{"id":2100,"date":"2013-07-06T21:17:56","date_gmt":"2013-07-06T20:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/?p=2100"},"modified":"2013-07-26T14:48:50","modified_gmt":"2013-07-26T13:48:50","slug":"holy-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/holy-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Holy Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"perspective\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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HOLY ISLAND: THREE PERSPECTIVES<\/span><\/b><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n

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You can\u2019t come to Holy Island and not be impressed!<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n
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For the naturalist, there is an abundance of wild plants including bluebells, primroses, wild strawberry, wild thyme, bog myrtle, the curiously-named quaking grass and pale butterwort, an insectivorous\u00a0<\/span>perennial that gets its nourishment from various flying bugs.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As well as the plants, there is also a surprising variety of wild life.\u00a0 Apart from a unique stock of Hebridean Eriskay ponies, there are bronze age Soay sheep and Saanen goats (confusingly for me, city born and raised, the goats are white and the sheep are brown). The goats may have been left on the island some seven-hundred years ago by the Vikings, I read somewhere.
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There is a large variety of birds including, the shy eider ducks, noisy oyster catchers and the hostile seagulls, the latter mainly nesting on the southern end of the island on a steep rock face. At this time of year, June\/July, the unwary visitor might be attacked by a seagull protecting its young nesting on the rocky western shore of the Firth of Clyde.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/i>The Community of Arran Seabed Trust<\/i>\u00a0has negotiated with the Scottish Parliament to assign Lamlash Bay a Marine Protected Area \u201cNo Take Zone\u201d which probably encourages common grey seals, basking sharks, porpoises, dolphins and the occasional minke whale to hunt their prey there; although\u00a0I’ve\u00a0only seen one seal and one shark on my various visits to the island.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Now, in the second half of June, the accommodation is filled with people here for Ringu Tulku Rinpoche\u2019s teaching on Karma Chagme\u2019s\u00a0A Quintessential Practice Unifying Mahamudra and Mahasiddhi:\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>and you can\u2019t help but be impressed with the full turnout for the teaching.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"DSC_0673\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 John Gallagher<\/p>\n

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John Gallagher stands out from the crowd.\u00a0 Hailing from Glasgow, John is over six-feet tall with a mop of jet black hair.\u00a0<\/span>John says he became interested in Buddhism only three-months before coming to the teaching.\u00a0 Although he was aware of the dharma he says,\u00a0I kind of always knew about Buddhism but I just\u00a0didn’t\u00a0do anything about it.\u00a0 I\u00a0wasn’t\u00a0really looking for it.\u00a0 I knew it existed, I knew there were places in Glasgow.\u00a0 I felt a bit, not apprehensive, but a bit wary about it.\u00a0 Not in a bad way.\u00a0 I thought I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0really need it at all.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Because of some recent incidents that happened in his life, John began to look to Buddhism to try to make sense of what was happening to him.\u00a0 He became interested in the practices and decided that they would offer some kind of support by allowing him to develop a mindful approach to his problems.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He says of his first introduction to Buddhism,\u00a0My first experience\u2026was through my college. I was going through a bit of stress through work and dealing with certain things that came up, with college and with people as well. I needed to get more focus back because I thought I was going astray\u2026I needed something to focus my mind on.\u00a0 I knew that Buddhism was actually a good thing for training your mind.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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John also sensed that the sangha would offer him a social aspect to Buddhism as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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John first found out about Ringu Tulku Rinpoche through a friend.\u00a0 Coincidentally, someone in his college told him about the Holy Isle Project and that Rinpoche would be giving a teaching there.\u00a0 He made some enquiries and after meeting Ani Sherab in Glasgow who told him about how she came to be a nun, he decided he would attend some classes.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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About the teaching at Holy Isle, John explains,\u00a0I think I picked the teaching up pretty well.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember all of it, but when Ringu Tulku Rinpoche is teaching I find it goes in very easily.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He also commented on the questions asked at the teaching:\u00a0\u00a0I find that when people ask complicated quest<\/i>ions at the end of a session, they seem to be overly complicated.\u00a0 The answers sometimes seem to be a lot better than the questions.\u00a0 He sometimes takes a while to think about the question\u2026then gives a simple answer.\u00a0 The answer is a lot clearer\u00a0<\/i>[than the question].\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"DSC_0640\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Anita Selva<\/p>\n

