One Monday evening in 2008, I had the privilege of meeting The Tulku Lama Lobsang at a Lecture he held in the Quinta do Pombal, Algarve, Portugal.
I was expecting him to be clad in orange and to my surprise he wore black.
Everybody stood as he entered, everybody that is except for me. I just didn't seem to have time, I had been in the middle of something, it was a bit weird actually, I wasn't really sure if I should have or not.
The King and I came to mind.
He sat and started to talk about Tibetan Medicine, which is his speciality, along with Lu Jong. A Tibetan Yoga/Tai Chi kind of activity which is practiced at the centre.
He said that all of us have un-manifested illness within us and at some point of our lives it manifests itself, other times it lays dormant just to manifest in another life. "Men (and women) must get ill", he stated. Sickness is part of life. If we are not sick now, then don't worry, one day we will be. (So if we are well, we are not complete in a sense without illness?)
Death was another subject, he explained about food and how eating will kill us. He said we eat food, that will kill us and if we don't eat we also die. He then gave this example: When we hunger we are in pain and after we eat we are also with discomfort because we eat too much, then we are full.
He explained that some Tibetan Priests, when they die just disappear, this brought to my mind, Enoch. God decided that he was too good, so he took him, he was never found by anybody. The Lama also mentioned Jesus and said that he was taken in a likewise manner, he was a high priest.
He said that death was an illusion. That Love is an illusion, as is hate, and even life. I commented that maybe illusion itself is also an illusion. He said he was sure it was.
I wondered if anyone understood what he was saying, or did we just think we did. Did he even understand?
Perception was also another theme. He said that Buddhism in the West is only different because the cultures are different; people are brought up differently, although the concept is the same. He mentioned however, that we are not always the same; that many people that morning may have said their mantras and felt full of peace and calmness and then in the afternoon when it rained they were sad and so forth.
We all change during the course of the day and even our lives. I suppose one cannot change too much because we have to have a base, be it religion or Philosophy about life. Take the chameleon for example, although he changes his colour to suit his environment, he still remains a chameleon. (That was my bit there, not the Lama)
The Lama swayed and moved about on his seat as he told us that neither evil nor good exists, but it is the thought that makes it so (as it is part of our illusion) In Romans, the New Testament it says a very similar thing. Once we are aware that something is harming us, if we continue to do it then it is 'bad'. If we continue to do something without being aware of the danger, then we are not to blame. Even Shakespeare said it.
He has a way of speaking that makes you wonder, is it truly profound or is it just nonsense?
On the whole I enjoyed the evening. I found many parallels between the Christian faith (or philosophy) and Buddhism. He also spoke of the end of the world and aliens - which surprised many of those that were present. He said that aliens were going to save us...
After the seminar a few of us had our photos taken, a friend convinced me to, I am glad I did now.
Before taking the photo with me the Lama had said that he wanted 'action photos' not just photos gawking at the camera and smiling.
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