Tag: Monk’s robes

Senior Tutor – Waifs & Strays – Great Compassion Dream 13-05-2025

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Here is this morning’s dream. I have often thought of my stint as Senior Tutor as a karmic payback caused by my own days of depression and misery.

The dream starts on a dreary wet grey council estate multistorey housing facility. There are runway balconies connecting the apartments. This is grey and tatty. There is a smell of piss and there are graffiti tags. The feel, the air, is of decay and danger. It is in South London, the rough side of Brixton. I am approaching a red door. There is music and a whiff of skunk cannabis.

I knock on the door and ring the bell. There is some talk inside, someone goes to the net curtain and checks through the window. The music goes off and a young white American man answers the door. He has blonde skanky corn-row dreadlocks. He is both surprised to see me and not surprised at all.

I explain to him that I have come looking for him because he has been cutting classes and not turning up for lab work. I ask if I can come in. He is reticent to let me in. I explain that it is ultra-unlikely that I will be shocked by what I see. I have been to drug dens before, and I will not judge him for a few spliffs.

He lets me in, and we sit in a scruffy lounge area where there is “party” debris. He ushers to his flat mate to leave us alone. I ask him what the problem is. He says that he has some debts and has to earn a little money on the side. He is into some gang related problems. I say that if he wants, I can come to talk with his gang contact. He does not think I can hack it. I explain that I have talked with gang bangers before. They do not scare me.

I say that he needs to find some way of balancing his work at university and his gang activity. He needs to stay off the class A drugs. I suggest that he comes back to college and tapers off his involvement in selling drugs. Otherwise, I will come and talk to the gang. He realizes that I am serious.

The scene changes and I am in an office, my office. It is in a university hall of residence, and I am tutor / warden there. It is late in the evening. There is a knock on the door and a young woman is there. She has been crying. I let her in. She says that the American man from before has suggested that she talks with me. She is highly suspicious and on edge. I invite her in and have her sit in my living room. I say to here that it is my job to look after the lost and the wayward. I have seen most of it. There are few surprises. I deal with boy girl problems, coming out issues, parent problems, depression, hyperactivity. I can advise on finances, condom coming off type problems. I can refer to health services. I deal with handicap and disability. Sometimes I just listen for a while. I can change her tutors if they are being arseholes. As a Buddhist I am well placed to discuss faith from all perspectives and am non-judgemental and widely read. I can hear “confession” if there is something she wants off her chest. Try me I say. I will see if/how I can help. I pass her a box of tissues to dry her eyes. I say that I am not an ogre. She smiles.

A while later in the morning I have another knock on my door. It is a young man a dwarf with achondroplasia.  I let him in. Now I am wearing maroon monk’s robes with a yellow under vest. It is my job to “simply love them” to offer my great compassion. I usher him in, and he plops onto the soda. I ask him about his general health and how his dwarfism may be hindering his studies. He says that he has some thyroid problems which are handled medically and that from time to time the arthritis is his hips plays up. I say that if he runs out, he can have some of my hip arthritis pain killers. I joke that we should go dancing. He says that the girl from before, has by word of mouth, suggested that he talk with me. I ask him how I may help. He says that he needs to get some height aids and a reaching device for high shelves. I say that I will sort it. He has been in trouble with the warden for being drunk and disorderly. I remind him that because of his low body mass he should not try to drink pint for pint with the other students. I will tell the warden he has been to see me.  I say that my door is always open. He notices my rosary on my left hand which is made out of antique yellow-amber beads. I explain to him that I am not easily shocked and am not prone to judgement. He wishes me a good day and leaves.

Next, I am in the corridor outside my flat and another young male student approaches me. He taps me on the shoulder and asks if we can have a word. We go to sit in a coffee bar. He is agitated and keeps glancing over his shoulder. He says that he is in deep trouble. I ask in what way and what his name is. He is sat on a sofa, and I am sat cross legged on the carpet of the coffee shop. He says that he does not want to give me his real name. He gives me his passport name. The one he uses. He is Eastern European / Russian. I ask him to tell me is real name. Anayin, or something like that. He writes it in Cyrillic for me. I know this to be the name of an exiled Russian mafia boss. He is having problems with immigration and the Home Office. His father has a security services protected identity. He says that the officials are being shirty with him. I suggest that for his next meeting I come with him. I can show them my University Identity card and confirm that his application and attendance at university is all in order. He is doing well in his studies. I say that my manner of dress can have interesting effects on uppity officials. It wrong foots them. He agrees and we will keep his familial identity between us. He says that the girl who came to see me before is his girlfriend and that the morning after pill has worked according to her recent self-pregnancy test. I suggest that he needs to be more careful because the last thing that either of them needs right now is a baby. The studies are hard enough. I punch him playfully on the arm.