Anita Selva is from Seven Oaks in Kent. \u00a0She is a tad reluctant to categorise herself as a Buddhist: \u00a0<\/span>I’m<\/i><\/span>\u00a0from Seven Oaks in Kent.\u00a0 I have taken refuge but still don\u2019t like to use the term, “I am a Buddhist”.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0generally say that, but I guess I am, without the labels.\u00a0 I took refuge at Kopan Monastery, in Nepal a couple of years ago from a Lama who came from India and I just finished a one-month retreat there.\u00a0 I was thinking of taking refuge again yesterday but I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0so\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/i>The retreat was a <\/span><\/i>lamrin<\/span> retreat, sort of mixed teachings, half and half silence and meditation.\u00a0 Quite intense, that one.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Anita considers that her experience of Buddhism before the retreat was intellectual and theoretical, so the practical experience of the retreat itself was “quite intense”.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Of her family life, Anita’s family had \u00a0more of a secular approach to their religion: \u00a0\u00a0My parents are Hindus but they\u2019re not very religious, only when there\u2019s a death or something.\u00a0\u00a0You don\u2019t notice anything religious going on.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t really put up with much religion.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/i>In her self-appraisal of where she had come to in her experience of Buddhism, Anita was discovering different types of Buddhism: \u00a0After Nepal I carried on travelling.\u00a0\u00a0I went to visit family, Malaysia, Australia, a few different places, Thailand.\u00a0\u00a0I forgot the practices I had learned in meditation.\u00a0\u00a0I found differences in the types of Buddhism I saw in my travels.\u00a0I’ve\u00a0seen Thailand.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s very different, the way they carried out the rituals and everything and I found\u00a0I’m\u00a0still a complete beginner so it\u2019s very new to me.\u00a0\u00a0I’m\u00a0still learning. A lot of it was very different.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/i>Anita first heard of Ringu Tulku Rinpoche about four-years ago when she attended one of his talks in London. \u00a0She heard about this through her partner and “just went along”. \u00a0Much of what she gleaned from the talk she felt was slightly interesting but it didn’t make a big impression on her. \u00a0Gradually, Anita came to understand more about the practice. \u00a0She wasn’t sure if she had made the right decision to come to Holy Island, but she was happy to be here: \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I’m\u00a0glad I came,\u00a0<\/i>she says.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Anita found the course relaxing compared to the retreat she had done at Kopan Monastery. \u00a0She felt,\u00a0very chilled out, people are really friendly, welcoming.\u00a0\u00a0I really liked it.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not too separate.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s integrated.\u00a0\u00a0Learning how to integrate, I think that\u2019s important as well because\u00a0I’m\u00a0used to it being very disciplined, the last retreat, being told off\u2026<\/i>you must be in silence, that kind of thing. \u00a0<\/i>The course here is very relaxed compared to the other meditation retreat I’ve done.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/i>Again, Anita reiterates her dislike of having to declare a particular practice:\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0I like to pick and choose and not have to box myself into any thing.\u00a0\u00a0That was my real aversion to it to start with, the whole religion thing. So I don\u2019t like to think about that side of it.\u00a0\u00a0Just sit and listen to the teachings; that helps me in day to day life.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/i>Of her diet, Anita is articulate: \u00a0I’m\u00a0a vegetarian for ethical reasons, mainly.\u00a0\u00a0But it\u2019s also learning about the health reasons.\u00a0\u00a0All the suffering of all the animals.\u00a0\u00a0On my own, I\u00a0couldn’t\u00a0bear the thought of cutting up raw meat.\u00a0\u00a0I just stopped having it.\u00a0\u00a0I’ve\u00a0been a vegetarian now for about six or seven-years. My mum was brought up as a vegetarian but she started eating meat when she met my dad.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/i>That the state of one’s mind can be communicated to animals, Anita is certain:\u00a0\u00a0I teach horse-riding so I try to keep up the mindfulness when\u00a0I’m\u00a0teaching as well.\u00a0\u00a0I meditate, not as often as I should, but it\u2019s more mindfulness to me, just being aware.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t set a time every day when I sit and meditate, but I come on this retreat, go home and try and do it again.\u00a0\u00a0When I go to a horse show, I sit and still everything, just for a minute.\u00a0\u00a0But\u00a0I’m\u00a0not into any particular practice at the moment, but I do\u00a0shinay.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/i>I think that general stillness can be transferred to animals, that peaceful calmness in you.\u00a0\u00a0My horse definitely knows when\u00a0I’m\u00a0a bit agitated, if\u00a0I’m\u00a0riding in a more ego-centred way.\u00a0\u00a0If you let things just flow, you\u2019re listening more to them and you\u2019re just kind of calm and still.\u00a0\u00a0So I think it does definitely help a lot.\u00a0\u00a0I’m\u00a0quite interested in that aspect of meditation.\u00a0\u00a0Dressage is what I do, so you have to quieten the mind.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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\"DSC_0646\"<\/a>
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Julian with his son Max<\/p>\n

