They called us walking corpses
Unholy living dead
They had to lock us up
Put us in their British hell
Make sure your face is clean now
Can't have no dirty dead
All the corpses here are clean, boy
All the yanks in British hell
I don't wanna be here in your London dungeon
I don't wanna be here in your British hell
Ain't no mystery why I'm in misery in hell
Here's hoping you're swell
- The Misfits "London Dungeon"
It wasn't a London dungeon I visited yesterday but the House of Commons. Thanks to the wonderful Miss Emma of Dogen Sangha London I was treated to a full tour of the British government's most secret chambers. Well, maybe not so secret. There were tours of school kids in there as well. But they didn't get a personal escort! So there, you school kids! HA! Did you know they have a gigantic statue of Margret Thatcher in there?
I also had the opportunity to meet Morrisey. Uh, Richard Morrisey, that is. Another of Nishijima Roshi's Dhrama Heirs. Nice guy. He has nine kids! And yet he still seems sane.
And the most patient and tolerant Henrick and Janna took me around to find the famous zebra crossing in front of famous Abbey Road studios where The Beatles shot the famous photo that graces their famous final album. Our shot doesn't look quite as nice. But we had to work quickly since there were about 20 other groups of tourists trying to get the same photo.
And then, to round out a very long day I sat Zazen with Dogen Sangha London in the flat they use for their weekly sittings (which I've been using for my nightly sleepings). A very nice group. We talked and talked and talked and talked some more.
Today I'm headed off to Durham, where I have a public talk on Friday. The full info about the time and location and suchlike is in the link over there to your left that says "Brad's 2009 Tour Dates" or something like that.
The retreat last week at Haus Hornberg near Munich was also a lovely thing, as you can see from the smiling faces of all who attended as seen in the photo over there on your left. It was great to see Gabrielle Linebach, a long time student and Dharma Heir of Nishijima Roshi who translated the complete Shobogenzo into German. Gabrielle was one of the group who I first sat with at Nishijima's Saturday afternoon talks about a million years ago. We haven't seen each other in maybe 15 years. Her style of presenting Dogen's teachings is very different from mine. And yet I feel the basic core philosophy and practice is almost exactly the same. She said that she felt the so too. Weird, huh?Good? Good! Now I have to go get showered and try to find the station where I pick up the train to Durham. And remember I'll be back in London on Saturday for a public talk at King's College and then in Bristol for another public talk a few days later. Details, as always, are in the link over there to your left.
See ya later, skaters!
