Transfer of Consciousness – Phowa – Implications?

January 4, 2026 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

It would be unusual for a kosher or pukka erstwhile science academic to have experience with the Six Yogas of Naropa and Phowa practice in particular. This kind of scientist is likely to be sceptical. Yet it seems I may have familiarity.

My scholar GPS entry can be found at: click here.

I have more publications in mainstream science than I do in the Buddhist literature. The publication number on this GPS web page is low. I also have three granted high technology patents two in Extreme Ultraviolet and one more recently on a Quantum Entangled Photon Pair Source.

This morning’s dream is no surprise to me. I have done extensive meditation involving central channel chakras and beyond. There is sufficient dreaming “evidence” to suggest that I have past life recall. So it would be no surprise, in context, if I had done some at death transfer of consciousness practice. There is a mild implication that I have something to offer in terms of knowledge pertaining.

The question is what if anything to do with it?

Is it just a curiosity or is there some other purpose?

The dream this morning hints at a more recent incarnation than my ongoing tally had suggested.

I might be able to modernise, is the first notion which comes to mind.

It was a nice dream which has provided a pleasant start to the year.

In a time in which we wake up and ask before turning on the TV, “what the fuck has Trump gone and done now?”

The initial omens for the year are not good…

Dream Yoga or Milam – Waking Up In The Dream

December 30, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

I’ll kick off with a speculation. This is that many people encounter their own personal room 101 in the dream state and experience that as a scary nightmare.

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This morning I had imagery in the dream state which might have unsettled me. It did not. It is more likely to cause others to metaphorically “shit a brick”. If you are fully aware {and confident} of the fact of dreaming there is no need to fear. This skill can be transferred in to “real” life (IRL). You can face fears in your dreams and thereby realise that most of them are made up and nearly all of them are distinctly out of proportion.

I’ll speculate that dreaming practice can be used to face the illusory quality of many fears.

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Dream yoga or milam (Tibetan: རྨི་ལམ་རྣལ་འབྱོར་, Wylie: rmi lam rnal ‘byor, THL: milam naljor; Sanskrit: स्वप्नदर्शनयोग, svapnadarśanayoga)—the Yoga of the Dream State—is a suite of advanced tantric sadhana of the entwined Mantrayana lineages of Dzogchen (Nyingmapa, Ngagpa, Mahasiddha, Kagyu and Bönpo). Dream yoga consists of tantric processes and techniques within the trance Bardos of Dream and Sleep (Standard Tibetan: mi-lam bardo) Six Dharmas of Naropa. In the tradition of the tantra, the dream yoga method is usually passed on by a qualified teacher to his/her students after necessary initiation. Various Tibetan lamas are unanimous that it is more of a passing of an enlightened experience rather than any textual information.{{In Tibetan Buddhist traditions, dream yoga is often taught alongside the practices of the illusory body (gyulu) and the clear light (ösel). Classical sources such as the Six Dharmas of Naropa describe these as interconnected methods within a single cycle of tantric training, aimed at maintaining awareness across waking, dreaming, and deep sleep states. Contemporary teachers likewise present them as complementary practices: daytime illusory-body training supports lucid dreaming at night, and both practices are considered preparatory for recognizing the luminous nature of mind in clear-light meditation.

The ‘dream body’ and the ‘bardo body’ have been identified with the ‘vision body’ (Tibetan: yid lus):

In the bardo one has…the yilü (Wylie: yid lus), the vision body (yid, consciousness; lus, body). It is the same as the body of dreams, the mind body.

In the yoga of dreaming (rmi lam, *svapna), the yogi learns to remain aware during the states of dreaming (i.e. to lucid dream) and uses this skill to practice yoga in the dream

Bon

Mi-lam, also known as dream yoga in the Tibetan tradition, is a method for remaining aware during the dream state in order to realize the emptiness of dreams & apply this realization to both dreams & waking life. In Bön, dream yoga is part of Dzogchen teaching, which stresses the clear light nature of the mind, while inducing lucid dreaming and conscious transcending of dream imagery.

