Open Buddha

We're just home from the monthly Tara Circle over at Denny and Sophia's
place. We get together every month to do a group practice of 21 Taras for
victims of the tsunami in Asia this last year. We're doing that for six months
and then the group will probably shift gears to do a different practice.

We always have a good time. Usually we hang out for a while talking and then
go back to their yurt at the back of the property. The yurt is hung with
textiles from their travels and time living in Asia. There is a small shrine set
up in a couple of places in the yurt. We light the candles and incense, purify
the space, take refuge and generate bodhicitta and finally launch into the
practice. We close it with a mala round or two of the Tara mantra before
dedication and closing.

Afterwards, we normally head down to the house for food, wine, and
conversation. We generally seem to get home around 11:00 or 11:30 so it winds up
being a full evening. Denny and Sophia are good people, as are the other people
in the group. There are normally only six of us total for this with occasional
visitors.

A wonderful set of images of the 21 Taras (or one version of the list of
them) is up at

http://www.skydancerpress.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=37.

Tomorrow, a couple of people are coming over for a few hours in the
afternoon. A friend of mine is teaching a series of somatic exercises that are
based on the four elements that he's been working with for a few years. I had
some initial training in the groundwork years ago but he's been working with it
a lot since then. I'm looking forward to this.

Meanwhile, I have papers due by next Friday for both of my classes so I'll be
focusing on those a lot this week…