mmm, books

That two-way radio incident was even better than I thought it'd be. Not only did we have to drain the whole clarifier tank (whilst we were already having problems with "solids" going into our final effluent), but once the tank was drained we had to send in somebody with confined space training to get the radio out. Poor Matt had to don a full bodysuit type thing, big rubber gloves and gumboots. He also had to wear a harness when climbing down the ladder into the tank (it's pretty darn deep), and to top it all off, the radio had fallen into a bit of a pit and Matt had to dig around through the sludge to find the thing. Working at a sewage treatment plant feels far more coarse than the other placements I've had in terms of the actual work that I'm doing, and it certainly does seem like a big deal when you stuff up... oops.

I just finished reading "Freedom in Exile", the Dalai Lama's autobiography. I saw it in Kinokuniya last week and thought that I'd buy it as it'd been on my "to read" list for some time. I've read several books dealing with Buddhism over the last few years, and not surprisingly, the Dalai Lama's autobiography has been listed as suggested reading material in some of these books. I already had a pile of reading material that I was meaning to get through sitting in my room, so didn't intend to start reading it right away. Unfortunately, these other books were put on hold for a while after I'd read the first few pages of this one. I couldn't help but be fascinated by everything about the autobiography from the outset. One thing you tend to forget about is how amazing books really are, and just being able to read this book made me once again appreciate what a great thing the written word is. I was sitting down reading the memories and thoughts of a person regarded as a living deity by many, someone who since early childhood has been surrounded by others who believe him to be a reincarted spiritual leader, someone who's been the spiritual leader of around 6 million people since he was a child. And here I was, peering into the mind of this person. I also did not know much about the history behind the occupation of Tibet prior to reading this book, and I wanted to find out some more about a place which gave rise to spiritual traditions that I am very interested by. I'd also recently heard some news about a documentary, Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion, and as far as I remember the Dalai Lama did not want it screened, fearing that the lives of of some of the people featured in interviews in the documentary may be put at risk. He said that it was important that people knew what was happening in his homeland and that the documentary would help in that regard, but he felt that putting the lives of the people in the film at risk was not worth it. I'd found similar sentiments on websites dealing with Tibet when I was looking for places to visit for my holiday at the end of the year. Several sites warned against travelling in the area, whilst still mentioning that it is important that the outside world see what is really happening in Tibet. Like most people, I've heard the words "Free Tibet" before, but prior to reading this book I knew almost nothing about the specifics of what has happened in Tibet in the last half-century. The fact that people appear to be living in fear such that they willingly prevent others from finding out the truth about their homeland, despite obviously wanting others to see the truth of what is happening there, really encouraged me to find out a little more about Tibet.

I did end up finding the details about the typical Tibetan way of life (prior to Chinese occupation) fascinating. I was interested to hear that one of the problems a group of Tibetan refugees faced when having to settle in India was that they had to undertake burning to clear off land, but the settlers were extremely concerned because the burning was killing insects and other small creatures. Yet, despite this reverence for all forms of life, Tibetans in general still ate meat as vegetables were often scarce. They did not, however, slaughter the animals. This is a deed that the Buddhist majority passed on to the local Muslim population. The Dalai Lama himself said that he does still eat meat after a bout of juandice suffered when he was on a strict vegetarian diet.

Another thing that I found very interesting was the Dalai Lama speaking about science, which I am studying at uni (no, I am not an engineer...). I'd previously read a little about a study done by Dr. Herbert Benson in a Good Weekend magazine article, which detailed some remarkable sounding physiological phenomena observed in monks when in deep meditative states (increases in body temperature of 10 degrees Celcius, the monks drying out damp sheets draped over them despite freezing weather...). The Dalai Lama spoke about this study in his book, and it was interesting to look at identical information from two different perspectives. One one hand, you had a cold, rational, scientific approach to what was happening ("when the relaxation response is elicited, constituent nitric oxide is liberated"). On the other hand, you had the Dalai Lama talking about monks meditating on chakras and nadis, experiencing subtler levels of conciousness and experiencing death. The Dalai Lama himself spoke of the strong value he saw in modern science, which is why he agreed to such experimentation. It's interesting that all of the books I've ever read that have been written by advanced spiritual practitioners seem to indicate a strong respect for the worth of rational thought, yet the culture of science that I have come into contact with seems to have little genuine appreciation for subtler levels of experiencing the world (this would be a good time for me to recommend books written by Fritjof Capra).

Despite all the things that I found interesting in the autobiography, the aspect of the book that stood out the most to me was seeing how the way in which the Dalai Lama was brought up and educated produced the compassion and non-violence people see in him. He was not born as an enlightened being (his story about dribbling wads of spit onto people bowing towards him as a child attest to that). The humility in his writing makes him easy to relate to, and this makes the extraordinary compassion behind his writing seem completely believable and attainable. He speaks of the fiery nature of some of the people that he has known, and how others had milder natures, but despite this talk of the specific nature of certain people the autobiography was an affirmation of the Buddhist ideal that anyone is capable of being truly peaceful. The Dalai Lama wrote of how he felt that all religions are capable of producing good people, and through this book we certainly see the capability of the Buddhist tradition in producing a good person. Having seen this, it would take a hard heart to not feel some of the Dalai Lama's regret at the attempts to abolish religion in Tibet as part of its "liberation".