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Excerpted from Wikipedia

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The Six Dharmas of Nāropa (Wylie: na ro’i chos drug, Skt. ṣaḍdharma, “Naro’s six doctrines” or “six teachings”) are a set of advanced Tibetan Buddhist tantric practices compiled by the Indian mahasiddhas Tilopa and Nāropa (1016–1100 CE) and passed on to the Tibetan translator-yogi Marpa Lotsawa (c. 1012).

Another name for the six Dharmas is “the oral instruction transmission for achieving liberation in the bardo,” or “the Bardo Trang-dol system”. Bardo here, refers to the three bardos of waking, sleep and dying. They are also referred to as “the path of means” (thabs lam) in Kagyu literature. They are also sometimes called the Six Yogas of Nāropa (though not in the traditional literature which never uses the term ṣaḍaṅga-yoga or sbyor-drug)

Lineage

The teachings of Tilopa (988–1069 CE) are the earliest known work on the six dharmas. He received these from various teachers. According to Glenn Mullin, Tilopa’s lineage teachers were the mahasiddhas Nagarjuna (not to be confused with the Madhyamaka philosopher), Lawapa, Luipada, Shavari, and Krishnacharya. Furthermore, the sources for this compilation of tantric practices were said to be the Guhyasamaja Tantra, the Hevajra Tantra and the Chaturpitha Tantra.

Nāropa learned the six dharmas from Tilopa. Nāropa’s student Marpa taught the Tibetan Milarepa, renowned for his yogic skills. Milarepa in turn taught Gampopa, who wrote various meditation manuals (khrid chos or khrid yig) on the six dharmas, which are collected in the Dakpö Kambum (The Manifold Sayings of Dakpo) in a section titled “Meditation manuals on the six dharmas of Naropa” (na ro ‘i chos drug gi khrid yig). From Gampopa these teachings were passed on to the various Kagyu sub-schools and lineages where they remain a central practice.

Excerpted from Wikipedia

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I’ll speculate that it is possible to consider me reasonably skilled at dream yoga and without doubt, prolific at it.

A recent dream excerpt suggested familiarity with Naropa.

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“The scene changes to some kind of school / dharma centre. There are a number of children playing there and they are under supervision. There is a teaching hierarchy and embedded method. I arrive with a couple of people and go through to look at the day book which records what happens. It is clear that I am there to teach more than just the children. I sit in the “staff room” and add a few elements to the book, specifically my dream about the Snow Tiger. A woman teases me that I will need to use shorthand and not full text. The centre is up in the mountains and has a great view over the valley below. I open up the blinds some more to look out. They are all wondering what it is that I will do.

I am joined by a tall woman with long blonde hair. She has a faint American accent and is heavily pregnant. I ask her how long she has got left. Not long. I say that she could have it on the 30^th of August and have the same birthday as me. That way the kid will always be a bank holiday baby. She asks what it is that I am interested in. I say that I have an idea around Naropa and that I am well placed to speak on Naropa. In my orb are some things related. For some reason I have a distinct sense of familiarity with the woman. The young man from before will be joining us as some kind of understudy to me.”

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In the context solely of dreaming I am perhaps well placed to speak upon such things. It is clear to me that the so-called “spiritual” dream yogas may have little to do with the psychological approach to REM based studies and Western {psycho} interpretation. The aim of yoga being liberation and not having a groovy far-out time {man}. Nor is it about getting research papers published. An instrument based upon electromagnetism is not necessarily well-suited to the study of consciousness phenomena.

The basis {and goal} of dream yoga can be said to be waking up in the dream. That is waking up to that fact that you dream both at night and during the day. The “reality” in which you propagate your life is a largely social-political mental construct replete with wildly swinging emotions. What you think is real is illusion. That fear of missing out, is just some shit you made up. Yet somehow you place importance on something made up. Hence the endless cycle of rebirth.

