A number of years ago, a KPC student was chatting with Ani Palchen about ways to promote “Adopt-an-Acre.”  That was a campaign, now completed, for securing the land on which the Maryland stupas are situated.

Ani Palchen thought a moment, then just tossed off the cartoon below. (On scrap paper!)  If you remember the work of cartoonist Jules Pfeiffer, you will recognize Palchen’s cartoon as an homage! Of course, before taking robes, she was a dancer–perhaps in the mold of Pfeiffer’s figure, as imitated below.

As you may be aware, our beloved Ani Thubten Palchen passed from this life on Friday, January 8.  We will remember her spirited laughter in the Mani Jewel Giftstore at KPC, where she was frequently the first person to greet visitors to the temple.

Ani Palchen was a trailblazer, ordained as a Buddhist nun in the Vajrayana (Tibetan) tradition in 1988 long before most Americans were aware of such a path.  She was among the first group of 20 Westerners ordained by His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, a blessing he granted during his visit to confer the Rinchen Terzod—another ground-breaking occurrence, the first transmission of these treasures in the USA.

Many remember her gaiety and her kindness, not realizing that she was also an artist and, most important, a devoted practitioner.  Here is the final artistic work of her life, a poem she wrote, just a few short weeks before her death.

Golden warmth

Crimson heart

Within my chalice

I lie wrapped in

Guru and consort

My home

Within my bodyhome

Impermanent

No ground but love.

by Thubten Palchen

December 31 was another dark and stormy night—this time with ice and freezing rain! But 29 people still braved the elements for the KPC New Year’s Eve Celebration.

The celebration started 11 years ago, as the sangha looked for a more meaningful way than the usual champagne-and-noisemaker party to celebrate the New Year.   Instead of the traditional “Happy New Year!” at midnight, we decided to make our first speech of the New Year virtuous, by reciting the Refuge and Bodhisattva vows.

At 10 p.m. each New Year’s Eve, we gather for Shower of Blessings practice, with tsog, the food offering ceremony.

This year Gonpo served as the umdze, or chant leader.

And Ani Hesper served as the Chopon, making the offerings on behalf of all present.

The practice ended in time for 15 minutes of quiet contemplation before midnight.  People used the time to set their intention for the New Year.

Then at midnight, we all recited the Refuge and Bodhisattva  vows, renewing our commitment to accomplishing the path for the benefit of all beings.  Most people present were renewing vows they had already taken with a qualified Lama.  For a few newcomers, the vows were spoken with the intention of doing the same thing as soon as possible.

Then it was time to make offerings of light at the altars to help anchor our intentions.  KT helped people light their candles.

Then people placed their candles on the altar that best signified their intention.

Gail placed hers at the Tara altar. Tara embodies the feminine mind of enlightenment, and this altar depicts her 21 aspects.

Linda placed hers at the Kapala altar.  Inside this shrine is one of the most revered relics of the Palyul Lineage, a fragment of the skull of Genyenma Ahkon Lhamo, who helped found the Palyul Monastery in the 17^th century.  Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo is recognized as her reincarnation.

Then cards were distributed to the sangha with a picture of the relic, a gift from Jetsunma.  The circle on the card shows where the syllable “Ah” can be seen.  It is a naturally occurring phenomenon!  When Genyenma Ahkon Lhamo died, at her cremation, the skullcap shot out of the funerary stupa and flew out of sight in the sky.  (In the case of highly accomplished practitioners, events like this  are often reported at such times.)  The skullcap, called kapala in Sanscrit, was subsequently found at the foot of the throne of her brother, Kunzang Sherab, first throne holder of the Palyul Lineage.  You can find the full story of its coming to be enshrined at KPC here.

Some people had never actually seen the self-generated “Ah.”

At the end of the practice, everyone gathered to share the tsog offerings and each other’s company.

We may have stayed up late, but we all felt the pleasure of spiritual renewal as the New Year began.

This is a story of Macho Kindness:  tough guys with tough machines and soft  hearts, who came to the aid of some helpless birds, the temple, and each other.

It was a dark and stormy night—all over the East Coast on Friday, December 18, 2009.

At KPC in Poolesville, MD, it was snowing up a storm when we heard an engine idling outside in the driveway.  Upon investigation, we found a four-wheel-drive truck with a snowplow on the front and a trailer on the back.  (No picture:  it was a dark and stormy night!)

The driver was glad to see someone.  He had come to repair the generator for the Garuda Aviary and had never been there.   In the dark, he couldn’t figure out where to go.

Now, it happens that he had been asked to repair it some time before, but, for various reasons, hadn’t  been able to get to it.  On that stormy night, he was responding to an urgent plea to see what he could do.  (If we were to lose power in the storm, it would mean probable death by freezing for the birds. And he knew that.) Trouble was—he couldn’t see.  We showed him where the lane went down the hill, and figured that the snow wasn’t deep enough yet to cause any trouble for a truck like that.

