Archive for the 'Tales from The Flower Raj' Category

Klaus Schlichtmann interviewed.

Klaus Schlichtman in New DelhiKlaus Schlichtmann interviewed in New Delhi April 3rd 2012. Klaus was an early adopter of Buddhism, deciding at the age of sixteen to leave Germany & head East, which he did eventually when he was eighteen, in 1962. In 1964 he arrived at the Sanskrit University Banaras &, remarkably, obtained the post of Lecturer in German, at the age of twenty.

Here he talks about what it was like in Banaras in the early 1960s; later he made a kayak of his own construction and rode it from Banaras to Dhaka, then Calcutta to Puri. Marriage, children, study in Germany & now twenty years teaching Peace Studies (and German) and learning Buddhism & Japanese in Japan, Dr Klaus Schlichtmann is a true renaissance man. His overriding interests these days are his two year old daughter Irena & the development of World Peace & World Federation.

Listen to his interview now.

 

Download here:

Publications:

Japan in the World: Shidehara Kijuro, Pacifism, and the Abolition of War. (by Klaus Schlichtmann, Asiaworld,  [2 vols.], April 2009) Amazon.com

Article Nine in Context “… limitations of National Sovereignty and the Abolition of War in Constitutional Law.” (by Klaus Schlichtmann).

Peace Studies lectures in peace (Movement for UN Reform [UNFOR]).

Photos:

Irena & Klaus (Facebook – login required). Klaus with his young daughter, February 2012.

Klaus in Banaras 1965  “In Banaras on the river Ganges at one of the ghats.”

Buku & Klaus in Banaras 1965 “At the Bauddh Kaksh, Sanskrit University.”

Tashijong – ‘Cosynook’ 1976 “I think this picture of Peter Cooper,  Ngawang Tendup, the English Lama, is in front of “Cosynook” near Tashijong.”

Rutherford, Zimels, Abrams “in Klaus Schlichtmann’s room at the Bauddh Kaksh, Banaras, 1965.”

Links:

Japan in the World: (online) read Klaus’ book on Shidehara Kijuro online at Google Books.

Historian seeks clear U.N. mandate for peace (The Japan Times 15 March 2003) “German-born Klaus Schlichtmann is a peace historian. An academic who found his way late in life — a “seeker” in every sense of the word.”

World Peace Movement for the Abolition of War.

World Federation World Government (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy).

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The Punjab Road Runners

In 1993 a trio of Bradford taxi drivers, Fazal, Patrick, and Azad, decide to buy three used Transit vans in Britain and drive them overland all the way to northern Pakistan. Their plan is to sell the vehicles on arrival at a nice profit, and then to celebrate the Eid muslim festival with their extended families. A quirky and often comical film, the “Punjab Road Runners”, charts their stumbling passage through western Europe, eastern Europe, and Asia (50 minutes).

Produced & Directed by David Hargreaves, who wrote: “In 1980 David Hargreaves hitch-hiked the Hippy Trail from Britain to India. At the Austria/Yugoslav border he came across three British Pakistanis from east London driving Transit vans to Pakistan. Glad to have a white face on board through the communist badlands of eastern Europe, they gave him a ride all the way to Istanbul. About six weeks later at the Iran/Pakistan border he ran into three more British Pakistanis, this time from Blackburn, also piloting Transit vans. He drove with them through the Baluch desert up to Quetta. By now he had become well acquainted with the practice of “Transit-to-Pakistan”, and had learnt that it was quite widespread amongst the British Pakistani community.

