I heard an interesting story the other day. Yangthang Rinpoche is in Lerab Ling at the moment. He’s in his eighties and spent many years in a Chinese prison. Philip said that he doesn’t teach, he just gives empowerments and transmissions, and fills the rest of his time with practice. Nothing else.
It sounds to me as though his brand of ‘tirelessness’ is the effortless kind, which I simply can’t imagine for myself. I love my ‘breaks’ away from making the effort of even attempting to be aware, which is something of a contradiction for someone who so eagerly insists she’s following a spiritual path. What a fraud!
Philip told me that on the second or third day of empowerments, Rinpoche spent four hours preparing through the ‘self-empowerment’ before giving the empowerments themselves, which took two or three hours. They all then broke for a two hour lunch, as there are 1,100 people in Lerab Ling at the moment (Gott im Himmel!) and it takes a good two hours for everyone to eat.
Yangthang Rinpoche, however, suddenly appeared in temple after about an hour, and sat quietly under the Buddha to practise. A helpful Rigpa person explained to Rinpoche that the next session wouldn’t start for another hour, so he could go to his room to rest if he liked.
“But I like it here,” said Yangthang Rinpoche, simply. And stayed put.
dear tireless dakini of the keyboards, i read this first thing this morning while lying in bed. And then I sat up. thank you.
You’re most welcome. And I hope that, whereever you are in the world, you are well and thriving.
And I appreciate this window onto Lerab Ling and Rinpoche…thank you so much.