The dream ends…

Monk’s Robes – Toilets – Seminar Dream 09-05-2025

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Here is this morning’s dream.

The dream starts in my chambers. They are wooden panelled and there is not a great deal of light. It is not long after dawn and I am getting dressed in my monk’s robes. I am being helped by my assistant, a young relatively novice monk. He is fussing over me. The robes which I am putting on are of Himalayan-Tibetan colour with a yellowish undervest. I am putting them on left-handed in that it is my left shoulder which is relatively bare. I am left-handed. I sit on a chair and the young monk helps me to put on some grey part woollen socks to go with my open toed synthetic walking sandals. He helps me stand up because I am very stiff and slow moving in the morning.

We go to the communal wash facilities in which there are showers and toilets. I use the toilet and come back to the line of washbasins in front of a mirror to wash my face and clean my teeth. Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche is there as a younger man maybe around forty years of age. He is smiling. He notes how the novice and I play fight a little. He jokes that he has seen quite enough of our kung fu and that we should be serious. I say that it is not a good idea to always be so dour. Something which all of us find hysterically funny.

Today I am going to give a seminar at a London university. As I approach the lecture halls / seminar block I come upon an open office scenario with cubicles for side offices. Throughout the office, on slightly raised pedestals, are isolated “Armitage Shanks” style WC toilets without cisterns. They are antique with wooden seats and lids. Several of my erstwhile colleagues from decades ago are in the office. They do not seem to notice the more than half a dozen toilets. They are fixtures. I go into one of the side offices and someone is sat upon the “throne” mid dump. I apologise and back out.

I move down the corridor and into the seminar rooms / lecture theatre. There are more Buddhist monks with me now one of whom is quite senior and bespectacled. I go into the seminar room and pick up an overhead projector which I take to the lecture desk at the front. I comment than in addition to computer slides I sometimes like to scribble.

The senior monk stands up and says that it is important not to try to take notes as handouts will be given. He says that it is particularly important to note whatever it is that Rinpoche writes down by hand. I am holding a marker pen in my left hand as he speaks. The monk says that Rinpoche’s annotations are key-like and important.

A young female member of the audience who knew me from before as a senior tutor asks me why I am wearing robes. I say that I have not yet been fully ordained and that these are by way of an experiment to see how people respond to me during the course of this three days long seminar. I say that tomorrow I might wear a business suit or sports gear.

I say to her that ordination is a bit like semantics. I am very aligned with Buddhist thinking and don’t really need a “certificate”. I say the difference between vegetarianism and a plant-based diet is also semantic. If you eat a fully plant-based diet as a vegan you are already a vegetarian and don’t need to prove your veggie status. Whereas some veggies are insistent about the virtue of their diet, a true vegan just does. Deeds are more important than words.

The dream ends.

Tibetan Plateau, Gold, Lama Dream 1-11-2011

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Prompted by this morning’s dream I found this one in the vaults, so to speak.

Dream Diary 1-11

I am outside with Charlie. He and I are loading bricks into the trunk / boot of a car. The bricks have curly writing on them, it is not Sanskrit or Tibetan. They are golden and more like large ingots of gold.

He and I are now on a long journey across the mountains on a plateau which is in Tibet. With us is a smiling lama who is our guide, guard and escort. He is showing us the way. The landscape is very sparse and rocky with scree falls. I look at the lama’s physique and it is very similar to mine only that he is shorter and obviously Tibetan. I say that I didn’t know that they built Tibetans like that…

As we continue on our journey. Charlie and I are now wearing saffron and magenta monk’s robes. This journey is to be extensive. As we move forward Charlie is often out in front exploring the different routes. At one stage we need to pick up speed. The Tibetan monk picks up his companion, also a monk, and carries him piggy-back. I do the same with Charlie. I am not sure that I can walk and climb at this altitude like this. After a few steps I realise that I can and easily so.

A little later the trail becomes tortuous and Charlie is way ahead up the hill. He comes down back to me via a slippery and windy route. I find a more direct route. This is a part of a long journey together.  

