It's Fun to Stay Alive

(Left to right: Mike Towery, Wiliam Lund, Scott Shaw!, Ken Kruger, Greg Bear, David Clark, Roger Freedman)

"It's Fun to Stay Alive!"

A breezy sentiment

From an old comic book,

A banner to fly

Through weariful life.

Though the sound man faces the

Passing of generations immune,

As to the sacrifice of straw dogs,

Reunited with my cohorts of old

I marvel at grey heads and

Sparkling eyes.

Passing years may erode the form

But hearts,

Like diamonds,

Stay true.

When I was a very young man I was privileged to know a gaggle of brilliant young fellows who, among their many other accomplishments, founded what has become the largest and longest running comic/ science fiction/ film convention in the world, the San Diego Comic Con. This astounding gathering of the tribe brings together 140,000 passionate followers of the imaginative life, dedicated to celebrating the wildest of dreams, dark and light, tragic bravery and hilarious tomfoolery conjoined at the metaphorical hip.

Last week as guest at the 40th annual event I had the very great pleasure of joining my old friends at panels and parties to celebrate our act of collective lunacy now launched far beyond the boundaries of even our wildest dreams. This poor poem is my attempt to convey my love and respect to a great bunch of guys, present and absent, forever young in my eyes.

Shoes for Industry!

Gillian Welch and My Original Face

Aurora borealis fills the sky at night,

Princes Pocahontas bathed in eerie light.

The world dwells in delusion,

Captured by the thought,

That she was an Indian

And that I am not.

Confucian Lines In Honor of My Most Excellent Father

In a world full of pitfalls,

Time lays traps for the unwise.

All are whittled away by slow decay,

Only the very wise attain great age.

Always honorable,

He now becomes venerable.

My father, Ken Clark, was recently honored in his church on Father's Day as the oldest father in a rather sizable congregation. Hearing the news, I was moved to write the lines above. The top photo shows him as a young man in the Navy and was taken in Japan at the end of "The War". Dad was in the very first American landing party in Japan and had a ringside seat for the historic closing events of the Pacific War. The other was taken late last year at dinner in California.

Mandala Complete

Sunday saw the mandala completed. Here we see it (from a side angle). I was unable to attend the closing ceremonies, but my wife Diane was there and took these photos.

As part of the ceremony, the sand was carefully brushed up, put in an urn for disposal in the nearest swift-moving river. I'm not sure where that will be, this is a drought-gripped region.

After days of intense concentration on the painting, the monks seemed happy

to be done and there were smiles all around.

The large, four storied central room of the museum was filled with the sounds of the traditional Tibetan instruments and deep-throated chanting.

Diane took many more pictures of the closing event and I plan to post some more soon.

Many thanks to the monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery for sharing their healing vision of Green Tara with the people of San Diego!

For a schedule of upcoming appearances by the monks,

check this link;

http://www.drepung.org/changing/mystical/Tour-Sch.htm#top

Green Tara Poem

On a lotus seat, standing for realization of voidness,
(You are) the emerald-colored, one-faced, two-armed Lady
In youth's full bloom, right leg out, left drawn in,
Showing the union of wisdom and art - homage to you!

Like the outstretched branch of the heavenly turquoise tree,
Your supple right hand makes the boon- granting gesture,
Inviting the wise to a feast of supreme accomplishments,
As if to an entertainment-homage to you!

Your left hand gives us refuge, showing the Three Jewels;
It says, "You people who see a hundred dangers,
Don't be frightened-I shall swiftly save you!"
Homage to you!

Both hands signal with blue utpala flowers,
"Samsaric beings! Cling not to worldly pleasures.
Enter the great city of liberation!"
Flower-goads prodding us to effort-homage to you!
---First Dalai Lama (1391-1474)

From: http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/deities/tara.htm

Tibetan Work In Progress

Work on the Green Tara Mandala in San Diego continues apace.

"Seated on a lotus at the center of the mandala, Green Tara is ever ready to respond to the suffering of beings afflicted with emotional obscurations. Arrayed around the mother of mercy are her twenty-one manifestations. Each of the mandala's four gates are ornamented with the eight-spoked Dharma wheel attended by two deer, symbol of the Three Jewels: the Buddha teaching the Dharma to the Sangha." - Wisdom Publications, http://www.wisdom-books.com/ProductDetail.asp?PID=13183

Wikepedia has this to say:
"Tara (Sanskrit: तारा, tārā) or Ārya Tārā, also known as Jetsun Dolma (Tibetan language:rje btsun sgrol ma) in Tibetan Buddhism, is a female Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism who appears as a female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism.. She is known as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements. In Japan she is known as Tarani Bosatsu but virtually unknown in China.^[1]"

"Green Tara/Khadiravani is usually associated with protection from fear and the following eight obscurations: lions (= pride), wild elephants (= delusion/ignorance), fires (= hatred and anger), snakes (= jealousy), bandits and thieves (= wrong views, including fanatical views), bondage (= avarice and miserliness), floods (= desire and attachment), and evil spirits and demons (= deluded doubts)."

Tibetan Monks in San Diego

Here are some photos I shot yesterday at the San Diego Natural History Museum. 

Monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery started work Wednesday creating a Mandala sand painting, a 2500-year-old Tantric Buddhist healing practice.  They are producing a Green Tara Mandala, which the museum says "Buddhists believe can lead to personal and planetary healing during times of uncertainty and economic crises."

Although I had planned to be on hand early, a surprise last-minute appointment at the UCSD Pain Clinic meant missing the opening ceremonies, which a fellow museum member told me was very impressive. Cymbals, drums, bells and trumpets, accompanied by deep, full-throated chanting filled the three story high open space of the museum's main hall. By the time I arrived on scene three monks had completed the chalk-line layout and had begun to lay down the colored sand from long metal tubes. The tubes, which are tapered, are rubbed vigorously with a sort of wand along a raised metal sawtooth ridge, the vibration sending the grains spilling out the small nozzle end in an incredibly fine stream. The result is a low-tech air brush sort of effect. Their concentration as they worked, as one would expect, was intense, 

their focus complete.

I hung around for several hours, wandering away to look at the various exhibits, including the beautiful new William Stout murals, depicting prehistoric life in the various epochs of our region's past. Bill Stout is an old friend, we first met 40 years ago, at the very first San Diego Comic Con in 1969. Bill is simply one of the very best painters of prehistoric life working today, and the SDNHM is very lucky to 

have secured his services.

I hope to get back to the museum some time over the weekend and see the finished or near-finished image. When completed, the painting will be destroyed sometime on Sunday. This traditional final destruction serves to remind the viewer of the transitory nature of all things, including ourselves.

Here's a link to the museum website, which includes a video of the monks at work; 

http://www.sdnhm.org/exhibits/bodyworlds2/events.php

Here's a link to the Drepung Loseling Monastery site;
http://www.drepung.org/