Sure enough, he went down and after a while came back, with the news that he didn’t have to haul the generator away, after all—just needed to install a new battery.  He had one at home, he said, and would be right back with it.  And so he was.

Good thing the power didn’t go out that night!  Because it turned out that he wasn’t able to fix it on the spot after all.  He did wind up hauling it out that night on his trailer, taking it home, where he worked on it all the next day.

We didn’t know that at the time, however.  We only found that out when, late the NEXT afternoon, he showed up again with the truck, the trailer, and the generator.  By that time, we will remind you,  we already had fifteen inches of snow.  In fact, we had just been rejoicing about the arrival of our neighbor, with his Bobcat, to plow the driveway and parking lot.

It was still light when we looked outside and realized that the generator guy and the neighbor in the Bobcat were putting their heads together.  We wondered about that .  . . and next time we looked, we saw the generator guy’s truck stuck in the lane coming up the hill from the aviary.  He was shoveling frantically, so we grabbed a shovel and hurried down . . . only to find that our neighbor was there too.  We really wish we had a picture of him surveying the scene:  there was his Bobcat, at the bottom of the lane, in front of the aviary.

Now, this neighbor is an expert with the Bobcat.  We pay him to clear the drive, and he is kind enough to work it in even though he spends long hours clearing roads in a storm like this.  On this occasion, he was just on his way home from a day of plowing the Beltway, all the way to Route 50 and back.  But it was a steep hill, low visibility, and an unpaved lane.  (NOT an area we expected him to plow!)  His machine had tires rather than tracks.  And somehow it had slipped all the way down the hill . . . .  We were just glad to see him, the Bobcat, and the aviary all in one piece.

“All the way to Route 50,” he muttered, “and I wipe out across the street from home!”

So, we all dug, and scraped, and jumped out of the way as the truck freed itself and gunned its way back up to the driveway.  Then everything became clear.  The two guys had been trying to open up the lane enough to get the truck, with the trailer and the generator, down to where it was needed.  And they were still determined to get that generator down there.  Now that the truck was out of the lane, they could drag the trailer down by . . . man power, and install the generator.  And that’s what they did.  In the dark.

And that’s why the parking lot still hadn’t been cleared by Sunday morning.

The rest of the story has pictures.  Here’s what the Bobcat looked like on Sunday.

On Monday morning, our neighbor arrived with his tractor and a crew.

They had a plan, involving the tractor, and chains . . . .

And of course shovels.

It took some maneuvering . . . and some manpower . . .

But it worked!  Our neighbor is pretty happy about it!

The Bobcat is free at last!

It’s time to go now.  We ask our neighbor if it’s okay to use his picture, and he says yes—just not his name.  We ask him if he went down the hill in the storm on Saturday because he knew what it would mean for the birds if the power went out.  “So,” we accused him, “you were being kind, right?”

He looked down at his boots and smiled.  “N-a-a-w . . . !” he said.

KPC is supported by members, visitors, and friends.  You can join them by donating here!

Here is a link to the teaching broadcast from KPC on Sunday, December 20, 2009.  The teaching was originally given by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, KPC Spiritual Director, at the temple in Poolesville, on February 24, 1991.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/3288895

Sunshine on snow:  snowshine!  In the picture below, the sun illuminates the snowbound Dharma Wheel on the roof.  Those figures flanking the wheel  are deer.  This traditional image represents the Buddha’s first teaching, the first “Turning of the Wheel of Dharma,” in the Deer Park.

This view across the lawn had a whole different look the day after the storm.  The wind is calmer, and the prayer flags are more gently disseminating the prayers on the wind.

Inside the temple, we were pretty short-staffed for a Sunday!  Broadcasting the 2 p.m. teaching, Ani Aileen had to play multiple roles:  techie, umdze (chant leader for opening and closing prayers), and announcer.  She’s NOT used to being on the user end of a microphone.  Gyatrul Rinpoche gave her the name “Ani NBC” years ago, when her job on the NBC news crew was, as some have put it, “putting lapel mikes on presidents.”

Everybody else is outside, trying to clear enough snow for sangha and visitors to get in.  What about that snow plow that arrived the previous evening, you say?  Well . . . there’s a  story about that!  (Watch for the next blog post for the whole story.)  For now, let’s just say that, as of Sunday afternoon, the driveway was clear, but not the parking lot. In other words, people can get in, but they can’t stay!  The picture below shows what happened to the snow plow, our neighbor’s Bobcat:  stuck!

Pete is a KPC volunteer who lives not far from the temple.  He’s trying to open up a path down to the aviary, where the Bobcat is stuck.

But the snow blower is jammed up!  So he has to go for help.

Fortunately, he did not arrive alone:  Ani Dawa and Ani Dolma picked him up in an SUV.  They’ve been shuttling volunteers around to sites where they’re needed today.

Ani Dolma has experience with machinery.  She’s going to take a look at the snow blower.

While he’s waiting, Pete picks up a shovel and works on the front walk.