Twelve years later, by this time a film producer and director, David decided that the phenomenon could easily form the subject of an intriguing documentary. He spent an afternoon wandering the streets of east London, and finally managed to track down Selim, one of the original drivers he had travelled with, who confirmed that British Pakistanis were still making this trip. After speaking to local papers in towns with substantial Pakistani populations and encouraging them to write about his film plans, he was contacted by various characters who were thinking of doing the journey. He liked Fazal from Bradford the best and they agreed to co-operate. David hired a cameraman. The two film-makers then travelled with the group of drivers in the three Transit vans, not in a separate vehicle. The journey was in every respect a shared experience. “

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La Vallée des Dieux

Goshale Village Houses - Maisons traditionelles de la vallee de Kullu.La vallée de Koulou (KULU) en Inde se trouve au pied du Haut Himalaya, à une altitude qui varie entre 1300 et 2500 mètres. La rivière Béas y serpente entre des forêts de cèdres, de chênes verts et des vergers de pommiers, ces derniers étant la richesse de ses riverains, après le tourisme. Le climat y est agréable, semblable à celui de la Provence. Sa population est une des ethnies les plus originales de l’Inde, avec ses villages disséminés dans les montagnes et ses cultures en terrasses. L’été, en plus des pommes, on y trouve le riz que l’altitude a rendu rouge, le maïs et les haricots, rouges eux aussi ! En hiver, il y a la neige qui ensevelit l,orge et le blé déjà plantes.!

Vashisht Village in WinterDans le creux de cette vallée, il n’est pas bien difficile de quitter les grands centres de tourisme comme Manali, , un petit chef-lieu au climat tempéré. Il attire de nos jours des millions de touristes indiens pendant les vacances scolaires du pays, en mai et juin, ainsi que pas mal d’étrangers. Mais le dépaysement n’est jamais très loin : il suffit de faire de courtes randonnées sur les chemins pédestres traversant des forêts magnifiques pour se retrouver au cœur d’une tradition millénaire caractérisée par une population au langage particulier. Nous sommes, en effet, au milieu d’un croisement d’ethnies : indo-aryennes, aryennes et mongoloïdes. Ces derniers sont descendus au cours des siècles des hauts plateaux himalayens, limitrophes de la vallée par le nord, l’ancienne partie ouest du Tibet.

Continue reading ‘La Vallée des Dieux’

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The Mane Stone – David Buschman

So what, says I, I want the sonofabitch and I don”t need any fucking advice from you.

Buschman - Japan 1947The three of us had been trekking for 6 days from the Chinese road where we had been hauled in a elaborately painted truck featuring mostly strangely endowed women in what might pass for 1930′s bathing suits surrounded by lotuses and dhorjis. On the trail we were not roughing it, in addition to seven Sherpa porters, a cook and a guide, Nema Chorta, who spoke a sort of English and who assured us daily that, “we are not afraid”.

Continue reading ‘The Mane Stone – David Buschman’

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‘GOA : some origins’ by Blond Peter

BMT & Company - Anjuna 1973

BMT & Company - Anjuna '73

Extract from a work in progress “ORIGINALLY…” .

GOA

“I know it sounds a bit bizarre,
But for one brief Shining moment
That’s how conditions were”.
(apologies to Camelot)

Swarming is a natural state in organisms, be they bees or people.  We all recognise the motivation of a Memorial Day march, the football crowd, the Mardi Gras Parade or the gatherers at a Khumba Mela.
By the time the nineteen-seventies were under way, we baby boomers thought we had invented swarming.  We kept getting away with the most outrageous stunts, like swarming through the streets to oppose a war that our elders had initiated.
I was working in New York City, but the East was still calling… there had to be more to life than this. Continue reading ‘‘GOA : some origins’ by Blond Peter’

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Tibetans

In June 1968, I had been in India for one year.  I do remember seeing a few Tibetans who were selling knitwear in the streets of old Delhi.   I did not have time to get to know them like my friend Arthur Mandelbaum who was teaching English to refugee’s in India at that time. Among these people were monks that were educated in the Tibetan traditions probably far beyond our mere university level, but they were studying English.  As we know, later that exercise became important for those of us who were fortunate to receive Buddhist teachings that were spoken in English by former students of Arthur.

Dalai Lama / Dudjom RinpocheI did have the opportunity in 1974 to hear His Holiness the Dalai Lama, when he spoke to a small audience at the TROEPEN MUSEUM in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  His talk was ecumenical and to me much like a visit with a friend, needless to say, I was very impressed.  A year later after returning to New York City thanks to my friend Loren, I followed his suggestion to take refuge as a Buddhist from a Tibetan lama named Kalu Rinpoche. Continue reading ‘Tibetans’

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