In early May we set out from central Florida on a road trip, a Dharma road trip. Our first destination was Queens, New York, where we were delivering a lady to her friend's home as she was moving back to New York. On the way we sometimes chanted mantras and I sometimes read the 37 Bodhisattva Practices which we discussed. Sometimes the lady we were helping move home would say Yoruba prayers as we crossed rivers. We took the more “scenic route” to be able to show her Myrtle Beach and other sights. When we did stop for the night, the ladies shared a room and I had a room to myself. After we arrived in Queens and unloaded the van, we were treated to an excellent homemade supper and took another overnight rest.
Departing Queens in the morning, we headed for Boston where the sponsor of this trip took care of family matters while I had a good visit with my Lama. I am most fortunate that I have as patient a Lama as I do, because I am not the best at communicating with him as I should nor am I as swift at putting into practice his advice. Nevertheless, he still works with me and doesn't give up on me.
Back in June 2009, I was most fortunate to meet His Eminence Garchen Triptul Rinpoche, a genuine mahasiddha. That was a life changing event for me. However, I had not been able to find another opportunity to receive his teachings. Most fortunately, I have now been able to attend additional teachings that he gave as well as a White Tara Retreat that he led.
First, we managed to get to the last afternoon session of teachings he gave in Philadelphia. Indeed this might have been the most fortuitous circumstance in that, although we missed the actual “teachings,” we arrived just in time for a question and answer session. Significantly, there were several questions that I should have asked at some time but never did. These answers were very important for me to hear.
Another important part of our experience with Rinpoche is that we were able to hear his teachings on Bodhisattva vows and receive the vows from him. Although I had wanted to take the vows before, I had not been able to do so yet.
We were next able to attend the White Tara Retreat at Mahwah, New Jersey. Although I had already more than once received a White Tara empowerment, receiving it from Garchen Rinpoche is a very powerful experience. The particular sadhana text that we used is especially dramatic in its visualizations and chants and itself a very moving experience. Furthermore, practicing several times a day with Rinpoche himself is a very powerful spiritual experience. I even learned to play the damaru and bell better by following Rinpoche's lead.
Nevertheless, perhaps the most significant aspect of the whole four days was being in Rinpoche's presence. I was most fortunate that he invited me to sit next to him at most of the meals. One of the things he had talked about in the question and answer session in Philadelphia was that we should quit eating just at the point that we have ceased to be hungry rather than eating until we are sated. Although I had understood this principle, I had always found that point hard to identify and stopping at that point most difficult to do. In Rinpoche's presence, I not only identified when I had ceased to be hungry, but also managed to stop eating when I reached it. I have continued to be able to recognize the point, but I have not always stopped eating when I should. Nonetheless, I can continue to work on it.
When the retreat was over, it was hard to leave. Not only did we want to spend more time with Rinpoche, but we also had made friends with people that we would not soon see again, because we live so far apart. As we did leave, we planned our return trip to Florida to take us far from New York City, because, on our way to Mahwah, we had gotten caught in a construction zone and lost track of highway signs resulting in our taking the Holland Tunnel and driving north through the length of Manhattan. In order to avoid a repeat of that driving experience we headed west into Pennsylvania far enough before heading south that we would be nowhere near New York City. However, we got a little lost in Amish country before getting back to the Interstate Highway System. Sometimes we were driving slowly behind Amish buggies and sometimes behind Mennonite tractors. We were chanting mantras, especially the White Tara mantra. Sometimes we opened the window and chanted the Amitabha mantra at the cows, wishing them a rebirth in Dewachen or at least a better rebirth than this one.
After returning home to Florida, it was only a couple of weeks before I was heading out on another Dharma road trip. There had just been teachings in Pinellas County by the 12 th Nubpa Tulku Konchok Tenzin Rinpoche, but I had not been able to get to any of them. I had my biopsy on the first day of the teachings and was not sufficiently recovered from it to make the remaining two days. Therefore, since this was the first U.S, trip for this very special teacher, I was highly motivated to attend whatever of his teachings I might.
On this trip, I set out alone in my sponsor's car to rendezvous with her at one of the DC airports. According to Google Maps that would take from fourteen and a half hours to twenty and a half hours, depending on whether I took the Interstate Highways or the older roads. Since I would be driving alone and at my age I need frequent “pit stops,” I planned to switch back and forth between these routes. Furthermore, with the expected arrival time of my sponsor's flight, there was no point in getting to the DC area too early.
Therefore, after a nap, with the White Tara mantra on the CD player, I set off for a late night drive north. Furthermore, since the car has a display which shows current fuel economy, in another effort to maintain alertness, I decided to make a game of seeing how economically I could drive. Chanting the White Tara mantra with the CD, I sought to project compassion and serenity to all those on the road with me. Occasionally I even sought to generate myself as White Tara in keeping with the practice we did at the White Tara Retreat although I could not stop to read from the text but rather did what I could from memory.
