In the winter of 1990/1991, Dilgo Khyentse
Rinpoche spent the entire cold season in Bodhgaya.
He had arrived there
even before I did and was comfortably installed in some large ground floor
rooms in Beru Khyentse's monastery on the outskirts of the sacred Buddhist
town.
It was still early
in the winter season and not as crowded as it would surely become in the weeks
and months ahead so I was fortunate to find a room in Beru Khyentse's monastery
just doors away from where Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was staying.
No two winter seasons were ever alike in
Bodhgaya. I must have spent at least ten winters there and each time I was
there I had very different and powerful learning and even life-changing
experiences.
I distinctly remember that the mood that
particular winter was in some ways a very subdued one. Khyentse Rinpoche was
not in robust health. Despite this, however, he began to give an important (for
the Longchen Nyingtik lineage) cycle of teaching transmissions and empowerments
to the students, monks and visiting Lamas who had gathered to receive them.
Where ever he was Khyentse Rinpoche always had a
very busy schedule even if he never left his seat or his room. His days were
filled with the buzz of endless comings and goings. But during that particular
winter, we started to notice changes to the way things were usually happening
around him.
Several new rules were announced which
restricted our access to Rinpoche somewhat. This had never happened before.
However, one of these new rules was rather in our favour, or at least in mine.
We were told that he would not speak until after 9 am in the mornings. I liked this
new rule because it meant that I could slip into his room early in the morning
for a blessing and then quietly sit nearby in a corner of the room usually
completely unnoticed and do my practice while he was doing his. This was always
a very special time and I felt deeply blessed, grateful and fortunate for this
happy circumstance.
He would sit in his wooden box with a large
woollen blanket draped over his folded legs. His upper chest bare. I was always
fascinated by the various appendages that he wore around his neck. Intricately
carved silver and gold amulet boxes and other precious items hung there. He
would lean slightly forward and they would all clang softly together whenever
he moved. During these early morning hours, he would be fingering a large
wooden malla ( rosary) as he mumbled various verses, chants and prayers.
Nothing remarkable appeared to be happening and yet the entire room was
suffused with an intangible, deep peace. For me, it felt as though I were
sitting in the very centre of the universe. It was certainly the centre of my
universe.
That winter I had come directly from Australia
where I had gone to work for a few months. Khyentse Rinpoche usually spent his
summer seasons in retreat in Bhutan and so that would be the time when I would
go to the west and earn some money with which to support myself during the
winter months in India and Nepal.
I had pondered long and hard over what I would
bring him in the way of a gift when I returned and eventually I decided on
something very practical, as was my want. I decided to get him a pair of the
iconic Australian footwear known as Ugg Boots. These slippers, for they were
and are essentially an indoors shoe were initially created by an Australian
surfer in 1970s. They were a relatively simple design and made of sheepskin
wool, supremely snug and warm.
However, Khyentse Rinpoche had very large feet,
some might say, unusually large and I had to search quite a while before I
found a pair that I thought would fit.
I was so excited to present these to him. I knew
they would be just the thing to keep his feet all warm and toasty and I eagerly
anticipated a happy outcome.
However, on the morning after my arrival, when I
went to offer my greetings to the master and present my gift I quickly
discovered that it was not possible to get his feet to slide into the boots.
It was not that the boots were too small, they
were in fact just the right size and the biggest size that I had been able to
find. The problem was in the design of the boots which meant that they rose
well above the ankles to cover the entire foot and lower leg. I tried and I
tried to get his feet into those boots, there was much huffing and puffing, but
there was just no way it was going to happen. I hardly minded because Rinpoche
sat with one hand on the top of my head throughout all of my exertions. There was
a bemused expression on his face but he had sat there patiently putting up with
my various and energetic man-oeuvres. But eventually, I had to withdraw.
When Rinpoche had first laid eyes on the boots
he had looked well pleased and I was determined, come what may, that I would
find a way to make them fit. I quickly settled on a plan to cut the front of
the boots open and surely enough, his feet then slipped effortlessly in. I was
thrilled and Rinpoche cast a bright and loving smile my way. I could have
melted into the floor right there and then I was so perfectly satisfied and happy.
Throughout the winter months, these same boots
were worn during the day and also on various outings. One can just make them
out in the photo above. I could not have known then that this was to be our
final walk around the sacred Stupa of Bodhgaya. Due to ill health his stay that
winter was cut slightly short and soon after he had bestowed the empowerments,
he returned to Nepal and then a few months later left for Bhutan.
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