I had another lucid dream last night: I was in a book store, browsing for books, and helping to tidy up displays that others had undone when they were looking - I remember the staff thanking me for that. I also remember the weight a texture of a paperback that I was drawn to, which was a book about the controversial and flawed Lobsang Rampa.
That part may have been triggered by an article I read reviewing Rampa, which concluded that Rampa's books had brought a lot of people in to Buddhism, but were more a blend of neochristianity and other belief systems.
As far as Buddhism goes, yes that was true, and Rampa had many faults (see my critique here), but to say Rampa must have got a book on Tibet from somewhere is ludicrous, and shows lazy, sloppy and inept thinking - and a lack of awareness of the limited books then available.
In my view, Rampa was a major New Age author, who did a considerable amount of good, but one with serious flaws; I also consider it likely that there was a transmigration involved, but that it didn't work as it should have.
As a final note, I also consider those who become upset and try to defend Rampa blindly - or any teacher (and I've seen this - annoyingly - in a very small number of my students over the years) needs to be aware of and wary of the risk of adulation of, instead of respect for, their teacher (which is what the word guru means).
But in any case, and whatever the books were I was handling, I marvel at having felt their weight and texture.
For a range of reasons, that dream was also about moving on from things that were no longer relevant or valid, no matter how nostalgically pleasant they may be. I'd moved on from Rampa a long time ago, but there are a few other authors I've been contemplating doing that with, and the dream, even if it hadn't been lucid (although being lucid helped the impact of it), has helped me do that.
The problem is, there aren't any authors in the areas I'm looking for who will fill the gap: I'd write the books I want to read myself, but (a) I don't have the time or energy, and (b) reading your own words all the time is no fun.
Ah well, time to get ready for the day.
