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My Kind of Town Don Chapman |
Soaking up the Dharma
» Kaneohe
You probably think it's easy being a lama, right?
Da kine, enlightened, li' dat, eh?
Like floating through life, zip-a-dee-doo-da, zip-a-dee-ay, I'm a living Buddha, everything's coming my way?
No way, zip-a-dee-ay.
A lama feels the weight of the world and it's suffering, is acutely aware of that pain and suffering, and every thought and action is aimed at relieving the suffering of all sentient creatures.
That was the whole reason Lama Jey Tsong Khapa chose to reincarnate after 450 years away. His second coming would give hope to the people of Tibet and to Tibetans living in exile, and to encourage the teaching of the Dharma in his native Hawaii and the United States.
Now, after a delightful Tibetan-style lunch prepared by Lily Ah Sun, the young lama found himself alone on the lanai, alone with his thoughts. Lily, her maid/friend Rosalita and the lama's eternal consort Bodhicita Guzman were inside cleaning up. Quinn Ah Sun, the motorcycle cop, and Kamasami Khan were having a discussion of ways to protect him. His big brother Joe Kharma was downstairs in his computer lab with Rosalita's daughter Elizabeth:
"You want to go to Disneyland?" Joe had said.
"Of course!" What 9-year-old didn't?
"Let's go then!?"
"Right now?"
"Of course, it's downstairs!"
Elizabeth frowned. She'd seen pictures of Disneyland. "You can't fit all of Disneyland inside a house."
"Most of it, I can. It's called virtual reality!"
So off they went, leaving him alone.
The young lama believed in the value of monastic retreats, fasting and meditating alone for weeks at a time. But he also believed there was a time and place for everything. Now was the time to be in the world, among people.
That's why he came back.
And this lunch, shared with new people who soaked up the Dharma like mo-mo's soak up broth, convinced him that he had to do more than hide from the Chinese secret police. In hiding he could not do the work of Tsong Khapa.
He was grateful for Khan's concern about his safety, and for arranging a switch, the lama going undercover, one of Khan's Free Tibet Warrior Society brethren acting as the lama in public -- such as at the meeting with Hawaii religious leaders this afternoon. He was grateful, but increasingly frustrated.
Another thing. He was the lama, he was here to alleviate suffering, including that of the young man who risked his life for Tsong Khapa.
But he wasn't alleviating his suffering. And that would have to change.
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Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek. His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin. He can be e-mailed at dchapman@midweek.com