If you can be lucid in your dreams at night, it follows that you have experimental evidence that you can be lucid in your dreams during the day. IRL…

If you know you are dreaming then you are less attached, less obsessed and a tad more free. To be aware and passive during dreaming is to observe in a detached manner. One can in this sense be mindfully aware of the dream as it evolves, reel to reel, on the inner screen. Thus one can transfer an operational observational mindfulness onto the apparent events and happenstance of the day. One has a clear mind, a clear light. One sees the folly of the day to day; one has to interact but can do so without obsession. After all it is only a dream. You have to live. You do not have to be so utterly beholden to what you imagine to be happening.

Dreaming loosens obsession and reduces the gripping clinging interpretations made of concrete mind. Things are less polarised, less black and white and adamant.

Dreaming above all opens mind to new perspectives and knowledge. It is never by way of what I call portcullis-mind.

If you can wake up in the dream at night, you can and must wake up during the day…

That is the inner logic of dreaming.

Dream Data Summary

December 28, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

Here are the number of dreams which I have remembered and written up as a word document the following morning. In 2022 the wife was very ill with Myeloma and had high dose chemotherapy / stem cell transplant. The data appears to dip.

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As can be seen from the graph 2025 was a bumper year for dreams at 135 so far.

I could include word count in the data.

Here are the data for 2025 in a per month view.

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From memory August is always busy. I had a total hip replacement on 21-11-2025 and it looks {roughly} as if the dream number count has been tailing off since.

The average is above ten dreams per month!!!

Many dream write-ups are in excess of 500 words long.

The Tulku-Rinpoche Thread – Some Thoughts – Dream Follow Up.

December 23, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

I’ll kick this off with an observation. Much to do with Tibet is complex and almost impenetrable to the minds of those not raised there or deeply embedded into the culture thereof. The political history too is highly complex and subject to rapid changes and swings in direction. The iconography is also highly stylised and complicated.

It is fair to say that the recognition of high lama reincarnations is an ongoing hot topic between Tibet and China. To the extent that it is a political hot potato. This due to the influence and sometime power wielded by the Panchen and Dalai lamas. There is some evidence of divide and rule Chinese shenanigans historically. The Chinese have sought to provide a legal and bureaucratic framework for the within Tibet recognition of Tulku incarnations. Perhaps subjecting it to ancient quasi-Confucian bureaucracy.

You need a “chit” from the government to be an official Tulku incarnation…

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The Articles of the State Religious Affairs Bureau Order No. 5 are as follows:

These “Management measures for the reincarnation of living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism” were passed at the administrative affairs conference of the State Administration of Religious Affairs on July 13, 2007, and will be implemented on September 1, 2007.

On August 3, 2007, China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs issued a decree that all the reincarnations of tulkus of Tibetan Buddhism must get government approval, otherwise they are “illegal or invalid”. The decree states, “It is an important move to institutionalize management on reincarnation of living Buddhas. The selection of reincarnates must preserve national unity and solidarity of all ethnic groups and the selection process cannot be influenced by any group or individual from outside the country.” It also requires that temples which apply for reincarnation of a living Buddha must be “legally-registered venues for Tibetan Buddhism activities and are capable of fostering and offering proper means of support for the living Buddha.”

Reincarnation Applications have to be submitted to four governmental bodies for approval, specifically the religious affairs department of the provincial-level government, the provincial-level government, State Administration for Religious Affairs, and the State Council.

Excerpted from Wikipedia

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Traditionally there have been a number of means used to recognise Tulku incarnations. The first being a letter of intent or clue as to the future nature and place of incarnation left by the soon to pass Bodhisattva. Then dreams and visions play a role in finding the incarnation. The new incarnation may recall his name and make verbal claims as to prior birth when young. Candidate Tulkus are often tested with belongings of prior incarnations, especially if the candidate has had a relatively recent death. The idea being that a newly incarnate might recognise his old stuff. An incarnate adept may show untoward high aptitude in study. People may recognise the essence of their erstwhile teacher. Ultimately it is the clairvoyance of the pure wisdom mind of a currently incarnate high lama who might give the seal of approval. An alternate is a shamanic golden urn drawing of lots akin to the Hogwarts sorting hat. The ritual points directly at the newly incarnate being from among a list of candidates.

