The Dalai Lama's Cat and the Claw of Attraction by David Michie

Author:David Michie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, Tibetan Buddhism, spiritual happiness
Publisher: Conch Books
Published: 2023-11-10T00:00:00+00:00

I returned home shortly after, up the street towards the gates of Namgyal Monastery, before starting my way across the courtyard. There was the usual bustle of monks on their way to or from the temple. Groups of tourists being shepherded around in half-a-dozen different languages. Other visitors, gawping or taking photos, or simply absorbing the dream-like image of a Tibetan Buddhist temple set against the backdrop of the soaring snow-capped Himalayas.

As I walked, I saw a middle-aged man in a wheelchair, being supported by a woman of a similar age, I guessed to be his wife, wave down Geshe Wangpo as he was returning from the temple.

“I was hoping to see the Dalai Lama,” I heard him say. As I got closer, I saw dark burn marks on his arms and the side of his face.

“He is taking exams today,” said Geshe-la.

“Just being in his presence might help Len,” implored his wife.

“I’m sorry,” shrugged the lama.

Visitors like this were common. People dealing with torment and seeking answers, who hoped for a miraculous encounter.

As Geshe-la continued on his way, Len called out, “Perhaps you can help?”

“Me?” Although Geshe Wangpo was one of the pre-eminent teachers at Namgyal, to this passer-by he was just one of the maroon-clad monastics walking past. Such was Geshe Wangpo’s compassion, however, that he paused to hear the man say, “The priest says I am suffering because God’s testing me. Why does he say that?”

Geshe Wangpo turned, expression softening. “I am sorry, my friend. You would have to ask him that. Christianity is the business of Christians. Buddhism is the business of Buddhists. It’s best not to meddle in each other’s business.”

“But he makes God sound like a monster!” protested Len. “Why would he say that?”

“Perhaps,” ventured Geshe-la, who was far more knowledgeable about all traditions than he ever let on. “He was trying to help you develop inner strength. Fortitude.”

“What would you say about me being in an accident that confined me to a wheelchair?” The man wanted to know, in evident despair.

I approached where he and the woman were facing Geshe Wangpo, my arrival catching the lama’s eye. If Geshe-la was in any way irked by a distressed man ambushing him with such a tormented existential question, he gave no sign of it. Instead, he met Len’s eyes with an expression of calm.

“I don’t pretend to know your experience,” he said. “But there is one freedom that can never be taken away from us – our freedom of attitude. No person and no circumstances can force us how to think.”

Len stared at Geshe Wangpo for a while before saying, “I like that.”

The woman was nodding. “Puts you in charge, Len.”

“We are always in charge,” Geshe-la told them. “Only sometimes we need to be reminded.”

“Even when you’re trapped in a wheelchair?”

Geshe Wangpo looked at him searchingly for a while, in a way I saw His Holiness sometimes assess visitors, evidently deciding whether or not they were ready to be told something.

“I have many colleagues who choose to go on meditation retreats,” he said after a while.

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