Happy Saga Dawa everyone, everywhere!
This auspicious day is such a joyous and befitting occasion
to share some of what is happening (and has been happening since January) at
our home, which still is just a dharma home and probably will never be turned
into a dharma center.
The fact that ours is not a dharma center (and the lack of
ambition, prevalent from the very beginning, to create such a one) somehow goes
back to the way Lama Dawa taught me and others here in India around me: He taught us from his home in
Kathmandu, the house that now his wife Kalsang and his daughter Rigzin
own. Or he taught us from our own home,
in Goa, whenever he was staying with us, which was often.
When in Nepal and India Lama Dawa did not take on the role
of a ‘Center Lama’. He much
preferred to remain a home-based yogi, and the most powerful transmissions I
ever received from him happened at his or at my home, not in the context of
some officially announced event.
To meet him, you went to his room to see him and talk to him in private,
with respect but without artificial boundaries. No outside interference or made-up protocol created
hurdles. This way the teachings
always just flowed as if of its own accord. Naturally, the age-old, time-tested way of promulgating, hearing
and receiving the teachings in a more intimate setting deeply impacted me and
formed my own attitude toward teaching.
Officially announced events, of course have a role to play, but they can
never replace the teaching at and from home—like restaurant food cannot really
replace home cooking.
Of course, when restricted to the home level everything stays
small, but as E.F. Schumacher coined the phrase: Small is beautiful!
Besides, as far as we know the founding yogis of our tradition here in pre-1199
CE India, clearly preferred privacy and small size over big size and the
institutionalized approach as well.
Only monasteries were big.
And monasteries are a different story altogether. They are irreplaceable for other
reasons.
Therefore, what we have here in Goa is a nameless dharma
home not a big-name dharma center.
Between 2012 and 2016 Lama Dawa came to visit every year and blessed
this home with his presence and by giving many teachings. He never suggested that we should
change the status from ‘home’ to ‘center’. Now, after his passing we continue along the same lines.
I venture to say, because everything is kept within a
relatively small family, beautiful developments are encouraged to unfold. People come and do retreats not as if
going to a place outside but as if coming home. Like, in December and January Naira from Australia was here
to do her first Guru retreat (after completing dakini recitations in 2015). The
retreat turned out not to be so easy for her at all, and we had to work hard,
to keep everything on the right track, by addressing and removing obstacles. Yet, in the end her efforts and
steadfastness showed clear and good results. After two months she left inspired, highly motivated for
more practice and for a more harmonious way of everyday living, and of course,
empowered.
Toward the end of January, I flew to Kathmandu to visit
Kalsang for one week, and to Chandigarh to give some more instructions, upon
Bodhivajra’s and Subhadra’s request.
They were in need for more support for their preliminary practices, and
generally just wished to reconnect.
I really enjoyed seeing them.
When in Kathmandu I was able to give some and to arrange for further funds
for one of the eight stupas hand-carved from rock, to be erected at Lama Dawa’s
birthplace. Of course, it was good
to connect with Kalsang and to meet for the first time Lama Chhodak, who has
done divinations for us personally, and for our little dharma family since the
time when Lama Dawa had stopped doing mirror readings.
In February Vajratara arrived. She was to do her first dakini retreat, and she was also the
first student who had not yet received the Yeshe Tsogyal empowerment from Lama
Dawa, but was to receive this empowerment here in the way that Lama had taught
me just before his passing. When
the day came, neither she nor I doubted that the necessary transmission would
take place. Eventually, the dreams
and signs during and after the retreat, as well as the continuing shift in
attitude toward self and others until now and into the future prove that our
trust in the lineage and Lama’s transmission was well founded. Of course, Vajratara also had received
other empowerments from Lama Dawa, but had been guided beginning with refuge through
many vicissitudes of everyday life and the preliminary practices mostly by me,
starting in 2009. She was very
happy, of course that ten years of efforts finally could culminate in her first
solitary retreat, with strict retreat boundaries. And indeed all turned out beautiful, with some
difficulties. In the end she left
with tears of happiness streaming from her eyes.
During Vajratara’s retreat, Maitrivirya (who in ordinary life is her husband) went to
Bodhgaya for one week to do some more prostrations (although he had completed
his first 100.000 over two years ago), and to also to read out loud as many
times as he could manage the Aspiration
Prayer of Samantabhadra.
Especially, the reading of the aspiration prayer was the correct
medicine for the moment as, by repeatedly reciting it, it cleared away many
misunderstandings.
In May and part of June, Rinchen and I set up a boundary for
own retreat. This was the
first
time that she and I went into retreat together, which was made possible through
Tony Rodriguez’ total support. He
cared for everything, not just at home but also at Rinchen’s clinic. What a gift to enjoy love and backing
such as given to us, by Tony! But
the retreat, although flowing nicely, was not without challenges (mostly coming
from the outside), for example as the roof of our house was redone during that
time, for one week with ample noise in daytime. Then one day, Varjasaraswati showed up in tears in front of
our door. I had sent her to do
Vajrasattva preliminary practices retreat in a different place, but for many
reasons, the location proved unsuitable.
She could not stay there.
We had to open the boundary to let her settle in our bedroom to continue
with her own practice, while we stayed in the retreat room to continue with
ours. But again, everything
immediately settled in its own natural flow. The blessings of the Dudjom lineage are indeed immense!
As we were in retreat in Goa, Karunavajra stayed for one
whole month in Bodhgaya, enjoying the sweltering heat of 45 degrees Celsius
(113 degrees Farenheit), but still doing prostrations under the Bodhi Tree from
5:00 to 7:00 AM and in the course of the day, many Vajrasattva 100-syllables in
his air-conditioned hotel room. He
says his stay taught him a lot, energized him a lot and deepened his connection
to dharma. Actually it may have
been a blessing in disguise that he went at the wrong time of the year: at
least there were much fewer visitors, as in pilgrimage season (October through March)
the place becomes hopelessly crowded.
So, these were most of the activities by and through the
people connected to our little dharma home, which happened during the first
half of 2019. Sharing them (even
if only very few readers will be interested in such trifles) warms my
heart. By writing about them in
the way I do, I don’t want to prove other approaches wrong. Every genuine approach to dharma is
helpful. And sometimes when I do
puja at home in the morning or evening, I feel the presence of all the people
around the world who recite the Seven Line Prayer or play the bell and damaru
like I do, dedicated to the welfare of all, no matter how imperfect my practice
actually is. It is so wonderful to
know and even feel that we are all connected through the bond of our motivation
and practice, no matter how much our views might differ in other regards.
