LUKA BLOOM : BETWEEN THE MOUNTAIN AND THE MOON
I can hear the cry of the geese that fly
Between the Mountain and the Moon
And the flags that blow in Himalayan snow
Are carried like a haunting tune
Between The Mountain And The Moon
Prayer flags at Dzogchen Beara
a Buddhist centre on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork, Ireland
Cover Photo - Luka Bloom

As I Waved Goodbye was inspired by Heinrich Harrer » Austrian explorer
and mountaineer, who had to leave Lhasa after the Chinese invasion

Soshin is decicated to Maura O'Halloran
» an Irish woman who became a Buddhist nun

Love Is A Place I Dream Of is decicated to Christina Noble
» the founder of the Christina Noble's Children Foundation

Hands Of A Farmer is decicated to Micho Russell
» the legendary whistle player from Doolin


Heinrich Harrer

    As I waved goodbye from the riverside
    It was too much to take in
    I could see the place, and imagine the face
    Of the young Tibetan God-King

Luka Bloom:
There is a moment in Heinrich Harrer's book, Seven Years in Tibet, when he describes saying farewell to his friends in Lhasa. It¹s 1950, the Chinese have invaded, and he has to flee. He is in his boat, waving to his friends, looking up to the Potala, where the young Dalai Lama is looking down at him. It is a sad and beautiful moment in a sad, ongoing struggle. I tried to capture the sense of this moment in this song.
Heinrich Harrer
Seven Years in Tibet, 1944-1951

Wherever I live, I shall feel homesick for Tibet. I often think I can still hear the cries of wild geese and cranes and the beating of their wings as they fly over Lhasa in the clear cold moonlight. My heartfelt wish is that my story may create some understanding for a people whose will to live in peace and freedom has won so little sympathy from an indifferent world.
from Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer
www.harrerportfolio.com
7 Years in Tibet Originally published in 1953, this adventure classic recounts Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer's 1943 escape from a British internment camp in India, his daring trek across the Himalayas, and his happy sojourn in Tibet, then, as now, a remote land little visited by foreigners. Warmly welcomed, he eventually became tutor to the Dalai Lama, teenaged God-King of the theocratic nation. The author's vivid descriptions of Tibetan rites and customs capture its unique traditions before the Chinese invasion in 1950, which prompted Harrer's departure. A 1996 epilogue details the genocidal havoc wrought over the past half-century.
Amazon.com
More Books on Tibet
- Return to Tibet - by Heinrich Harrer
- Lost Lhasa: Heinrich Harrer's Tibet by Heinrich Harrer & Galen Rowell
- A collection of hundreds of previously unpublished intimate photographs of the Lhasa that used to be
- Freedom in Exile - The autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
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Maura O'Halloran

    Everything in the world is new
    Everybody I tell wants to know you
    Soshin

Luka Bloom:
This song is dedicated to Maura O'Halloran. Maura was born on the evening of 24th of May, 1955, in Boston, America; to Irish and American parents. I was born the previous day in Ireland. We were in Trinity College Dublin at the same time, but never met. In the late 70s Maura went to Japan to study Zen Buddhism. She studied in a monastery in Morioka, in Northern Japan, where she was the only woman and only foreigner. The name given to Maura in the monastery was Soshin, meaning 'pure heart, enlightened mind'. In 1982 Maura decided to return to Ireland with great plans, and dreams. Sadly she died in a bus crash in Thailand. Maura's family created a beautiful book called Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind, which presented Maura's diaries, and journals during her time in Japan. The book is a wonderful tribute to Maura. I felt a bond with Maura reading the book, and wrote this song. Beth O'Halloran contributed the lovely sketches accompanying some of the songs on my sleeve package.
Maura O'Halloran was born on May 24th, 1955, in Boston. In 1979 she went to Japan to study Zen Buddhism. During her three years of Zen training in Iwate and Tokyo, she was known as Maura-san, or by her monastic name of Soshin-san. She received transmission of her roshi in 1982. Six months later (22nd of October) on her way back to Ireland, she was killed in a bus accident on the road to Chiang-Mai. She continues to be revered as a Buddhist saint by her fellows in the Kannonji Temple.
I'd be embarrassed to tell anyone, it sounds so wishy-washy, but now I have maybe 50 or 60 years (who knows?) of time, of a life, open, blank, ready to offer. I want to live it for other people. What else is there to do with it? Not that I expect to change the world or even a blade of grass but it's as if to give myself is all I can do, as the flowers have no choice but to blossom.
Maura Soshin O'Halloran
Maura O'Halloran: Pure Heart Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind:
The Zen Journal and Letters of Maura O'Halloran