The Tulku practice in general often has controversy with sometimes competing claimants for the same throne or titular lineage head-ship.

A number of Western Tulkus have been recognised including a possible dakini incarnation. These recognised Tulkus have not generally gone on to fit the traditional modus operandi of a Tulku birth for a being born in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan etc. They do not have training as a child and hence may not be well prepared to adopt the role as lineage holder or enthroned head. They are changed by their western influence and perhaps body. There is some discussion that such western tulkus are a “failed” experiment. Some Tulkus are discovered late. Some in the crib.

Most of the recognised Tulkus have an interaction with Tibetan Buddhism of some form or another, already. Logic says that if they did not they could not be recognised because there would be nobody around them to recognise them.

I have had quite a number of dreams in which things Tibetan have popped up. I have had a dream with a cabinet and a dream with a rosary. These might be prior life artefacts. I have had dreams with Naropa and various Dalai lamas and Karmapa. I have had dreams with other Buddhist masters like Dilgo Khyentse and Chogyam Trungpa.

My only direct linkage with Himalayan Buddhist tradition has been Karma Kagyu and the Dzong in London where I did Guru Rinpoche and White Tara initiations under Akong Rinpoche.

Only of late have Tibetan scripts made an appearance in dreams. And only of late have I had Tibetan coloured robes. I am reasonably comfortable with the notion that I have had several Buddhist incarnations stretching back. I have “resonance” with certain teachings. I am not however of a purely Buddhist orientation. I also have Toltec and Occult leanings.

My attempts to “find” a named person in a prior life so far, in Himalayan Buddhism, are without success or obvious candidate. There is a possibility of an Indian incarnation way back and there is much to do with the nagas.

I can see numerous problems. Were I to be recognised as some “important” geezer that would raise the question as to what to do with me. Am I better kept secret? It would be a rare occurrence for someone with my extensive scientific background and advancing age to be recognised. It provides both problem and opportunity. I am a quantum superposition state of Buddhist and scientist-geek. Potentially I am bi-lingual. The legal ramifications in the complex Tibetan system are unknown to me. There may be some weird socio-political stuff about which I know zero.

Clearly as being outside of Tibet I would not fall under the Chinese bureaucratic decree. I don’t fit the Beijing criteria.

It could be a public relations nightmare for the academic institutions to which I once pertained and at which I taught. How would they handle the press which might result? How would they deal with a Tulku incarnation in their PR and blurb? For example although Chogyam Trungpa claimed he studied at Oxford, I can find no mention of him in the PR. He of course was a controversial figure who went on to found Naropa university in Colorado. August UK academic institutions can be ultra-conservative and protective of reputation. It might take hundreds of years before any open acknowledgement.

There is no way for me to pursue this thread other than to research and dream. It is possibly best left in an obscurity as a mild anomaly…

We shall see what dreams may or may not follow…

Plot Twists and Quirks of Fate

December 17, 2025December 17, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

There are a number of instances when I look back on this life and can see intuitions, forebodings and dreams. Several years later, more than decades in some cases, events which can be perceived as being foretold, come to pass. Something has perhaps heralded something else many years in advance. The sceptical scientist could say that it is my confirmation bias, I wanted these “predictions” to come true in order to fulfil a personal pet theory. A similar story can he told for some of the wife’s dreams. A retrospective look at dated material suggests a current event predicted. I have enough confidence in this phenomena that should a “prediction” come true I am not surprised, nor is it a big deal. It is normal in this house.

I have an overarching assimilation for many things which have taken place. This may or may not be “proven” by events upcoming. My hypothetical assimilation is simple yet far-reaching. I will not be surprised if it is correct nor will I be surprised if it is wrong. The gist may be better than the detail. It pertains to the karma of other people which is not mine to address.

My life has already had a number of changes of direction and one could say that these are by way of precedent. As such I will not be at all surprised if life has a least one more sudden and “unexpected” change. Fate may yet have some quirks up her sleeve.

