Stop-Loss

On the flight to London I watched "Stop-Loss" a harrowing film revolving around a group of soldiers lured from their checkpoint in Tikrit to be ambushed in a narrow alley. From one moment to the next, alive young men are dead, dying and horrifically wounded, as are a man and his son, in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's the back-cloth.

The substance of the film is about the complex mixture of duty and despair that overtakes the soldiers back home in Texas. If you have come through an American airport and seen soldiers welcomed home and others departing - whatever your politics, you know that this is not black-and-white nor election sound-bites.

Then at the weekend the violent death of 9 US soldiers in a prolonged firefight in a forward base in Northern Afghanistan.

And Stop-Loss? The right of the military to involuntarily extend the term of service for another tour of duty. In the film, Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe), having done tours in Afghanistan and Iraq is ordered back. It's a sobering film.

Quiet Dawn

UK dawn
04:30 - jetlag has its virtues

Robust Zen

The trick is to practice while crossing the street, dodging people and cars, and immersed in noise and heat.

I can see Bodhidharma cussing drivers and whacking boot-lids with his staff. He's out there somewhere.

Back to London tonight for a few days.

(Bodhidharma, British Library, non-commercial use)

The Fifth Noble Truth

From the Financial Times, June 17th 2008:-

UK becomes biggest weapons exporter
By Stephen Fidler, Defence and Security Editor

Britain became the world’s largest arms exporter last year, according to government figures released on Tuesday, overtaking the US, which normally occupies the top slot.
The UK won £10bn of new defence orders in 2007 from overseas, giving it a 33 per cent share of the world export market, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Defence and Security Organisation, set up to promote Britain’s defence exports. Export orders totalled £5.5bn in 2006.

Fire

Timeless

The sun has started its journey back across the sky, though only two weeks on from the solstice, the change in direction is barely discernible. The cloud was low but the high clouds were lit up long before sunrise. Resonates deep in the collective unconscious this daily renewal.

Colour of a different kind in the splendid Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. The chanting was particularly fine yesterday, if incomprehensible to me. Maybe the better for being just that.



Then a concert of old music from Southern China, in the afternoon - "Soul Journey" was the concert title. More later on this extraordinary music.