When he embarked on his meditation he asked his brother to call him om namo guru buddha gyani (salute to the one who knows Buddha).  He is also known as Palden Dorje or Tamang Tulku Rimpoche or Ram Bahadur Bonjon.  He is erroneously refered to as ‘the Buddha boy,’ simply a misapprehension based on incomplete understanding. In November of 2005 he told people that he did not have the energy of a Buddha and he asked them not to publicize him as an incarnation of the Buddha.

I posted a video of Palden Dorje last November when he had interrupted his six year meditation effort and gave blessings to devotees that made their way to his forest retreat area.  I found that video to be comforting and satisfying to watch and his life to be admirable.  I don’t know if he has actually taken the bodhisattva vow but he certainly is touching many, many sentient beings through his meditative efforts.  A bodhisattva on the human plane is one who commits so thoroughly to helping sentient beings that this vow will be kept in subsequent lives.  Some believe that this vow will hold a being on the wheel of samsara indefinitely.

Occasionally I try to keep up with how Palden Dorje is doing.  Cynic and snoop that I am, I hesitate to believe much that is posted.  I find it really funny that he has a ‘myspace‘ (he’s single, from Ratanapuri Village, Buddhist, Aries, non-smoker/non-drinker and his occupation is listed as ‘Savior’).   He also has a FaceBook page.  I understand these efforts are kept up in his name by page managers, they probably have some good information (this is where I read about the bodhisvattva vow) and the videos and pictures are lovely.  Last winter there was a group of supporters on the web that imploded because of petty differences.  I no longer reference their website.  There is an ‘official‘ .com type website that I think is legitimate.  There is an .org website that relies heavily on the ‘official’ website as well.

I asked a monk about the kind of meditation that he is doing particularly because I was concerned about it being unhealthy.  Buddha supported three specific ascetic activities to raise energy levels and none are extreme asceticism.   He never proposed our adding masochistic self-punishment to the suffering incumbent upon living in this physical existence.  That would be so un-Noble Truth!  According to published reports, Palden Dorje had begun a six year meditation effort (due to close November 2011) during which he would neither eat nor drink.  The monk assured me that the lamas would take appropriate care of the body of this young man and that they would not allow him to suffer unduly.

This morning I checked in with his official website and found pictures posted that I had not seen before.  I hope fair use allows me to share these here…

I am guessing that these are from those dozen days he came out of the forest last November.  As you can see, he looks well and healthy.  I am hopeful that he is learning from his self-imposed journey and that he continues to draw together people with the kindest intentions and (energetically) highest aspirations.

Saddhu.

Last week there was an orientation for new board members of the research park where I have temporary office space.  I was invited to attend in order to get up to speed on the history of the project.  I also really believe in this effort and wanted to help out in whatever little way I could.  The establishment of a research park is a collaboration of diverse stakeholders- public education of course, business leaders in the private sector, government on the local, state and federal levels, philanthropists and then a couple of grunts like me.   The guest list was impressive to say the least.  These people are shapers, you know, french cuffs and Armani.

It was pretty daunting.

I did what I tend to do–made myself look busy and preoccupied with the lcd projector, wireless connections, the oh so important snack table.  It’s my way of pretending that I actually belong in a room and didn’t just wander off the street.  My colleague in the main office was having none of that.  She started to introduce me to the grand poobahs.  The very first person she introduced me to was the CEO of a regional biotech company.  He shook my hand then looked at me a little closely.  He repeated my name and said, “I’ve heard of you.  I can’t remember who it was but someone yesterday told me you are fabulous.”

Knock me flat.  I thought he must somehow be connected with my wonderful friend Laurie, the only person in the world who has ever used that adjective and my name in the same sentence.  That didn’t seem quite right though.  She is as natural and sustainable as humanly possible in an urban landscape.  Somehow I couldn’t see her hanging out with a major supporter of an industry that by definition  uses biological systems and living organisms to change nature into products.

During the presentation I doodled, trying to figure out what the connection could be.  I had his name and company which meant nothing to me.  I ran through mental lists of professors that might be working with him that I had contact with.  Dead end.  Then it came to me.

Last week a potential candidate had come to speak with the dean.  With the downturn in the economy, he was looking at being laid off this month.  A four year degree then three in the field and there’s the unemployment line and limited prospects without retraining.  His wife is about to give birth to their second child at any moment.   He came early and the dean was delayed at another meeting.  The poor guy!  He was so nervous and just consumed by worry.  So rather than let him break into a cold sweat in the lobby I talked to him.  How was his wife?  How is his little boy?  Is he looking forward to having a little sister?