I truly do not know about the benefit of my part in those spiritual practices, but I am certain of the sense which stayed with me that I was not traveling alone and that Arya Tara was indeed blessing my fellow travelers. More than once I was behind an eighteen-wheeler that was wandering from one side to the other of its lane, sometimes crossing the line, only to see them get safely to a rest stop without incident. I cannot know that what I did benefited them, but I felt sure that Tara looked after them, just as I am sure that she looked after me.
I followed US301 through most of the Carolinas which turned out to be most interesting to see the crops in the fields and the wild flowers in bloom. I also saw daylilies growing wild. I even saw something that looked like wheat growing in some fields although I was not aware of wheat being grown in this area. Indeed, if it was wheat, it was a variety which grew shorter than what I am used to seeing. Nevertheless, this and the beautiful small towns made for an interesting ride compared to the boring sights along I95. I also made note of the cheaper motels in case I needed to find one on the return trip.
As I approached Washington, DC, I used GPS navigation on my phone to get through the maze of highways to find the airport. Nevertheless, between the highway construction on I395 and an accident on a ramp, I found myself in a traffic jam just inching along. Since I was moving only a few feet at a time until I got out of the congested area, I not only chanted the White Tara mantra but I also started spinning my prayer wheel. Perhaps all those drivers needed the blessings radiating from the prayer wheel as well as those from the mantra. I am only certain that I remained perfectly calm and peaceful throughout the delay. By the time I reached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport's cellphone lot, it was evening again. However, my sponsor's flight had been canceled due to bad weather along the route. Not being allowed to be there longer than one hour, I set out for a coffee shop where I could wait while she made her new flight arrangements. Just as the GPS features on my phone had helped me find my way to this airport as well as helping me navigate a few other times already, it showed me coffee shops across the Potomac, in an area called “Crystal City.”
“Crystal City” turned out to be a very upscale collection of hotels and shops and high-rise office buildings. As it happened, all three coffee shops that had shown up from the Internet were already closed by the time I got there. A quick glance at the posted menus at the restaurants in the area showed me that I couldn't afford anything on them. Nevertheless, perhaps these people also needed the blessings radiating from my prayer wheel in addition to just the experience of seeing a Tibetan Buddhist monk. At least a few responded with a slight bow and the greeting, “Namaste,” indicating that they had some idea what I am. In any case, I soon got the call that I needed to get to Baltimore Washington International Airport in a few hours. As it turned out this little excursion was brief enough that I had not incurred a fee for parking, but I did have quite a challenge getting out of the area and back onto a highway.
By the time I got to the part of Maryland near BWI, I had been awake far too long to be safe to drive. Therefore, I checked for a motel that I could afford, but the first few were a bit too costly, especially considering that there would be less than five hours until the flight should arrive. Continuing to look, I found some that rented their rooms by the hour which I could afford. I had not been in a hotel or motel that rented by the hour since my days as a drunken sailor. Interestingly, the young man who rented the room (cash transaction, no ID required) asked me about my robes and I explained that I am a Tibetan Buddhist monk. When I got into my room, I decided that it might not be good to turn back the covers and laid on top of the instead. I soon realized that I could not fall asleep. Therefore, I spent the time chanting, meditating and spinning the prayer wheel until time to get my shower to refresh me for the drive to the airport.
When I went into the airport area, I had trouble finding their cellphone lot and wound up making several circuits of the roads within the airport complex. I even went twice around what would be called the “perimeter road” which encircled the entire property. As soon as I reached at the cellphone lot and parked, I got my call to meet my sponsor at the terminal. We then set out for Boston where Nubpa Rinpoche would be giving a Milarepa Empowerment and teaching on the 100,000 Songs of Milarepa as well as giving a Hayagriva Empowerment on the weekend.
I was most fortunate to be able to receive these empowerments from this specific teacher. A number of people commented on how powerful they were. One lady, comparing the experience with a teaching she had received from a modern Western teacher, said of Nubpa Rinpoche, “He's the real deal.” Personally, I was most profoundly blessed that my Lama directed me to sit immediately to Rinpoche's left at the foot of the stairs by which he went up to the throne. This placed me, according to traditional protocol, in the place of honor only second after his chief attendant and translator, a place I could not deserve but which I was profoundly honored to have had, once I realized its significance.
