LIBERATION BY LISTENING

Kalu Rinpoche was the first Buddhist teacher Lama Ole Nydahl had after he met Karmapa. He was very well known in Europe and he was loved by all who knew him. He founded centers in France and wrote many books.

In 1993, we obtained a cassette called “Liberation by Listening”, which came from France. That meant that if you listened to it you could get liberated. It had him reciting Bardo Thodol, what Tibetans say to a dying person so that he finds his way to a better rebirth. It also had some pujas or prayers.
As soon as we put the cassette on and started to listen to the lama reciting the text in Tibetan, we had a great experience. I could feel my Chakras, Nadis, all the nerve centers in my body activating. It was unforgettable to listen to his husky voice (he was an old man by then).

A couple of years went by and suddenly there was a chance to put the cassette to good use. The father of a member of the Sangha , a lady we’ll call Sandra, passed away. But he was not happy with this, and had no intention to follow the bardo. So he stayed on in the house and made a lot of noise. Doors and windows would slam by themselves. The glass panes of windows would make creaking noises, objects would fall: all the things that a playful ghost would do. Sandra and her mother were scared stiff, because no matter how much they had loved the deceased, from then on since he had left his body; they preferred he would follow the path of no return.

Sandra was telling me this while she looked at some pictures of lamas I had in the room. Then she said: "How cute he looks, he seems to belong to another world”. It was a picture of Kalu Rinpoche in his old age with some pigeons. You could tell he was a spiritual being. I then associated him with the cassette and talked to her about it. She decided then and there to take it home and play it, since she was ready to do anything to get rid of those unwanted noises.

After a week I met her in Meditation and she told me: “I can’t believe it, but the first time we played the cassette, the strange noises ceased.” Either the mantras transcended language and acted on their own; or when you died you became polyglot and understood all languages. The Lama in Bardo Thodol gave instructions to the deceased, telling them what they would find in the path they had to follow.

Sandra continued to play the cassette for several days, and later she gave it back to me. She was relieved there were strange noises no more. Her father had listened to Bardo Thodol and had gone through in search for the light.

As gossip is the best means of advertising, there were a few others afflicted with the same problem: close relatives who after sudden death refused to go and manifested themselves as best they could terrorizing the living.

The most important case was that of Alice’s ex-husband, a poet who had died in a plane crash. After his death he had gone on writing. His daughter had moved in to his apartment near Larco street and his old typewriter would click every afternoon, the keys moving by themselves. The daughter later bought a computer for her children and got rid of the typewriter. Then the computer would get started when nobody was there. But our great national poet had died twenty years ago, so he didn’t know a thing about computers. So our friendly ghost would manage to start the computer, but didn’t know how to store information, and even less to print it. Had he had the knowledge, it would have been very fortunate for the heirs, to go on publishing posthumous work.

There was no doubt it was him because the grandchildren were able to see him, and the eldest granddaughter would feel good in her granddad’s company if she was left alone in the house. He would be seen in a leather jacket and checkered scarf. “He looks just the same, grandma.”, they would tell Alice. They were proud of their grandfather’s presence. “He takes care of us”, the grandchildren would say.

But he was not a quiet ghost, and following his bohemian habits, one New Year’s Eve when everyone was out, he had a party with other ghosts. The neighbors complained and called the caretaker and the police, but there was nobody home. There were many, but could not be seen.

Alice consulted a medium, and she advised her to have masses said for him, not a few, but like one hundred, and to say one thousand prayers. Alice started the task, but got tired along the way. Finally she confided in me and I lent her the cassette. I then forgot all about it.

I met her some time later and she was distraught. “Albert has already left”, she told me sadly. “We do not hear or see him anymore”. Our poet had left and had gone somewhere else to keep on writing. He was never seen or heard again.
Needless to say, our cassette was used as many times as it was needed, always with good results. With present technology, my friend Juan made a CD with Kalu Rinpoche’s recitation of Bardo Thodol. There it is, ready to help any confused spirit who resists the idea he is dead, or who ignores he has to abandon persons or things he is attached to because he has a long way to go for his own good.

As to Kalu Rinpoche, he left this world, but he is already back from Bardo, which is the state after death which lasts forty-nine days in most cases. As any Boddhisattva of enlightened mind who returns to help all sentient beings; his Tulku is already in Siliguri and was officially recognized by Dalai Lama. They say he is a beautiful boy. He already passed the Tulku test and identified personal objects from his previous life from among many objects.

