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!

Recently, following Ani Kunzang’s visit to Australia, Lungtog, Kunzang and Wangmo took the opportunity to circumnambulate a 13 foot (4 metre) high consecrated statue of Guru Rinpoche blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The statue is the first statue to be be built as part of the first stage of The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion being built in Bendigo, Victoria under the direction of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The statue of Guru Rinpoche, resplendantly covered in gold leaf, will no doubt remove obstacles of all kinds including obstacles to the completion of the Stupa. During our visit we prayed for the long life and good health of our kind root teacher and all sentient beings. As well as circumnambulating Guru Rinpoche we also practised Guru Yoga together at the base of Guru Rinpoche and during that time, for a moment, the rain and wind ceased. Here is a picture of Ani Kunzang gazing up at the statue of Guru Rinpoche. the statue is housed in temporary accommodation while the rest of the Stupa is being built.

Kunzang Palyul Choling (KPC) Australia

I volunteered in the Garuda Aviary for awhile when it was located in Arizona. In 2004, we took in an Amazon parrot named Skipper. Everyone loved him. He and I became quite close—I think I probably resembled his former owner—and he stayed with me whenever I was working. Within a couple months he developed a breathing problem. When the avian vet said Skipper couldn’t continue to live with so many dander-producing birds, Jetsunma allowed me to adopt him.

I had him for several months and as he reached maturity and began to test his dominance, it became clear that I did not have the “alpha bird” qualities to be the leader. He began biting and becoming more unruly. He had been very well-socialized, and I knew that my weakness would ruin him.

Thankfully a woman named Bernadette—who had volunteered at Garuda Aviary for some time and had adopted several of the birds who also couldn’t stay in the aviary—was happy to adopt Skipper.

During the last two weeks with Skipper, I began to have flashes of a yellow bird in my mind. As if that didn’t seem crazy enough, I sensed that he needed me. At some point I realized it was a cockatiel. Each day it got a little stronger and I had a feeling of urgency about finding the bird. I started looking at cockatiel rescue websites and checking out local pet stores.

I was to bring Skipper to Bernadette’s home in the early evening. That whole day, the sense of urgency grew so strong that I finally went into my prayer room and prayed deeply to Jetsunma, “I don’t know where this bird is and don’t know what else to do. Please plop him in my lap.”

That evening I drove out to Bernadette’s home with Skipper in a travel cage. It was a difficult trip because I loved him so much. It was like giving up a child. We got Skipper set up and Bernadette gave me a tour of her many rescued birds, sharing their life stories. They were mostly large birds.

When she finished the tour I said, “I have a general question about cockatiels.” Before I even asked my question, Bernadette interrupted, “I’m going to give you Trickster. He’s a cockatiel who needs a home, and you’re the perfect person to take him.”

I was speechless. I hadn’t said anything about looking for a cockatiel, the yellow bird, nothing. And during her tour, she hadn’t even mentioned that she had any cockatiels.

She led me out to the backyard in the pitch dark, and we walked down a dirt path to an outdoor aviary. She shined the flashlight on a small flock of cockatiels all bunched up on a long perch. She quickly grabbed one, stuffed him under her shirt and led me back in the house, saying “This is your bird.” For a moment I thought I should be the one choosing my bird, but then I remembered the prayer I had made to Jetsunma and how weird this whole thing was.

When we got inside, Bernadette pulled Trickster out of her shirt and put him in Skipper’s travel cage. There he was—a bright yellow cockatiel! Bernadette said he was a rescue who’d come with the other 11 cockatiels. But unlike them, he was a “people bird” and wasn’t thriving without a lot of human interaction.

I renamed him Konchog Birdy. He is pure joy. Many times when I’ve felt depressed he’ll say, “What’re you doing?” and then “I love you!” It always snaps me out of it.

Ani Sangye Drolma

In commemoration of the 21st anniversary of the enthronement of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on September 24, we are presenting testimonials from Jetsunma’s students about her impact on their lives. This story is from Ani Sangye Drolma.

On June 14, 2006,  I was living in Flagstaff, Arizona when Jetsunma’s prayers literally saved the city. 

At the time, I was almost completely disabled by a mystery illness— severe pain for 8 months,  unable to walk more than 5 feet without gasping for breath,  dangerously anemic.  I was laying down in the afternoon when I noticed that the sunlight on the floor looked orange.  It was too early for sunset.  After a couple minutes, I decided to look outside.  It was excruciating to move. 

