News Update

Hi folks,

In February I received a very curious email from Australia. It was from a family in Western Australia. They told me that earlier that day there had been a knock on their door. On answereing it they were surprised to see a Buddhist monk standing in front of them. He was very apologetic and said that he had walked many miles from his monastery and they were the first house he had found. He asked if they had a computer. They responded that they had. He then asked if they could send an email to a person in England (i.e. me!). The email asked for my home address which on receipt they were to send to The Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine, W.A.

Two months ago I received a letter from the monk. He explained that he had, quite by chance, come across my article in the 'International Journal of Near-Death Studies'. He said that its contents had fascinated him. He said that my ideas were of some significance to Buddhism and it was of mutual interest that we meet. He told me that he would be in England in May.

We have now been in telephone contact and I have been invited to meet with him and the Abbott at the Gitavivaka Monastery in Warwickshire. I am really looking foward to this and I am fascinated to know exactly what I am going to be told. On the back of the invite to the Sufi Monastery in Northern Cyprus it seems that my mind is going to be opened along various paths.

You may also be interested to know that I have a date and time for my interview with BBC Radio Manchester. It will be at 0800 am (British Time) on Sunday the 27th May. This can be listened to live on-line at http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/local_radio/. Then click on the 'listen live' button on the right-hand side. If you miss it it will be available under 'listen again' which is the next button. The show is 'Sunday Breakfast' and I will be interviewed by Mark Edwardson.