Hi all!

Just a quick update for anyone who's interested!

I've been here teaching in this Tibetan Buddhist monastic community for two weeks now and have a week to go (my "working holiday"!).

The teaching is going superbly well and I am managing to "integrate" a lot of detailed but perhaps contextually new (for the monks) science such that they can relate the different disciplines better.

So far I've managed to do crash course in botany, redo some of the cell chemistry, DNA, RNA, protein synthesis, photosynthesis,e ct so they understand the processes better, some basic ecosystem, biogeography, biome and energy flow in systems work. I'll have to leave a bit of the detail of that behind for them as they are mad to learn something and biotechnology and nanotechnology next week (medical applications of these sciences are currently what I mainly work on back at base). These subjects raise many ethical questions and the final week should be a very interesting one.

As for myself, those who know me might know that I'm heavily intested in meditation and I managed to find two very senior monks who were willing to spend time most days on helping me improve my understanding and practice of meditation. These discussions have been amazingly open and interactive with a real two-way dialogue.

I've made a lot of friends amongst the community here and can say the whole experience has been really enriching. The photo count is now above 100 so I'll be making something of an illustrated journal available once I'm back on my own website for anyone who's intested to read more.

Now...where does that path lead? ....look out....charging white elephant!

Peace to all

mooman

P.S. Specially for 'Spaw...I haven't had my head completely shaved yet!! And yes, the completely vegetarian diet is providing an infinitely enriched atmosphere!