Recent Blog Entries

January 23, getting ready for GRT. Anybody got a washing machine?

Submitted by scottvacek on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 17:45

Things are fairly quiet for the moment- the retreaters finished their second six-week lerung last wednesday, January 18.  We have shifted the delivery cycle to every two weeks during lerungs as an experiment, and we are hoping that the retreatants like it- it seems to be most beneficial for a lot of reasons-- We invade the Tsam half as much as we used to, since we're going in every two weeks instead of every week....and it also gives caretakers a break for 4-5 days during the "off" week where we can focus on other things-- and it also appears to be cheaper too- so far it looks like the retreatants are ordering less food for a two-week delivery than they used to over two weeks with deliveries every week.   These are very positive things for the retreat and the sanity of the caretakers.

The deliveries on Wednesday January 18 were fairly heavy, but not too huge.  No packages went in to the Tsam on that day as it was still the last day of lerung, and that's the S.O.P. for lerungs- no packages.   This wednesday's delivery will probably be big-  it's a 'break' month now and packages will be going in.   Orit and I just stopped by the post office in Bowie and our lovely postmaster (mistress?) Marisela told us that there is a huge load of packages for the retreat PO boxes.   One of us will need to drive back down there tomorrow with a pickup truck and pick up the packages. 

We're keeping our fingers crossed that the weather stays fairly mild for the GRT events- we will be holding two teachings in a large tent inside the Tsam each day for four days- February 2-5, and we hope it won't be too cold for people.   The teachings go from 2:30 to 7:30pm and so it could get cold in there.   So far the temperatures are mild, but anything can happen this time of year on the mountain- last year this time we had the coldest temperatures in over 100 years in this area and everything froze.   We had a sort of disaster with the water system- many many pipes broke from freezing and it was a mess for a whilte.   Also we expect to have people camping here during the GRT so for their good we're hoping that temps don't go too low.  

Does anybody out there have a good used washing machine they'd like to donate to DM?  The washing machine we have in the campground has evolved into a "dirtying" machine....if You want Your clothes to be dirtier than they are now it's a very reliable machine to use. :) ...but not if You want to clean Your clothes.  Not sure what the problem is but clothes come out with an exciting variety of black streaks and weird white spots or cloudy stains, maybe from soap that never moved.  We can't use it any more...we've ruined too many things in it.   It held up for some time, but it's no longer a washing machine.  Ah, gross impermanence.  Willcox laundromat is not a good option for us either as the last couple times we used it we had a similar experience- it seems that just before we used the washers (according to the nice and apologetic lady minding the mat) a very oily gentleman -who must work on an oilwell or an auto-repair shop or just likes rolling around in motor oil- had just washed all of his clothes.  So we got a sort of petroleum tie-dye effect on a lot of our own clothes.  it's not a good look.

If You have a lovely used washing machine that You believe actually renders clothes cleaner than they were when they went in, please e-mail me at scott.vacek@diamondmountain.org.    Thanks!

Have a lovely day....

scott and orit 

QUIET RETREAT

Submitted by tahiyak on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 17:59

I HAVE JUST RETURNED FROM THE LAM RIM RETREAT IN PRESCOTT WHICH WAS ONCE AGAIN AMAZING.  IT SURPRISES ME EACH TIME BY BEING SO DIFFERENT ENERGETICALLY THAN THE ONE BEFORE.  I GUESS MY KARMA SHIFTS DRASTICALLY IN BETWEEN, PERHAPS FROM SERVING THE RETREAT.  COMING HOME IS ALWAYS SUCH A PLEASURE AND I COULD FEEL THE DEPTH OF QUIET HERE AFTER BEING OUT IN THE WORLD AND AMONG SO MANY PEOPLE.  FUNNY, PROBABLY MOST PEOPLE SAW THE RETREAT AS SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD AND A BREAK FROM THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE BUT FOR ME IT WAS A STEP UP IN BUSY-NESS AND DEFINITLY AN AMAZING OPPORTUNITY FOR STIRRING UP THINGS FOR SELF REFLECION. 

