Solomon's Cairn

I've finally finished reading 'Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism' by Christian Wedemeyer. I started on the book the better part of a year ago, making steady progress until classes resumed. Now with Thanksgiving, I've been able to give it the time it deserved.  This is the first scholarly work on Tantra I've yet read (also the first scholarly work of history and semiology, so there was a period of adjustment there), and this book is a good antidote to misinformation from other sources. Wedemeyer is especially concerned with errors of history and interpretation of Tantra, and he lays out some very, very large errors in the current literature, some of which I had absorbed second-hand through the writing of David Chapman. I'll be writing up a reflection on these disagreements swiftly.  Definition and Elaboration of Tantra, and the Setup for his ultimate Thesis As the term will be used in what follows, Tantric Buddhism comprehends those forms of esoteric Buddhism that...

Last night I had an extremely strange, mystic dream, which I shall now relate. I now have some sympathy for people in premodern times who had strange and vivd visions in their sleep, and used them as the basis for some decision or action. It's a lot weirder being on the receiving end than expected. Perhaps it has something to do with the vaccine, which I got a dose of just that morning. Maybe my 5G is finally working. ----------- In the afterlife, one's life is judged and classified not by good or evil, by law or chaos, but by Tragedy or Comedy. They are color-coded for your convenience. I was ferried into the underworld aboard an airborne Higgins boat (there was no sign of any ferryman or conductor) which brought us to a floating island. I say us, for I was not alone; I was accompanied by a nameless woman. We looked at each other, as if for reassurance, and stepped into the otherworld. The landing of the afterlife is bathed in the blue shadows of tragedy, and we were greeted b...