Of late we have been watching a number of fairly modern TV series in which the narrative device involves multiple apparent plot twists, which are “unexpected”. These can be portrayed by showing a snippet of action from before or after. They seem to be trying overly hard to be complicated and clever. The consequence is that they introduce an incredulity into the narrative. “If that had really happened the plot would not be as it is portrayed. It is not internally consistent. It does not make sense.” I suspect that it is a part of the modern algorithm the pitching of which to programme funders has been honed to secure money. The algorithm must not be strayed from, the formula for success is sacrosanct. The elevator pitch must have twists and turns and surprise. For me it has gotten to the point where quality of narrative has been sacrificed for artificial cleverness. “Gee are we not clever…” “You did not see that coming!”

Well maybe but I can no longer be arsed with your programme.

OK. I know I am an old git…

For most people there is some degree of divergence from where they thought their life might go and where it actually does. The degree of divergence varies. Back in the early 1970s we left Bristol for Mt Isa. That was a larger than standard deviation back then.

One of the things which is fairly inexplicable given my life circumstance is the appearance of “important” figures in my dream. These range from high lamas, to spooks, politicians and royalty. Viewed analytically it is very unlikely that such people dream of me. There is no obvious trajectory in which our circles might cross. Yet there remains a very tiny chance that the direction of life here could change big time.

The most obvious trajectory is of a spent life quietly winding down secateurs in hand and toasted cumin seeds in the pestle and mortar.

Based on the life expectancy from South Wales at my time of birth and the age of death of my parents. It is possible I have a decade left. That leaves a while for some kind of quirk of fate to tip up….

Depth and Competence – Deep Magic

December 12, 2025December 12, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

If we are always well within our depth we do not find the extent and limit of our latent skills or abilities. These when tested might become new competences. If we fail to acknowledge when we are out of our depth we may act in a hasty, arrogant and foolhardy manner. Thereby squandering things we might learn while being out of our depth. We may have hidden predilections and capabilities which need prompting in order to surface. Sometimes crisis can be a good teacher. Sometimes not…

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We may think we know ourselves yet be kidding ourselves. Our public practiced persona or façade might be a crock of shit. We may hide a great deal. We could be suited for unusual endeavour like working for MI6. Our true self and predilections may only rarely see the light of day. We may have missed our vocation as a hunter of changeling assassins.

I am crystal clear. Provided that the dreaming in this blog can be discounted as “just dreams” there is no wider implication. Things like the deep magic cannot and do not exist under this proviso.

I used to work with people who would probably profess in public that magic etc. is made up, unproven and non-scientific. They most certainly would not go on the public record saying that they believed in the deep magic. It might be bad for career and reputation.

What they might say after a few wines among friends and family may differ slightly. And they may cack their pants due to the subjective and supernatural. They may well be fearful of evil and demons, ghosts and vampires. The acid test would be to enter a haunted house or patrol the dark unlit streets way past midnight. Many talk a good game but may be less certain than the vehemence of what they profess might suggest.

Many opinions opined in the comforting light of day lack certainty in the foggy wee small hours, alone in the relative silence.

If for example you are professional scientist it is unlikely that your competence extends into the occult, to witchcraft or voodoo. The temptation to offer an opinion thereupon may exceed your levels of competence and experience therein. New agers may offer adamant opinions on the efficacy and safety of vaccines.

It is very common for people to opine beyond competence. The spell of liking own sound of voice projected knowingly from the soapbox to a surrounding court of admirers is a hard one to unbind. It has many in its thrall. It is an act many partake of.

The literature and media on the subject of magic often uses the dramatic technique of plunging a protagonist out of their depth into areas of magic they do not know, or the dark arts. There is a dramatic warning not to dabble. Very often the protagonist has an arrogance and self-belief which is unwarranted and lets loose a whole chain of consequence. There are to magic layers. Magic is rarely fond of arrogant presumption. Comeuppance can be had.