  DM, ON THE OTHER HAND,  IS DEFINITLY PEACEFUL. HERE YOUR OWN MIND IS MOST OF THE NOISE.  WE ARE NOW THOUGH GEARING UP FOR THE QUIET RETREAT TEACHINGS AND PEOPLE HAVE BEGUN TO ARRIVE AND JOIN US IN MORNING MEDITATION AND PRANAYAMA PRACTICE.  THIS MORNING YOGA WAS DONE OUTSIDE, IN THE SUN, ON THE PLATFORM ON WHICH STOOD THE NECTAR LOUNGE.  THE DAYS ARE SO WARM AND BEAUTIFUL.

Christmas

Submitted by tahiyak on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 19:41

I'm sitting here with doors open and no sweater. Last week we had snow and I wore three layers of clothes. My how things change. We had a big Christmas dinner in the temple with snow outside and now it is like spring. When it snowed, I remembered the snow the day our friends went into retreat. The snow blanketed everything bringing a great peace after the hectic times of preparation. Where does it exist now? It is so beautiful here and so peaceful. I feel so blessed to be here and a part of this retreat. I assume many people would have a hard time with so much peacefulness but I am in heaven. I am getting to see how much of a habit being busy is even here, how I distract myself with silly stuff. But amazingly, even with distracting myself, my practice is getting deeper. this stuff really works - service is very powerful.

Quiet here

Submitted by scottvacek on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 14:58

Wow, it's quiet.  Sunday August 14 and there are very few people here right now....just us chickens, so to speak.    It's the middle of a lerung and it's been rainy...a big thunderstorm rolls over the hill almost every afternoon.   I love the rain here....when the storm winds blow in the temperature will drop a good 10-20 degree in a very short time, and then it's a full-on monsoon. 

 

So the first Great Retreat Teachings are over and I guess we would all agree that they were a success even though we spent money to do them.  We had hoped that the events would be a fund-raiser, but they did not turn out to be, mainly because many people who registered did not show up.  We geared up for a larger crowd and the actual crowd was somewhere around 200 people.   On the bright side there were many newcomers to DM, and everyone who was here was well cared for and fed.  Thank You so much to all of the people who donated to DM, because without You all the cost of the events would have been pretty painful.    We took in about $15,000 in donations....far short of our costs but it helped immensely.   

Hopefully the people who were here for the first time will have a lasting connection with DM that will bear fruit in the future...maybe some will decide to come out for a time as full-time volunteers, or maybe some will do fundraising.   We are holding our own in funding but it's still basically touch-and-go.   It's most likely that we will need to tighten things up a bit, because still just not enough money is coming in.   Things are run very efficiently thanks to the diligence of Rob and Donna watching the books carefully, and we're all volunteers here- no one is paid.    None the less there are 39 people up the hill doing the retreat and they have needs, and we have to maintain a commissary and vehicles to supply them. 

We are a very small skeleton crew right now and have just enough people to get the job done.    We don't have anyone currently filling the job of volunteer coordinator, and so it makes it hard to respond to the few people who have expressed interest in coming out.   It's great if people want to come out for a week or two, but most of the work is on tuesdays, wednesday and thursdays.   The weekends, especially during lerungs, are quiet.   It's also really helpful if people want to come out for extended periods of time and take on some responsibility for maintenance or improvement projects in the campground area.   Not everyone is allowed to go up into the Tsam, and so a volunteer showing up will usually not be able to ride in the trucks to do deliveries...but we do need help in the commissary to sort food, load delivery bins, unload trucks, load trucks, clean up, etc.  

Venerable Chandra and Tianna have been doing a nice job keeping the commissary running.   Tianna has a wonderful temperment for it....she is very cool.   Chuck handles a lot of the key tasks like filling propane and taking out the trash, and Michael is a regular hand on delivery days.    As usual Orit is busy handling various medical needs for the retreaters.   Rob and Donna work really hard on bookkeeping and they do almost all of the weekly shopping for food and supplies- and that is a huge job.   Nicole works hard on the maintenance of all cabins (not to mention the campground and commissary) and fielding requests for improvements.   Tahiya Knapp is a key worker in the commissary and her daughter Elisha does the newsletter and some other things when she is here.   Mattie Gallup is Mr. Fixit and also does delivery runs...He's an all-around guy.   He lives in Bowie and comes up when there is a project.  It's only barely enough people considering that we like to leave the land once in a while!   Someone always needs to be here, so we have to take turns.

