“I entered the café feeling freakishly Zen”

WHEN people ask me whether I’ve visited Dogzchen — the Buddhist retreat centre on the tip of the Beara peninsula — the tone of the inquiry is hard to pinpoint.

Let’s just say it’s different to the tone of a question like “have you been to Mahon Point?”

When I answer “no,” the tone of their response is also hard to pinpoint; ‘dismayed’ comes close but it has something else colouring it — that I can’t quite put my finger on.