Saturday, 27 June 2020
Thursday, 25 June 2020
Wednesday, 24 June 2020
Tuesday, 23 June 2020
Friday, 12 June 2020
Thursday, 11 June 2020
Saturday, 6 June 2020
A Nightmare of a ceremony , A Warning from the Medicine Buddha,
Back in 98 I was training Kung fu regularly with a Chinese Master who is also a Buddhist teacher of the True Buddha School. One day he called me and said he needed some rubber ink stamps, the old fashioned type with individual letters that you assemble into words to create the stamp.
My teacher didn't often ask me to do things for him so I knew he expected it to be done.I thought it would be easy task to complete because I knew my mother had set of rubber stamps just like he wanted and I could borrow them. So I said "sure no problem" and promptly called my Father who said he would put them in the post. A Few weeks later the stamps had not arrived, and my teacher came to me very angry and said I told you to get me those stamps.He was unusually angry.So I called my Father, and asked about them, my Father was irritated and said why are you bothering me about this when your Mother is ill. I had not known she was ill and it transpired she was very ill , so made arrangements to go home to visit her. (The stamps were never mentioned again). I stayed a few days spoke to her and we agreed I would return to London that weekend for a Medicine Buddha ceremony.(she was quite a religious person)
The ceremony was in a different space to usual , a hired space. There was visiting Master.It was a logistical nightmare to set up the space for the event.The event started late and the visiting Master insisted on chanting the "Medicine Buddha" mantra endlessly , as he did so the letters spelling the name of the Medicine Buddha above the shrine began to fall of the wall.My teacher looked extremely concerned.The event overran causing issues with venue and to top it all it was pouring with rain as we had to pack everything up.When we finally all got back to our Temple space and after we had unpacked the van.We were all standing with our teacher who turned to us and said , "What an absolute nightmare! I have never been to a Buddhist ceremony like that.Even the letters fell of the wall! Something very bad is going to happen!"
At that precise moment the phone rang it was my Father to let me know my mother had taken a turn for the worst and did have long to live.I returned on the train to see see her that evening and she died a couple of days later.
My teacher didn't often ask me to do things for him so I knew he expected it to be done.I thought it would be easy task to complete because I knew my mother had set of rubber stamps just like he wanted and I could borrow them. So I said "sure no problem" and promptly called my Father who said he would put them in the post. A Few weeks later the stamps had not arrived, and my teacher came to me very angry and said I told you to get me those stamps.He was unusually angry.So I called my Father, and asked about them, my Father was irritated and said why are you bothering me about this when your Mother is ill. I had not known she was ill and it transpired she was very ill , so made arrangements to go home to visit her. (The stamps were never mentioned again). I stayed a few days spoke to her and we agreed I would return to London that weekend for a Medicine Buddha ceremony.(she was quite a religious person)
The ceremony was in a different space to usual , a hired space. There was visiting Master.It was a logistical nightmare to set up the space for the event.The event started late and the visiting Master insisted on chanting the "Medicine Buddha" mantra endlessly , as he did so the letters spelling the name of the Medicine Buddha above the shrine began to fall of the wall.My teacher looked extremely concerned.The event overran causing issues with venue and to top it all it was pouring with rain as we had to pack everything up.When we finally all got back to our Temple space and after we had unpacked the van.We were all standing with our teacher who turned to us and said , "What an absolute nightmare! I have never been to a Buddhist ceremony like that.Even the letters fell of the wall! Something very bad is going to happen!"
At that precise moment the phone rang it was my Father to let me know my mother had taken a turn for the worst and did have long to live.I returned on the train to see see her that evening and she died a couple of days later.
Thursday, 4 June 2020
Mr K's Nghtmare - The Old School House (Part 2)
Back in about 94/95 when when i was deep into the Ldn Acid Techno scene i went to two parties about a month apart in a old old school house in north London. The main room sounds were supplied by the Liberator Djs and Dj Aztek among others. A friend of mine D.C. was playing house and "dope beats" in the chill out room. These parties were memorable for a host of reasons. In addition to the music and the hedonism, there were some awesome looking "Sabrettes" in the house, The decor was minimal and Tribal . Hung from the rafters in main room was a large wooden sculpture of a pterodactyl.
In Part 1 I wrote about the sense of group telepathy and communion ,experienced at some of the early raves, described by Terrance Mckenna as a "trance state" evoked by the music, dance an urban ritual, at times akin to shamanism . These two parties at the old school house were memorable in all those respects ,the highs and the ultimate low was immense.
I've blogged elsewhere about these parties in relation to the "Maya" and "Dreams becoming reality" with my friends, Kris G, and Snooze. It was also at one of these parties as I sat in thd chill room that I had a conversation with an Arabic looking skinhead who told me about the Optimist Creed and showed me his "ohm" tattoo.
Another vivid memory at one of these parties was seeing a young child at a rave playing with his toy drum , it gave me a new perspective on the idea of psychic youth and was around that time I first saw the film Akira. In fact the flyers to these parties reminded me of Akira's jacket in the film.
I think it was these parties that led me to MegaTripolis, Nuclear Free Zone and Zero Gravity
But it all came to a frightful end as at the height of the second party some unfortunate fellow was destined to meet his maker and to quote Mr Kirk's nightmare again "He died of an overdose," . I was dancing next to him when he had a seizure. I felt an intense energy rush as he has the seizure and a distortion of time light and sound. Till this day I've never really talked about it, (I probably should have, I found it quite traumatic to experience death up close in such a heightened sensory environment.) The ambulance arrived and the rave ended abruptly. Everyone who attended had to give our names to the Police as we left the party. In fact I remember someone saying as we left they didn't know how the rave ever happened as the police station was just the other side of the road.
Another vivid memory at one of these parties was seeing a young child at a rave playing with his toy drum , it gave me a new perspective on the idea of psychic youth and was around that time I first saw the film Akira. In fact the flyers to these parties reminded me of Akira's jacket in the film.
I think it was these parties that led me to MegaTripolis, Nuclear Free Zone and Zero Gravity
But it all came to a frightful end as at the height of the second party some unfortunate fellow was destined to meet his maker and to quote Mr Kirk's nightmare again "He died of an overdose," . I was dancing next to him when he had a seizure. I felt an intense energy rush as he has the seizure and a distortion of time light and sound. Till this day I've never really talked about it, (I probably should have, I found it quite traumatic to experience death up close in such a heightened sensory environment.) The ambulance arrived and the rave ended abruptly. Everyone who attended had to give our names to the Police as we left the party. In fact I remember someone saying as we left they didn't know how the rave ever happened as the police station was just the other side of the road.