For one thing is certain: great Buddhist teachers always come back to help sentient beings. That is the Bosshisattva vow.

MISFORTUNES OF A BEAUTY

She was a real Spanish beauty: she had long jet black hair, brown eyes and good looks. As she walked down the street, or on riding a bus; men would tell her:”- lady, you are beautiful!”She was in her late forties or early fifties, but she looked much younger. The Sangha had already moved to Ribeyro street, and it was growing.

Giselle was a new arrival .She came for a Phowa and stayed. She got along well with everybody because of her outgoing personality. She was a hot little divorcee with two grown children. She had married really young, in her teens.

We practiced together and later started going out with other members of the Sangha. She was a really good cook and enjoyed preparing fabulous dishes for us. After meditation, on weekends, we usually shared some food. She was eager to help with that. What she didn’t understand well was Buddhism .  She liked Lama Ole but still was a devout of Little Jesus of Prague, a small image  of whom she had in her bedroom. Now next to it she had placed a picture of Lama Ole and an illustration of Mahakala . She enjoyed meditation though, and was trying hard to finish Small Refuge.

She had had several boyfriends after she divorced ; and she didn’t enjoy being alone. So one evening I offered a dinner party, I was glad to see her with an escort. The man was plain, chubby and had a moustache. Giselle had bright a delicious souflée and he a bottle of wine.

That day of spring there was a beautiful moon in the sky, but early in the evening there was an eclipse. There were a dozen friends over and as we chatted, I hadn’t realized Giselle and he beau  were arguing until they raised their voices. “Bad omen” I thought.

The next morning she called me and told me how she had met him. She had gone to visit a friend and she had been introduced to her brother. They had instantly liked each other and started dating. He had been very protective to her and helped her with fixing her car, which had been giving her problems lately. Though it was only the beginning of spring and it was not so warm, they had spent a weekend in his sister’s beach house South of Lima.

He had been the favorite grandson of a very rich man, and had been brought up accordingly. After his grandfather died when he was in his twenties, he had lost all privileges .He was in his early forties and still hadn’t found himself. Though Giselle was happy, there was something I didn’t like about him. I just didn’t know what it was.

Time went by and it was the end of December. We were going to celebrate New year’s Eve in the Center on Ribeyro street. Somebody was baking the turkey. We needed a side-dish so I remembered Giselle knew how to make  wonderful rice with black olives. I rang her up to ask her for the recipe and she sounded distressed at the other end. Her suitor had revealed his true self. He had become violent one evening scaring the wits out of her and had even locked her up in the bedroom. After the row she had tried to break up, but he was obsessed with her and had started stalking her. As she rejected him, he would call her several times during the night to insult her and he seemed to have a large repertoire of denigrating  names, specially lots of synonyms for prostitute. He would also do the same with e-mails. He sent them with all types of letters and in all colors.

Giselle asked her friend information about her brother and it turns out he had done time in jail for something related to drugs. Our Cinderella’s prince had turned out to be an ogre. He was more than forty years old and still lived off his mother. He had made plans to work with her, but he had only been using her.

As I prepared the rice I got a call. Giselle was desperate because he was on the intercom of her apartment building, calling her names. After a while she called again. He had managed to get into the building and was yelling insults at her door. I told her to call the police.

We had a nice evening at the Buddhist center with Carmen Salas and Rosa Rivas, Javier, Alfredo and all the other good friends. We talked and danced all night.

The next day I called to find out what had happened .It seems after a while the man had left all of his own. Still our beauty felt in peril.

After a few weeks she managed with a lawyer cousin  , to get a restraining court order to keep the man away. He now couldn’t get close to her. She thought that had done it, but that was far from true.

The man started calling in turn all the members of the Sangha to “·talk about Giselle”. He said he was madly in love with her, that he didn’t know what she had done to him, but that she had bewitched him. That she had done the Kamasutra to him and that he couldn’t forget her. The more she rejected him the more he insisted.

He would call us with the excuse of talking about Buddhism, then as soon as he was in he would change the subject. Carlos, a psychologist volunteered to give him therapy. We all listened to him but tried to make him understand there was no hope. In the end I begged him not to call me anymore.

Giselle started dating a blonde surfer. One day as she was getting into his car to go to the beach, she saw the man standing in the corner of the street looking at her window. Soft kitty tough kitty, she pretended not to see him.

Sometimes when I look at the moon I remember that lunar eclipse and all the misfortune it brought to our beauty. What was important is that we reacted as one and helped her during that period. We stood by her until the jilted beau faded into oblivion.

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.