David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


18 August 2021

An appreciation : Celebrating the 40 Year Anniversary of Lama Yeshe at The Great Stupa


In December 2000, I showed my father the site of the Great Stupa to-be. We stood at one of its four entrances, in front of us the hill cleared of bush and levelled. Three vast circular trenches had been dug for the footings, no building had yet begun. I described to him the antecedent Great Stupa in Tibet and the immediate plan for this site.

New to such things in Buddhism, but having supported and followed the completion (1895-1977) of the Sacred Heart Cathedral on the hill overlooking Bendigo, and wherein he had married my mother, he considered what was before him and said: "So, they're going to make a masterpiece out of nothing." 

In this 40th anniversary video, Ian Green re-tells the story of Lama Yeshe visiting the site of the now Great Stupa of Universal Compassion outside Bendigo, central Victoria. In 1981 Lama Yeshe traveled from Tibet to Australia and met with Ian Green and Garrey Foulkes and laid down his master plan for the entire site.

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