A couple of weeks ago our our KDK STL sangha sent Lama Jinpa Tharchin a card signed by many in our group and a gift. This was an expression of our gratitude for his coming several years in a row to teach us and also for his generous donation to our group of the funds collected at his teachings. The gift we sent was a large, beautifully produced book, Dharma King: The LIfe of the 16th Karmapa in Images. The sangha and I received the following email acknowledgement from him and his not to us is in itself a marvelous teaching!
"Dear Kati & KDK St. Louis Sangha,
Thank you so much for the beautiful book Dharma King! It's amazing to immerse myself in so many wonderful photos of His Holiness Karmapa XVI, bringing back great memories and sparking renewed devotion. I encountered HH Karmapa shortly after I took refuge with Lama Lodu Rinpoche. He visited the old KDK location on 21st Street in San Francisco, so I was able to see him in a fairly intimate setting. He was very powerful and inspiring. I was able to accompany him and some of his monks in the retinue on a "shopping" trip to Japan Town. We moved swiftly through the indoor mall until we passed an electronics shop. Suddenly His Holiness stopped and wandered into the store, which a was a long and narrow place, with shelving down the middle and the walls completely covered with televisions, all of various sizes and all turned on, with many different things playing on the screens. His Holiness gazed in amazement at the hundreds of jumping and flashing images, wandering up and down the length of the room, and all the time he was laughing uproariously. I think I heard him say, "Samsara!" as he laughed, but not judgmentally, just with penetrating non-conceptual recognition. It was a great teaching and experience for a new Dharma student like myself. It seemed like my whole culture was concentrated in a single small room and burst open into an expanse of boundless joy. No thought is beyond the embrace of enlightened mind.
That same visit I was present at the Black Crown Ceremony, which certainly added some rocket fuel to the journey on which Lama Lodu Rinpoche had already launched me. I had only a few weeks before completed my first nyung nes retreat, and here before me was Chenrezig fully arrayed and manifesting universal compassion and love. HH The Sixteenth Karmapa was a powerful and beautiful person, embodied but free of our normal human limitations. He continues to inspire me, and your gift brings me closer to him and that inspiration. Thank You All!
May All Being Benefit!
Lama Jinpa Tharchin
P.S. Tashi Delek and Happy Tibetan New Year...may auspicious blessings rain upon our world!"
We look forward to Lama Jinpa Tharchin's return in October, if not before!
www.namsebangdzo.com/Dharma_King_The_Life_of_the_16th_Karmapa_in_Image_p/9781934608494.htm
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