Ordinary Lives : A while ago we reminded Bodhicharya Ireland members to send in articles and news for the Irish Blog. This community is pretty spread out, some of you are following the Great Irish Emigrant Tradition, living at least some of the time in far away places, and are involved in a great diversity of things. Many of you are also firmly rooted in Ireland and elsewhere, living no less interesting lives, and doing great work on the ground, so if you feel moved to write an article for this blog, share thoughts about Dharma, or write an account of your activities related to the work of Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, we look forward to receiving them. Thanks to Bruno who has started the ball rolling!

Hello Friends,

Annie invited me to share a bit about what i am up to these days, so here goes. [If you are feeling bad because you haven't been abroad for years, this will do your head in so STOP READING NOW! LOL!]

I can't believe it, but i have already been living in Thailand two months so far this winter. Before i left Ireland, i spent some time guest-lecturing on Buddhism to theologians, philosophers and future secondary school teachers in Mater Dei Institute and University College, Dublin. 

Shortly after I arrived here in early December i was truly honoured to present a guest-lecture on the main points in the Heart Sutra to the faculty of Philosophy in Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, the oldest and most prestigious university in South East Asia. 

[For fans of the movies The King and I or Anna and the King, the university is named after the King of Siam'seldest son Chulalongkorn] The three-hour presentation was followed by a lively Q&A with those who attended - mainly monastic and lay M.A. and PhD students of Buddhism and Philosophy from Chula and Mahidol [the other major university in BKK which i taught at last year].

Now, myself and my husband Michael are living and writing on the Thai island Koh Chang which is situated in the Gulf of Thailand close to the Cambodian border.

I meditate a bit and write every day, then we walk the 2 mile length of our beach to have a good swim in the turquoise and jade warm waters at the other end. Dinner and some downloaded tv or a movie, then off to bed. [It is just midnight now and I am sitting on our bed in our little bungalow with a view, the TV on low in the background and the gorgeous Michael surfing away on his laptop beside me]

Having written mainly Buddhist contemplative/reflectional stuff before, i have decided to find interesting new ways of presenting the Buddha's teachings to non-buddhist readers in the form of a novel [which i am half finished now]. 

It is the first in a proposed series of 5 novels in a new genre i am calling 'Buddhist-Thrillers'. Called LONDON CALLING, the first one introduces the main character Jalu Yogi [a Tibetan lama who intervenes in world events and exposes/solves crimes] to a Da Vinci Code type escapade set in Spain... Think Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche meets Pedro Almodovar meets Dan Brown, and you're heading in the right general direction... Who knows, this one might even get published LOL!

We are just about to move home to the Cambodian coast for the next while where we plan to do more of the same plus a possible guest lecture in Phnom Penh.The plan, at the moment, is to return to Ireland some time mid-June. We will certainly come back to Thailand for a while before leaving for Morocco in April. Then, we will work our way along the coast of Spain and France, arriving in Paris at the end of May. The trip will finish in London with a show [David Hoyle, in Vauxhall Tavern] and the long-awaited summer show at the Victoria and Albert Museum... "David Bowie is"... his own personal archive, including costumes etc etc etc ... O Happy Day!

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche as a young monk

For the first time, I will not be there for Ringu Tulku Rinpoche's Dublin teachings, but i hope to attend his teachings somewhere else along the line. 

It would be lovely to meet up with you all over the Irish Summer some time, before we head off again on our travels... Next September is our 30th anniversary, so we are hoping to celebrate that somewhere interesting... After that, it's GOT to be a first trip to South America finally, doesn't it? LOL!

If you're not feeling totally sick of me wittering on about myself by now, please feel free to keep in touch, i would love to hear your news too.

i am on FaceBook [under 'Bruno Nua']
and my email is nuabruno@gmail.com

my blog is on brunonua.com

love to all,

bruno