Back now in London, we are at a Tibetan Dzong as guests of honour. Sat waiting are Charlie , the wife and I. We are offered some western food. I turn to her and say that she had better tuck in before they come out with the yak’s butter….

Dream ends

Being Investigated – Security Services Dreams 2020-23

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Being Investigated Dream 31-12-20

I had a much better sleep last night after some hard labour in the garden.

I am having a discussion with my sister, which turns into an argument. She is convinced that she will win the argument and is completely unwilling to accept that I will disappear and walk away. The argument gets more heated and I walk out into some fields. I disappear.

I am then in a test plane vehicle which is high technology, and it is being used to measure the effect of air viscosity, and gravity on velocity. I fly it up high into the atmosphere and as it crosses bands of gas of differing viscosity its trajectory alters. It reaches maximum height and turns. It then plummets to earth and towards the sea. It reaches terminal velocity, and I am unconcerned.

I awake in a hospital bed. Apparently, the test mission has been a success. I am well.

Later I meet a young version of my old landlord, J . He asks me how come I was on the test mission. I tell him that I do not recollect how. We search the internet for a picture of the test vehicle, we can’t find one, but he knows the kind of thing I am talking about. He is quite adept at using a touch screen computer, something which I am not.

He tells me that people have been asking after me and that they have also contacted my sister to inquire after me. J thinks that people are investigating me. He thinks they are doing a deep background check on me. He is curious as to why.

I awake and have a very strong visual image of two of my former colleagues.

Security Vetting Dream 26-07-21

I had a bit of a sleepless night and had this strange dream this morning.

In the dream I am looking in on a meeting where for whatever reason I am being discussed by two smartly dressed individuals. One of these is male and the other, younger one, is female.  They are going through some kind of security vetting protocol and for whatever reason my name has cropped up. They are looking through a file and this includes some of my past addresses. They do not seem to have my current address.

There is a discussion as to whether they need to find my address and if I need to be interviewed, if someone needs to have sight of me. They are surprised that I have “disappeared” but not in a dramatic way. There is a bit of a non sequitur but not much concern.

The dream then re-iterates from the opening scene. No decision as to what to do has been made, yet.

I awake thinking that was a bit weird…

Himalayan Monastery – Security Forces Dream 5-1-23

This is the first of a whole dreaming sequence that was too extensive to remember in its entirety.

The dream starts off with me talking to my sister. She is having to explain to security why she has no idea as to my whereabouts.

The scene shifts and I am in a kind of shared guest accommodation in a Himalayan Buddhist monastery. There are a few younger dharma bums there. Some of the people in the room are wearing monk’s robes. I have partial robes on.

A young white man gets us to do stretching exercises. He is an accepted novice. He then goes around the room projecting Ki at us. The idea is that we should let the Ki move us backward. He comes to me. The first time he projects Ki at me I allow it to move me backwards. The next time I project Ki back and it is he who moves backwards. I explain that way back I did some martial arts. He says I bet that they are not as good as those at this monastery. I agree.

They have decided that they want me to help with the technical running of the establishment. Particularly with the laser lighting. A young man shows me a small circuit board which has stopped working. I examine it and one of the chips has come loose from its housing. I place this carefully back and the circuit board is now functional. The young man brings me three flashlamps wired together. They come from the O lasers which they have. Together we hold the lamps and they light up, the static electricity raises the hairs on our arms.

I take a walk to the edge of the compound where there is a fence. I climb over the fence. A young man asks me if I would like sex. I reply that no I am not homosexual. He says never mind. Apparently when some of the younger monks leave the compound they do so in search of gratification. The scenery around is Himalayan and absolutely stunning. I climb back over the fence.

As I am making my way to the main temple building, I notice two military helicopters circling. They are headed to the helipad on the flat part of the mountainside just outside the main compound. One of them lands and the other takes up a covering position with its machine guns. Out of the first helicopter a collection of people in non-standard military uniform gets out. They are armed but their weapons are not drawn. The fan out in a very professional looking manner. One of them a black woman who has the presence of an officer walks forward.

The Abbot fully robed and with a ceremonial hat moves forward to check what they want. The woman says that they want to check on some of the guests. The Abbots says that this is Ok. She calls out the name Isobel and German woman moves towards them. They start to question her.

