Guru Rinpoche has been in my life since, well, since I was born with great karmic fortune in Bhutan. Perhaps maybe even earlier as it also says in my horoscope that I was a man (cant imagine being a man now)with great devotion and faith.
Nonetheless HE has always been there, in the background…well more like the back of my mind, wherever I went and whatever silly act I got myself into, somehow He was ever present, kind and compassionate during my awkward growing years.
And I never really understood fully the magnitude of his presence, not only in Bhutan, but in my heart as well, until this very moment here as I sit and write this-He resides in my heart and in the heart of all beings; yes even in seemingly evil ones, he resides in their hearts too. After all He is ever present to our needs, it is just us who haven’t opened our hearts and minds yet, we are just taking a little detour in samsara at the moment, if that’s what you’d like to call it.
Anyway I brought this up today, because well firstly my blog is getting to be absolutely useless banter of nothing but my superficial reflections and secondly because this is the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my life(apart from my 3 children)that makes me proud and happy to be a part of history.
An Accident
Before I start, let me be honest and say that me being in this project was purely accidental, no not a coincidence, but really just accidental!! There was no intention whatsoever on my grandmother’s part to put me IN it, apart from making me help make comfortable the people working ON it. You might think otherwise since she is my grandmother, but let me tell you with blunt honesty that anything I do is considered quite mediocre (and believe me angayla’s standards are quite highly set so I would have to agree with her) to the extent that she would refuse(politely of course!!) to eat ANY tiny morsel of my so called cooking or take much interest in much of my work, if volunteering can be called that.
Well getting back to the story, I wasn’t supposed to be on this project at all; I mean we talked about it and I knew what it was all about but there was no ‘Baby Kesang’ after all, we are talking about a baby here. It all started with an article written by Lam Tengkey on Guru Rinpoche’s life/journey in Bhutan, which was in Choekyi and was translated into English. The translation was abrupt and didn’t flow right, as was the Choekyi article owing to Lama’s straight forward nature, and angayla as usual was quite put out that it didn’t come out as beautifully as she imagined and was wondering who she could ask to write it again for her-from scratch!
Well I (being such an egotistical thing) subtly suggested that I rewrite it, to which she just gave me an incredulous look, a faint smile and said nothing. Nonetheless because it was Guru Rinpoche, and the English was bad, my hands were itching to rewrite the whole thing-none of the facts would be changed, just the style and flow. Quietly it took me under a week to complete it and I sent this ‘edited’ version off with my amala, fearing that if I went myself, she would scoff at it(i.e. smile saying, ‘that’s nice’ and put it somewhere to collect dust).
Amala, whom I could never do without in all my lifetimes and who always believed in my, even at my most stupidest moments, came home beaming, saying that Angayla ‘loved’ it and she never knew my English was so good. God I could’ve danced down the streets!!(just so you know I didn’t)
After much grilling the next day, I was somehow unofficially on the project and now have edited, rewrote, verified facts, corroborated with the Choekyi writers, and whatever else for quite a few articles…and yes Im so proud that this room is quite full of my Ego swelling….but most importantly it has brought me even closer to the one spiritual constant in my life-Guru Rinpoche.
The Project
Let me introduce to you the project that Im babbling on about up there.
Project working name: Guru Rinpoche/Zangtogpelri/Bhutan…okay Ill be honest and say that we don’t have a title yet, we are hoping it will miraculously ‘self-manifest’ in our mundane minds, once the book(s) are complete.
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| Zangtogpelri in Trongsa Dzong |
Project type: Volume 1, Volume 2 and YES Volume 3
Project deadline: Losar 2012(for now)
Project people: Tulku Thondup, Supawan Pui Lamsam, Pook Panyarachun, Acharn Chote, Ms. Chongmas, Lama Tengkhey, Tamzhing Lam, Tharpaling Lam Tashi Gyeltshen, Lopen Nyapchi, Dungchen Sangye Dorji, and meJ (for now)
Progress: All Im allowed to say is that its coming along nicely and as all things with my grandmother, it somehow all falls into place nicely and coincidently. E.g. we cant find someone to take picture, that person materializes, if we cant find a photo, someone somehow(without knowing we are looking for it) brings it along, etc, etc…..seriously if work were this easy, we’ll have dozens of books along the way!!
I would love to put up pictures but that would be spoiling the surprise and so I leave you all with this piece of information and will update as I can along the way. Once we have something solid, with the stamp of approval, I will soooo put up pictures.
May the seed of spirituality be planted within our hearts; to grow and ripen into great Bodhisattvas.
