Throughout July and August KPC will host a book club to discuss An Open Heart, Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life by His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama and Nicholas Vreeland.

This book explores fundamental elements of our Dharma path including karma, loving kindness, a good heart and bodhicitta.

Class dates will be the following Fridays at 7p.m.: July 1, 8,15, 29; Aug 5, 19, 26.

The book is available in the Mani Jewel Gift Store or you can order the book here…

For those readers who might be curious about just exactly what Kunzang Palyul Chöling, or KPC, is and why we think it is important to care about, we have assembled a brief history of the temple.  This must also be the story of its Spiritual Director, Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo, without whom there would be no story to tell.

Jetsunma was not born a Buddhist.  Actually she was born to Italian-Jewish parents in Brooklyn, New York, and her early spiritual education came courtesy of the Roman Catholic Church, the Dutch Calvinist church, and a sort of lox-and-bagels Judaism (as she describes it), depending on which parent was winning on that particular day.  Life at home was often a living hell with both parents taking out their frustrations on their children with severe beatings and other abuse usually fueled by alcohol.  But even though not born a Buddhist, Alyce was born a bodhisattva, and she used the suffering she experienced as a child as motivation to end the suffering of others.

Later, she left her family for life on a North Carolina farm.  There she began to experience dreams and visions that indicated various practices she should undertake, such as meditation and what she later learned was a form of chöd – dedicating one’s very body to the liberation of sentient beings.  She left the farm while very pregnant with her second son and went to Black Rock, North Carolina, where she gave psychic teachings and readings.  By age 30 she experienced a spiritual breakthrough, and this eventually led her to Kensington, Maryland, where she and her husband founded the Center for Discovery and New Life.  There she began to attract a large following of students.  She taught a sort of Christ-centered spirituality and channeled various teachers.  In April, 1985, at her urging, her students began a 24 hour prayer vigil for peace in the basement of her small home in Kensington, Maryland, that continues unbroken today.

At about the same time a Tibetan man showed up selling rugs to support a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in India.  She and her students ended up supporting seventy monks at the monastery.  It turned out that this man was the business manager for His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, the Supreme Head of the Palyul lineage of Nyingma.  When he heard about this American woman and her students, he decided to pay them a visit – his first to the United States.  After dining on hot dogs with Catherine (as she was then known) and her students, he proceeded to interview the students to see what she was teaching them.  Finally he called her in and told her that whatever she called what she was teaching, what she was actually teaching was Mahayana Buddhism.  He said that her ability to do this with no formal training in Buddhism reflected a very high level of accomplishment in previous lifetimes.  These words were echoed in 1986 when Catherine traveled to Oregon to meet the Venerable Gyaltrul Rinpoche, who had been recognized as the reincarnation of Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab, the first Palyul throneholder.  He encouraged her to visit Penor Rinpoche in India.  Catherine took both of these lamas as her root teachers.

Meanwhile the Center for Discover and New Life had purchased a new home, a large house with pillars just as described by Penor Rinpoche when he suggested they find a larger space.  It was located in Poolesville, Maryland, a rural area along the Potomac River northwest of the District of Columbia.  The 24 hour prayer vigil was moved to the new center, and a large number of crystals were installed.

In 1987 Catherine followed the advice of Gyaltrul Rinpoche and traveled to India to visit His Holiness Penor Rinpoche at his monastery in exile, Namdroling, located near Bylakuppe, Karanataka State.  After carefully examining her, he, along with His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, then the Supreme Head of the Nyingma (who was visiting the monastery at the time), and the senior Palyul tulku, the Second Dzongnang Jampal Lodro Rinpoche, formally recognized her as the reincarnation of Genyenma Ahkön Lhamo, the sister of the first throneholder of Palyul, Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab, who in this life, as we said, is known as Gyaltrul Rinpoche.

Genyenma Ahkön Lhamo spent much of her life meditating in a cave above Palyul Monastery in Tibet.  They called the valley in which the cave was located Red Valley because of all the Buddhist nuns she attracted with her teachings and blessings.  She was renowned as a wisdom dakini and was one of the main disciples of Tertön Migyur Dorje, whose terma revelations formed the basis of the Palyul lineage.  Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab was the Dharma heir of Migyur Dorje.

