--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > This one is for wayback, whose questions got me to thinking > about time spent with spiritual teachers, and what I thought > of it, this many years on. In doing so, I uncovered many > pleasant memories of time spent with Maharishi, and with > Rama/Fred Lenz. Interestingly, many of the moments I con- > sidered at the time and still consider the "highest" (or > most profound, or most life-changing, whatever) were *not* > in a "darshan situation." That is, they weren't moments > in which we interacted with the teacher onstage and me > in the audience. They were private moments, "unexpected > meetings with remarkable men" moments. > > And then BAM! It hit me that my favorite such "darshan > moment" with a spiritual teacher didn't involve any dar- > shan at all. And it wasn't with either Maharishi or Rama. > > It was a night spent chatting with a Bhutanese Tibetan > Buddhist monk, a Kempo of a long-standing Tibetan order. > Some of my friends from the Rama trip had gotten involved > with him after Rama died, and told me about him, but > nothing I had heard spurred my interest enough to want > to see him. I felt no real "guru" affinity towards him, > or towards what I heard about his teachings. Still don't. > > But then I heard that he'd be speaking in Chicago, and > staying with a good friend of mine and her husband in their > house. They invited me to fly out (I lived in Santa Fe) for > the talk and stay with them, too. I had my plane reservations > booked within two minutes. NOT because of the Kempo and his > public talk, but because I'd be staying in the same house > he was, and thus I'd possibly have an opportunity to chat > with him "offline," guy to guy. > > And that's exactly what happened. We went to his talk, I > enjoyed it but wasn't knocked out by anything, and then we > went home. Our hosts stayed up with us for a little while, > but then went to bed because they had to work the next day. > Obviously, neither Kempo nor I did. :-) We hung in there > in the living room, both of us obviously up for a chat. > > This proved more difficult than you might think. He spoke > very little English, and I spoke far less Tibetan. The > first few moments as we were left alone together were... > uh...challenging, as we both tried to make "small talk," > and failed miserably. > > Then I had an idea. Years ago I had given my friend a > copy of one of my favorite books, "The Turquoise Bee," > by Rick Fields. It was a book of the poetry of the Sixth > Dalai Lama, still considered one of Tibet's best poets, > but also considered controversial because he refused to > take his vows as a monk, and wrote his poetry while > drinking and carousing with women in Shol-town, Lhasa's > red light district. My kinda guy.
And how very much like the Masters of our day that we have analyzed here on FFL and that we all expect to be perfect in their behavior. So the 6th DL was into women and carousing? Nice to be reminded of these types of people - their talents may not lie in moral rectitude, but in poetry, enjoying food and sex and wine and being Enlightened. It is hard to blend the 2 concepts, but hearing of others is a good thing. I know you don't care about Enlightenment at this point in your life. I still do, altho the simple here and now certainly gains significance, maybe cause I am not 21 any longer and am wiser. If Enlightenment is anything like the peak experiences I had via TM or before TM or due to darshan, then I want That. That and the here and now, both. Of course, I am one of those who considers is possible that Enlightenment is simply and amazingly a style of brain functioning (I hope not, but it might be). Even so, it seemed pretty wonderful... > > Anyway, I found the book, which contained the Turquoise > Bee's poems not only translated into English, but in > their original Tibetan. I opened the book to my favorite > poem, walked back to the couch, and showed it to Kempo. > I have never seen a face brighten so immediately and so > dazzlingly as his did when he smiled. He looked at me and > said, "Ah yes...Tsangyang Gyatso. He was...controversial. > He had...uh...girlfriends. Buddhism reacted badly. Now > we can't have girlfriends, either." Then he laughed, > a real belly laugh. > > I knew at that moment that I had found a friend. Not a > guru, not a teacher, just a friend...a guy I could talk > with because we'd both been there, done that with the > monk thang, and its ups and downs. > > We "talked" for several more hours. I'd show him my fav- > orite poems and he'd read them for me so I could finally > hear the Tibetan, and then we'd chat about each one a > little. By "chat," I mean using some English, some Tibetan, > some sign language and pantomime, and occasional psychic > transfers. By the latter, I mean that I'd use a trick I'd > learned from Rama and create a strong inner visualization > of what I was trying to convey to him and then "push" it > in his direction psychically. To my surprise, the first > time I did this he "got" it immediately, and exactly. To > *his* surprise, when he tried the same thing with me, > I seemed to "get" it, too. It was really fun. > > We eventually finally both got tired and went to bed, and > he left the next day, as did I. I never saw him again, > and have heard that he since died. That made me a little > sad when I heard it, because I really treasure the brief > time we spent together. > > What made it special and memorable for me is that we were > Just Two Guys Talking. I wasn't his student, and he knew > that I never would be. And that was No Problem for him. > > He dropped effortlessly out of teacher-to-student mode > and dropped just as effortlessly into guy-to-guy mode. > We were just two guys rapping long into the night, prob- > ably a lot like the Turquoise Bee rappin' with a stranger > in a Shol-town tavern. Just as many of those moments were > timeless, and still exist in his poems, this moment is > not just a memory for me. It's more like it still exists > out there, timeless, suspended in eternity, and I can > drop back in to it any time I choose. Doing so always > leaves me with a smile on my face. My thanks to wayback > for putting it there today. > What a great heartfelt story, and how wonderful to be able to relate person to person rather than with the nervous awe that I always felt around gurus. Hold on to this. You certainly have wide ranging reading interests - do you call yourself Turq here because of the title of the Turquoise Bee? I am ordering the book, sounds like something I would like.