I was also most honored to take most of my meals with Rinpoche, including going out to eat along with him as one of the monastics when he was invited out to eat. On one such occasion I even was directed by my Lama to participate in the blessing of a home. On another occasion I was an embarrassment by almost falling into a piece of furniture because I had been too foolish to bring my cane with us. Nevertheless, Rinpoche's compassion, loving-kindness and bodhicitta were always apparent. Indeed, I came to feel that he was the definition of “Rinpoche,” a precious one.
On the Monday after the weekend's teachings, a group of us accompanied him to the airport to see him off with katags. Having grabbed the first one at hand before leaving, it turned out to be one of the elaborate ones with all the auspicious symbols in color. While I felt it was perfectly appropriate for how I felt about Rinpoche, I was not sure it was appropriate for a monk to give. Nevertheless, I presented to Rinpoche fully intending to be at his teachings in Frederick, Maryland, the next morning. Having done my laundry and packed, I took a nap before leaving.
Although I maintained a good speed on the highway and was well supported by chanting the White Tara mantra as I drove, my need for frequent “pit stops” put me behind schedule. As it turned out, I arrived after the morning session with the “Ten Dharma Activity” empowerment had already begun. I chose to sit outside on the porch to avoid creating a disturbance and only joined the other monastics inside after the first break.
I soon volunteered to handle “Lama care” which included supplying Rinpoche with his tea. For me this is a very practical extension of Guru Yoga, to serve them with devotion. I felt great joy when Rinpoche told me that I should teach everyone else the recipe for making his tea as it had been made that morning, but I had to humble myself enough to admit to him that although I had made it right, I had also made all the mistakes before that time.
For three and a half days RInpoche taught the Uttaratantra Shastra- the key text on buddhanature and more importantly the main sutra source for Gampopa, Phagmo Drukpa and Jikten Sumgon's mahamudra teachings. These are very profound teachings and I still have not completed transcribing my notes. Most fortunately he also gave us the reading transmission, because I shall probably take a long time studying this fundamental text.
On the weekend, he gave us the "Drikung Great Bodhicitta Generation” empowerment and the related teachings. While this is indeed about generating not only aspiration and action bodhicitta but also ultimate bodhicitta in the mindstream of the student, it is also the taking of Bodhisattva vows in what I would call “long form.” Having so recently taken them with Garchen Rinpoche, it strikes me as not entirely coincidental that Garchen Rinpoche was involved in preparing the text that Nubpa Rinpoche used with us. Also as the ritual involved making offerings to the Lama as the Buddha it seemed most auspicious that I had already been doing so as my duty in “Lama care” and even had made flower offerings by providing a small fresh bouquet of mountain laurel for Rinpoche's desk each day.
This was a most profoundly moving and life changing experience for me. The teachings not only deepened my appreciation for the vows and my commitment for keeping them, but also provided me with practical means for preser4ving and renewing them on a daily basis. Furthermore, Rinpoche explained the steps to mend them, provided we do not let our breach go for longer than one day.
Unfortunately, I could not stay past the weekend because I had a medical appointment that I could not change. Therefore, having washed and packed my clothes, I again set out on the road in the night. This time my goal was to get past Washington, DC, and Richmond, Virginia, before their rush hour traffic. Again I had the White Tara mantra playing on the CD and I chanted along with it. I held the firm commitment to preserve compassion and loving-kindness and whatever little bit of bodhicitta existed in my mindstream.
While I started out from Frederick off of the main highway guided by GPS navigation, it soon seemed that my route was too far off the main highways and I changed the settings to find the Interstate Highways. I had set out early enough that there would not be so much traffic on them anyway. I guess Arya Tara's blessings got spread through these residential and country neighborhoods before they began to be spread to the other drivers on the highways. For much of my drive I alternated between I95 and US301 which helped me avoid the traffic backed up by an accident on the Interstate and gave me the opportunity for a country breakfast.
Although I had already begun looking for a motel room that I could afford, when I reached Lumberton, NC, I knew I had to find one soon. I was too sleepy to drive safely any farther. I was fortunate to find a truckers motel, clean and economical. As it turned out the manager was from India and felt that his sons should know about and appreciate Buddhism even though they are Christian. Unfortunately, I had no books with me that I could have given him (but I mailed him something after I got home). In the predawn hours, having gotten a few provisions for the road and then a good night's sleep, I set out on the road again. By the afternoon, I was returning my sponsor's car and driving my little old pick up back home.
Although the road trip was over, its effects are still evident. I often say, “I exist to serve.” Bodhisattva vows are just the natural extension of that for me as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. I cannot always say how that service may develop, but I must always be ready to act in service of all sentient beings. Furthermore, I must strive vigilantly to preserve these vows from the least attitude or inclination which might be contrary to the compassion and loving-kindness and bodhicitta which must always be the governing principles of my life.