The following year, 1988, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche traveled to Maryland once again to bestow a major empowerment cycle and to enthrone Catherine as a tulku, or reincarnate lama.  This was an extraordinary and unprecedented gesture for him to make, considering that Catherine was both a Western woman and someone with no formal training in Buddhism in this life.  Tulkus are also traditionally recognized when very young, and Catherine was in her 30’s.  However, His Holiness made it clear that this meant nothing to him.  As a young tulku himself at Palyul, he had seen the precious skull relic or kapala left by the first Ahkön Lhamo, and he had made a vow to find her reincarnation if she existed in the world.  As an indication of his faith in her, he brought the single surviving fragment of the kapala (the rest had been destroyed in the Cultural Revolution) to present to her at her enthronement ceremony.  This sacred relic, bearing a Tibetan letter “AH” formed by the sutures of the skull bone, remains enshrined in the main prayer room at KPC today.

The enthronement ceremony caught the attention of the world’s press and other Western Buddhists.  Just prior to the ceremony itself a group of twenty-five of Catherine’s students received ordination as novice Buddhist monks and nuns from His Holiness, a group now numbering around 40 individuals, making it one of the largest Buddhist ordained sanghas in the West.  During the empowerment Catherine received the name Ahkön Norbu Lhamo from His Holiness.  The title of Jetsunma, a rarely conferred title reserved for the most revered Tibetan Buddhist women teachers, was chose for her by her students.

The enthronement ceremony took place at the end of a four month marathon empowerment by His Holiness called the Rinchen Terdzod, a collection of all known terma revelations of Guru Rinpoche that was compiled by the Jamgon Kongtrul the Great in the 19^th Century.  This was the first time this empowerment was given in the West by anyone.  His Holiness also renamed the center Kunzang Odsal Palyul Changchub Chöling – Fully Awakened Dharma Continent of Excellent Clear Light – and designated it as his seat in the West.

In the ensuing years Jetsunma invited many Palyul and Nyingma teachers to KPC.  The first to come was Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche who professed a strong connection with Jetsunma.  He was followed by the Venerable Gyaltrul Rinpoche on numerous occasions, His Holiness Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok on his only trip to the West, His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche, the present head of Palyul, the Khenpo brothers, Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche, Ven. Yangthang Tulku, Mugsang Tulku, Khentrul Gyangkhang Rinpoche, Ven. Ngagpa Yeshe Dorje, the Palyul Khenpos, Khenchens Tsewang Gyatso, Namdrol, Pema Sherab and Tenzin Norgay, the stupa builders, Tulku Sang Ngak Rinpoche and Tulku Rigdzin Pema, and many other well-known and highly revered teachers.  These visits provided a solid foundation of empowerments and traditional teachings for the students who formed the growing sangha of KPC.

Jetsunma continued to teach, shifting into a more Buddhist mode as her students matured into practitioners.  She taught regularly to both the children and the adults of the sangha, teachings which were preserved on video and are still readily available to any who seek them out.  She also gave her students ample opportunity to gain merit.

One of her main activities has been the building of numerous stupas, over 40 at last count, both at KPC in Maryland – where the remarkable Migyur Dorje Stupa is – as well as the beautiful Amitabha Stupa in Arizona.  It is said that even thinking of a stupa is the cause of tremendous merit, so having the opportunity of actually building so many stupas is remarkable.

Another way Jetsunma teaches compassion in action to her students is through the Garuda Aviary and Tara’s Babies animal rescue organizations.  The aviary rescues large exotic birds like macaws, parrots and cockatoos which have been abused or abandoned.  It is located on the KPC grounds in Maryland.  Tara’s Babies rescues dogs from natural disasters (like Hurricane Katrina) or dog pounds where they faced imminent euthanasia.  It is housed in a former ranch in a remote area of Arizona.  Other activities have included helping Mongolian Buddhists reestablish Buddhism in their former Communist state after 65 years of brutal suppression and a prison program offering Dharma teachings to inmates in Maryland correctional institutions.

Jetsunma has also actively explored alternative methods to expose as many people as possible to the Dharma, including setting Dharma prayers and mantras to modern music and giving regular “tweechings” on Twitter.