As a rule of thumb the “civilised” modern Westerner is unlikely to deeply believe in magic though yet find the medium entertaining on Netflix. Their certainty may not be as warranted as they imagine. Caught in the hectic maelstrom of modern living they may miss evidence of the ancient arts. Were they then to bull in a china shop blunder in, the consequences might be untoward.

Boris gave the go ahead for a horse race meeting just as the tides of Covid infection broke upon our shores. Despite the evidence in Europe he did not want to see something which threatened “fun” and his way of life. He wanted to be popular and not a meany.

We can say that many of us prefer to see only that which we prefer to see. We may be “blind” elsewhere. We may refuse to assimilate things which we do not wish to.

In the past, centuries ago, the grey area between intelligence gathering and magic was much greyer. People were more prone to believe in things which went bump in the night. A Novichok poisoning might be a voodoo spell. I doubt modern technology has rendered superstition entirely extinct. Though nobody at GCHQ draws the entrails of a goat these days, few at the NSA consult the local shaman or scry in a mirror. Who knows what Vlad does in the Kremlin.

I suspect that in general many feign competence when there is little, they may wing it when out of their depth. The “fake it till you make it” mantram is often chanted.

Provided that there is no such thing as deep magic it is entirely safe to carry on as if such a thing does not exist. Nobody needs to factor it in….

The Deep Magic – Dream Follow Up

December 12, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

I was taken by the dream to Caer Paravel…and Aslan

1747 – Dream Follow Up

December 6, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

The date mentioned in the dream the other day was 1747.

Typing 1747 into Google started this thread…..

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Asie

12 mars, Tibet : mort du général Pholané ; son fils Gyurme Namgyal lui succède à la tête du gouvernement tibétain (fin en 1750). Il complote avec les Dzoungars contre l’occupant chinois.

9 juin : Momozono succède à Sakuramachi comme empereur du Japon (fin en 1762).

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From a Treasury of Lives

ཕོ་ལྷ་ནས་བསོད་ནམས་སྟོབས་རྒྱས།

Polhane Sonam Tobgye

b.1689 – d.1747

Polhane Sonam Tobgye (pho lha nas bsod nams stobs rgyas) was born on an auspicious day in the autumn of 1689. His mother Dolma Butri (sgrol ma bu khrid) was the daughter of a well-known artist, and his father Pema Gyelpo (padma rgyal po) was a government official who served variously as a soldier and civil official. While little is known of the extended history of Polhane’s family, his namesake estate—Drum Polha (‘brum pho lha), near Gyantse (rgyal rtse)—was a gift for his grandfather’s service to the Fifth Dalai Lama (ta la’i bla ma 05, 1617–1682) during a rebellion of Tsangpa officials in the late 1650s.

Before his birth, a local lama instructed the boy’s parents to call him Gonkyab Dorje (mgon skyabs rdo rje) and declared him the reincarnation of Ganden Tsewang (dga’ ldan tshe dbang), a recently deceased Mongol war hero and erstwhile monk at Tashilhunpo Monastery (bkra shis lhun po). This identification was affirmed in auspicious meetings with the Fifth Paṇchen Lama, Lobzang Yeshe (paN chen 05 blo bzang ye shes, 1663–1737) and Desi Sanggye Gyatso (sde srid sangs rgyas rgya mtsho, 1653–1705).

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Sonam Tobgye also left a mark on Tibet as a patron of religious institutions. Aside from the aforementioned protection of Nyingma institutions, he endowed and restored monasteries all around central and western Tibet, including Ganden (dga’ ldan), Sera (se ra), and Drepung (‘bras spungs), Tashilhunpo, Nartang (snar thang), Reting (rwa sgreng), and many smaller institutions in his home region of Upper Nyang (myang stod). From 1729 onward he increased the scale of the Great Prayer Festival (smon lam chen mo) in terms of alms, food offerings, and overall attendance.