To my horror, I saw a huge pillar of flames rising several hundred feet about ½ mile from my house.  I made my way outside and met up with a neighbor.  The winds were very high, blowing straight towards us.  Flagstaff was in the middle of a 10-year drought. The forest was like a tinderbox.  We decided to begin evacuating our homes without waiting for the fire officials to come.  I didn’t know how I was going to do it.  I could barely walk the 30 feet back to my door. I began reciting 7-Line Prayer under my breath and taking Refuge over and over. 

To go in my house meant climbing two steps. This was sheer agony.  I begged Guru Rinpoche and Jetsunma to protect me and my animals,  and to hold back the flames so that our entire neighborhood could get out safely.  I was breathing as if through a drinking straw. I got my bird and two dogs safely into the car and got it running with the air vents closed.  The neighborhood was filling with smoke.  I packed my robes and as much Dharma as I could.  At times I crawled on my hands and knees to move around the house.  Though I wanted to just give up and lay down, I prayed for the strength to get out alive, so my babies wouldn’t be left alone with no one to drive them out of there.

By the time I got everything packed in my car,  my next door neighbor was just arriving home.  She was hysterical.  I told her to get her cat and bird first.  She was frozen.  She said she’d leave the windows open so her cat could escape.  I knew this would mean certain death for her bird,  as the smoke was already filling our homes.  I pleaded with Jetsunma to be with me as I climbed the small fence between our homes and helped her catch her cat.  The bird cage wouldn’t fit in her car and she kept wanting to just leave the bird.  I worried about my animals, still sitting in the car.  How could I save my own animals and leave hers?  We finally found a container for the bird and got him in her car. 

I looked around.  Our quiet little neighborhood in the woods now looked like a war zone. I could barely see across the street due to smoke. Fire engines and police cars filled the streets.  Air tankers were flying in and out, dropping red fire retardant all over the houses and trees. Firefighters were going door to door with mandatory evacuation orders.  There was fear in their eyes.  They said the fire was across a two-lane highway, and if it jumped the highway the fire could not be contained. 

I decided to head to my office downtown and figure out where to go from there.  I was sure I would be homeless.  As I drove I listened to the local news.  It was hopeless.  The fire was about to jump the highway.  The combination of high winds and unlimited fuel would certainly wipe out the subdivision.  Their greater concern now was stopping the fire before it swept over Mars Hill and into downtown.  They evacuated more neighborhoods. They predicted the fire would form a horseshoe and encircle the city.  As soon as I reached a phone I called Jetsunma’s attendant and asked Jetsunma to please pray for Flagstaff.  She gave the message to Jetsunma immediately. 

Less than 10 minutes later,  the news reported there had been a major change in the fire.  For no apparent reason,  with high winds at its back and with ample fuel, the fire had jumped the highway and just stopped advancing.  The fire chief stuttered as he gave the update, saying he’d never seen anything like it.  Though it took a few days to completely extinguish the fire, we were allowed back home late the following day. 

 A few days after the fire, I drove out to see where it had happened.  I saw the path of the fire, burned right across the highway and a few yards onto the dry grass. And there,  abruptly, was where it had stopped.  I couldn’t contain my tears of gratitude to Jetsunma for having witnessed such a miracle. 

 And as if all that weren’t enough, I experienced another miracle as a result :  The evacuation so weakened me that my doctors quickly ordered tests they weren’t considering.  This led to a faster diagnosis of the rare disease that was rapidly killing me.  Two weeks after the fire, I began life-saving treatment. 

In commemoration of the 21st anniversary of the enthronement of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on September 24, we are presenting testimonials from Jetsunma’s students about her impact on their lives.

I had been searching for some time. Ever since my father-in-law died very young, and my Grandmother, who had taught me to pray, passed away, I had been searching,  I wanted to know where they went.  It didn’t seem to me that this life was the end.  I had been taught that when you’re dead, you’re dead.  But that didn’t bring any comfort at the loss of dearly loved ones.

