Gurus, Tulkus, and the Definitive Meaning

  The Mind, Nepal
Tuesday, December 5, 2006

If you believe in God, then your search must be for God; but even if you believe in nothing you still must have some conviction that there is a meaning behind this visible world. You must be determined to seek out that meaning and understand it.
~Shivapuri Baba

Returning to Kathmandu from the Makalu-Barun trek, I returned to Thamel to stay a few days for errands, rest, and a barber's shave at the local "saloon," as they spell it.

Picture the creaky wooden saloon doors opening, my spurs spinning, guns at the ready as I enter with my ten gallon hat. In the darkened room, a Nepali cowboy spits into a spitoon: "You wanna shave, pardner."

In reality, the shave was close, relaxing, and includes a head massage to boot.

On the way back, a tout offered an inexpensive place to stay. Since anywhere was fine for me, I agreed to follow him and looked at the room: "I'll take it." Later that night, the hotel was reverberating with pounding bass from a nightclub imbedded into the ageing hotel. Tired, I slept through the music.

The next night, I decided to join the fun downstairs, a local joint called the Liquid Dance Bar. At the dance bar, however, you don't dance. Instead you watch dancers perform for you, like watching old MTV videos, Nepali style. The dancers acted out the lyrics, sometimes alone, sometimes as couples. I drank Royal Stag Whisky straight and bought wine for the flirting dancers and barmaids, just for fun. The night ended in a cloudy haze.

"Good to see you, Owain," I said as I sat down for a beer the next evening. I hadn't seen Owain for seven months, when we met at the Himalayas Guest House in Kunming. Since then he played some bass guitar, learned some Chinese, and biked across Tibet to Kathmandu. We watched a Nepali rock and roll cover tunes band play and told stories.

Boudha

Soon I headed to Boudhanath, in search of the dharma scene, but struck out. First I went to the White Monastery, but it was closed. Next, I went to another monastery, but the rinpoche was away. I went again to the White Monastery, for a morning session, but it was the previous day. Finally, I hiked into the Shivapuri forest, marigold garland in hand, searching for a holy guru.

Shivapuri Baba, at age 112

Shivapuri forest, to the north of Kathmandu, was the retreat for a saint who named himself Shivapuri Baba. There, he lived his final years high in the forested mountains overlooking the city. After living twenty years in a forest, he achieved enlightenment. He then began walking, first around India, next through Persia, meeting princes along the way. He continued walking through the Middle East and Europe, then America--forty years in all. Late in his life, he overcame cancer through the power of his mind. He died, so they say, at age 137.

Unable to find his successor, I placed the marigold garland on a small uninhabited shack and returned to Boudha.

I decided that, perhaps, Pokhara would be a better place to find accessible teachers and teachings.

Kevin, Depa, and Helenka

But I had another chance at bat, as I met Kevin, Helenka, and Depa at the Shechen Monastery Guest House. They had come for the 26th Annual Seminar of Transforming and Awakening the Mind at the Ranjung Yeshe Institute. I had seen posters for the ten-day seminar, wanting to go, but it was a week away and I knew little about it.

"Registration is tomorrow," they said.

"Amazing, I've already been here a week!" Time passed quickly.

So I registered, along with almost 200 other participants from around the world. This would be an inner journey, the interdependent partner of travelling.

Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche

"Good Morning!" sang Tulku Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche as he entered the monastery, our lama, our teacher for the next ten days. He was one of the most respected tulkus, or reincarnated bodhissatvas, who escaped Tibet with his family during the Chinese invasion. His diminutive, yet powerful and peaceful demeanor conjured thoughts of Jedi Master Yoda, arguably the best character in the Star Wars movies. Yoda even has a Tibetan name: Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche.

"Do, or do not. There is no 'try,'" said Yoda to Luke Skywalker on the swamp planet Dagobah as Luke unsuccessfully tried to levitate his X-wing fighter.

Hundreds of years ago, a dark age was prohpesized, one full of ignorance, one perhaps allegorized in Star Wars, if you read between the strips of film. The dark age, however, is a subtle one, as political power slowly centralizes and global wealth increases...at a cost.

Tulku Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche: "Most people very rich, not getting along so...very sad, very ugly. Too much...each room you have TV, toilet some. Worry, fear...midnight get up...bottom line, full of jealous...physically and mentally not happy. What kind of life is that?"

Transforming and Awakening Seminar Group

"We should train in awakening the sleep of ignorance. Each of us has an important responsibility," he said overlooking us in the main temple of the Ka-nying Shedrub Ling Monastery. A golden statue of Buddha sat in meditation behind him. We all sat cross-legged for hours listening as he taught from The Heart of the Matter: The Unchanging Convergence of Vital Points That Shows Exactly How to Apply the View and Meditation of the Definitive Meaning by Tsele Natsok Rangdrol. Long title, deep meaning.