In the dream I know that I am next. So, I make my way towards them. When the woman calls out my name I am already there. She hands me over to a senior civilian man of middle age who speaks with a Bostonian accent. He takes me to one side and asks me to recount my history as an adult.  I do this explaining that The Royal Institution is very niche and has the highest Nobel prize per capita density. I talk about UCL, Imperial, UMIST and Bern. When I get to the laser spin out, he goes bingo. Somehow it is me that they have come here for. He is struggling to comprehend how come I am here up at this monastery in the Himalayas. It does not make sense to him.

Dream ends

Security Services Interview Dream 17-7-23

Here is this morning’s dream.

The dream starts in some kind of a travel terminus going into the UK. I have with me my small grey rucksack and am dressed in dark jeans, a t-shirt and my Berghaus fleece. It is very early in the morning and the travellers are sparse. We have just disembarked and are making our way through the terminal.

We get to passport control. I wait in line. When it is my turn, I step forward and present my British passport. The passport control is for entry into the UK. The man on the booth says hello takes my passport and puts it trough the scanner. He picks up a telephone and calls someone. The man in the booth is dressed in border control uniform. Two more men in border control uniform and one in civilian clothes arrive at the booth. The man in civvies says, “Dr Taylor we would like to have a word with you. Please can you accompany us?” I reply OK and follow them off towards a side room. I note that one of the uniformed officers takes up a position behind me as we are walking.

They lead me off down a corridor. The lead man uses an identity card on a lanyard to open a security door and I am led off into an interview room in which there is a big desk with computer. The civies man sits behind the desk and boots up the computer. There is an electronic device, a passport reader, connected to the computer.

He ushers me to sit down the other side of the desk. I do this and place my rucksack on the floor.

The atmosphere is authoritative and mildly threatening. I can sense the two uniformed officer behind me either side of the door.

The civies man runs my passport through the reader and brings up my file on the computer. I can sense that the file has “classified” elements to it and that the man in the passport booth was alerted to it and not privy.

I understand the civies man to be a member of the security services and not simply border control.

He asks me the motive of my visit to the UK and I say that I am going to look at houses. He asks me my place and date of birth. He wants more details than town. He asks me the name of my parents.

This all seems odd and increasingly intrusive.

He asks me about the relationship with my sister.

I say, “fine”.

He says that this is not what the security report from her place of work says.

“Ok”, I say, “It is fine but we are estranged. We have not spoken in many years.”

He asks about my politics.

I explain that probably when his report was written it might be down as left of labour. My sister and my father were Tories, my mother vacillated. I argued for the fun of it. While I was a Ph.D. student, I dabbled a tiny bit with left wing politics. Now I would describe myself as apolitical. Unimpressed generally. I add that I am glad that Jeremy Hunt is now part of the team as he seems more stable than many of the others.

He seems unconvinced.

I say to him that I am not aware that I have done anything wrong nor am I in anyway a threat to security.

I say that I believe in harmlessness.

He says that he does not buy what I am saying. There is a “flag” on my file and that I am under surveillance.

The dream ends…

Three 14th Dalai Lama – Karmapa – Dreams

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Karmapa / Dalai Lama Dream 7-9-2012

I am in my nan’s house when two large limousines pull up and out of them come loads of Tibetans together with security who set up a perimeter around the house.

One of them is the “Dalai Lama”, another is a doctor / healer and a third is a guide for protocol. The DL has a hooded cowl over his head. They all enter into the house and we go upstairs to my grandfather’s room which is in the centre of the three story house. (I used to gaze out of here across the valley to Clydach when I was young)

They all sit down on the floor. The doctor wants to take a good look at me naked. So, I strip and he goes over me examining me very thoroughly. He seems to be satisfied. The DL is sat down on the floor. I am sat on a chair. The protocol man says that no-one should have his head above the DL. So, I sit down on the floor next to him. He removes the cowl from his head and looks me direct in the eye. He is a Tibetan man with very dark hair and roughly my own age only a bit younger. I refer to him as Lhamo only he isn’t the man who goes around as the DL, he is too young for that.

He says to me; “Can you empty your mind?”

I shift quietly and quickly into a deep meditation.

“Of course you can!” He says smiling.

He says that he has been interested to read what I have sent them

“First let’s do a little healing for someone…”

He hands me a small object and asks me to concentrate. Out of the object I materialise a scorpion.

“Detach the scorpion and you will heal the person…”

I detach the scorpion with a little difficulty and throw it into the fire.