Julian Stollmeyer was born and raised in Trinidad. \u00a0He lived in the United States for thirty-four years but went back to live in Trinidad to stay only one-year ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The primary reason I went to America was my interest in Buddhism and after seeing <\/i>Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche I went back to Trinidad for a year or two; but I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0find any dharma or Buddhist sangha in Trinidad and I felt this very strong yearning to connect with the teaching.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Julian’s experience of Buddhism was established some years ago: \u00a0Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche is my primary teacher, my root guru, but he brought over numerous teachers also – the <\/i>Karmapa, Tai Situ<\/i> <\/i><\/strong>Rinpoche <\/i>and<\/i> Thrangu Rinpoche<\/i> – <\/i>over many years.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/span>Before he came to Holy Island, Julian’s knowledge of Ringu Tulku Rinpoche was from a previous visit by his friend to Montserrat in the Carribean:\u00a0\u00a0A friend of mine from Trinidad met Lama Rinchen in Montserrat some ten-years ago and invited him to teach in Trinidad. \u00a0<\/i>Lama Rinchen now has a sangha in Trinidad and Tobago that is now a part of Bodhicharya Caribbean.<\/span><\/p>\n

Julian’s first meeting with Ringu Tulku Rinpoche was some time ago:\u00a0\u00a0I first met RTR about 20 or 30-years ago in the nineties when he came to Colorado and taught at Naropa Institute.\u00a0\u00a0I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0hear much about him again until a couple of years ago when I was in Colorado.\u00a0\u00a0His presentation of the dharma\u00a0hasn’t\u00a0changed that much, though I don\u2019t have a very precise memory of what he taught back then.\u00a0\u00a0I remember the same, down-to-earth, accessible quality about the way he teaches.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/span>Julian says he has enjoyed his stay on the island. \u00a0The teaching, as well as the food, he found to be memorable: \u00a0Holy Isle is unique.\u00a0 I’ve never seen anything like it; an island in Europe that\u2019s a Buddhist island.\u00a0 The kind of sacred quality that it has, obviously being a practice-oriented place, maintaining the natural state.\u00a0 Very little has been done to change [the environment]. \u00a0You can really see the love and kindness that\u2019s gone into cooking too.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Of the teaching, Julian has this to say: \u00a0The commentary on the text was clear.\u00a0\u00a0Rinpoche explains things very well.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The course ends and the\u00a0participants\u00a0depart to return to their homes. \u00a0That Holy Island is a unique environment for the teaching of the dharma is unquestionable. \u00a0As Julian says, the Island has a “kind of sacred quality”. \u00a0And it is the memory of the Island and the teaching that the visitors will take with them. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sunset Over Arran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  HOLY ISLAND: THREE PERSPECTIVES You can\u2019t come to Holy Island and not be impressed! For the naturalist, there is an abundance of wild plants including bluebells, primroses, wild strawberry, wild thyme, bog myrtle, the curiously-named quaking grass and pale butterwort, an insectivorous\u00a0perennial that gets its nourishment from various flying bugs. As well as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[31,24,22,34,27,33,29,30,32,23,26,25,28],"class_list":["post-2100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal-stories","tag-a-quintissential","tag-eriskay-ponies","tag-holy-isand","tag-karma-chagme","tag-lamlash-bay","tag-mahabudra-and-mahasidhi","tag-minke-whale","tag-porpoise","tag-practice-unifying","tag-ringu-tulku-rinpoche","tag-saanen-goats","tag-soay-sheep","tag-the-community-of-arran-seabed-trust"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHoly Island - Many Roads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/holy-island\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Albert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/holy-island\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/holy-island\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Albert\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d65113da84d62fbc945e6ee35f823e2a\"},\"headline\":\"Holy Island\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-06T20:17:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-26T13:48:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/holy-island\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1996,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/holy-island\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/files\\\/2013\\\/07\\\/6549D-perspective.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"A Quintissential\",\"Eriskay Ponies\",\"Holy Isand\",\"Karma Chagme\",\"Lamlash Bay\",\"Mahamudra and Mahasidhi\",\"minke whale\",\"porpoise\",\"Practice Unifying\",\"Ringu Tulku Rinpoche\",\"Saanen Goats\",\"Soay Sheep\",\"The Community of Arran Seabed Trust\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Personal Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/holy-island\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/holy-island\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/holy-island\\\/\",\"name\":\"Holy Island - 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Currently \"recovering\" from culture shock from having re-entered the UK after travelling for the past year in various countries. Now spending most of my time raising funds for destitute children in the northern part of Nepal - Helambu region - and editing Many Roads for the Bodhicharya website.","sameAs":["http:\/\/blowthegaff.blogspot.co.uk"],"url":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/author\/avrom108\/"}]}},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"shareaholic-thumbnail":false,"gform-image-choice-sm":false,"gform-image-choice-md":false,"gform-image-choice-lg":false,"mailchimp":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Albert","author_link":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/author\/avrom108\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"  HOLY ISLAND: THREE PERSPECTIVES You can\u2019t come to Holy Island and not be impressed! For the naturalist, there is an abundance of wild plants including bluebells, primroses, wild strawberry, wild thyme, bog myrtle, the curiously-named quaking grass and pale butterwort, an insectivorous\u00a0perennial that gets its nourishment from various flying bugs. 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