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Every now and then something neat happens. I've noticed the old chain of circumstantial events at work just recently, now that we've taken up the practice again. Certain stories drew me to certain places online, for example, and because I found the source pages of interest I've been going back to them occasionally to look for appropriate news.

Today I found this story at Annanova, just before I got sidetracked by the strange story of two people caught copulating in broad daylight on the Queen's lawn at Windsor Castle. The two stories might seem to have nothing to do with one another, but if you know some of what's behind everything, they do.

I found Lorepa's story intriguing in that strange way that means something important is afoot. I immediately thought, hey, I know this guy. I remembered Lorepa from some old book on Tibetan secret doctrines that I had read. In my head I associated him with the old Tibetan Buddhist shamans like Gampopa and Marpa – famous for shamanic deeds as well as for following the enlightenment path and not extremely moral about it at least in modern terms. In some research I did today I found one fellow, well respected in the path, who was married and had six concubines for purposes of meditational practice. Though that might seem immoral today, it wasn't always.

Strangely, Lorepa's name was missing from the book where I thought I had learned about him. So I started digging, and I found out why I know him. Lorepa founded the Drukpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, the path of sorcery. He's been gone from here for about seven centuries, probably got bored.

The Drukpa school wears red hats, which may mean nothing to most people, but if you're Native American or at least versed in some of the old knowledge of this country it is important. One of the Hopi prophecies that caught my interest when I was just a kid was about the Army of the Red Hat. Towards the end of this world and the beginning of the next one, the Army will rise up from the ground and conquer all the nations of the Earth. It'll take about two weeks. I've wondered about that prophecy for decades, about what it might mean and why I didn't feel especially bad about it.

Jigme Wangchuk had a dream which partly validated him as being the incarnation of Rinpoche Lorepa. That caught my attention, because it was a dream about a temple in a rocky part of Tibet, a building with an ornate dragon sculpture on the roof. I also remember that temple, it was a place I visited in a Dream some years ago when I woke up to the old ways. Like many of the places I've been in that way, it made very little practical sense to me. I just observed and filed the memory. Things like that have been important but understanding them takes many years. Often the real meaning isn't revealed until the time is right.

I'm not sure what I should say about this right now. As with most things I do, it's possible nothing more will come of it. But I feel a connection here, an explanation of who I am and what I do. There's more reason to credit the feelings I've had that Tibetan Buddhism isn't quite the only right answer, the sad feeling I get when I visit the Tibetan centers and the internal disagreements I have when listening to lectures of that school. I remember what the Dalai Lama said in the lecture we went to a few years ago in Bloomington – he gave about twenty seconds to a discussion of the part of the path I follow, and even though I understand why, I don't agree with that. The other part also works.

In the end it isn't about morality. It's about what works. Maybe what I've been looking for isn't in Tibet. The dragon school moved to Bhutan.

Hi, Boss! Welcome back!

http://www.answers.com/topic/drukpa#The_Dalai_Lama_and_others.27_view_of_the_Drukpa_and_allegations_of_.27sorcery.27
http://www.drukpa-council.org/
http://www.drukpacouncil.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=168%3Alorepa-returns&catid=40%3Agallery&Itemid=61&lang=en
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3549650.html