Journey Through Cancer – Chapter 44 – Anticipation, Aspirations, and Reality

As each day brought me closer to my trip to Boston my excitement increased in anticipation of receiving such important teachings and empowerments. To me it is quite significant that the first empowerment will be a Medicine Buddha empowerment which was the first that I received even before I took refuge as a Tibetan Buddhist. Indeed it was why I eventually did take refuge. On that occasion I experienced profound past life memories and also Tibetan Buddhist customs which were so similar to Native American customs with which I had already connected on a deep spiritual level.
All these things made it inevitable that I would seek further opportunities to learn about Tibetan Buddhism after years of studying about Buddhism from Theravadan and Zen perspectives. Zen had always seemed so austere while the Theravadan traditions were more attractive but still remained distant to me. On the other hand, Tibetan Buddhism and even the Tibetan language felt very comfortable and even quite familiar. Now that my cancer treatments are finished and I have recovered from them, I believe I will resume my efforts to learn the language even at the rudimentary level of being able to read the prayers and chants from the Tibetan text if only phonetically at first.
In time I will try to get the books to study the grammar and vocabulary. I must follow up on the feeling of familiarity for the language that I felt during the Medicine Buddha Retreat that was my first direct exposure to Tibetan Buddhism in this lifetime. Perhaps with study it will open up to me. Nevertheless, I believe that I must study and master the Tibetan language, not just for casual use but in order to directly understand teachings whether they are given in Tibetan or English.
My anticipation of this visit to Boston was not disappointed. So far none of the monks or lamas or His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche have arrived. It is only us worker bees in the Center. Nevertheless, staying in the same building as the Jowo Rinpoche Statue and meditating in its presence have been empowering. I am not a morning person, but I have gotten up three mornings in a row before 6 AM. This particular statue of Lord Buddha Shakyamuni is an “emanation” replica of the most revered statue in Tibet. In the end, the power of its presence is so phenomenal. One of the things that is so clear is that I want nothing more than to be a monk as soon as that can be arranged. However, it is best that I follow the sound advice of Lama Sonam whatever that maybe.
I have been working to put together the booklets of the text about which H.E. Garchen Rinpoche will be teaching. Besides tasks that may come up in preparation for his visit, I will also assemble copies of the Thirty-Seven Bodhisattva Practices which will be given to H.E. Garchen Rinpoche as a gift because he is big on giving copies to everyone. It is such a wonderful blessing to be working on a gift for him.
It is also so very special to be here on Saga Dawa for Lama Gursom's teaching and empowerment, because my first empowerment was Medicine Buddha. This time, not only did I feel an energy in the empowerment, his instruction on how to do the practice helped so much to understand the generation phase more than I have before. When we did the practice, it was much better than I had been able to do previously. Lama Gursom is a very special treasure in the Drikung Kagyu order for one so young. Of course like most who start at a monastery as a child, the signs of age do not show like they do on the rest of us.
The Center here does Phowa practice on Friday evenings. I was fortunate that Lama Gursam did the transmission right after his teaching for those of us who had not had it and joined us in the practice after supper. I felt like a kindergarten student in a classroom at MIT. However, I could tell the power of this practice and look forward to being able to fully participate. Furthermore, I look forward to the day that such a practice might bear fruit.
I plan to see Lama Gursam in a few days when he will be doing an animal blessing at an animal shelter. I hope to make an outing of that day by going to visit Bikes Not Bombs in the morning and then meeting the group at the shelter around noon. There is so much to learn from him. I look forward to his teachings in Florida in a few months.
Since I have been here, I have been having a most strange experience. Although I have not really had anything to do with the Tibetan language before around a year ago, I have been having flashes of recognizing not just words but grammar. Unfortunately, I do not yet know the alphabet and can only see this in the transliteration. Nevertheless, it is so striking to see the “parts of speech” and word order in a language I have not yet truly studied. I must start to actually study it as soon as possible. I must add to the alphabet recognition on which I have worked sporadically now a more formal study.
Since staying in the same building as the Jowo Rinpoche Statue and meditating in its presence has brought such great blessings, I cannot imagine what may result when I am not only doing that but also sleeping under the same roof as H. E. Garchen Rinpoche who is regarded by some as a Mahasiddha. He has done so much to spread the Dharma here in the West where it is needed so much. Just thinking about the next weekend turns my mind to the reason for all of this, “Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings.”