Bob:
> Thanks, Bodhi.  Pardon my ignorance, but is that a male or female name?
> Indian nationality, made up, or other?  Just curious.

			the name story

		ombodhi   thoren   st john

	om -- the imperishable syllable.  universal vibration.  all that
was, all that is, all that will be, is om.  likewise, everything beyond the
bounds of time, that too is om.  hum, amen, om.

	bodhi -- underneath the bodhi tree, buddha attained enlightenment.
variously translated as:  awakening mind, enlightenment, peace, pure light.

	thoren -- near the end of my gestation period, mom had a dream.  a
completely black void in all directions with only a pinprick of blue light.
 the light pulsed and grew stronger.  enlarging & brightening, the "blue
pearl" moved forward.  morphing, transforming, gelling into a word.  slowly
the capitalized letters emerged: thoren.  it grew larger & larger.  blue
iridescent flames licked off the block letters towering above.  as the light
grew in intensity to an almost unbearable magnitude, the letters seemed like
they would crush her.  just then a booming voice thundered: !!!thoren!!!  my
mom awoke suddenly, sitting up in bed with sweat pouring off her body,
dripping down her forehead & nose onto sheets already soaked through.  a
presence, an energy, moved from her to the ceiling, then departed.  someone,
something, had given me a name.  perhaps my own spirit, or guardian angel,
or many other forces.  my mom has always regarded it as my soul-name.

	st john -- meaningless surname.

ok, that last one might have a bit more of an explanation.  i really haven't
read deeply into the available literature on saint john or john the baptist,
but i do like _the essene gospel of peace_.  not many know it had the
earlier title of _the essene gospel of john_.  least favorite of my names, i
do like one thing about my last name.  i got it from my mom.  matrilineal.
my dad never married her, as i've noted in an earlier post.  (((intimate
internet)))  dad wanted to name me bodhicitta, pronounced bow-dee chee-tah.
 mom didn't go for that moniker, so ombodhi emerged.  as an infant, they
tell me i got called "om-lette" often.  much appreciation that that has not
continued.  other ideas like my great-grandfather's first name as a second
middle name, and combining three last names into one, didn't pan out.
	when i took refuge, thereby becoming a buddhist, the very venerable
kalu rinpoche gave me a tibetan name.  karma phunstok gyaltsen.  loose
translation:  "glorious victory banner."  a victory banner holds special
significance as one of the eight sacred symbols (endless knot, golden fish,
etc.)
	my grandma called me "ihdob", my name backwards, along with the
ever-so-grandma endearment, "sweet bucket."  my friends would get no
explanation as to the origin of this label, as i know of none.
	in spanish class, they called on me as "jorge san juan."  japanese
class brought me "bodhi-kun".
	my cousens, aunts, etc. have come up with quite a smattering:
bodaceous, bodhito, bodelay, boody, bode, body, bod-high, boaty, bo-man, bo.
	when i took my baby steps on bbs's, years before i got into this
internet thang, i had a silly handle: "big fun".
	way back when i wanted a lot of mail, i used a slew of pseudonyms.
i no longer desire excess mail.  maybe because i get so much electronically!


a man with many names,
		      bodhi