Tomas Stories n' Links

Good morning; it is raining outside this morning, very wet but no storms; it is about 60 degrees out there. It is quiet and peaceful here at home.
Peace is a state of mind, and area of quiet, a religious cense/sense.
Mom has gone to work.
My mind is distracted there should be an overwhelming understanding of peace settled peacefully in my being; it is normally there; maybe I am waiting for the gift to arrive. Some things never are here or never have been but peace has always been here it just takes time to see.

They could be Enlightened 

Tassajara Buddhist Meditation Center & Hot Springs 

This where Kyle and I sat and enjoyed our feast

1967-68
I remember Kyle asking me if I wanted to go to a Buddhist monastery somewhere near Carmel in California. I agreed and we started hitching and walking to Carmel. We asked directions in Carmel about a Buddhist monastery somewhere in those hills. We did get a ride to the side road that went into the mountain where the monastery was located. We started walking up the winding road when some Buddhist monks came along in a car. They were just coming back from the city (San Francisco). They knew where we were going because the road only went to the monastery. They gave us a ride the rest of the way.

The monastery was set in front of a rock faced cliff. It looked as if some of the buildings were carved out of the stone, something like Mount Rushmore. Other wooden buildings were set in the foreground. I think that it had been some kind of resort at one time.

When we arrived, they let us in, and they said that we would have to beg for everything. We wandered around, looked into their chapel, and watched as some said their prayers. They gave us an empty wooden bowl and said we were to beg for something to eat. I didn't like that, but Kyle was determined. So, we begged and received brown rice and an orange.

 We sat on the ground, making a peaceful ceremony of eating and enjoyed what we got. 

We watched some men working who were not in Monk robes. They seamed eager to please and were pleasant to talk to. They were digging holes out by the garden. We asked one of the robed monk who they were and what they were doing. He said that they were the most spiritually enlightened. After begging and eating, they showed us something that was close to enlightenment for them.

They walked us to one of the rock buildings and told us to come in. When we got inside, we felt the warmth of hot water. We ended up near a deep rectangular pit chiseled from the rock, a hot spring of their very own. They said we could go in. We went in, and it was hot, but it was good. We could understand how they could be enlightened. The water was fine.

They said that if we were to stay there at the monastery, that we would have to do what they said. Coming from my background, begging was not about to happen. I had begged all my life for some understanding, and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel was something new to me, even if it was sometimes purple. I was not going to dig another tunnel for them to see the light that I was already seeing.

Kyle was ready for the challenge, but I was not. I refused. I wanted to do whatever I wanted. Kyle was upset, but he came back to Morningstar anyway.

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The photo below looks like Kyle but I am not sure and I can assume it is not.