The essense of the teachings of Buddha is this: he provides a way to live life in the present moment, alive, awake, aware, spun within the interconnected web of existence, full of compassion and love without the shackles of suffering from ignorance, hate, anger, jealousy, and envy.

My knees and joints filled with pain during the sitting--luckily the sessions were morning-only, although periodically he would talk until much later, when he had much to tell us. For years, I had neglected to stretch and keep my body limber. Pulled hanstrings, a sprained ankle, tendonitis in the knees, and neglect took their toll. But since this trip began, I have been stretching and concentrating for hours and hours, day after day, reversing damage I once thought would plague me until I died. Now overcoming the joint pain was a natural process of sitting cross-legged.

Lama Oleg

I sat next to Lama Oleg. He came to Kathmandu from Russia and sat in retreat for four years, meditating. Although we rarely talked, we enjoyed each other's company sitting, listening on the monastery cushions.

I felt as though I was back in Unitarian-Universalist youth group again, only this time for adults. Thoughts of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, taking a Journey in Meaning with our minister Reverend Doss, and traveling around the mid-Atlantic coast with our Explorer's post all came to mind. Those were more innocent times, when transcendentalism seemed like a theory out of reach.

But now, all those cloudy thoughts and theories became real, as though a veil had been lifted. Ecology, watching the stars in the American desert with Kevin, Eee equals emcee squared, Stephen Hawkings all collided in a particle accelerator. My mind was spinning, like a child going back to school in September.

"Good morning!"

Kevin, Helenka, and Depa became my spiritual friends during the seminar. They were from various parts of America and each had their reasons for coming. Kevin was an old hat at the dharma and could answer many of our questions; Helenka was searching and came to the right place; Depa had been practicing for a few years. We ate many meals together at the Shechen Guesthouse, enjoying the peaceful courtyard and garden and each others' company.

Nepali Kung Fu Movie

During our free afternoons, we visited various places in town, joking about Buddhism, Avril Lavigne signs and the enigmatic "Vote For Tree" (see photos) on the way. I was able to see familiar sights and enjoy once again chocolate cake at the Snowman Cafe and the best fried veggie momos with chili at the Tip Top. We watched Nepali Kung-fu movies being filmed in the woods, met beggars as friends, hiked through terraced fields, now newly-tilled and brown, circumambulated Boudha, and participated in puja ceremonies.

Monks and Boudha

Our taxi came to a standstill in traffic on the way to Pashupatinath, giving a beggar plenty of time to show us the dead rat he was going to eat for dinner. Kevin, who was sitting next to the closed window, watched as the rat dangled before him, a potent symbol of poverty as well as the nutritious nature of rat meat. At Pashupatinath, dead bodies burned in the ghats and thousands of people filled the temple grounds in celebration of their dead relatives.

Gilded Vajrayogini

"That bell sounds great," I said to Depa as he rang a large bell at the Vajrayogini Temple at Sanhku, another of our trips. Monkeys fought each other as we walked around the grounds of the temple, a mixture of Buddhist and Hindu beliefs. The brahman priest opened the temple for us to see. He also opened another temple with ancient statues of Vajrayogini and Buddha--a rare day.

One day, the entire seminar group took a "spiritual field trip" to one of Chokyi Nyima's retreat centers. Lama Oleg showed his Russian friends and me the place where he was in meditation retreat for four years. We visited a nearby cave, where guru Padmasambhava, who brought Buddhism to Tibet, meditated. Outside were begging children. One little girl wore Cookie Monster sweatpants so I sang a rendition of "'C' is for cookie, is good enough for me!" She burst into excited laughter, clapping her hands. She didn't want to beg, she just wanted to meet foreigners, be happy, and laugh.

A few elder tulkus who escaped Tibet are still alive. Two of the most pre-eminent are Chogye Trichen Rinpoche and Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche, both over 80 years old. Depa and I visited Chogye Trilchen Rinpoche, the oldest Sakya lama, for his blessings. His broad smile and shining eyes showed beauty that transcended his elder face, which showed signs of deterioration. Throughout the Tibetan world, he is known as a scholar, a storyteller, a poet, an adept and realized practitioner, and a tantric master.

Tulku Trulshik Rinpoche

Terton Trulshuk Rinpoche is one of the oldest Nyingmapa rinpoches who, after the Chinese invaded, took refuge for many years in remote areas south of Everest. He is also one of the few remaining masters who practiced and studied in Tibet. The entire seminar group walked to visit him at his temple, where he gave us blessed amrita to eat and performed a reading transmission of Buddha Shakyamuni.

