Little Buddha

Little Buddha:The movie 1994 with Keanu Reeves as Buddha, Chris Isaac as the father of the reborn Lama Dorje in Seattle and Bridget Fonda as the reborn Lama Dorje's mother.

I wasn't feeling well today so I was watching Little Buddha after I walked my dogs alone in the Pine Forest nearby. I love being a mile or more away from the nearest human being just like my Dad and Grandad. Like them I'm perfectly at home alone in the wilderness. My dogs love being off leash for a while too. And if we see one of the local mountain lions my dogs will let me know if I don't sense it first.

Little Buddha, the movie I have always liked. Though I believe the movie to be fictionalized, I myself have met one of the many western reincarnations of Tibetan Lamas since they started being born in western bodies more after Tibet was taken over by the Communist Chinese. In the late 1980's I met Lama Oso (clear light) who is the reincarnation of Lama Yeshe who passed away in the early 1980's near Santa Cruz. Geshela, my friend was sent from India to help Lama Yeshe pass over at that time. Lama Yeshe was born in Spain and I met him at the dedication of his Stupa near Santa Cruz, California.

Because of the way I was treated by Lamas both in the United States and in Nepal and India and because I find myself very gifted in the ways Tulkus tend to be makes me think that likely I myself may be a minor tulku reborn in America.

Whether I am or not doesn't really matter to me. What IS important is that I endeavor to move toward enlightenment as compassionately and and quickly and efficiently as possible. That is what is really important in the overall scheme of things.

What that means will be different to each soul because of the different kinds of gifts each soul has. One always starts with what one is good at to move forward the quickest way possible. By maximizing what one is already good enough allows the soul to then also deal with what one is not good at and to improve in all ways.

In the movie Prince Siddhartha of Lumbini(a kingdom that Buddha was a prince of before he became the Buddha in Northern India). When Siddhartha(young Buddha) first sees a human body dead that is then piled on top of wood and burned, he cries because he feels at one with both the dead man and the relatives and friends watching the body burn and picks up some of the dead man's ashes. This meditation on death is the beginning of Siddhartha's path to Buddhahood.

When I and my family were on our way by train from the Kalachakra Intitiation that was given to about 500,000 people from places like Tibet, Nepal, La Dakh, Bhutan, Sikkim, Thailand, Japan and the western world. There were about 10,000 of us westerners from Australia, Europe and the North and South American Continent. After the Kalachakra Intitiation given by the Dalai Lama in Bodhgaya was over we went by train with Geshela, Lobsang, a new friend from Darjeeling, and Vince a friend from Alaska to Varanasi by train. In Varanasi(Benares) is the Burning Ghat on the Ganges. It is the favored place among hindus and others to die and be cremated on a pile of sticks and then ones ashes are thrown into the Ganges. We went to the Burning Ghat and saw a body in a pile of sticks near the river set on fire. We also rented a rowboat and rowed out into the Ganges. We were a little worried in case the boat sank because as westerners we knew we could die from the thousands of miles of feces, burnt bodies ashes etc. in it.However, later I learned that the high (sulphur?) content is why local indians don't get sick when the drink the water directly out of the ganges and brush their teeth and bathe at the side of the river like we saw thousands do while we were there. From a western cultural point of view it is very surrealistic to witness this as it so goes against western views of cleanliness. However, belief is a strong thing remember and some people can walk through fire and over red hot coals because of it!

Two amazing experiences out on the rowboat. First, we saw several fresh water dolphins happily swimming in the middle of the river then in early January 1986. Then we noticed a older man with silver hair to his shoulders and a full beard meditating by gazing into the ganges. He seemed to glow there and that amazed us. His whole body seemed to glow with peace and joy. We assumed he must be some famous Guru but knew enough not to interfere with his deep meditation upon the Ganges.