Doom and gloom, this poor fella.  His son is a handful, a headstrong monster.  Doesn’t listen to commands.  Chews on computer cords.  Whatever.  I shared with him a technique I used with my kids as toddlers.  When they were focused on doing something unsafe I would come up behind them and clap my hands once, loud.  Just enough to startle without scaring.  Then I would give them something else to do.  We chatted about how exciting birth is and how wonderful children can be until the dean came in.

The next day he sent me an email.  They had some family over the night before.  His son was wound up and wouldn’t go to bed.  He and his wife told him to stop and to pick up his toys and so on.  The boy ignored them.  Then what the heck, he tried the clapping thing.  Drawn to the sound, the boy looked at him.  Dad says, time to go to bed and the kid picked himself and toddled off to his room.  Yeah!

So what does this have to do with the CEO of a biotech company?  This guy’s mother-in-law was visiting during the whole scene.  He explained to her where he had gotten the technique and that I had been really helpful in getting him in to see the dean.  She is an assistant at the tech company and shared all this with her colleagues the next day.  The CEO heard about it and thought it was cool.  Then he met me with the name fresh in his mind.

Some say that no good deed goes unpunished.  This is not how the universe works.  These meetings make me nervous and self-conscious.  What the CEO said made me feel good about myself and happy.  Just like when that young man came to me nervous and preoccupied with worries.  Kindness travels not just in ripples but reverberates back on itself.

The question came up on my Buddhism network from a practitioner in Germany. What advice would Abbot and Sister give to a mother of two children ages 1 and 3 who has little time to sleep let alone sit for any period of time. Their answers were to smile as much as possible, practicing metta in daily life. I added the folowing:

Dhamma Greetings Mikel and All,

I am way behind on reading or I would have answered this as it is in my area of some expertise. My children are now teenagers but I well remember the days when they were babies. I had three children under the age of four and one cat. This was before I met Bhante and Sister Khema and learned about metta.

Please let your friend know that it is hard to be sleep-deprived and function but her hope is in her toddling teachers. We have a saying here, the Terrible Twos. I soon found two-year-olds to be Terrific! They are delightful and funny and full of curiosity. If your friend can share their laughter and recognize their delight it will be easier to be uplifted.

Sometimes it is hard to see the humor because a mother carries so much responsibility. There is not a moment to herself. I can remember trying to find two minutes to go to the bathroom. When I would be sure everyone was safely occupied I would quietly sneak off to the commode. Within twenty seconds I would hear “where’s momma? where’s momma?” Then three pairs of hands would be reaching under the bathroom door, little fingers wiggling. “I bet she’s in there! Found you!” A lot of times I would be so irritated but I remember one time seeing those little fingers and then a long cat arm reaching under as well. I nearly fell off the commode with laughter! (Sorry for the bathroom humor. Mothers are earthy).

There was a time when my oldest boy Chris had discovered his feet. He was thrilled to be upright and strong enough to move things around and he loved to put things in their proper place. I had decided to stencil roosters around the top edge of the kitchen walls. We did not have a ladder so I moved a chair next to an upright piano. From the top of the piano I could reach the part of the wall I wanted to paint. For some reason Chris chose that moment to cruise into the kitchen. He didn’t see me way up high but he saw a chair out of place. Lickity-split he pushes the chair back to the table and cruises right back out of the room. There I am with a paintbrush and gallon of paint crouched on the top of a piano looking at a rickety floor way, way down. We lived in an old wood house with years of termite damage and I was afraid to jump down because I thought the floor would collapse. “Chris, Chris, come here, Momma needs you!” I called. The kids came tumbling through. “Momma’s hiding!” they said. It took a while before they looked up. I was trying to explain to them that someone needed to push the chair back but they would have nothing of it. Their little bellies were jiggling they were laughing so hard. “Momma’s on the furniture.” And a stern “no climbing!”

Kids give you every reason to laugh all day as soon as you change your perspective and get use to being the object of their jokes. They teach you to laugh at yourself. They re-teach you the joy of discovery. They demonstrate delight over even the smallest thing.

Please let your friend know that I empathize with the difficulty of her path but I also make a sincere wish for her that she finds the deeper meaning as well.

Oh, and drop by and watch her kids so she can take a nap once in awhile.

Maha metta to you.

This comes from the incomparable Laurie of slowly she turned fame.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

The nearest book to me is The Anapanasti Sutta by Ven. U Vimalaramsi. It doesn’t have 123 pages so I am taking this from page 93, the last page in the book.

May suffering ones be suffering free
And the fear struck be fearless be
May the grieving shed all grief
And may all beings find relief.

May all beings share in this merit
That we have thus acquired
For the acquisition of happiness.

May beings inhabiting space and earth
Devas and Nagas of mighty power
Share in this merit of ours.

May they long protect the
Buddha’s Dispensation.

Saddhu! Saddhu! Saddhu!