Looking out of the window we can see that some people have turned up. The DL is used to this and he motions to security to remove them gently.

Back in the room the DL says jokingly,

“It is always fun to do a bit of shamanism, isn’t it?”

I sense that this has been a test.

He then shows me his back. It has black marks upon it. “What are these he asks?”

I say that they are bones

“Yes, I can express my bones through my skin. It is a part of the martial arts we do in Tibet which can be very deadly…”

As he speaks pins come out of the “bones” on his back.

He brings in three security guards who are dressed in brightly coloured robes. They are all trained in this. They are a mixed bunch, tall and with poor teeth. They all have a glint in the eyes.

“They are very fast and would probably win any Mixed Martial Arts contest. We have thought about entering them just for fun but thought better of it. You are trained in martial arts too, aren’t you? Perhaps you too are deadly?”

“Maybe…”

We are then in mind to mind contact for a very long time. After this he rummages around in a cupboard and sees artist’s materials there. I hand these to him and he starts to make an elaborate construction.

My aunt is downstairs. I explain to her what is going on.

Back upstairs the DL is busy building his construction. He asks me to put the fire up one level. He is a little cold. (Implied it is cooler here than in India)

The security guards come in and say that people and the press have started to gather outside the house. I have no idea how long we have been talking, perhaps days.

They decide that they will go out the front door and not the back one. Security goes out and brings around the limousines. The DL who is really the Karmapa, or a mix of the two, says that things will now really start to change. I go with them to the door and the press are there all flashlights and cameras. There are metal barriers and police to contain the crowd. The Karmapa gets into a car and they drive off.

The press interviews me wanting to know what has been going on.

“He came here for a chat and for one of the doctors to look at me. It was all very nice,” I say.

Now I am somehow back in a city. The ex-wife is for some reason around. She has heard about what has happened. She asks if I can bring her some chilli on my way back from town. I am on a tube train and footage of the visit is being played on a TV screen in the carriage. A small Ethiopian looking man is there. He says,

“That is you in the footage, isn’t it?”

“Yes”

The whole carriage turns to look at me and the footage.

I am now living on a small country estate. There are two male lions prowling around the front gate for security.

I go outside for a wander. I see a small crowd and they start to throw silver CDs at me like discuses, the intention is one of harm. I turn my back on them and by using “the force” block the CDs causing them to drop to the floor. I then fly over them and up into a truly massive tree. I then fly back into the house.

In an annexe, a type of out building for the main house, the “Toltec” group is gathered. I am now moving rapidly through the house pushing open doors as I do. I am going to give them a piece of my mind.

I go into the room and they are all sat upon chairs around the outside of the room, in a “circle”. There are many familiar faces there. I speak to them about my life path and what it means for them. {implicit is that it is very important for them} The ex-wife is in the audience and all she wants to know is whether or not I got her chilli.  This typifies the mood and even when they are shown footage of the DL’s / Karmapa’s visit and him leaving my house, they are unmoved and disinterested.

Later I am outside by a rubbish heap. I meet again the Ethiopian man only now his head is much larger.  I understand him to be a knowledgeable being. He tells me not to be worried and that he too cannot believe what he has just witnessed in terms of their arrogance and utter stupidity.

I now realise that the being I was interacting with before was definitely the Karmapa, who is known for his magical capacities.  We are now linked.

He says,” Things of true importance are always revealed in dreams and visions…”

Dream ends.

Karmapa Dream 27th June 2014

Here is my dream from 27th June 2014.

It starts in a mountain setting. The wife and I are walking along a ridge either side of the ridge the mountain falls away into azure blue mountain lakes. There is no vegetation. The air is crisp and clear. We arrive in a small mountain village and go to our hotel.

Some while after, when we have settled in a young female child comes to visit us. Her eyes are most striking. They are blue despite the fact that she is Tibetan. I tell her she has beautiful eyes and she giggles happily. She says that the Karmapa will see me now and that I am to come to the monastery / palace for instructions. She skips off. She is the Karmapa’s little sister.

That night I go out onto the mountainside and see there the fish rearing pens. They are full of young hatchlings, which are moved from one pool to another as they mature. They must be raised like this otherwise the culture will die out. They change colour as they grow and mature. The pools are guarded by a Tibetan fish stock man who is dressed in traditional ceremonial costume.

I put my hand into the water and the fish swim to it.

