Hello Mary?

You should get a medal for spending five hours at a conference call with a bunch of Buddhists “partying” three-time zones away from you last year, as you culminated your three-month studies of the Eastern philosophy. They were “celebrating”  in finding  refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, while you stayed “in touch” the whole time from Reno, Nevada, secure in a closed office room to stay focused by phone.

I had a hard time staying “focused” for one hour at the conference call Wednesday with others from across the United States, as well as Canada, and I hate to think what it would be like to put in five hours mostly “listening” as others exchange insight on Buddhism. Most from the Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Center of Philadelphia. 

You remember me? The guy that just got out of the VA (Veterans Administration) Hospital for treatment on a detached retina. I raced like a bat out of hell, driving with one eye patched and a mix of dilated drops in the other,  to get from West Philadelphia in the USA to Conshohocken, PA, some 20 miles away. Didn’t want to miss my first-time “call-in” about meditation. Still felt a little woozy from LASER surgery on the eye, and probably sounded a little off centered. But, I  like what you said, and was wondering if , someday, you would want the Philadelphia Group to come to you? I mean, fly out to Nevada for a day or even a two day-long event. Maybe meet up in Las Vegas, if we could get a good deal from the town. What’s that? Too many temptations even for a hard-core Buddhist initiate?

We’d follow the “Middle Path” and stay out of the Casinos. Tell management at one of the gambling hotels we were having a “Buhhdi” convention —  that’s using the long-sounding “ee” –pronounced “Booty,” and they’d put out a red carpet thinking  a bunch of girls would be showing up to “shake” up some things. Won’t tell them we coined the new word “Buddhi” for the plural of Buddha, until after getting discounts for the rooms.

Sound good to you? Well, let’s meditate on it, and “chant” an offering of “acceptance” at the next phone conference. Don’t want to gamble away an enlightened idea as good as this one.