Today, after over 20 years since its founding, KPC continues to grow and explore new ways to bring Jetsunma’s compassionate vision into the world, which so desperately needs all the compassion it can get.  We can only echo His Holiness Karma Kuchen’s prayer that Jetsunma stay in the world until the very stars fall from the sky!

For the Benefit of the Amitabha Stupa Webathon:  7 p.m. (EDT/USA)

Tune in here!

KPC offers the Amitabha Stupa, in Sedona, Arizona, as a universal gift. Brought into the world in 2004 under the guidance of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, KPC Spiritual Director, the Amitabha Stupa as served as a place of pilgrimage and spiritual refuge for countless visitors.

Now you can see beautiful video of the preparations, crafts, pujas, and heavy equipment required to build such a stupa–as well as glorious footage of rare events like the spire being carefully lowered and placed at the top!  It’s breath-taking!  All against the backdrop of the gorgeous Arizona blue sky!

The program will also feature explanation of the various beneficial aspects of a stupa:  how it represents a complete path of enlightenment.

We invite you to join us at 7 p.m. (USA/EDT) on Friday, Oct. 29, for three hours of information and fund raising.  Learn how a stupa is built (hint: it’s not just about concrete!), and what the Amitabha Stupa means to the community and the world at large.

Back in those days one of the motivations that Jetsunma strongly encouraged–and was prevalent among her students–was a feeling of mission consciousness.  We all wanted to do whatever we could to help bring the end of suffering.  She introduced the prayer vigil during that time as a way to help balance the war karma going on in the world and to bring the energy of peace.

From the very beginning, our first practices were like the light expansion practice, taking in the whole universe and offering the light of love.  The practice was the same as Buddhist deity generation, because you take it all in, all the suffering of beings, and offer the light from your heart.  We began in April of 1985, and very soon had a Buddhist context for the vigil.  The 24 Hour Prayer Vigil was in place by the time His Holiness Penor Rinpoche first visited in June 1985, and offered us Refuge and Bodhisattva Vows.

I think I was doing the 2 – 4 a.m. shift almost every night.  It meant driving from Dupont Circle, where I lived, to Kensington, where the vigil began, then back downtown to work.  One man and his 20 year-old son would often bracket my shift, one doing the shift before mine, then driving home to give the car to the other, who would follow my shift.  They lived in Arlington at the time.

When we made the transition from Jetsunma’s house in Kensington to the building in Poolesville that is now the temple, it was a big deal carrying the crystals here, especially the Spirit Crystal, as the official transition.  The person on the last shift in Kensington picked up the crystal and carried it to Poolesville, praying all the way.  Another person was there praying already, so that the vigil would remain continuous, as it does to this day.

Ani Aileen William

Poolesville, Maryland

Oct. 12, 2010

In the winter of 1991, on the auspicious occasion of Chotrul Duchen, Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo surprised her students with a new chant of the traditional “Seven Line Prayer” to Guru Rinpoche. The chant was more like a song, filled with hope and longing, and spoke to the mostly Western sangha members.

This event inspired a small group of Jetsunma’s students to write songs of devotion and sing traditional chants with harmonies and simple guitar accompaniment. The students put together a homemade cassette tape of songs, and presented it to Jetsunma. She encouraged them to continue, and a year later they had the opportunity to perform Dharma music at the Marvin Center in Washington, D.C.

Jetsunma attended one of the rehearsals for the performance, offering tweaks to the various pieces and advice to the students. Each change, however major or minor, made an improvement to the piece, and the students were amazed at the depth of her musicality. But, as the students sang Jetsunma’s new version of the “Seven Line Prayer” with harmonies they had created, something wasn’t working.

On the spot, Jetsunma created harmonies that were perfect for each of their voices. She had always heard the prayer in her head being sung with many voices in harmony, and was able to sing each part without hearing it in conjunction with the others. The parts blended together amazingly! However, there was not a voice for the main part, which wove its way in and out of the melody, and was filled with longing and devotion. She sang that with the group in rehearsal, and they begged her to sing it at the concert.  She did – and it was exquisite.

