Rain on the Nile - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Preface
Wh e n Si l e n t Ra i n w a s f i r s t compiled, back in 1993, part of the idea of producing
such a varied collection of material – talks, poems, travelogues and artwork
– was that it would then provide an easy source for smaller offprints over the
years. Things, however, rarely turn out as predicted by foresight and thus, up
until now, no smaller booklets had been spawned from it.
This present book, <strong>Rain</strong> on the Nile, is something of a remedy for that, being
both an outcome of that original intention as well as an arena for the offering
up of some more recent material – to wit, the travelogue of a journey to Egypt
made in December of 2006. In truth, without there having been plans to reprint
some of the talks from Silent <strong>Rain</strong>, the Egyptian diary would never have been
written.
The idea to select some talks from the book and to create this smaller reprint
was originally that of Venerable Tenzin Chogkyi, an American nun practicing
in the Tibetan tradition. She had been the recipient of a bequest from a family
member and was of a mind to direct some of it to be used to bring parts of Silent
<strong>Rain</strong> back into circulation, the original stock of books having long ago been
exhausted. She had found the book very helpful in her own life and wished it
to be accessible to others. She thus approached me, in the autumn of 2006, and
floated the idea of such an offprint being sponsored by her. I readily agreed and,
during the conversation, it was mentioned that I had plans to travel to Egypt
with Luang Por Sumedho that December.
“You’re going to Egypt!” she exclaimed, “I grew up there! At least that’s
where I spent the first four years of my life. What’s taking you there Are there
Buddhist groups Are you giving teachings”
“No, nothing like that. There’s a small group of us who have been on little
expeditions in recent years – to the Arctic and then to Bhutan – and now
there is the plan to visit Egypt; also, one the monks who is going is an amateur
Egyptologist, he can even read and write hieroglyphics.”
She was enthralled and inspired by the idea that Luang Por Sumedho and the
i