But I’ll still answer to “hey asshole”
So it seems my new name is:
(disclaimer: I have no idea if I’ve even got this right-side up)
At least, that’s what the Khenpos have named me. The ISO-8859-1 transliteration is “Pema Chojor”, and it means “Lotus who keeps the blessings of the spiritual”. Noooo, that’s not going to encourage my god complex at all… : )
So, yeah. It’s been a weird couple of days. The Khenpos are the two Tibetan lamas that lead our sangha, and they are in town this week. They gave us teachings the last two nights and are holding a retreat this weekend. And so yesterday I was one of several who took part in what’s called the “refuge ceremony”, which is sort of the formal introduction into the sangha. Buddhist Baptisim, if you will, except of course that we know it’s *just a ceremony*. This is where, among other things, the lamas give us our dharma names. We had an interview with the Khenpos in the afternoon, then the ceremony last night. Good times.
[...] So last night I saw the Actors’ Bridge show Faith/Doubt at the Darkhorse. (Aunt B, I would have said hi this time if I’d seen you — just too many people in that sold-out crowd!) Excellent show, it addressed a wide range of beliefs and lacks thereof — everything from the traditional big ones on down to Voodoo and Tarot cards. Of course I most readily identified with the soliloquy from the character who had taken bodhisattva vows (and who was struggling with that whole “I have to be nice to everybody?????” bit). The most touching one to me was the piece from the muslim immigrant — when she talked about the way she saw her father treated, and how she begged him to take off his turban — damn. [...]