The 25 year-old Karmapa Lama, the 17th in the line of Karmapas, is head of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and is considered the third most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism. His face can be found on Kagyu shrines and temples worldwide; he holds the place in many hearts as Root Guru, the great Teacher of Teachers, to which many Buddhists look for inspiration and wisdom.
And he lives only a short drive away.
There's something very powerful about seeing an important figure with your own eyes, and something powerful about idea of a boy or young man who is someone very special just by right of his birth (or, in this case, reincarnation). So when I took my seat in the shrine room and saw That Face, serious, young, smooth, and perfect, I was more than simply star-struck.
The room was filled with the sound of monks chanting in Tibetan, a noise that comes from deep in the throat and seems to penetrate the surrounding world. Massive drums, Tibetan horns, and symbols contributed to the din. In an environment such as this (especially if you are chanting as well), it becomes easy to slip into an alternative state of consciousness. As I listened, keeping HH Karmapa in my line of sight over the heads of the crowd, I passed into a state of relaxation and meditative quiet.
For a few brief minutes, as I watch HH touch objects of worship to his head in blessing (an action which fleetingly gave me a flash of what he must have looked like as a child), I became filled with this intense joyful feeling, something I could only describe as Buddhist loving kindness. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I was in love with this being, and then, just as suddenly, in love with all beings. Was the Karmapa such a massive person that he penetrated the entire room? Was it the lulling relaxation of the environment of chanting? Was this the result of thousands of hours of study which had created an image of the Karmapa in my head which was romanticized, mysticized? Or is it simply the case that, sometimes, there are people and occurrences in this world that we do not understand?
And why do I need to ask so many questions?
Blessed by the Karmapa, I followed the crowd to place an offering on his teaching seat: crane 65 with a fresh, white kotta. Before leaving, I followed the crowds and circumambulated the building, placing a crane on each of the corners.
And he lives only a short drive away.
There's something very powerful about seeing an important figure with your own eyes, and something powerful about idea of a boy or young man who is someone very special just by right of his birth (or, in this case, reincarnation). So when I took my seat in the shrine room and saw That Face, serious, young, smooth, and perfect, I was more than simply star-struck.
The room was filled with the sound of monks chanting in Tibetan, a noise that comes from deep in the throat and seems to penetrate the surrounding world. Massive drums, Tibetan horns, and symbols contributed to the din. In an environment such as this (especially if you are chanting as well), it becomes easy to slip into an alternative state of consciousness. As I listened, keeping HH Karmapa in my line of sight over the heads of the crowd, I passed into a state of relaxation and meditative quiet.
For a few brief minutes, as I watch HH touch objects of worship to his head in blessing (an action which fleetingly gave me a flash of what he must have looked like as a child), I became filled with this intense joyful feeling, something I could only describe as Buddhist loving kindness. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I was in love with this being, and then, just as suddenly, in love with all beings. Was the Karmapa such a massive person that he penetrated the entire room? Was it the lulling relaxation of the environment of chanting? Was this the result of thousands of hours of study which had created an image of the Karmapa in my head which was romanticized, mysticized? Or is it simply the case that, sometimes, there are people and occurrences in this world that we do not understand?
And why do I need to ask so many questions?
Blessed by the Karmapa, I followed the crowd to place an offering on his teaching seat: crane 65 with a fresh, white kotta. Before leaving, I followed the crowds and circumambulated the building, placing a crane on each of the corners.
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| The main shrine room |
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| I wish my pictures had come out better, because it really is a beautiful room. The Karmapa's seat is blocked by the heads of Westerners, but above it there is another teaching seat- the seat of HH Dalai Lama, which contains a cardboard cut-out of HHDL, life size, smiling! |
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