I had done some volunteer work with Native Americans, and a Native American woman I worked with suggested that I learn to meditate.  She gave me the name and number of a woman who was a student of Jetsunma’s.  I learned that Jetsunma was teaching in Arlington, Virginia where I lived.   I went with my friend Tracey from work to hear Jetsunma speak, and we were both very moved.  I felt a connection to Jetsunma and knew when she invited the audience to her Center in Kensington, Maryland that Tracey and I would go there.

When I entered Jetsunma’s rec. room that evening in Kensington, I felt the most incredible love that I had ever felt in my life.  Needless-to-say I kept going back.  That was 25 years ago.

The blessing of having Jetsunma with her incredible loving kindness and compassion hook me onto the Path has changed my life.  I know that when Jetsunma speaks to us, and we each hear and receive what we need at that time.  There is something that happens, and I can feel something shift inside.  Something changes, and it has been that way ever since I had the blessing of hearing Jetsunma at that very first teaching in Arlington.

I didn’t grow up with a sense of cause and effect, other than to know if I’d been bad I’d be punished.  Through the grace of my Precious Lama’s Teachings, including some very direct instructions and teachings, I have had the blessing of being totally opened up to see what was going on and what I needed to work hard to change.  I know that Jetsunma can see what is happening to each of us, and has the great compassion to tell us what it is we need to change.

 I can’t imagine not being here with my Root Guru’s Sangha, all of us working together in Jetsunma’s Mandala. I am grateful in my heart beyond words to be here with my Precious Root Guru Jetsunma and this Precious Sangha.  This Precious Teacher and this incredible Path have given and continue to give me the foundation of my life, so that I can be of benefit to beings.

Love,

Amita Rene

In commemoration of the 21st anniversary of the enthronement of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on September 24, we are presenting testimonials from Jetsunma’s students about her impact on their lives.

My mother said that when I was very young, I was compassionate. It seems to me now that perhaps this was, in part, the saving grace that led me to Jetsunma, despite the fact that my childhood was less than ideal (as it is for many people). At around four years old, I was (so a photograph shows), happy, cheerful and confident. The next photo, around five, shows bewilderment. By six or seven, this had evolved into sullenness. And so it went, as I evolved from painfully shy and unhappy to resentful, bitter and angry. I liked no one, and especially not myself.

I first encountered the Dharma in 1963 at the age of 16. I remember the incident, so fleeting, as though it were yesterday. I was on a long weekend home stay with a friend from a Catholic boarding school  I soon discovered that her father was totally disrespected in his own home, apparently for being meek and mild and, horror of horrors, a Buddhist (whatever that was!). He was almost totally ostracised from family life and sat in a corner, reading a small book. I can see him now, calmly and peacefully abiding whilst all around him chaos and criticism reigned. It seems there was still a small vestige of compassion in me. It was this (and embarrassment at the father’s situation) that moved me to approach him at an opportune time and ask what he was reading. He smiled, pleased with my interruption and curiosity, and wordlessly passed the book to me. I do not remember what I read, but I do remember recognising the unmistakeable truth of what I read on the very first page. Mr. F. noted with a knowing smile my reaction and offered to lend me the book. Unfortunately my karma at that time was not such that I could accept what I now realise was the Dharma, and I backed off.  I am now 62 and  although I remember very little else about that weekend, this incident has stayed with me ever since.

Sometime around 1995 I became aware of and intrigued by the Dalai Lama, and started to acquire and read books on Buddhism by His Holiness and other teachers. By 1999 I considered myself to be a Buddhist in heart and mind. Around 2001 I came across The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying and, as for so many others, this became my “bible”.  I decided to try and develop devotion to Guru Rinpoche, figuring that I had nothing to lose and possibly a lot to gain. Every day I prayed Guru Rinpoche, Precious One. You are the embodiment of the compassion and blessing of all the Buddhas …  I decided I should become a student of Sogyal Rinpoche. I made contact with a group in Brisbane but my efforts to get to meetings met with obstacles. I let things be and continued with my own evolving practice. My habitual tendencies were not diminishing. If anything, they were growing worse. I was the man in “Groundhog Day”!

So I prayed to Guru Rinpoche to help me find a teacher, but really only in a lukewarm way because I have never liked being part of a group. Nevertheless, before long I attended a teaching by someone I greatly admire, Ani Tenzin Palmo. It was March or April 2008 and there I met and connected with Ani Tenzin Wangmo. I shall always be grateful that Ani La led me to Jetsunma. I jumped in pretty quickly after that, realising that Jetsunma was the remarkable Tulku I had read about some years earlier in Reborn in the West, but never dreaming that one day I would become her student.