After that, her teachings had another vehicle – through her music. With her group, now called “Sky Dancer,” Jetsunma wrote and recorded a number of songs, all of them Dharma messages in contemporary musical forms. The culmination of that period was the 17 minute prayer “Invocation,” beseeching Guru Rinpoche to be present in the world and in our hearts.

In 2000, on the occasion of a Guru Yoga retreat at the sacred Dakini Valley property in Arizona, Jetsunma revealed yet another tune to the “Seven Line Prayer.”  To have sacred music that spoke to the Western ear was something that many of the students had longed for – and Jetsunma was providing just that.
It was not until 2006 that music once again rose to the forefront. She made a sampler CD of a few songs, performing them live to a welcoming audience, then went into the studio with John Ward of Totally Killing It Productions. Out of this came the 18 song CD Revolution of Compassion, with the haunting “Prayer to Be Reborn in Dewachen,” and a song in which she chanted the mantra to Guru Rinpoche alongside the voice of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, her own root teacher.

This CD was followed in quick succession by the CDs Delog and Ellinwood Ranch Blues. Last year, Jetsunma, along with a host of revered musicians (Jimmy Mack, Louis Winfield, and the late Wayne “Tex” Gabriel) began work on a new CD, A Lineage of Queens. A sneak peak was offered via the CD Trilogy.
As Jetsunma begins a period of retreat, it’s hard not to wonder what blessings via her music might come into the world. To hear Jetsunma’s music, please visit http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/Jetsunma.

Ani Dara Tokarz

Poolesville, Maryland

Oct. 12, 2010

In August 2005 an event occurred which re-shaped the lives of many Americans, and the impact of which was felt throughout the world. Hurricane Katrina tore the heart out of New Orleans and the surrounding area, and the resultant flood swept away lives and property, leaving devastation and chaos in its wake.

Television reports allowed us to experience the horror of this event with some intimacy, as we watched people in desperation scrambling to survive and pleading for help. But as that help arrived, we witnessed a second horror story evolve: people being forced to abandon their beloved family pets in order to themselves be saved.

Heart-breaking images of dogs and cats stranded, terrified and starving began to emerge.  Having already experienced the confusion and terror of the Hurricane strike itself, they were now being left to fend for themselves in a toxic, watery landscape. Indescribable suffering was evident with every newscast.

As this story unfolded on our TV screens, Jetsunma was on retreat at Dakini Valley in Arizona.  Her heart cracked open and tears fell when she saw the intensity of the suffering for people and animals alike. Jetsunma has the capacity do what few of us have realized – to respond spontaneously and with clarity and compassion whenever need arises. Straight away she called her students to action. She knew this was not a time to sit and commiserate from the comfort of home; this was a time where active compassion and selflessness were requisite.

Within days three separate responses were underway. In Maryland, the Sangha was mobilizing to form an organization called Buddhist Relief, to assist the people affected by the tragedy, while in Arizona the primary focus was the animals. In Sedona, home of our magnificent Amitabha Stupa and where many of Jetsunma’s students then lived, Sangha began organizing to send a convoy of vehicles to the epicenter of the crisis. Jetsunma was calling for prayer by action.

Dakini Valley swiftly became headquarters, as Jetsunma’s vision unfolded. While the rescuers were preparing themselves for the journey ahead, the few of us at Dakini Valley followed Jetsunma’s instructions to turn the vacant land at this former ranch into an emergency dog rescue. Both hectic yet focused, plans were considered, materials purchased and people worked hard to create a secure environment for the unknown number of dogs soon to arrive.

The group that drove to the epicenter were shocked to the core at the devastation and suffering. Working as  our own independent team, as well as in conjunction with Best Friends, animals were pulled from the mire and bathed, fed and loved. Dr Pema Mallu, one of Jetsunma’s nuns and an accomplished vet, worked day and night at the Best Friends triage site tending to the sick and wounded as soon as they arrived.

Jetsunma was directly involved with every aspect. She advised, guided and continuously reminded us that the task of an aspiring Bodhisattva is to respond without hesitation to meet the needs of those who are hungry, frightened, lost and suffering. It was a teaching to experience the breadth and depth of her understanding of suffering, and to see her translate that into activities to alleviate. Theory and practice of the Buddhadharma blended, sprang to life.

