WHY THE LAMA CRIED - (WE’LL NEVER KNOW)

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.

IT’S BEEN ALMOST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS

Next January 2014 ; it will be twenty-five years since Lama Ole came for the first time to Peru to teach. We have many memories: and the purpose of this blog is to rescue them before time takes them away forever.

As Lama Ole and Hannah were experiencing the adventure of exploring a new territory; we started a spiritual adventure under his guidance. Many people have listened to his teachings. Many still follow them. There have been many Phowas and Mahamudras in Lima.

What is most important is that very many persons have heard that they are not their bodies.  They have their bodies to give love and protection to others, but that they are that which listens through our ears and sees through our eyes. I don’t know how many have really understood that.

Others have realized that constant meditation will give them peace; and that external things only give short pleasure but are impermanent. A few have understood that you can only find joy  within. Those who have experienced joy through Buddhist practice know what Lama Ole means.

The inner development that we can achieve in this life through Lama Ole’s teachings is something that will not be lost. We can take it on to the next life. In fact is the only thing we can take.

And SONAM, or the merit we achieve through practice will allow us to better understand the teachings. How can we thank  the Lama for such precious gifts? There are things so precious that they are priceless. Lama Ole has gone incessantly around the globe giving these precious teachings to anyone who can hear. He has affected many people positively and conquered many hearts.

I am sorry the old times when we received Lama Ole and his entourage as close friends and had time to go to the beach are gone. He is now busier and busier because he has many more students and has to write books.

Today we have a Center in Lima where ten people live. We’ve come a long way from five persons meditating in my living room in 1991! Now we have a large Sangha. And we also visit each other with other sanghas.

Next week we will have Phowa here in Lima in a seaside resort (Ancon) outside of Lima. The weather is still warm, so it will be lovely. I can only make wishes a lot of people come!

OUR FIRST CENTER

By 2003, Carmen had rented a room on the second floor of a two story building in Miraflores. She told us they were renting out the rest. It was a small apartment with a large living room good for a Gompa which had a balcony. There was also a small kitchen and one bedroom and a bathroom. Carmen’s room was also on the second floor, but on the other side of a wall. Soon we would tear down that wall.

We had been meeting Mondays at Rosa’s school and Thursdays in Carlos’ apartment. Michaela had advised it would be good to start a live-in center and we were eager to try. I was happy because the new center in Ribeyro street was three blocks away from my house.

Alfonso moved to the only bedroom and Mauricio and other friends helped with the painting. This was in 2003. In September 2004 Javier would also move in after the wall was torn down. On the other side of the wall on the second floor there was an office, a bathroom, Carmen’s bedroom. Then by itself, on the other side of a staircase was Javier’s room which had a bathroom. So then we had three persons living in our center. Natalia made a movie at the time we tore down the wall.

Carlos would direct Meditation on Thursdays. We also met on Mondays and Javier was always there, so he would open the door, greet the people and direct the Meditation, which since he was blind, he had learned off by heart. This would make Alfonso jealous, so he would ask that Mondays, the ones in charge would be the young ones, namely himself and Mauricio. Alfonso would never be there because he was working and Mauricio would not show up; so Javier would end up being in charge again out of responsibility. This would be cyclical until we had a larger Sangha and Lama Ole came up with the Ten Minute Egg, which made the attention shift from one person to another and so egos did not become bloated.

The kids wanted to paint the walls sky-blue. The lama came and blessed the place. He came to give a lecture in Petroperu Auditorium in February 2004. Now we were practicing Buddhists, we had a place of our own and it had been blessed. We could only grow from then on.

THE YOUNG ONES

The new Millenium also brought young ones. He had been a drug dealer but wanted more out of life. She would take drugs and walk for hours down Lima’s streets listening to her walkman. He was tall and heavy. She was beautiful, and they were friends. They showed up one day and they stayed.

As Karmapa came out of Tibet his energy field became stronger; said Lama Ole. We soon had a lot of young friends. There was Alvaro our best Yogui, the one who finished Ngnondro first. Mauricio was the cleverest and Alfonso had a very strong connection with Lama Ole. Soon they brought their friends and we had two groups: those who were middle aged and the young ones.

In the beginning there were complaints from the older group about the vocabulary, conduct and drug use of the young ones though not all had that conduct. Some people with stiff concepts left. But those people hadn’t  ever been serious Buddhists in the first place. They had come to have a nice time.

The Sangha became a group of practitioners, young and old. The young were obviously friends with the young, but both groups got along well. Now there were more hands to help out pasting posters whenever there was a public lecture and they were very useful using the internet which had become a handy instrument to spread the word.

With time Valerie returned to live in Lima and became an important member of our Sangha. She would take care of the Dharma shop. She would travel to Germany also and bring books. Soon we had a big Sangha with many lovely young people.

LEARNING WITH MICHAELA

That year Michaela had come with Lama Ole for the Phowa and she stayed after he left. We had a Ngnondro  retreat in San Bartolo. That was very important because we had a lot of new people and they were not taking things seriously. Some persons thought Buddhism was a nice thing to do once a week: to “relax” with meditation. Those were “Buddhism Consumers” according to Michaela. To be a “producer” you have to be a serious practitioner, do Ngnondro  and meditate on a daily basis, Michaela said. It is true that some people have the inner need and some don’t, but if you practice you will find you have “surplus”, extra energy to work for the sangha. With time you can have a better understanding of the teachings because merit enhances comprehension.

