I’ve been gone for a while — sorry about that. Those of you who know me best know that I’ve had an eventful summer that kept me from blogging as much as I’d like.

One of those nice little events was a visit from some out of town friends and our subsequent trip to the Shambhala Mountain Center to see the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya.

None of us are Shambhala-brand Buddhists, but how many stupas can you go see in the U.S.?

One of the unusual things about this stupa is that one can go inside of it. Most stupas are practically solid and sealed; this one has a small meditation room on the first floor that’s open to the public.

I say it’s a small meditation room, but it’s really not that small. It just feels small because:

1. There’s a great big buddha sitting inside of it. He takes up most of the space, and

2. He’s staring down at you with those wise buddha eyes making you feel even smaller, like the great stupid in the Great Stupa.

The stupa itself is impressive, but the buddha inside seemed so real I wouldn’t have been too surprised if he’d just started teaching the dharma right then and there.

Speak! Relieve my great stupidity!

But statues don’t speak, so we were left to circumambulate the stupa (for good fortune) once before another storm rolled in and contemplate what the buddha would have said to us instead.