Although I quickly recognised that Jetsunma is a remarkably gifted teacher of Dharma, devotion had to be manufactured, just as I had previously developed fledgling devotion to Guru Rinpoche on a nothing-to-lose basis. This time, though, the basis was do or die. I knew that I had come to an important crossroad in my life and now that I think about it, this is the only time I have ever actually recognised a crossroad at the time of arriving at it.

True devotion eluded me. I knew I had to develop devotion in order to proceed swiftly on the path and I longed to develop it. I wondered why it was not happening for me. When I listened to Jetsunma’s teachings, which I regularly did, I was enthralled and motivated whilst becoming more and more aware and truly regretful of my negative habits and unskilful actions. I recognised with utter clarity that I was walking on a tightrope above a deep and terrifying abyss. But still I persisted in the grip of the five poisons and lack of mindfulness; over and over my negative thoughts and actions played themselves out although slowly, slowly, there was minuscule movement of the scales. My thoughts were becoming less neurotic and judgemental, my heart more kind and open.

I continued to reflect on why I had not yet developed true devotion to Jetsunma and then, very recently, I read Michelle Grissom’s confession, and it seemed that virtually in an instant a veil was lifted from my mind and heart. I recognised Michelle’s poisons as my own (at least in part) and I also realised that the comments I had read on the Internet about the Buddha from Brooklyn had poisoned my mind even though I told myself at the time that I did not believe the negative things I was reading. I knew Jetsunma was the real deal. I knew she had deliberately taken rebirth to help all sentient beings. I knew my Lama was good and true and virtuous. And yet, a seed of doubt had been sewn that I had refused to acknowledge and deal with. And then Michelle’s confession miraculously set me free. Now, finally, I am on the cusp of true devotion.

How do I know?

I know because when I think of Jetsunma, love born of gratitude swells in my heart the way it does when I think of my dear mother who died in 2005, one day short of her 90^th birthday. I have felt this kind of love for no one else. This realisation is very recent, very precious. I once read that the last thought a dying person has is of their mother. That may be so. However, I know that my mother of this life cannot ferry me to Dewachen; only Jetsunma, my root guru and my teacher, can do this. Therefore when the Lord of Death gives me my final illness, I hope and pray (and in fact truly expect) that it is Jetsunma, inseparable as she is from Guru Rinpoche, Kuntuzangpo and Buddha Amitabha, to whom I will turn in my hour of need.

Sherida

Brisbane, Australia

23/9/09

In commemoration of the 21st anniversary of the enthronement of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on September 24, we are presenting testimonials from Jetsunma’s students about her impact on their lives.

We rarely get to see how Jetsunma makes karmic connections for us. We’re told that she orchestrates karma, but we don’t see the scale and scope and complexity of her efforts. But sometimes we get a glimpse.

I returned to KPC after having left Jetsunma for thirteen years. I stepped into the community room. Up around the border near the ceiling circling the room are golden lotuses. I squinted at them, because they looked familiar.

“Those are my lotuses,” I said, blinking. “I drew that.”

My mother explained that Jetsunma had told her to put 109 golden lotuses around the room. The design she had on hand was the logo I did for her business, Lotus Unlimited.

Now this was a design Jetsunma was quite familiar with, since it was on all mom’s business cards, her letterhead — not to mention on both sides of mom’s car for years.

Staggered, I asked mom when Jetsunma had her do this. “Was it in 2001?” I asked, pretty sure that it had to be.

She had to look it up, but yes, 2001. Why?

In spring 2001 I went into a five-day retreat at Kunzang Dechen Osel Ling, a three year retreat center in Salt Springs, B.C. After leaving KPC in ‘96, I’d barely been able to practice. I’d cry when I went to teachings and temples. Yet when I set foot at Dechen Ling, the caretaker met me at the gate, surprised that I’d had no obstacles on the way there. “You must have a lot of merit,” he said. 

During that retreat, things changed. For the first time I began to understand that my relationship with Jetsunma was dependent on my view, not her. I knew I could come back.