The first seventeen dogs arrived via our land convey. They ranged from small dogs to wild and energetic young pit bulls.  It was a sharp learning curve for all of us who, although used to family pets, were not familiar with caring for dogs in a shelter environment. But we quickly learned.

Thanks to the focused effort of Ani Megan Gilana and others in Sedona, an airlift of rescued animals was coordinated, flying from New Orleans to Phoenix. Many generous volunteers from various rescues met them at Sky Harbor at around midnight. Our group of around 120 dogs and 6 cats were placed, in crates, in a cattle truck and driven to a working Ranch about 7 miles from Dakini Valley. There local families had been waiting around a campfire since 3 am, to help us get the animals over the narrow bumpy roads using their horse trailers. At dawn the convoy arrived at its destination.

Tara’s Babies Animal Welfare sprang to life with excitement, love, wagging tails – and some confusion on the part of everyone there. It is hard to describe the energy of dogs and people thrust together without ceremony, the dogs uprooted from everything familiar, the people somewhat overwhelmed at the sea of fur and barks surrounding them. But amazingly, and through Jetsunma’s blessing, the transition from place of peaceful retreat to a lively place of active refuge, went very smoothly.

The local community opened their hearts without hesitation. It brought tears to witness the spontaneous love and generosity of others, many of whom themselves did not have much, willing do whatever they could to support our care for these dogs. Donations of money, dog houses, food, time and love came pouring in. People showed up – despite the 1.5 hour drive and seriously bumpy dirt road – to help us walk, feed and care for our great big boisterous family. It was not without incident of course – some dogs escaped and ran around playfully until re-captured, causing chaos in the meantime. There were some fights, although nothing serious. A couple of volunteers were bitten. But we quickly became aware of each dog’s personality and behavior, and adjusted how we worked accordingly.

Jetsunma was also there to help. She visited every single dog, speaking with them and giving them dog treats. Some days she would take a few dogs for a walk. If she saw a dog needed special care in some way, she asked us to follow through with that care. She made excellent suggestions to help streamline our processes. She was actively involved with us and the dogs in every single way you could imagine. These were all – each and every one of them – her babies.

Although Jetsunma had us incorporate Tara’s Babies Animal Welfare as a non-profit entity, most of us presumed that when the Katrina dogs had moved on to homes or other rescues, Dakini Valley would revert back to its original intention, as a place where eventually a retreat center would be built. However, as the months passed and the number of dogs reduced, Jetsunma’s vision expanded. The desperate need for compassionate life-long care for dogs that have no place to go, and the numbers of animals killed every day because shelters are full, form a brutal picture of endless suffering that is hard to comprehend. While the devastation caused by Katrina was thrown in our faces, the lives and deaths of these animals remain invisible. Yet the tragedy is no less; every single day thousands of dogs and cats are killed in overcrowded shelters, amounting to between 4-6 million deaths a year (depending whose statistics you read).

So the mission of Tara’s Babies shifted to assist dogs facing death in shelters. It was a seamless transition, because the nature of compassion is to meet each need as it arises. And the Sanctuary has evolved and adapted again and again, and will continue to do so as long as suffering exists. It will provide love, care and shelter to every dog we rescue, from the moment they arrive until they are adopted into loving homes, or until they pass naturally from this life.

As I write this, around Tara’s Babies fifth anniversary, I reflect on the many dogs we have saved from many states in the USA, as well as Taiwan. From small to giant, from unsocialized feral to family pet, from puppy to senior – each of them with their own story of sadness in their past, and each of whom had no future ahead.  But they had the blessing to come to Tara’s Babies, and be enveloped by Jetsunma’s kind and generous heart. None of her students had imagined this valley becoming home to an animal rescue, yet once the gates opened to welcome the Katrina animal refugees, it seemed its purpose had come to fruition.

Jetsunma’s life is only about helping those in need:  feeding the hungry, providing shelter to the homeless, care to the sick and dying.  So wherever she is, wherever she can and wherever her students are, when the call for compassionate action arises, she will respond. This is the extraordinary nature and blessing of the teaching she lives and shares with every breath.