On August 25 Oriti and I are going to go and have our honeymoon! since we never got to have one in the first place...:)   We had one of the weirdest weddings I know of....we wanted to have it done by Lama Chukyi and blessed by Geshe Michael and Lama Christie, and so it had to happen just before the retreat started since that was the only time they were here...but due to various issues with scheduling, our wedding started at 3:00am!   We had a bleary-eyed but dedicated group of people that actually attended!!   Then once it was over we managed to get to the suite at the Quality Inn in Willcox that Orit's mom had gotten for us at 6am and lay down, and then we had to leave around 9am to get back to Diamond Mountain because it was the last day before the retreat!....so we got about 3 hours in the bed and never even set foot in the jacuzzi tub.   Orit's mom and sister had come all the way from Israel and they were incredibly patient with us.   SO, now we're going to spend three nights in a nice place in Tucson and take it very easy....it's been a long time coming.

To all of the friends and family of retreaters, please know that we take it very seriously to take care of the people in the retreat.    We're doing our best and they seem to be in good shape.   

More another time,

scott

 

 

Almost all Clear

Submitted by Matt Gallup on Mon, 06/20/2011 - 20:03

Feel free to read my entry on the DMU blogspot page at:

http://diamondmountain.blogspot.com/2011/06/almost-all-clear.html

I post more often there with longer entries, for some reason.  I think that the format is sexier.  If you still read this blog please let me know by posting an entry.  I will then always post a link to the other blog here so you can stay up to date with my sometimes informative and relevant writings.  

As the above title suggests, DMU is almost in the clear.  The fire lines held yesterday as the wind whipped at fifty miles an hour in the direction of the retreat valley.  Or slightly to the left of the retreat valley.  Deep thanks to all fire fighters and hot shots and emergency workers.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  

Wild Fire Inferno licks lanscape.

Submitted by Matt Gallup on Mon, 06/13/2011 - 05:32

  This wild fire has exposed an aspect of my personality that I didn't know was there.  In the face of danger I become calm and inappropriate.  When I wrote the title to this blog I admit that I was chuckling.  I get some sort of villainous pleasure from it.  Partially because I don't think that it will happen so I can make jokes at the expense of the thing which will not happen.  If it did happen, what can we do?  Nothing.  Yes, it would be terrible.  The retreat would be totally disrupted.  Homes could be lost.  However, as things go in this world it would not be so surprising.  Americans are catching up to the rest of the world in respects to the experience of disaster.  Buddhist meditators are not immune to disaster.  Nor are care takers of Buddhist meditators.  

More to come

The Jonas Brothers

Submitted by Matt Gallup on Sun, 05/08/2011 - 21:11

     It would probably make sense to combine this web site with the DMU blog site.  Put up some kind of big link to it.  Obviously the retreatants are not going to post anymore blogs and I'm not sure if any of the care takers use this site.  All my posts as of late go to the DMU site.  I saw a friend of mine in Phoenix recently.  He said that he read some of my posts and that I sounded sad.  I had to laugh because it was true and I was in a very good mood when talking to him.  I do only tend to write when there is something of some weight on my mind.  I resolve to also write when I feel really good.  I'll try to encompass the times of satisfaction and peace and gratitude that come with serving the retreat.  After all, I have complained about all the essential points of my dismay serval times now.  If I keep it up it will just be droll repetition.  

I went over to JEO's trailer the other night to use the internet and get away from the cat.  John, thanks so much for leaving your trailer up and running.  I was watching funny animal videos, break dancers, and music performances.  It's a gift, the internet.  I was introduced to the phenominom of the Jonas Brothers.  I watched some concert footage from Tucson.  It was three min. of solid, ear peircing teenage girl screaming.  You could not hear the music but at certain mysterious intervals, the screaming would increase, which seemed impossible.  There was so much energy, joy, and passion.  What a world to live in, as a performer.  You must end up feeling like a demi-god.  My world out here in Bowie and DMU is so small that I was really amazed by this video.  I had no idea who the Jonas Brothers were or the scope of their influence.  Are they a force of good or evil, possibly neutral?  I'm ok with my ignorance on this topic.  One thing serving the retreat has done is narrowed my focus even more then it was as a student at DMU.  There is simply nothing else to do out here but work with your mind.  It's perfect.  

good night

Submitted by Matt Gallup on Tue, 04/26/2011 - 05:59

    I keep trying to copy and paste the blog I write and the DMU Blog to this site and it never works.  Now, unfortunately, I am too tired to compose another letter.  You'll just have to go to the DMU blog site.  It's has nicer shoes then this site and is way cooler.