I met Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche right afterward, and Kilung Rinpoche, and received from Khenpo Tsultrim Gyatso many of the teachings I rely on now to deal with the thick delusions of my mind. After Khenpo Tsultrim Gyatso’s teachings, I had a dream of rainbows in all directions, so many, I didn’t know which way to go. Those rainbows were all the teachers that I met on my way back to Jetsunma.

And she did this for a former student who’d been nothing but destructive.

My mom was puzzled about 109 lotuses. Why not the traditional 108? Jetsunma had been very specific about the number.

Oh, I never mentioned this but clearly Jetsunma knew. Doing prostrations, I would do a mala’s worth … and then make myself do one more. Since I’d done one more, well, I’d make it even five. Five was close to ten, so I’d do ten. That wasn’t far from twenty-five, so, okay, twenty-five. Twenty-five was only halfway to fifty. Little by little, I’d keep going, sometimes more than doubling what I’d planned.

There’s a teaching on that wall. Keep going, she says. Keep going.

Now my mother and I are finishing the community room, adding even more lotuses. Maybe there will be 125 … 130 … or 150 … or….

Michelle Grissom

In commemoration of the 21st anniversary of the enthronement of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on September 24, we are presenting testimonials from Jetsunma’s students about her impact on their lives.

On December 4, 2006, I was driving home on US 70. It was night time, 9:30-ish. There was a merge lane coming up on the right and a large semi was signaling and pulling in front of me. It seemed to me that he was cutting me off, and I panicked. Instead of braking and overriding the cruise control, I turned the wheel to the left to move over into the other lane. The car was moving at 65, 66 mph. Needless to say, I lost control. I can still see the squiggly line of light as the car moved back and forth across the highway. Then there was a great noise of shattering and thumping as the car rolled over and stopped at the side of the highway.

The first thing I did was brush the little bits of glass and clumps of dirt off my head. The inside of the car was filled with dirt from the roll and the windows on the driver’s side were shattered. I tried to get out of the car, but my door wouldn’t open. I put on my flashers, hoping someone would stop, climbed over to the passenger’s side and got out of the car, which was in pretty bad shape. The best car I ever had junkyard ready. A truck stopped and the driver called the police. A man stopped and offered me the back seat of his car to sit in and stay warm until the police came.

The police came quickly, called a tow truck, asked me a lot of questions, and let me use a cell phone to call home for someone to pick me up. The tow truck driver dropped me off at the nearest exit to wait for my ride (after he practically had to dig the car out of the dirt) and I was home safely by 11:00 that night.

While the car was careening back and forth across the road, there was no traffic. It was as if traffic had stopped so I could ripen this karma as safely as possible. I walked away, only scratched and bruised, leaving a totaled car. No one else was hurt, no other damage done.

There is no doubt in my mind that it was Jetsunma’s blessing that saved my life. I survived with my body and my faculties intact, my mind slightly concussed, but otherwise unharmed, and my faith deepened. This was not the first time she saved my life, but that’s another story.

 Ani Rinchen

In commemoration of the 21st anniversary of the enthronement of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on September 24, we are presenting testimonials from Jetsunma’s students about her impact on their lives.  This story is from Claire.

There was a time before we built that Stupa Park when the land was completely wild. It now has the walking paths around it and the Stupas. I am referring to the time before there were any walking trails, any roads, any way in.

One day Jetsunma was on the land with a group of people working with machetes and saws, rakes and shovels, with the goal of cutting perimeter paths to be able to have prayer wheels, meditation gardens and walking trails between them. I don’t remember the month. It was hot and humid and the work was very hard. The growth was dense, full of all sorts of things. We were cutting and transporting the brush to piles to haul off.    

I am crazy allergic to poison ivy. I’ve been so disfigured at some points in my life that I could not believe I would ever look normal again. I have not been able to use my hands….or to even wear clothing…at times because of it.  I know what it looks like….believe me. It was thick, dense and everywhere.

I doubt that Jetsunma will even remember this… She was cutting and hauling and working extremely hard. All of us were working so hard. Cutting, sweating, hauling. Trying to make paths. I had picked up a particularly big bunch of weeds and brush to haul off….and felt kinda sick inside when I looked at it… Pure Poison Ivy. All over me. There was no way with all that oil on me I was going to be able to finish the day, drive the hour home, get out of those clothes  and scrub it all off before it took hold.  So in my mind I am calculating how bad it will be, how much time I have before it starts to get bad….what soaps I have at home….and Jetsunma calls to me.