Ani Kunzang Drolma

September 5 2010

Pema Khandro Choling/Dakini Valley

October 12 is the day on which Columbus Day has been traditionally celebrated in the U.S. It also happens to be the birthday of one of the first Americans to be recognized as a reincarnate lama in the tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism.  Students of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, KPC Spiritual Director, may enjoy the joke in that coincidence (after all, “Columbus Day” is called “Discoverers’ Day” in some states), but her birth on this continent is no coincidence.  Considered a “dark” continent by Vajrayana teachers, because, until recently, the Dharma had not taken root here, North America would have been a logical place for Jetsunma to take birth:  she had students here.

The birthday of a bodhisattva is a time to think about gifts.  Not the wrapping-paper-and-bow kind that someone receives on a birthday; rather, the gift that any bodhisattva gives in being reborn.  For Vajrayana (and Mahayana) Buddhists, a bodhisattva is one who attains realization of the true nature of reality, and in so doing, realizes the end of suffering.  Because that realization is inseparable from universal compassion, the bodhisattva then chooses to return again, lifetime after lifetime, to help all others to the same attainment.

For that reason, Vajrayana teachers have traditionally given the practice of “Guru Yoga,” a meditation on the Mind of Enlightenment as embodied in the spiritual teacher.  Through that practice, a student generates a bond with the teacher that cannot be dissolved.  Not with the teacher’s personality, or appearance in the world, or great learning, but with the teacher’s mind: the mind that realizes the empty nature of all phenomena, the mind that realizes we are not separate—teacher and student, friend and enemy, cockroach and cocker spaniel.

Students may practice that profound meditation imperfectly; may neglect the practice; may abandon it, and the teacher, altogether.  But, in Jetsunma’s own words conveying that practice to her students, “Once that relationship has been attained, you can count on it. It will support you and, if you make a mistake, it will come back for you.  It will help you attain all of your dreams, all of your hopes, and truly, it will help you attain your Bodhisattva vow.”

The birthday of a bodhisattva is a time to rejoice in the gift of his or her commitment.  And because the commitment is to a relationship—with us!—it is appropriate to think about what gift we really can give in return.  Again, in Jetsunma’s words, “Will it be that this day, through the gift of the heart of the Buddhas, you will destroy all negative thought?  Or will it be that this day you will love truly unconditionally?  Will it be that you will practice with a great diligence the Bodhisattva vows during all that you do?

“What gifts will you give your Lama this day?  It must be a gift of spirit and you must never tell another.  This is between you and your Lama.  It will be seen and known and recognized.”

For the last several weeks, the beautiful teak Buddha that sits just above the Amitabha Stupa in Sedona has undergone a much needed stripping and cleaning to prepare for a new oil finish.  Many layers of old, dried finish have been successfully removed.

Using green, non-toxic stripping agents, several treatments were applied, allowed to dry, then brushed off.  It was taking a long time!

Then the call went out for a power washer to accelerate the process. Within two hours, Don Williams, owner of a power washer, just happened to show up at the Stupa.  (They call it Sedona Synchronicity out here!)

Don is a highly skilled guy with many talents who worked long hours helping to build the Amitabha Stupa several years ago.

After three new coats of finish, the Buddha looks simply radiant! Three more coats will be applied this Thursday on Chokhor Duchen.

Special thanks to Dave Carrol, who is heading up the project, Shawn Emory, who worked on sanding and refinishing, Carol Phelps, who allowed us to hook up to her water supply, and donors Robert Abrahamson and Ananda Robie, who funded supplies.

Not all the generosity we’ve experienced in the last month has come in the form of money!  We want to acknowledge the volunteers who have helped us improve the state of our Peace Park.

After last winter’s storms, the Peace Park looks like, well . . . like a hurricane hit it.  It is full of downed trees, mostly juniper and white pine, the shallow-rooted softwoods that were bent by the weight of the snow and uprooted by the high winds of several severe storms.  Frankly, we’ve never seen anything like it!

Here our grounds manager, John Pelletier, takes a volunteer on a tour of one such damaged area.  The volunteer was one of several trained by the Sierra Club who called and offered help.  We love it when that happens!  Particularly when the help shows up with his own chain saw and the expertise to use it!

John and the volunteer conferred, then the volunteer used John’s back to sign a volunteer waiver.  Then he got down to work, making his chain saw sing its industrious song!