Polhane sponsored the production of the first printed canon in central Tibet, the Nartang Kangyur, published in 1730–32, and Tengyur, in 1741–42. He also underwrote the Golden Manuscript Tengyur (gser bris ma), an ornate 225 volumes composed entirely in golden ink, which remains in Ganden Monastery to this day. These projects were far from economical and speak to the king’s desire to outdo his predecessors in the eyes of the clergy. His biography emphasizes that neither Lhazang Khan, Taktsepa, nor Kangchenne were able to complete the Kangyur, a project initiated under the Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso (tA la’i bla ma 06 tshangs dbyangs rgya mtsho, 1683–1706). Such sponsorship of Buddhist foundational material was key to his performance as king of Buddhist Tibet; in practical terms, reproducing the scriptures was a necessary step in his obligation to his Buddhist subjects.

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Shortly after the Prayer Festival of 1747, a boil appeared on the king’s neck, and after a short bout with illness, he passed away. Several years later, his remains were laid to rest in a reliquary in Ganden Chokhor Ling Monastery (dga’ ldan chos ‘khor gling) in the Yarlung Valley. His presence remains in Lhasa as well, where an unassuming maṇi wheel (bar skor ma Ni lha khang) he sponsored as a young official has been rebuilt on the Barkhor following its destruction in the Cultural Revolution, standing directly between the former ambans’ office in the Tromsikhang (khrom gzigs khang), the Nangtseshar, or Lhasa City Court (snang rtse shar/shag), and the Jokhang; a fitting locale for this larger-than-life diplomat, administrator, and patron.

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J. Arya Moallem is a PhD candidate in History and East Asian Languages at Harvard University. His dissertation research focuses on the life and times of Miwang Polhane Sonam Tobgye, and works to situate his particular mode of lay kingship within Qing, Inner Asian, and Early Modern contexts.

Published March 2022

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The Tengyur or Tanjur or Bstan-’gyur (Tibetan: “Translation of Teachings”) is the collected commentaries by great buddhist masters on Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings. The Tengyur is included in the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, which consists of all of Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings together with the commentaries on the Buddha’s teachings. The Canon also includes the Kangyur, which is repository of the Buddha’s recorded teachings, placed before the Tengyur in the Canon.

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Before today I do not recollect hearing the word Tengyur

The EUV Saga and Dream Follow Up

December 2, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

I follow this with a tag line.

Why is the UK so shit at semiconductors and commercialisation?

Roll back the years two and a half decades I was an attendee at Semicon West Santa Clara and Semicon East nr Tokyo. At the former we spoke with ASML and at the latter I spoke with Nikon, Canon and started an approach to Gigaphton. I subsequently met representatives of Nikon in my hotel. I was not selling vacuum cleaner parts.

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In principle at the time we were investigating a technology of truly global importance. There was a functional EUV prototype in the basement and the UK government showed no overt interest. I’ll speculate that in the USA potentially geo-politically important technology is followed to varying extents by, let’s call them the CIA, or some such. The investment in Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) technology since that time has run into tens of billions of dollars involving behemoths like Intel, Samsung and TSMC. Uniquely a single company has EUV lithography monopoly, ASML. But this company is part owned by USA and they have a veto on to whom ASML can sell kit. State of the art high end semiconductor production technology is geo-politically very important. It provides, perhaps, the current AI edge over China.

Nobody in college understood what was in the basement nor the implications thereof. They were more interested perhaps in their own career advancement and local departmental politics.

The internal cheese and wine, bring your own booze, shenanigans at the internecine death knoll of the last Tory government consumed the attention of those involved. The Napoleonic criticism of a nation of shopkeepers applies. And one could list “invented in UK” commercialised elsewhere. That list contains some commercial crown jewels pawned at well below value. The Basil Fawlty mentality pervades. It is a repeating pattern. When I have mentioned this failure pattern people have deemed me nasty and critical. I do not want to be all back slappy and chummy, so I am mean. “Don’t piss on my fire.” A squib is not a fire.

It is not unreasonable to suggest that various security services cast an eye over attendees at high technology conferences. They will obviously focus effort. It is not infeasible that an eye was kept on who met ASML and when, particularly on home turf. Thus there could be an iota of reality to my dream in that a note exists somewhere. I may be en passant on file.