Claire….I’ve lost an earring.  I’ve got the front and the back but I can’t see to put it back in. Would you put it back in my ear? 

Um. What?

Would you put this earring back into my ear?

Well, I explain, Jetsunma I have poison ivy all over me. I don’t want to touch you. I don’t want to get the oil on you.  

She responds….Here’s the front and here’s the back. Would you just put it into my ear?

I explain…Poison Ivy can be a really bad thing. I can’t put it in your ear without touching you. I really don’t want to give you poison ivy.

Well, if you get poison ivy then I get poison ivy.  Would you please put the earring in?

So we stand there….her holding her head out….me going through probably a hilarious serious of gyrations trying to get a small pierced earring into her ear and put on the back without ever touching her.  I never, ever wanted her to have what I had.

So we keep working. The day winds down. Now…..my mind is on finishing the job and leaving. Jetsunma, after such a long sweaty day, wanted to sit by the stream and rest and talk a bit to everyone who has worked so hard.   I don’t want to leave before she does and so I sit too.  And I wait for the itching to start. I am so prepared for the blisters and the pain.

Nothing. Not one blister. Not one itch. There were many cases of poison ivy from that job….from people who had never had it before even….but not me.

That remains to me a moment that takes my breath away.  

In commemoration of the 21st anniversary of the enthronement of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on September 24, we are presenting testimonials from Jetsunma’s students about her impact on their lives. 

For 27 years I have had the blessings and good fortune to have Jetsunma as my teacher.  I have witnessed so many miracles; lives saved, misfortune reversed – a student brought from the brink of suicide into a life filled with joy; another, a physician, dying from AIDS is healed and 18 years later is strong and healthy.  How many times have I seen doctors bewildered because a second x-ray no longer displays the cancer, or infection, or arthritis diagnosed and confirmed on the original x-ray or lab test?  Many.

I grew up in an alcoholic home where fighting and abuse was a daily ritual.  When I first met Jetsunma, she held my hands, looked me in the eyes and said, “I too grew up in an abusive household.  I can look at you and see you feel unworthy.  You believe that, as a woman, you can’t accomplish your spiritual path.  But, I want you to know that you CAN achieve realization…. HERE, NOW, JUST AS YOU ARE!

For the first time in my life, I finally had hope, and as I realized later, unconditional love.  She taught me what it means to lead an ethical life.  She walked me through some very difficult purification that I could not have survived on my own.  She showed me through her actions and her achievements, what compassion truly means.

But, like most of her first students, we had no idea just how incredible this meeting with our teacher was or what it actually meant.  It wasn’t until a number of years later, when we were visited by so many of the most eminent of Tibetan and Bhutanese Lamas, that we heard the true stories of her amazing lifetimes.  What a great Bodhisattva she was, is, and will always be.  Let me give a brief quote from a teaching given by His Holiness Kusum Lingpa Rinpoche.  Rinpoche begins his teaching by speaking of Jetsunma’s lifetime when she and Kunzang Sherab began the Palyul Lineage.  “

Her name was Ahkon Chang Chub Lhamo.  She was a true Dakini, she was a great practitioner and she had scores of tens of thousands of disciples.  She was able to spread forth the doctrine in an amazing way.  Previously, she was Mandarava, Lamchen Mandarava, who was the Indian consort of Guru Padmasambhava.  Mandarava was well known of the 21 Taras to be the emanation of White Tara and Drolma Karmo.

And so, now she has once again arisen from the sphere of the three kayas and the name that I have mentioned before for her is also her name in this present lifetime, as well as, Lhamo Metog Dron, the name that is present throughout this prayer (referring to a Long life prayer for Jetsunma that was given by Guru Rinpoche and is a terma revealed by Kusum Lingpa).  She has come to you as a true guide and object of your devotion to lead you to the path of liberation.  So you should always have strong faith and devotion in her and receive her spiritual instructions.”

September 24^th, is the anniversary of the enthronement of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  It is another opportunity for me to thank her for all that she has done for me, all that she has meant in my life.  I can only wish that everyone could find such a pure and perfect teacher.  One who can and will lead them out of suffering. 

Finally, and at last, I know I have come home.

Ani Thupten Palmo