User:Storm Nordwind

Old avatars

Words from a retreat

For a few years, Storm engaged with Buddhist practices, though this is no longer the case. However, for much of April 2010, he attended a retreat at Yeshe Khorlo Nyingma Buddhist Center in Crestone, Colorado.

Photographs on this page are from that retreat. Sharp-eyed readers will recognize the prayer wheels as being the model for the one in the Kuan Yin Terraces in Second Life.

During the retreat Storm found time occasionally to tweet his impressions, mostly as short poems. Friends have requested that those poems, all 56 of them, be brought together in one place, especially for those who don't use twitter.

So what follows are those impressions from just before to just after the retreat, undated but color-coded:

• Black: haiku or senryu format
• Blue: gogyohka format
• Red: six words format
• Green: plain text

golden eagle flies
high over Denver rooftops
erne before the storm

What mountain wind brought
powerful Red Chenrezig
to change my practice?

remembering friends
who are remembering me
distant hearts dancing

a sudden knowing
"this is what I was born for"
spring in the desert

morning offering
we huddle in the chill wind
smoke rises for all

Longchenpa's teachings
compassionately explained
I'm writing so much!

with wisdom and wit
a gentle man in yellow
leads my wayward mind

twisted shattered trees
dust devils and rabbitbrush
yet still we live here

sky grazes mountain
somewhere a silk scarf flutters
we sit as his feet

where we are affects
what we do and what we do
affects where we are

Breakfast crumbs. Birds fly.
Snow upon my path will melt;
they will stay as birds.

wonderful teachings
on Buddha Shakyamuni,
Guru Rinpoche

seek a good teacher
perhaps they will accept you
if you're fit to learn

deer roaming outside
only parched grass on the sand
thoughts roaming inside

turning a prayer wheel:
I had no idea that
it was such a buzz!

birthday sacrifice
what a day to be away
sending her my love!!

So black with starlight
More silence than I can hear
My chai has gone cold

Crestone eaterie
six hundred miles from the sea:
"Café de la Mer"

Sumatra coffee
two eggs, home fries and spelt toast
Crestone fine dining!

Some places start good
then they pall and irritate.
Crestone's the reverse!

it's Dakini Day
countless crimson offerings
wearing red for Tsok

rising over trees: smoke, temple, mind

One juniper tree:
filled air with pungent fragrance;
covered car with sap

More empowerments!
(Buy five and get three more free)
Smack! Bad Buddhist Storm!

54 degrees
Springs comes, even to Crestone
Blossoms are inside

Only in Bhutan
Vajrayana Buddhism
the state religion

what good karma brought me here?

a nun is nodding
her teacher's words fill the air
a little girl sleeps

Today I saw a dog outside the temple.
Someone said it was happy and was lucky to be there.
I felt lucky to see the dog.

"taken by the wings of karma"

measuring my days
by a Weetabix packet
clouds hide the old moon

the shop door is closed
they tell me it's Saturday
looking for the moon

mountain tree expanse
nāga rising in the smoke
huge - awful - peaceful

drops of nectar fall
from an avatar's pixels
touching this mountain

a great lama speaks
and secret tulkus listen
at new Vulture's Peak

so tired I don't know
my nadis from my bindus
and my feet are cold

cold stone temple floor
cushion for a student's feet
only I touch them

When my eyes are closed
I'm a sentient being
Open - a buddha!

So pure. So direct.
Longchenpa's teachings strike home.
No more words - Practice!

Free day tomorrow
One travels back. Two return.
Home? Where the heart is.

city craziness
everything is transparent
ha ha ha ha ho!

one goddess dances
in the land of fire and ice
and we can but watch

I'm back in Crestone
and I have Michele with me
Luxury retreat!

if you knew stupa
like I know stupa - oh oh
what a bad haiku

auspicious event
the buddhas rained down blessings
and a lightning bolt

a fresh fall of snow
thaw brings a slippery climb
feeling empowered?

Tonight we went to fundraiser auction.
I now have a Dharma wheel carved from restoration wood of Gangteng Gonpa, my teacher's seat in Bhutan

A lama passing away means Rinpoche may return to Bhutan.
Retreat may be cut short.
Could be back in Denver late Monday pm

It's very tempting
being part of this sangha
Should we retire here?

We're leaving one home
returning to another
Where (or what) is home?

drone amidst the trees
the temple door is open
lama reading texts

this richly veined rock
shining in the morning rain
holds the tarpaulin

where is the morning
smoke of burning juniper?
air conditioning

petals fall on trash
and a thousand messages
fall on my deaf ears

At the time
I had thought
it would go on forever
though nothing does
and that was the point

I have become
the clear sky
while others capture clouds
Can one be
and still write a poem?
 

-- Storm Nordwind April 2010