No Limit on this Mountain Top:
A Visit to KTD (Part I) | (Part II)
By Gregg Rutter(Part II) In the morning I woke to the sounds of horns, cymbals and the chanting of the Green Tara sadhana. I had overslept! It was about 5:15 and I had intended to get up in time to walk over to the monastery for the 5 a.m. practice. Oh well, what a wonderful way to wake up! I lay in bed a while and enjoyed the early morning and listening to the sadhana before walking down the hallway to take a shower.
After breakfast, the first day of the Vajrayogini Drupchö began. Some of the people had arrived quite a few days earlier and had been preparing items and making tormas for the shrine.
The mountain was covered in a cloud, giving a strange spaciousness to the surroundings. I spent a while walking about outside and taking photographs. A little later Tinley Chojor encouraged me to sit in with the Vajrayogini Drupchö in the main shrine room – which I did.
Just to sit in the main shrine room at KTD is an experience you will never forget. Tinley Chojor’s colorful and skillful hand painting of this room is truly amazing. I was fortunate and humbled to sit here, in this magnificence, with all the statues, thangkas, butterlamps and the special Vajrayogini shrine set up
, and be able to listen to the Vajrayogini Drupchö, led by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche; it was very moving, and really, beyond words.
After lunch I had arranged an interview with Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche. I waited in the area just outside of the Green Tara Shrine room and was brought upstairs to meet with Rinpoche in his living quarters by his attendant and translator, Lama Karma Dudhul. I wanted to seek Rinpoche’s advice on my practice and aspiration for doing the traditional three-year three-month retreat, as well as inform him of the quality and vitality of our sangha and practice at KTC Minneapolis. Again, words fall short when talking about Rinpoche, but suffice it to say that he truly encompasses the definition of compassion, generosity and devotion to the dharma. It was a great blessing to have the opportunity to meet with him.
Immediately following the end of the Vajrayogini Drupchö that afternoon was the daily practice of the chanting of the Mahakala sadhana. This is usually done in the smaller Tara Shrine room at 5 o’clock, but due to the special circumstances it was done in the Main Shrine room. This was then followed by the Chö practice – which was incredibly powerful and moving.
The weather cleared the next day and the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds passing through. Over the lunch break, Lama La and I walked down the road to see Bardor Tulku Rinpoche’s home. As we were standing at the end of the driveway, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche came out of the house and we spent a while talking with him, and his wife, Sonam, who was also participating in the Vajrayogini practice. Bardor Tulku Rinpoche asked Sonam la to go back inside and she came out with two copies of his new book, "Rest For the Fortunate", which he graciously signed and gave a copy to each of us
. He was on his way out of town for a few days, as well as preparing for a trip to Tibet with his family along with quite a number of other people. Separately from Bardor Rinpoche, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche and a second group of people would also be traveling to Tibet for a two month stay this summer, which included Khenpo Rinpoche’s participation in the blessing ceremony for Thrangu Rinpoche’s new monastery in Tibet.
On the walk back up to KTD from Bardor Tulku Rinpoche’s home we took a delightful path marked “Dharma Path”
through woods that are part of KTD’s property. The surrounding land at KTD is extraordinary, beautiful and natural.
Lama La gave me a tour of the KTD grounds; we walked around the monastery building, saw the private retreat residences and the prayer flags hung behind the monastery in the woods.
Next door is Tenzin Chonyi’s house; Tenzin Chonyi is the president of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra. I spent some time photographing both the interior and exterior of the monastery that afternoon and then sat in for the Vajrayogini, and Mahakala practices.
During the day I spent some more time in the Namse Bangdzo Bookstore. Working there was someone I had met way back in 1976 at Naropa Institute, Ingrid Sertso, a jazz vocalist who was a student of Trungpa Rinpoche’s and a friend of Allen Ginsberg’s. We had a good time reminiscing. A small world! During my visit I also met and talked with many of the staff, lamas and practitioners including Lama Kathy Wesley from Columbus, and Lama David Nilson. He is currently the corporate secretary of KTD, has completed two three-year retreats at Karme Ling with Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche as Retreat Master.
After dinner I walked back over to the Main Shrine Room for the closing daily practice of the chanting of the Chenrezig Sadhana, to generate and enrich an attitude of loving-kindness and compassion for all beings without exception, and then sat in on Chö once again, the special final practice of the day while the Karme Ling alumni were in residence.
I didn’t want to leave KTD that next morning – especially not so early, not so soon. I woke up early and listened through my open window again to the Green Tara sadhana that Arthur was leading in the monastery next door. I walked down the hall and showered, straightened up room 15 where I had been staying
, and carried my bags down to the front door. Passing through Namse Bangdzo Bookstore on the way back to the kitchen to make some tea, I paid close attention to the incredible collection of rupas, thangkas and books that were there
. The gurus and deities on the thangkas were alive for me, emanating their energy. I was drawn to each one: Chenrezig, Green Tara, Machig Labdron, Padampa Sangye, Milarepa, Marpa, Chakrasamvara, Guru Rinpoche, Amitabha, Buddha Shakyamuni, Vajradhara; and I was with them, standing in their primordial energy stream. Each one became alive in that early morning – and yet, nothing seemed unusual; the door in the room was silently lifted and the walls silently fell away and dissolved; I was left standing above Woodstock in the Catskill Mountains surrounded by Vajradhara, Chenrezig, Amitabha, Machig Labdron, Padampa Sangye, Green Tara and Guru Rinpoche.
The sun was up. The sky was blue. A nice cool wind was blowing through the giant maple and oak trees in front of Mead’s Mountain House. With a freshly made bottle of sweetened Red Rose tea, I carried my bags out to the car for the drive north to Albany to catch a 9:30 a.m. flight back to Minneapolis.
Visit www.kagyu.org/monastery/mon00.html for more information about Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Monastery. (Part I) | (Part II)