(p. 1063) “New Democracy Wish List”
Ryan White Care Act—A federal program designed to provide support services for people with HIV/AIDS. The act was named for youth Ryan White, a hemophiliac who had contracted HIV through blood transfusion. His battle to return to school helped advance the rights of people living with AIDS.
SLA—Savings & Loan Association, a 1980’s Federal program to bail out bankrupted savings & loan banks resulted in much mis-use and corruption.
Hand & Lavoro Bank Thuggery—Lavoro: Banca Nazionale del Lavoro.
(p. 1066) “Peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina”
Thich Nhat Hanh—(b. 1926) Zen monk, exiled from Vietnam, heads a retreat community in the south of France. Authored over seventy-five books.
Sakharov—Andrei Sakharov (1921–1989) Russian engineer and humanist, first known as “father of the Soviet Hydrogen Bomb” but soon realized radioactivity’s hazards and in a series of articles confronted the Soviet government. In 1975, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Albert Schweitzer—(1875–1965) Theologian, minister, medical missionary in Gabon, Organist, awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1952. Schweitzer was in fact Sartre’s cousin, though Sartre referred to him as “uncle Al.”
(p. 1068) “After the Party”
Coemergent Wisdom—A key term in Vajrayana Buddhism referring to the simultaneous arising of samsara and nirvana, naturally giving birth to wisdom.
(p. 1069) “After Olav H. Hauge”
Olav H. Hauge—Norwegian poet (1908–1994). Trained as a gardener, his work was inspired by the natural world.
Bodø—Second largest city of northern Norway, just inside the Arctic Circle.
(p. 1074) “Tuesday Morn”
Exquisite Corpse—Literary Journal, edited by poet Andrei Codrescu.
Peter’s flown—Peter Orlovsky
Sawang’s … confirmation—Sawang: Previous title for Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche (see note, page 108). Confirmation: Or enthronement in Tibetan Buddhism, it is the formal recognition of an incarnation.
(p. 1076) “God”
Willendorf Venus—Late Stone-Age limestone statuette of Venus, found near the village of Willendorf, Austria.
39 patriarchs—In Chinese and Zen Buddhism, patriarch is the founder of a school and his successors. In some accounts lineages are traced back to 28 original Patriarchs in India, and many more in China, although never as a group of 39—. It’s likely the Author remembered incorrectly here.
(p. 1078) “Excrement”
Polyhymnia—Polyhymnia (Polymnia) is one of the nine muses; sometimes considered the muse of Sacred Poetry.
(p. 1083) “Pastel Sentences”
The author had worked out a series of 108 seventeen syllable sentences describing individual pastel paintings by Francesco Clemente. With a copy of the catalogue, he continued to polish them as he traveled on. Included here are the sentences that the Author felt could stand alone without accompanying images.
(p. 1089) “Is About”
muggles—Hipster term for marijuana cigarette.
(p. 1091) “The Ballad of the Skeletons”
Yahoo—From Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels: A member of a race of brutes who have all the human vices, hence a boorish, crass, or stupid person.
Heritage Policy—Heritage Foundation: Conservative foundation think tank, often thwarting NEA projects, opposing social welfare programs and favoring strict FCC restrictions on “indecent” language. In their own words “One of the nations largest public policy research organizations.”
NAFTA—North American Free Trade Agreement, passed by President Clinton and Congress over objections of many labor and environmental groups concerned about lowered workplace and ecological safeguards.
Maquiladora—Foreign-owned factories operating on the Mexican side of the U.S./Mexican border producing goods mainly for the U.S. market.
GATT—General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
I.M.F.—International Monetary Fund.
(p. 1097) “Bowel Song”
Bam—Seed syllable for Vajrayogini, one of the Author’s principal Tibetan Buddhist practices.
(p. 1101) “Power”
Yuga—As in kaliyuga, Sanskrit for “age,” as in the dark age.
(p. 1102) “Anger”
Carolyn—Carolyn Cassady
(p. 1103) “Multiple Identity Questionnaire”
chela—Sanskrit term, literally “servant,” though often used as the general word for a student, as in a spiritual student seeking guidance from a teacher.
neti neti—“Not this, not this.” Vedantic process of discrimination by negation.
Maya—Sanskrit term in Buddhism meaning “deception, illusion, appearance,” the continually changing impermanent phenomenal world of appearances and forms of illusion or deception which the unenlightened mind takes as the only reality.
(p. 1104) “Don’t Get Angry with Me”
Chödok Tulku—Gelugpa school Tibetan Lama friend of Gelek Rin-poche, he was a guest speaker at a summer retreat attended by the Author. Because of nervousness or difficulty with English, he repeatedly interjected, “Don’t get angry with me.” The Author found it funny and innocent and wrote this poem during the lecture.
Tila, Mila, Marpa, Naro—Said here in prayer form, it is short for Tilopa, Milarepa, Marpa, Naropa (Gampopa). The line of saints or Mahasidhas of Kagupa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
(p. 1108) “Reverse the rain of Terror …”
Rocky Flats—Rockwell Corporation Nuclear Facility’s Plutonium Bomb trigger factory, near Boulder, Colorado. Starting in the late ’70s, the Author joined in many protests against the plant. In 1989 the FBI investigated the site, confirmed careless handling of radioactive materials, suspended activity there and subsequently shut it down, but only after a $2 billion failed attempt to get the plant back on line. Cleanup will continue into the next millennium.
(p. 1110) “Sending Message”
General Rios-Montt—Efrain Rios-Montt (b. 1926), Guatemalan dictator, rose to power in a 1982 coup lasting seventeen months. Claiming himself a “Born-Again” Christian reformer and backed by President Reagan, his campaigns were responsible for the destruction of native villages and the killing of tens of thousands of natives.
700 Club—Televangelist cable talk show, Christian Broadcasting Net-works’s Flagship program, founded by Pat Robertson.
(p. 1117) “Happy New Year Robert & June”
Robert & June—Robert Frank, June Lief.
(p. 1118) “Diamond Bells”
Hayagriva—One of the eight fierce protective deities, identified by a horse’s head in Tibetan Buddhist iconology
(p. 1120) “Waribashi”
See “Roots of Rain Forest Destruction,” Khor Kok Pen, Third World Resurgence, no. 4, December 1990 (Malaysia, Third World Network), paraphrased in The Debt Boomerang, Susan George, 1992 (London, Pluto Press with Transnational Institute).
(p. 1130) “Death & Fame”
Trungpa Vajracharya—Vajracharya: In Tibetan Buddhism, Mantrayanastyle meditation practice master. Trungpa: Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche (1939–1987), the Author’s first meditation master (1971–1987), founder of Naropa institute and Shambhala centers, author of Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism and First Thought Best Thought, with introduction by Allen Ginsberg, 1984, both published by Shambhala Publications, Boston.