    Good night. Chances are that if you're reading this, I love you.

 

 

good night

Submitted by Matt Gallup on Tue, 04/26/2011 - 05:59

    I keep trying to copy and paste the blog I write and the DMU Blog to this site and it never works.  Now, unfortunately, I am too tired to compose another letter.  You'll just have to go to the DMU blog site.  It's has nicer shoes then this site and is way cooler.

    Good night. Chances are that if you're reading this, I love you.

 

 

The Blues

Submitted by Matt Gallup on Wed, 04/13/2011 - 03:43

I have to thank my friend Angie P. Many months ago she gave me something with the three sphere's fully engaged. She said, "Matty, I want to give you this while fully understanding the emptiness of the three spheres." She then said aloud that the giver, the thing given, and the person given to are all completely empty of any nature of their own. Because this is true she then dedicated the act of giving to a higher cause. I forget just what. Regardless, it stuck with me. I've done it twice in the last couple of days. I realize that in the four years of intense dharma study with, for me, the best Lama's in all the worlds combined, I haven't given with the three spheres really engaged. I can't recall anyway. This is the second such small/large realization I've had in this vein in the last three months. The last three months of Suck. Yes, they sucked. It's better now. I should say the months were fine, it was my head and heart that sucked. I've realized that I haven't put the full force of my understanding of emptiness behind my dedications. Perhaps it just wasn't there, the understanding. But in the midst of lonely Bowie, friends all gone, Lama's all gone, work practically all gone, I finally had nothing else to take refuge in. I had to take refuge in emptiness, or try to. These dedications are saving my life. To actually feel that it is true that things have no nature of their own is a rare thing, I think. I'm not saying I have it. I've come closer to it in the last few months then I ever had during terms and conditions at Diamond Mountain. But to think that it took my Lamas three years of teaching the same thing over and over again to me to get it into my heart so it could come out a few times now makes them all the more precious to me. The mind is a formidable enemy. My laziness and broken hearted-nesshave derailed my practice since the Great Retreat began. Before I could blame exhaustion from building cabins in the retreat valley. It was a good excuse for almost two years. I fight daily to live up to the vision my teachers have of me. I know at the very root of my being that they truly do believe in me. It was communicated in a pure and unmistakable way. I saw it in their patience. I saw it in their eyes, so clear I didn't want to believe it, too much. I heard it in their words. Sometimes they spoke to me as gentle and caring as my mother, or as fierce. I felt it when they held my hands. I felt it when they stayed up till two in the morning just to teach me when they were already tired. I wish you could feel it. Every movement and word of the Lama is like a special gift to you. The things they touch become precious. Their love is so pure, it at once raised the bar for what Love is and opened my eyes to the people in my life who really Love me. Like my parents. Something about familiarity and family led me to take them for granted. I don't know how I planted the seeds to see these people in my life. I know that since the moment their physical presence left my day to day I have struggled. I am surprised at how hard hearted and angry I have become. I am not as kind to others as I could be. I purposely do not let them in or reach out to them. I used the word broken hearted earlier. This phrase just came to me a couple of days ago. I display classic symptoms. "I will never love again" I say as I stare out the window at the rain. I throw myaccordion to the street below. The letters are cast into the river. The cigarette burns into the night. I am pulling myself out of this scenario. It's good to write about it here. Writing has always helped me think. If you have someone in your life, a lover, a teacher, friend, parent, or Lama do something for them as soon as you can. Your life can change in an instant. You don't know how long you have with them. Go outside and pick up my accordion. Play them a song. Sing them lines from my letters, the words that the water didn't erase. Dance for them with your broken heart. Make your life an alter to Love and then give it away.