Michaela’s teachings sank in and many people started Ngnondro. Javier was one of the most enthusiastic. He had become blind in his late fifties, so if you explained the visualization well to him he could do the practice. He had an excellent memory for the mantras and the rest of the text. Carmen, Violeta , Rosa and Carlos also joined “the producers”. Soon we had a large group of practitioners. It was thanks to Michaela’s visit and retreat that people started Ngnondro in Lima. Lama Ole had given a Ngnondro retreat many years before, but people were not ready at that time.

 

We had been lucky enough to borrow a seaside apartment down at the beach, so we had nice evening reunions and early morning dips in the ocean. Javier from then on referred to Michaela as his Buddhism “Madrina”(godmother) and had a special feeling for her.

 

The new Millenium brought changes. Some young people would soon come. We would soon have a place of our own. Michaela had told us it would be nice if we had a live in center. We looked forward to it and soon the right circumstances would come. Meanwhile we started practicing seriously.

THE NEW MILLENIUM

We celebrated the coming of the New year in Carlos’ apartment. We were a small group, but we would soon meet more friends. Carmen Salas and Violeta were already coming.

There were some new members who had not yet met Lama Ole since he did not come in 1999. They would have to wait until year 2,000, and they made instant connection with him when they finally met him. A young German girl called Valerie came to Lima in order to make a research and made contact with us. Her then boyfriend was Buddhist. We would get together in Javier’s Internet place to read Diamond Way web page and find out more about Karmapa. We also met to study “Things as they are.”

A lady called Rosa Rivas came over one day. She was friend of Carmen. She had a school in San Borja, called  “Maria Reiche”. She offered the premises whenever we needed a larger place for a conference. I remember Eduardo Herrera gave a lecture there. We also started meeting for meditation in the school on Mondays. We kept meeting on Thursdays in Carlos’ apartment. That was in San Isidro, another neighborhood.

In November of year 2,000, my daughter Stefanie got married and all my sangha friends attended the ceremony. Some days previous to the wedding, Javier had rented a house in San Bartolo, a seaside town 49 kilometers south of Lima. He would have the first Internet place in the beaches of the south. That meant business went well that summer (January, February, March)     of 2001.

We also started using Javier’s house in San Bartolo as a place for lectures and retreats (renting the local stadium). It became officially a Diamond Way Center when Hannah told him he had the blessing. In his office, Javier had a thangka I had given him, a picture of Mahakala and a small Buddah blessed by Lopong Tsechu. It was fun for all of us to go south, have teachings, eat seafood; and later have a walk and a dip in the ocean. Many Dharma teachers went there.

In year 2002 we had Phowa and that changed many lives. It was a difficult Phowa because Lama Ole always advises not to take drugs if you want to take Phowa. He says if you do take drugs not to go. That time a lot of young people came and they were taking drugs. I was translating for Lama Ole and I could see he was troubled. It took an extra effort of Lama’s extraordinary energy to drive us all to the final goal. But it was not in vain, because after that Phowa several young people approached our sangha and many stayed until today.

….AND THE PIGEONS CAME TO DIE

The other day when Peter Gomez was visiting the center in Lima, we had a conversation with Ricardo La Serna. We were remembering those days when Lopong Tsechu along with Lama Kalsang and Maggie had stayed in his house in Miraflores, the same place where Lama Ole, Hannah, Pedro Gomez and friends has arrived in 1990 for the first time.

Ricardo was talking of 1996 after Lopong Tsechu left. ”After he left the energy of the place had changed” he said, ”I think it was because in his room he had pasted on the wall the images of two Yidams. And he talked to those Yidams on the wall. Maggie and Lama Kalsang had never seen him do this anywhere else.”

Sometime after they left the first pigeon came to die in Ricardo’s house. It flew in through the window and was found dead on the dining room floor.

The house had access to the roof and for the next few months Ricardo kept finding dead pigeons. If he left windows open they would come, fly in and die inside. There were no dead pigeons in the neighboring houses.

Ricardo had two brothers who had migrated to the US and were now citizens. They obtained American residency for Ricardo and he was planning to go to California soon to live and work there. Since he was leaving Peru for several years Ricardo was planning to rent his house.

One morning he found a dead cat on his doorstep. The cat had come to die there. One day he found an image pasted on his front door. It was that of a monk, but the head had been cut off. That person had also thrown some rice inside the house through a window. She was a very small black lady who was followed everywhere by five little dogs all mongrels. She came over to Ricardo’s house and left under the door a card with the image of Saint Martin of Porres, a black 16^th century Catholic saint who loved animals. Somehow all seers and witches had sensed a source of power in Ricardo’s house which altered the energy of the neighborhood.

One day a dead dog appeared on the doorstep. That was the last straw. Ricardo peeled off the Yidams and painted the walls. Slowly things went back to normal. Ricardo left for the United States and rented the house. He would live in California for many years. It would be there that he met Lopong Tsechu for the last time. He probably made him laugh. Ricardo always made Lopong Tsechu laugh.