During another session, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche told us about a week long teaching his monks gave in the Kathmandu Valley: "They were simple people...farmers. After one week, I came. They all had kusa grass sticking up. Amazing! They know! Simple." The kusa grass refers to a ceremony where the mind, nerves, and chakras are activated. A small hole opens in the head at the sahasrara chakra. Once this opens, people show their success by placing holy kusa grass in the hole.

On the other hand, for westerners clouded by years of materialism, commercials, rush hour traffic, and the "good life" it is often not simple.

Peace: Kathmandu Post Headlines

Peace then arrived to Nepal as the government and Maoists shook hands, ending years of war on paper. Newspapers proclaimed a "New Nepal:" "Die's Cast: War's Past, Peace to Last." Happiness prevailed in the streets. Bands of Maoists walking the streets yelling, shaking their fists in the air--the tense mood when I arrived--dissipated and dissolved. No longer were Nepalis wondering when the Maoists would take Kathmandu in a street-to-street battle. Now they hoped the peace would really last, as the political figureheads proclaimed.

Helenka

Helenka, who came from Los Angeles and courageously quit her job, and I went in seach of Buddha statues. I was looking for two "twin" statues: one as a gift to Rinpoche for his priceless teachings, and another for myself. They would be my metallic travelling companions over the next month, as I travel through Buddha's lands in India and Southern Nepal. Along the way, they could acquire the spiritual power behind the pilgrimage sites. Not that they would become magical in a superstitious way, but that they would have auspicious connections and good karma, good juju.

Buddha Statue from Patan

Searching for these travelling companions required a keen shopper's eye. For days, I had visited other stores in search of good buddha statues. They aren't easy to find. The key is that the statue must convey the enlightened countenance of the Buddha himself. Some looked possessed by demons, others looked like they had eaten some overly sour food, still others just looked lifeless. After visiting about ten stores, I found the two twin statues, each with their own little quirks. Nobody's perfect, not even the Buddha, but that's life.

Returning to the White Monastery, I gave the two empty statues to a monk in charge of empowering them. Chokyi Nyima then blessed them as I told him the journey they were about to undertake. Eventually, one of them would return to him.

Another one of my problems is an obsessive enjoyment of shopping for thangka paintings. Looking at the thangka paintings of Buddha, White Tara, Chenrezee, Manjushri calm my spirit. Similarly I enjoy looking at the wrathful deities with their bloody skullcaps, decapitated victims, and sexual contortions. In essence, both are tantric paintings designed to convey archetypal meaning to practitioners. The wrathful deities aren't angry with you or interested in murdering you. Instead, they want peace but are showing you that your flesh and bones mean nothing in this impermanent life--heavy stuff indeed.

White Tara Thangka in Newari Style

After months of periodic thangka shopping, I went upstairs into the back den of the Tibet Thangka House in Thamel. The shop owner unveiled a painting of White Tara, in Newari style, painted, blessed, and empowered by a rinpoche high in the Himalayas (click the photograph for more information). Immediately, my mind returned to the monasteries of the Guge Kingdom in Tibet, where Newari and Kashmiri artists had come one thousand years ago to paint intricate murals. This was the Thangka I had been seeking!

But there was a paradox: the Buddha himself didn't want his image to be recreated. Reluctantly, he posed for a painting to be made. The artist needed to look at his reflection in the water, as directly looking at the Buddha was too intense. The Buddha knew that the image of him perhaps would allow entire kingdoms to awaken to his teachings. Nevertheless, idolatry was not something Buddha taught. In essence, any thangka or statue represent archetypes that assist us to see the primordial mind of buddha that is inside all of us. Depa and I, however, agreed that the deities needed to upgrade their weapons--grenade launchers that purify mind could easily replace outdated swords of discriminating wisdom or vajras.

I'll take it one step further, as the two Buddhas will be joining me for the next month: not idols, but travel buddies.

The sessions ended with a three-day retreat in Shivapuri forest at a nunnery overlooking Kathmandu. There we continued to learn and practice, focusing on the Four Dharmas of Gampopa and Mingling Three-fold Sky. From this, we learned the true nature of mind: "Deep, quiet simplicity--luminous, wakeful, unformed," as the Buddha described it upon his awakening.

On the last day, I asked Rinpoche a question, a question that could have been many questions about life, but only had one answer. He answered with one word: "Naturally."

Thus, naturally, the Dharma Sessions ended at Boudhanath. Naturally, I said "goodbye" to everyone I had met. Naturally, life continued and I left Kathmandu after a night of fireworks and the full moon, feeling ready for what lay ahead, with two Buddhas at my side.