subscribers, in the past month I have arranged for donations of approximately $5,000 each to Dongyu Gyatsal Ling (DGL) nunnery in Dharmashala as well as to Zasep Tulku Rinpoche/Gaden Relief.
In the case of DGL, the money will be used to sponsor 10 nuns for the next year. As a group we are already sponsoring three nuns, so this represents quite a leap in the level of support we’re able to offer. If you’d like to learn more about what goes on at DGL Nunnery, you can take a look at their Spring newsletter here.
(DGL Nunnery)
With Zasep Tulku Rinpoche, given the variety of projects underway at any moment, I have left the donation is to be used at his discretion. He helps a number of health, education and Buddhist causes in Mongolia and Tibet, and recently supervised the building of an extraordinary stupa in Nelson, British Columbia, where he is based (image below).
(Stupa at Gaden for the West, in Nelson, BC)
The Claw of Attraction – book cover
If you voted on the recent cover choice for the next Dalai Lama’s Cat book, you may be interested to see how the design has evolved.
The most popular cover, by quite some way, was the image below:
Some readers, however, found the image to be sinister - the blackness of the cover combined with the claw, sending a shiver down the spine.
Our extraordinary designer, Sue Campbell, fixed that by changing the background colour, and also introducing a repeating lotus motif onto the spine of the book. In so doing, she has retained all the most striking elements of the design, while also subtly pointing to the Buddhist content, and retaining the visual humour of the whiskers and implied fluffy face – just out of view.
The Dalai Lama’s Cat and The Claw of Attraction will be published this November.
In related news, I’m glad to report that the first Dalai Lama’s Cat has just been published in Mongolian, it’s 34th language. I thought we had pretty much exhausted all the possible foreign language publishers that may have an interest, but in the past month we had an offer from a publisher in Ukraine of all places. I am donating my advance on royalties from that publisher to animal rescue charities there. We are talking very modest dollar figures, but every little helps. I feel desperately sorry for pets - and people! - trapped in warzones.
At the same time, in the West we have already had one publisher, worried about the impact of the recent smear video on sales of Dalai Lama’s Cat books. I wonder how much the Dalai Lama, and everything to do with him, is effectively at risk of being “cancelled?”
As many readers will know, I commented on the video the week that it went viral (see the second half of the post here.)
More recently I came across an excellent article in Anglican Ink, a Florida based online publication, part of a Christian-based organisation. The concluding paragraph reads as follows:
“When all this is clarified, what remains is the orchestrated attempt to ruin the image of a giant spiritual leader who never compromised with the brutality of the CCP, and the ignorance of too many media that uncritically repeated the Chinese regime’s propaganda.”
If you’d like to read the article in full, and/or forward it to friends, you can find it here.
Mindful Safari
Earlier this week we heard from a couple who were due to join us on Mindful Safari this August. The husband was rear-ended in a traffic accident and recovery from the resulting injuries will mean that they just can’t join us this August.
It’s very unusual for rooms to become available for Mindful Safari at this late stage. But if you’re in the mood to do something spontaneous, and fly out to Victoria Falls to spend time in the bush with all those extraordinary African animals, please check out the information on my website and send us an email as soon as possible. The Mindful Safari with the room available is the one from Sat 5 - Friday 11 August 2023.
Mouse size musing this Saturday
HHC will be back this Saturday with a mouse-size musing on a subject that has been one of fascination to me for some time: is it really possible to aspire to something that’s beyond our capacity to comprehend – a state of enlightenment – and if so, how? Prepare to learn at the velvet paws of The Most Beautiful Creature That Ever Lived with, I hope, an uplifting twist in the tale!
Covid
In the meantime, I am spending more time that I would like in enforced idleness, having returned home from travels with my first dose of Covid. It has taken a while to catch up with me, but I probably have the good fortune to be on the receiving end of one of the less virulent variants.
And finally …
I’d like the last word of this update to go to Mark Coleman, from his book Awake in the Wild:
“The Buddha attained enlightenment under a Bodhi tree, as he meditated through the night of the new moon. It is not insignificant that he “awoke” while meditating outdoors. In fact, all of his spiritual practice prior to his awakening, as well as the forty-five years of this teaching ministry took place in the forest. His life demonstrates how nature is a perfect place to cultivate this awakening quality of mind.”
About half the money you help me raise through your subscription goes to the following four charities. Feel free to click on the underlined links to read more about them:
Wild is Life - home to endangered wildlife and the Zimbabwe Elephant Nursery; Twala Trust Animal Sanctuary - supporting indigenous animals as well as pets in extremely disadvantaged communities; Dongyu Gyatsal Ling Nunnery - supporting Buddhist nuns from the Himalaya regions; Gaden Relief - supporting Buddhist communities in Mongolia, Tibet, Nepal and India.
If you’re fairly new to my Substack page and would like to explore further, you can read my previous posts under the Archive button here. As a free subscriber, you have access to any article that does not have a lock icon next to the title
Dear David, I’m awfully sorry to learn about your Covid and send my best wishes for a speedy recovery! With the changes made on the book cover it has become purrfect, thanks a lot to Sue Campbell!
So lovely to hear of all the progress being made on behalf of others. I am most grateful to be part of this group. The changes to the book cover feel right. The topic is right on for these times. I hope you are feeling better and that you have a rapid and full recovery. All the very best to you.