From Tibet, words for modern times
By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer
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The Sakyong, who gives a talk Sunday at the Windward United Church of Christ, is also recognized as the incarnation of the great 19th-century Tibetan Buddhist teacher Mipham Rinpoche.
That makes him important in the Shambhala Buddhist community, with its 165 meditation centers worldwide. It also means he's getting pressure to procreate, not only from his mother, but from his Buddhist followers, as well.
Though the Sakyong is 40, he has no immediate plans for a family. He has, however, just celebrated a birth of sorts.
His book, "Turning the Mind into an Ally," was released in early January. The how-to guide for concentration and meditation is already in its fifth printing.
After lectures, people used to ask him if he had a book they could look to for more insight.
"It's easier, because now I do," he said in a phone interview from Kaua'i, where he's in the midst of a two-week retreat.
While a 25,000 printing run is pretty remarkable, it's not even a quarter of the height, if you stack his against the million-copy mark of his father, founder of the Naropa Institute, an alternative arts college in Boulder, Colo., who wrote several books.
"I was about to go into a monastery, but Dad wanted me to come West with him," he said. "He knew the future of (Shambhala) Buddhism depended on me to have some relevance in the West."
The reviews so far are good for "Turning the Mind Into an Ally." Publisher's Weekly gave it a positive word, and one writer on Amazon.com commented that "The Sakyong's book is like a portable zabuton (cushion for meditation). The book provides a solid, yet comfortable, base for the practice of meditation: It's not too soft and not too hard."
That's part of the bridge he's hoping to establish between cultures, a bridge he fortifies with his own sensibilities.
On the phone, at least, he comes off as a regular guy, not too esoteric, but willing to go into the clouds if that's where the wind is headed.
"Meditation is practical and natural," said the Sakyong. "Just as you should exercise and eat well, you should meditate. I try to present it in a common-sense way."
| • | The Sakyong, Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche
4 p.m. Sunday Windward United Church of Christ, 38 Kane'ohe Bay Drive $8 262-8352 or 623-5172 After the lecture, he'll sign his book, "Turning the Mind Into an Ally." |
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Born in Bodhagaya, India, the Sakyong lived his early years in a Tibetan refugee village with his mother, Lady Kunchok Palden. At 7, he went to live with his father in Britain, where he learned English. In 1971, he joined his father and stepmother in Boulder, Colo., attending an American high school and training in Japanese archery, tea ceremony and horseback riding.
These days, between his studies, meditation and lectures, he's working on his next book, which will be about the everyday application of meditation.
People today are consumed by their environment, he said. With the overload of stimuli, it's harder to be grounded, to relate to the present moment.
"The mind is looking for pleasure, something that needs to be appeased," the Sakyong said. "In the modern world, how would we appease that? We want more. At the root of that in an inability to rest with the mind, if it's not finding out another million bytes of information.
"Self-reflection helps stop that kind of addiction to stimuli. A lot of times, even when we get what we want, when we finally get to the right restaurant, or find right piece of equipment or game, we can't even enjoy that."
The Sakyong has seen doctors and lawyers and professional people who learn, finally, to simplify: "If you want a good life, a good, strong mind, at a certain point, you need to restrict your activities."
He laughed, thinking about the vacuum cleaners and dishwashers that are supposed to help save time.
"In Tibet, they don't have any of those things, and they seem happier," he said. "So why give it to them? It may make their lives more miserable."
It reminds him of what he's learned at the deathbeds of followers. "As a lama, I deal with people sick or dying," he said. "It's always a very real moment. When you work with these people, it all comes down to quality of life. Not how many things they did, but the quality of them.
"They say, 'I have regrets I wasted time doing (unimportant) things.' ... The moments of generosity, of love, really matters. You don't find somebody who says, 'I wish I had loved less. I wish I had cared less.' "
