Miriam
Cotes came to Lima to teach towards the end of 2003. It was Javier’s idea to
have a show in the theatre of the district of San Isidro. It was called
“Buddhist Stories, Some Answers, and Meditation.” A couple of young actors
staged the stories and alternated with some stories told by kids of the Sangha.
At the end of each story Domingo, who
had a deep voice would say ·”…And the master says:”, and a wise and profound
sentence would be read. Miriam was integrated to the show giving teachings,
answering questions and directing at the very end Three Lights Meditation. We
had full house for two evenings and it was a great success.
Miriam
told Carlos, the head of Lima Center that Javier should go to Karma Guen to
meet Karmapa. With time the means to collect the money appeared. There was a
worldwide fundraising through the
Internet group of KagyuIberoamerica.
Little by little the money flowed in. An envelope with 16 Euros arrived
from Maracay, in Lima we collected money, Dharma Teachers sent money from
Germany. All who knew him gave money, but it was still not enough; and we
didn’t have yet all the money for the ticket from Lima to Malaga, Spain.
I had
taken lessons on how to read the I Ching and offered Javier a reading. A double
trigram came out: mountain over mountain. The mountain also symbolizes
meditation and lack of movement; innamobility. The verdict said to keep still
and let his friends do the work.
In May of
2004 the Gompa of Karma Guen was to be inaugurated with the attendance of his
Holiness Seventeenth Karmapa Thaye Dorje, Shamarpa Rinpoche, Lama Ole and
Hannah and all the most important leaders of Karma Kagyu Lineage. They would give many transmissions:
of Mahakala, of Amithaba and of Amithayus, plus teachings would be given by
Manfred Siegers, Hannah and Kenpho Karma Gnedon. There would also be Phowa with
Lama Ole.
Javier had
at the time a small Buddhist Center in
San Bartolo, a seaside resort some 50 kilometers South of Lima. If you didn’t
own a car, the only means of transportation were some very old buses which
stopped at the Center’s front door. Carol, a
Welsh friend I had, called them “those rattling things”. Since Javier
was blind, it wasn’t easy for him to come to Lima , and if he was going to
travel, he had to know beforehand in order to pack and be in Lima on time for
his trip. He had a plane reservation and a visa on his passport, but the date
approached and nothing happened. The fundraising went on, but we didn’t have
yet enough money though we were close. The day before, Carlos phoned Javier and
told him “Pack and come as if you were
going to travel.” Javier arrived in my house that morning, the eve of the trip
and we waited. Then in the evening we went to the Buddhist center on Ribeyro
Street. Carlos and Dania, finally showed up at eight o’clock with the ticket. There had been a
cancellation and they could get a cheaper fare. Only then Javier was sure to
travel . At that time after thanking friends for their help, we went to do some
last minute shopping . The plane left the next morning at 9 am., but he had to
be in the airport at 6. His daughter Sammy and I saw him off.
Javier had
an unusual trip to karma Guen. The friends of the Sangha took turns to receive
him. Pelusa was at the Airport in Madrid and took him to the bus station. At
the other end in Malaga, the bus had barely stopped when Nacho, a friend of the
Sangha in Malaga got in the bus and
called his name. He drove him to Karma Guen.
After
leaving his bag in the library where he would sleep with 39 others, Javier was
taken to the Gompa for the Puja of Mahakala. They left him on a hall to the
right near the altar. He was surprised to hear the sound of Tibetan
trumpets.”There is Karmapa” (he heard someone say), and felt him pass next to him. It was only an hour after having
arrived. Javier told us later it was very moving to hear three thousand persons
singing the Puja of Mahakala all at once, in one voice.
Javier
always repeated the Bodhisattva vow, but he was also very thankful, so during
those wonderful days he thought about how could he return the favor to the
friends of the Peruvian Sangha.
He thought
it would be a good idea to get a bag of rice and make Karmapa bless it. With
that purpose he asked Angela , a German friend who had come from Mexico and was
working in the kitchen, to give him a bag of rice. The days went on and nothing happened.
After the
event finished and Karmapa left, some twenty persons stayed in Karma Guen. One
day Angela appeared bringing a bag of rice, and she put it on Javier’s
bed. ”Here is what you asked for” -she said.
Now Javier
had the rice but Karmapa was gone. Kenpho Karma Gnedon went to see him that
afternoon and Javier asked him to get him an appointment with Lama Mipham
Rinpoche, Karmapa’s father.
Next
morning Kenpho returned to say the appointment was at 11.30 that same morning.
He asked if Javier had someone to take him there. Javier lied and said yes. He
would soon find someone to take him. After a while came Maria Brun from
Uruguay. Later Luigi of Brescia showed up. When asked if they wanted to come
along, they gladly agreed to go to the meeting with Mipham Rinpoche.
The three
went happily together and at the door they met Pedro Gomez. A Tibetan lady
opened the door and let them all in. Inside were Lama Mipham, his wife Mayum
and a translator. Javier sat on a chair with Pedro to his right, then Luigi and
Maria. Lama Mipham was on a wheelchair since he had had a stroke. Pedro said
“mampo, manpo”…
Then it
was Javier's turn to speak. He thanked the lama for having given us Karmapa. He
told him he came from faraway Peru and many other things. Then he stretched his
arm and showed him the bag with rice and asked him to bless it. They gave it to
the lama while Pedro was telling Javier what went on. ”He put it on his
forehead, his throat and his heart to bless it” -Pedro said. Then the noise of
sobs were heard. The lama was crying and nobody knew why. He then gave the bag
with rice to Mayun and she did the same thing crying too.
Later she, who had seated next to Javier gave him the bag already blessed and asked him his name. He said “Javier”. She said “spell it”, and he did. Then Javier asked her her name and she said “Mayum”. Javier asked her to spell it, and she did. Everyone laughed while she spelled her name. In a distended atmosphere Lama Mipham gave a short teaching and finished the meeting giving the malas and other presents. Javier got a beautiful amber mala. All left full of joy. A few days later Javier went to Madrid and then flew back to Lima.
We will never know why the Lama and his wife cried. Maybe it was because he came from such a faraway place, maybe because he was blind, who knows.
Javier made small bags with the blessed rice to give to friends as a source of inspiration. Even Miriam Cotes got a small bag the next time she came to Lima and she took the rice to give out to friends of the Parkway Sangha, after telling them the story of the rice once cried over.
