A New Direction

I was fortunate enough to be there when Rinpoche arrived at his new home. I'm sure there is some auspiciousness in that, but frankly I was mostly imitating everyone else in waving a tanka. I'm rather ignorant of customs, to be sure!

What really excites me though is that this man no sooner hit the ground then he jumped into the retreat we had, and then boogied off for more teachings across the country.  Now, I jumped over myself there. During the retreat, it was announced that the Rinpoche wanted to develop a new way of fund raising. This guy is responsible for a village in Tibet, where he still holds some kind of council seat, the monastic college and temple there, and most likely several other things. Which has required that he spend some his time raising the money for these responsibilities. 

Well, he wants to change that. He wants to figure out a new way to raise money so he can be more accessible to his students. New direction! What that means is his change can mean a change for all of us who are connected to him. Already, right here in Langley, not a mile from my house, he'll be teaching to the general public about meditation. I've never been taught from a teacher about that. Everything I know came from a book. Yes, watching your breathe as you sit and not think doesn't require rocket science to figure out. But there are other ways to meditate apparently. Then later this month there are three sangha meetings where we will all gather and figure out how to make this new direction flow smoothly and still meet the needs of fund raising and student accessibility. 

Is it any wonder I am feeling this desire to plug in? To have a living teacher, a Rinpoche no less, living 6 miles away? This could definitely mean new directions for my life as well as my practice.