(In Colombo Bob picked up a box of books and manuscripts he'd requested which had been shipped from the States. He needed the material for the annotation and commentary of his verse translations of the Dhammapada. But what he was again faced with was the manuscript of Ñāṇavīra Thera, which had so deeply instructed and haunted him for twenty years. He realized that it was finally his responsibility to prepare the manuscript for publication, and he also realized that would not mean merely editorial duties. With only a small fund available for the project, the only way he could see that it could be done properly was to electronic type-set it himself. So, having never touched a computer in his life, he began looking around for a suitable word-processing system, and also a place to do the work: i.e. a dry, stable room with electricity and few distractions. Also in the box were a bundle of my old letters to him during his former sojourn in Sri Lanka. He sent them back to me with a note. -- Hūm)
A warning about going down old rabbit holes. You can never tell what you'll find in them. Rabbit shit. Rabbit food. Rabbit nests. Maybe even rabbits. This stuff turned up (incredible what people will squirrel away, isn't it? or should I say, what people will rabbit away?). Now it's turned over. Perhaps it will be turned out, or in. Down, not likely. (You don't get down off a rabbit anyway; you get down off a goose.)
Anyway, I introduce you to yourself -- Hum, meet Eric, meet Jungne, meet Fred & Nelly, etc. Also some old friends, such as Vināyadhara & Ñāṇasuci. I could go on. No doubt I shall. But not here. Let you dig into it now and watch karmic juices get squeezed back into their fruit.
V.
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