by Maura O'Halloran and Elizabeth O'Halloran (Illustrator)
Berkley Publishing Group (Hardcover - May 1994)
Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc. (Paperback - October 1995)


Im Herzen der Stille
by Manuela Haselberger
Krueger Verlag, Frankfurt (1995)
Maura O'Halloran was a young Buddhist nun whose diaries
were published by her mother after her death in an automobile accident.

Christina Noble
Luka Bloom:
This song is dedicated to Christina Noble, a great Dublin woman, who has devoted much of her life to giving shelter and love, to children who often have nothing. There are times in your life when you are privileged to be in the presence of greatness, and this was my experience of meeting Christina.
The song was written and recorded for Steve Jeffares documentary Mama Tina. The concept of the documentary was a project that Director Steve Jeffares from Irish descent and living in Australia wanted to do for many years, after learning about and researching the life and works of Christina Noble. He finally gained support from RTE Ireland and December Productions in Australia. The one hour documentary was released on RTE in Ireland in February 1998 and launched by the Irish President, Mary McAleese.


Bridge Across My Sorrows
The story of Christina Noble's early life, and of the dream that took her to Vietnam.
by Christina Noble with Robert Coram

Mama Tina
The Inspiring Sequel to Bridge Across My Sorrows
by Christina Noble with Gretta Curran Browne
Books published by Corgi Books


Inspired by a dream and motivated by her horrific past as a street child in Ireland, Christina Noble arrived in Vietnam in 1989. Against all odds, she has established the Christina Noble Children's Foundation in Vietnam and Mongolia to provide medical and educational programs for poor children and families. It has helped more than 140,000 children and has fundraising offices around the world.


Micho Russell

    Hands of a farmer and dreams of a child
    Your melody lingers through a winter too wild

Luka Bloom:
Ireland seems to have a rich supply of heroes in the world of music and song. Some are greatly celebrated, others virtually unsung. One of the great Irish legends of my time, was a man from Clare called Micho Russell. A farmer who sowed his oats in Clare, who in his fifties realised that there were people outside Ireland who longed for the music and song he had in his rich veins. Micho sang, played and told stories all over the world for many many people. His greatest gift was the gift of simply being Micho. He loved people, and people surely loved him. I still do.

The Well of Spring Water - A memoir of the Clare musicians Packie (1920-1977) and Micho Russell (1915-1994) by Michael Coady

"For all his openness and what people may have thought of as his rustic 'simplicity', ultimately there was something mysteriously inaccessible and opaque about Micho Russell's nature. In the way he approached the world he was as clear as spring water, you could look into the well, but never comprehend its essential core...... He wore no mask, and perhaps that in itself was the mystery since, in one way or another, we all wear masks."

Book Review by Vic Smith

Micho Russell Festival Weekend - Doolin, Co Clare
The annual traditional festival held in Doolin falling on the weekend of the last Friday in February began in 1995 as a remembrance ceremony to Micho Russell, the world-famous traditional musician, who died in 1994. In 2006 by request of the Russell family the festival was renamed the Russell Memorial Weekend in memory of the Russells, Micho, Packie, and Gussie...


Recordings featuring Micho Russell:
- The Limestone Rock
- The Man From Clare
- Ireland's Whistling Ambassador
The Russell Family: Micho, Packie & Gussie
- The Russell Family of Doolin, County Clare

- The 4th Irish Folk Festival - On The Road
(Concert Flute / Tin Whistle / Vocal)
The Red Dog / The Battle of Aughrim / Saint Ruth's Bush
Boys O Boys / Lilting / The Green Groves of Erin / I Will Leave


© Rena Bergholz - Luka Bloom Page