Living Dharma

I was riding a motorcycle all this afternoon and happened to meet another rider that was familiar with some of the Tibetan Dharma Centers near Santa Cruz, California. It took me back to meeting Geshe Lobsang Gyatso just off of Rio Del Mar. He had been sent from India to help Lama Yeshe pass over. Lama Yeshe was reborn as a Spanish boy in Spain and is called now Lama Oso. I think he is between 16 and 20 years old now. I was there when his previous bodies Stupa was dedicated at Vajrapani Institute that had been founded by Lama Yeshe.

I had met two other Lamas but when I met Geshela, he was a spiritual Friend to myself and my family. Other Lamas I met of all lineages were definitely teachers. Geshela became a spiritual friend and member of our family. After Lama Yeshe passed on, Geshela eventually went back to India. When we were guided to India he had said if we came over there during the end of December 1985 we should visit him in Bodhgaya in Bihar State, India.

So, when we go on the plane to Japan and Thailand and were snorkeling in Koi Samet Island near Bangkok I began to pray to see if we were supposed to go meet Geshela in Bodhgaya or continue snorkeling and go north to Chang Mai in Thailand. I got it very strong from my prayers that we should pick up and go to Bodhgaya. At the time it was difficult because I was worried we would lose our brand new visa for Nepal by doing this. So even though our visa was lost when we crossed into India from Nepal, it was by grace given back to us when we returned to Nepal two months later.

We had 5, 6-month open ended discount tickets to stay as long as we wished(up to 6 months) in any of these locations as long as we were back landing in San Francisco within 6 months. We obtained this discount tickets at a student discounter travel office in the San Francisco area. This was 1985 so I don't know if it is done like this anymore. In this way we saved 50% to 70% on all our fares and paid 6000 dollars by being open ended in our schedule which was a minimum of 4000 dollars less than regular fares then for 5 tickets. We rode with discount tickets first class to Japan. This was both amazing and unexpected but welcomed by myself, my wife and family.

When we finally got to Nepal we hired a car to take us to the Raxaul, India border crossing. Then we took a bus to Patna and from Patna to Gaya, India.(both in Bihar state). Bodhgaya is a sort of park like place where Buddha became enlightened and is a sacred place to Buddhists sort of like Jerusalem is to the Judeo-Christian adherents.

At the time I didn't know what the Kalachakra Initiation was. At the time we were just going to meet our "Spiritual Friend" Geshela. However, when we got there we found 500,000 Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet, India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal etc. waiting to be initiated personally into the Kalachakra Initiation personally by the Dalai Lama. Also, instead of one Geshe Lobsang Gyatso. There were several by that name there for the initiation. So the announcer with the microphone said over the loudspeaker for 500,000 people to hear, "Would the Geshe Lobsang Gyatso that went to Santa Cruz to help Lama Yeshe pass over please come meet your friends who have come to see you. My wife and I and our 3 children 10 to 14 years old were very happy when Geshela showed up. He seemed surprised yet grateful to see us there. He told us we should sign up for the Kalachakra Initiation as foreign recipients and that there was an awning to protect the 10,000 of us from the U.S., Japan, Europe, Australia, South America, Canada, Mexico, etc.(in other words westerners to their way of thinking).

I bought a dharma book that explained the whole thing in detail written by a Virginia college professor who was a friend of the Dalai Lama. It was mostly over my head except that I could see it pertained to Shamballa which is the same kind of concept popularized somewhat in the movies called Shangri-La. The difference would be that I think Shamballa is a dimensional realm that can be reached under some circumstances from Earth.

Since I have been gifted since birth it is quite likely that when I wrote of His Oneness in my "memories" series is who the King of Shamballa actually is.

I never usually write fiction. What I find when I write is that since I am a precognitive psychic, Seer of the future, whatever you would like to call it(saver of my own life and others) and graced by God to do this. Yes. I prefer to believe in God as it works for me(20% of Buddhists worldwide believe in God like I do).

Since there are 49,000 correct paths there are enough paths for every compassionate religion on earth and thousands of individual paths to enlightenment to boot.

I was speaking today about paths of instant enlightenment and other more intellectual paths. Though I like the idea of instant enlightenment one sort of has to be sure that an instant path isn't just give you a heart attack so you just die. Because though becoming enlightenment is wonderful it can also be very scary to see things at first that way.


Let me tell you a story of my wife. First of all there are many stages to enlightenment but there are definite signs to recognize either someone completely or partially enlightened. So when my wife's mother died and one day within the next year my wife didn't talk all day. Since she is very intelligent and very talkative I was very concerned about her. So I walked outside while she worked in the garden and said, "Are you okay?" What she described she was experiencing I told her was one of the signs of enlightenment. She said, "But I don't like it!" I said, "You don't have to like it. It is like understanding why a car engine works. But understanding how it works makes it possible to do all sorts of things in your life." She still said, "I don't like it. I see all the good and all the bad in the world all at once and all it makes me do is cry." I said, "To experience it as deeply as you are now is one of the stages to enlightenment." She still said, "I don't like it!" Once again I said, "You don't have to like it but it is the way things actually are and it's a very powerful knowledge." She finally had to accept what I was telling her and to realize she was entering into a new stage of enlightenment.

My experience throughout my life is sort of like being a chick in an egg and each new state of enlightenment the eggshell breaks and there is a whole new universe you never thought of or experienced before. This appears to go on like this forever. Just when you thought your perception of the universe couldn't expand any more it does and you wake up staring off the edge of another cliff you hadn't seen before. So you look at the view glad for the knowledge of it so you didn't accidentally step off unless you were wearing a hang glider or wings.

Of course I'm speaking metaphorically, but this is my experience of my path through multiple stages of enlightenment. It opens slowly like the petals of a flower opening to the new sun and new rains. It cannot be forced. It takes as long as it takes. Just be very aware of life all the time 24 hours a day and you will experience both your enlightenment and the enlightenment of all those around you.