One of the ideas that I had for developing an EUV source which I never got around to verbalising was the notion of a low gain, EUV laser. I figured that by using a low cavity pass number it might be possible to get some gain out of the laser produced plasma gain medium. That would provide a narrowing of optical band pass and some added directionality. I never expressed this to the start-up I was involved with. Because I thought that the CEO had thought that he had sucked us dry of ideas and we were no longer needed. That was his approach, use us and dump us. He was explicit in trying to find someone else who understood nozzle technology so that he could side line me. He was a gobshite and there was a massive mis-match in personalities.

One could say that it was another chapter in missed opportunity for UK plc. The truth was that without hundreds of millions of investment and support we were never going to get “there”. I for one was not the right person to try to lead such an endeavour.

From time to time I have had a patent download session at ESPACENET. Who knows if that is monitored?

The major difference about Americans is that they are not worried about being seen brash. If they want something or want to know, they ask. I do not have a problem with that.

All in all sat here this morning it is a bit weird to have the “surveillance” theme rear its head again.

In my mind the future looks pretty simple. I will continue to recover {hopefully}. Then I will be back out in the garden. I may even be able to use the sit-on mower. We have a room upstairs which needs DIY. In January I meet the surgeon for him to assess his handiwork and all being well we might pencil in a date for spring for the next hip hop hip op.

That is about it…the scope.

Accreditation Problems – Dream Follow Up

November 16, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

In a previous life, well a part of this one actually, I worked in the UK university sector. A part of my job was to do with course quality and I sat on a number of fairly soporific committees in which syllabuses were given the OK. I entertained the external examiners and oversaw the award of degree in one year. I even signed it off for around 100 students. Universities do quality control on the degree courses of other universities. The “elite” accredit each other. It is my opinion that the quality and difficulty of degrees in UK Chemistry is subject to some variance. The exam papers at Oxford are peculiarly hard and esoteric in physical chemistry, I doubt students entering a course not requiring good maths would have a chance. Like all things once an exam is sat and a qualification gained, about 90% of it is forgotten. I learned more chemistry teaching “A” level as a private tutor than I did in my degree. It stuck better for having to explain.

Who accredits the new age teacher?

Who accredits a guru?

I do not know if there is any agreed syllabus and who hands out the certificate of enlightenment?

If one was trying to approach a new age bookseller or publisher it might help the marketability to have an endorsement from some establishment figure. Maybe a recommendation from Thurman or Gere would help sales. Without some provenance it would be a hard sell.

In the blog there is various dreaming “evidence” for some prior incarnations which would not be accepted as proof in a court of law. Within that context the “fact” that I can remember at all might suggest some experience in at death mind transference. We could extrapolate that I might know how to do this. I do not mix in the circles where I could be accredited by some authority figure or other.

We get a chicken or egg situation. I could not get an audience to teach dream yoga to until I had an audience / client list willing to testify positively. It could only be by “Trustpilot” like reviews that I could develop any credibility. Nobody would know for sure that I did not make these up myself.

How would one start?

How would one ensure good quality control?

How would one police appropriate behaviour?

How could one get insurance in case people went stark raving mad?

From my prior background there are quite a few questions. There are clear problems with accreditation and there are no results league tables. Which has more enlightened graduates, Zen, Theravada or Mahayana? What about the casualty rate in Vajrayana?

Buddhism is established and has a long track record.

Viewed from a perspective of Higher Education the entire new age sector looks poorly organised and a bit flaky. Maybe Trump should charge a tariff on the sales of Snake Oil?

I have met a number of so-called Lucid dreamers and they have used a bizarre expression “dream teacher”. That made me question their clarity / sanity. A lot try to draw from dream psychology and blend this hybrid with new age-y / dream yoga type jargon. Some weird kind of hotch-potch with pseudo-scientific credibility as an add on.

There are real problems with accreditation and by inference quality control. Anybody, perhaps including me, could set themselves up on a soap box.