The next morning, I go to the palace / monastery and am shown in. Before long I am in the presence of a young man. He shows me around and tells me that they have many visitors. He is wearing monk’s robes. He shows me a long object shaped like a barometer which holds important “relics” in it. It is a staff of office and is “magical”. He lets me take it out of its box and handle it. He repeats,

“We have had many visitors, many delegations…”

He watches how the staff interacts with me. It accepts me.

We must now get you ready to meet the Karmapa, you can meet him here at this mountain cave. He points at a map.

“You must come here at 2AM tomorrow morning. “

“Will you be OK walking in the mountains in the darkness?”

I reply,

“Yes! I was born in the mountains. I will meet you there!”

I know that the young man is in fact the Karmapa.

An older more wizened Tibetan then comes in to speak with me. He is shortish and thickset. He is a combination of Chöje Akong Rinpoche and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his appearance flits between these two.

He shows me a map of both the front and back faces of the mountain. It is in relief. I can zoom into the map to see the detail.

He makes emphasis on a little cabin. This is where the gatekeeper is. He keeps the keys. You will need to get a key from the gatekeeper before you meet the Karmapa.

In the dream I know it will not be the Karmapa who I will meet at the top of the mountain but the Akong / Trungpa being. I say that I will meet “them” there as they are the gatekeeper. This is a non-verbal communication “mind to mind”. This man is insistent upon the protocol, the tradition. The Karmapa however has already seen enough. He is satisfied.

The young man is now sat between two others, one of them is the Akong / Trungpa being. The Karmapa is reciting the mantra “Om Mane Padme Hum” quietly. He looks at me to see if I join in, in deep voice, or not. I do this in my head only. There is a silent acknowledgement between us that he can “hear” me doing this.

I walk out of the palace / monastery with the sensation that the Karmapa is in need of a friend. There is now a sense of inevitability “it” has now changed to when and not if.

Dalai Lama-Karmapa-Gandalf Dream 16-12-21

On top of everything else I have just had this whopper of a dream.

I am sat in a fairly sparse room somewhere in Northern India. It is one of the outbuildings to the complex of the Dalai Lama’s residence. I know this dream to be deep into Vajrayana and so I am already anticipating that things will get a little strange.  I go to the door of the building and a small red model car pulls up. It is like an open top version of a modern VW beetle. The car is just big enough for one and the exterior if a very vibrant deep red. The inside is a very dark black. I know the car to be remote controlled. I am being summoned.

I get in the car, and it sets off. It drives me around the building and then up a very steep and very prolonged staircase which it glides up. It then makes a sharp turn and heads into a building. It takes me into a room in which seated in meditation is the Dalai Lama. I get out of the car, and it vanishes.

The Dalai Lama then says, “we have been wondering what to do with you. Please take a stroll with me.”

I accompany him outside and there is a tower like structure in front of us. Near the top there are a pair of white feathered wings. He says, “they are yours; you know. Go get them.”

Instead of climbing up the tower I simply will them down into my hands. I hold them and I integrate them after which they disappear visually, but I know I have embodied them.

The Dalai Lama then berates me a little for being too cooperative and nice. He says that I am too apologetic.

He says that a man must have personality and presence in order to succeed.

In the distance inside his enclosure there are a number of wolves and a male from that enclosure is looking directly at me from a distance. We lock eye to eye.

I then say, “the Dalai Lama is sixth ray?”

“Yes, ask me and you shall be told…”

I think to myself that this is unexpected, a six ray Dalai Lama. Then on reflection why not. Why else would he keep coming back?

We re-enter a building and there are now a number of monks around. One of them is spilling milk on the floor. He is making quite a mess.

We enter the Dalai Lama’s room, and he tells me to clean up the mess. He hands me a small rag. I go to the room and instead of doing it myself I tell one of the others to clean up which he does.

The monks come in and start to kick me.

I sit down, cross legged, now dressed as a Tibetan monk. I put my hands into the thumb touching mudra and start to meditate. The monks and their blows disappear.

I then find myself dressed normally in a room full of monks. They are all sat around a throne upon which sits the Dalai Lama. I am sat next to a young man dressed in robes and with a shaven head.

He says, “do you know who I am?”

“Yes, you are the Karmapa.”

“Do you know who I am?

“Yes, you are the one we call Gandalf. Will you help me?”

“Yes, in any way I can”

We both adopt the hand position of offering and touch our foreheads together.

I awake and think that after a dream drought and with everything else going on that was a veritable whopper.