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7th Mar 2007 - 14th Mar 2007
Karmapa At K.I.B.I.
On the plane with Karmapa...
For those of us slightly suspicious of Gurus, hearing about the excessive entourages of Tibetan Rinpoches and folks like Osho, I must say I was impressed with the amount of people travelling with Karmapa. There were just two: his attendant and a young Rinpoche (who travelled in economy class with me).
I would also say that I felt it somewhat unusual when I opened up a typical in-flight magazine, full of adverts about holiday destinations and perfumes, and found a picture of Black Coat - the "Wisdom Protector" of the Karma Kagyu school, of which the Karmapa is head. The other in-flight magazine was graced with a full page picture of Maitreya, the next Buddha, on its front cover; and inside there was an article on Ladakh featuring a few pictures of Stupas.
Our two hour long flight from Badogra to Delhi took us almost the full length of the Himalaya, from the eastern end to the west. It was an impressive sight, not least because it seemed to take almost the full two hours before we left the mountains behind. On arriving at Delhi I had another surprise. The usual dodgy bus was waiting to take the passengers to the terminal building, and standing just inside the doorway was Karmapa with a huge smile on his face. "Where`s your Rolls-Royce?" I asked him.
Whilst I joined the scrum around the baggage reclaim carousel, I noticed that Karmapa quietly waited for his attendant to collect their luggage. Nobody approached him and he appeared to be in prayer (for want of a better word).
With a jolt I rejoined the real world of India. After visiting Delhi for the second time back in November, I had pretty much swore to never return. Nobody seems to like Delhi - it`s overcrowded, noisy, polluted, crazy and maddening. Of course my cab driver claimed to know where KIBI was. Of course he didn`t have a clue where KIBI was. Every passer by that we asked for directions spoke both in English for me, Hindi for the cab driver and also gave fairly bleedin` obvious hand signals in case both of us were stupid. Everytime we were directed to turn left, my trusty cab-wallah turned right. Eventually I realised my only hope was to ditch this eejit and find the place myself. Once free of him I found KIBI in 5 minutes flat, just in time to meet Egon and Natalya, friends from our London Diamond Way centre.
Once in KIBI we found out the great cost that the week long course would incur on our wallets: a staggering 450 Rupees, which paid for dormitory accommodation, 3 good meals a day, and teachings from the institute`s Khenpo Tsering, Karmapa`s teacher Sempe Dorje and teachings and empowerments from Karmapa himself. How much is 450 Rupees? Roughly £5.50. A bargain!
A typcial day would look something like this:
6.30am: Green Tara Puja
7.30am: breakfast
9.00am: Teachings on "The Jewel Ornament Of Liberation" by Gampopa with Khenpo
Tsering.
10.30am: Teachings on "Buddha`s Life Story" with Khenpo Tsering.
11.30am: Teachings on "The Rice Seedling Sutra" with Sempe Dorje.
1.00pm: lunch
4.00pm: Teachings or an empowerment with Karmapa.
6.00pm: Black Coat Puja
7.00pm: dinner
8.00pm: General Dharma Teachings with Sempe Dorje.
10.00pm: 16th Karmapa meditation.
Of course not everyday was as full as this one, especially as the KIBI students were at the end of their two month course and had exams to take.
Everyday more friends from around the world arrived to take part in the course; familiar faces from London included Paul, Jacek, Mirjam, Peter "Don`t call me Flaki" Filinger, Jana and Irek. Maggie brought around 70 people from a trip to Bhutan, all of whom had been blown away by the country`s Buddhist hot-spots. And it was a great way to meet and get to know new people; the atmosphere was relaxed and welcoming.
During his teachings Karmapa emphasized again and again the importance of right motivation in our daily practice, particularly mentioning how to generate Enlightened Attitude (Bodhicitta), the awareness of the Precious Opportunity that we have in our lifestyles (not only have we met the Dharma, but we actually have the TIME to practice it), the infallibility of the law of cause and effect, the effect of the Four Basic Thoughts on our practice, and he gave an explanation of the 12 Links Of Interdependant Origination (the basis for Samsara - the way we experience the world right now), as well as answering any questions that the attendees had, some of which were the cause of much merriment - the western world`s neuroses meeting the commonsense analytical minds of the east.
At the most there were around 150 people in attendance; however that was only for a few days. It was so pleasant to spend so much time with Karmapa with less than a hundred others for the rest of the week.
But all good things come to an end, and late at night on the 14th March, I had to head home. My 4 months in India were finally up. I was really looking forward to the reliability of British Airways. What a shame that British Airways are not reliable at all! When I had booked my ticket back in February, the young lady did not actually process the credit card details that I had given her, which left me without a seat on the plane. After much stern words I got on the 747 for my last nine and a half hour journey for a while.
I may have now left India behind, but that week with Karmapa will stay with me for a while yet.
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Diary Photos
| 8th Mar 2007 |
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| Karmapa reciting the Manjushri Prayer |
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| 8th Mar 2007 |
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| Karmapa reciting the Manjushri Prayer |
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| 8th Mar 2007 |
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| Karmapa teaches on Generating Bodhicitta |
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| 9th Mar 2007 |
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| Karmapa, Chenrezig Empowerment |
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| 9th Mar 2007 |
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| Karmapa, Chenrezig Empowerment |
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| 9th Mar 2007 |
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| Natalya and Paul |
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| 9th Mar 2007 |
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| Paul and Karmapa |
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| 9th Mar 2007 |
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| Flaki - still blurry from Bhutan |
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| 9th Mar 2007 |
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| Egon, whose head makes Karmapa laugh |
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| 9th Mar 2007 |
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| Shakyamuni Buddha |
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| 9th Mar 2007 |
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| Khenpo Tsering and the Little Rinpoche from Ladakh |
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| 9th Mar 2007 |
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| Chenrezig Empowerment |
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| 9th Mar 2007 |
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| Khenpo Tsering and the Little Rinpoche from Ladakh |
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| 13th Mar 2007 |
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| Subtle Kagyu Wit |
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| 14th Mar 2007 |
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| Sempe Dorje and Khenpo Tsering |
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