He’s already done a lot of snow clearing today, and there’s more to come, once the blower is up and running again.  He deserves a break today!

Meanwhile, the parking lot hasn’t been plowed yet, and the residents’ cars need to be dug out.  Gonpo is surveying the scene.

Why did we park so CLOSE to each other?  Must have seemed like a good idea at the time!

A couple of carloads of visitors arrives–and, yes, they get stuck.  Hello!  We’ll be a little later than we thought!  (Gonpo and Pete helped them free their vehicles.)

But the kids loved the snow, and Mama got a few good shots in.

Here they all are:  see picture below.

On another front:  our feathered friends, the birds.  They’re hip to the system, and KNOW that those cans aren’t full of trash!  (We store birdseed in them.)

And the tree above the cans is usually full of birds!

Finally, we went inside, where we found the kids getting warm and eating a snack.

We checked back with Ani Aileen in the Dharma Room.  At the end of the broadcast teaching, she’s making an offering for receiving the teaching, first as always.

KPC depends on members, visitors, and friends for support.  You can click here to join them in offering–and thanks!

This is what it looked like yesterday at KPC during the Great Blizzard of 2009.

Beginning Friday evening, the snow was unrelenting until late Saturday night. It fell fine and fast, with a pretty good wind behind it at times.

You can see in the picture below what the flags are doing!

The stupa is barely visible . . .

. . . and every bush is wearing its own snow-cone extension!

The bird feeders are too. The winged ones are having a hard time finding food!

Ani Palmo went out to clear the bird feeders and fill them with birdseed.

Now at last the birds can find a footing, and some food. That’s a peanut-butter pine cone she’s waving around in her right hand:  an easy way to get some nutrition out to them.  (That’s right–it’s just what it sounds like!  You smear peanut butter on a pine cone.)  And she took some bread crusts out too, tossing them in a place with some protection from the snow.

At midafternoon, 15 inches of snow had fallen, and it was still coming down.

One of the other nuns, Ani Pema, had to make her way down to the Garuda Aviary (our parrot sactuary) to tend to the birds. The photographer missed Ani-la on her trek–but here’s her trail.

We caught up with Ani Pema later, warm and dry, inside the temple.

Meanwhile, the 24 Hour Prayer Vigil, the heart of our activity at KPC, continues, with the residents tag-teaming on shifts.  Ani Pema did a double shift earlier in the day, four hours.  Here’s Gonpo, arriving from elsewhere on the property, to take a late-afternoon shift.

You can see how the snow is piling up!  It seems we are completely cut off from the outside world.  But wait–here comes help!  The cavalry!  Our neighbor with a bobcat.

It was such a beautiful sight, we think we want to show more of it.  After all, plowing means that YOU can get here!

By the way, you can sponsor the Prayer Vigil and dedicate your support to a loved one or a cherished cause.  Click here to learn more about Prayer Without Ceasing.

Yes, the weather outside was frightful!  After a mild autumn, and 70 degree weather not a week before the Annual Holiday Bazaar and Open House, you guessed it!  It snowed!

Old timers who have seen this phenomenon year after year are looking for ways to turn this predictability (first snowfall of season on the day of the Bazaar) into a fundraiser.

But it was beautiful!

And it didn’t stop people from coming.  Thanks go out from all of us to all of you hearty people who slogged up our driveway!

They found the festivities in full swing! The Mani Jewel had a special booth with Holiday treasures–a lot to choose from.  Here Ani Drolkar helps two shoppers make the hard choices.

Ani Arene was wrapping gifts–and enveloping all comers with her smile!

Some of the gifts available were intangible.  Here our resident poet concentrates on composing an original haiku at a customer’s request.

And some items for sale involved deferred gratification!  KT explains the Food and Fuel Rebate Certificate to Yeshe.  It’s a KPC fund raiser that will continue to be available.

The Garuda Aviary, the KPC Parrot Sactuary, was the beneficiary of two fund raisers.  Here’s Ann Marie with the display of the jewelry she makes.  She donates all proceeds to the Garuda Aviary.

And there was the bake sale that the ‘tween girls started for the Garuda Aviary. Girls . . . ?  Hey!  Where are they?  (No one here but us Moms!)

Ah!  The temptations of shopping!  Maybe they sneaked off to buy their Moms a present?

The younger kids got into the picture with a game called “Safetyville.”  The little ones are concentrating really hard on the answer to a safety question.

There seemed to be something for everyone!  Lots and lots of shop-opps for people gifts.  Here Raven chooses from a dazzling array of scarves.

The kids had a chance to give other kinds of gifts too.  Sam helped the young people fashion gifts for the wild birds:  peanut butter cone treats.  Tweet, tweet!  Better than sweet!

Some things, after all, are just worth the trouble!

This just in!  For the Silent Auction:  five framed original illustrations by children’s illustrator Ashby North (our own monk Tashi Dawa).  Imagine!  (That’s what Ashby does!)  Perfect for a child’s room.