Next Life as a Poodle

If all we want is to be happy, then we may wish to be born in our next lives as a poodle! ~Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

An article by John Malkin, originally published in the final issue of Ascent Magazine. It’s a Saturday night in Santa Cruz, a small city in central California nestled between the mountains and ocean. Seventyfive people have gathered to listen to Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo speak about the possibilities of transforming the mind through suffering. It is to be her final public talk in the United States, completing ten years of worldwide touring to raise funds for the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery, which she established in 2000. As Tenzin Palmo enters the room, a respectful quiet arises and we bow to this Buddhist nun who so earnestly strives for perfection and offers the world such rich examples of dedication, compassion and social action. Tenzin Palmo begins her evening lecture by speaking about the Buddha’s first teachings. “When the Buddha gave his fir sermon, he didn’t talk about bliss, light or enlightenment. He talked about suffering and the end of suffering!― Aware of how heavy the word suffering can sound in English, she further explains the subtle levels of dukkha, or dis-ease, as described in Buddhist psychology. “We are all endlessly maneuvering to create a sense of satisfaction in our lives. We do everything to avoid discomfort and to find comfort. We think that pleasure makes a good life and difficulties make a bad life. But if all we want is to be happy, then we may wish to be born in our next lives as a poodle!― In this way, she turns our common, habitual thinking upside down and mixes in directness, honesty and a tinge of humour that help me realize the truth of these timeless dharma teachings. I’m grateful to be reminded that every pleasurable or difficult experience that I encounter can be used on the spiritual path. Even more so, it is precisely when we encounter difficult people or uncomfortable situations that deep spiritual growth can occur. Rather than being frustrated, we can be grateful for the opportunity to cultivate patience and compassion. Tenzin Palmo explains, “We can see a difficult person as our teacher, saying to ourselves, This person is so utterly obnoxious. Thank you! Now I can practise patience!― When we have uncomfortable experiences, it’s possible to practise relaxing into what is happening, rather than wishing it were different. As Tenzin Palmo puts it, “We can develop the outlook that it is okay to be not okay.― Just as individuals often miss opportunities to transform suffering into compassion and patience, so it is with groups of people, including whole nations. Tenzin Palmo cites the September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center as a missed opportunity. “America as a whole missed the lesson from the attacks. The lesson was, You’re not invulnerable. You’r invulnerable from living in terror and fear. This may be the first time it’s happened to you, but it is a daily occurrence for many on the planet. The Buddha said, Hatred does not cease by hatred; hatred ceases by non-hatred or love. I felt it was a time for extremely skillful action, not to create a polarization in the world of ‘us’ against ‘them’.― There are looks of agreement and understanding about the opportunity missed by the United States after 9/11 and the unskillful choices that led to U.S. wars that continue today in Iraq and Afghanistan. I also sense in the room a sigh of relief at the idea that there is something useful to be done with suffering. Most of us have tried a variety of tactics to be free from suffering, but the notion of not resisting can often get lost in the shuffle. I see expressions of interest and hope. Tenzin Palmo goes on to explain, “As human beings we have a unique opportunity to transform suffering. In the heavenly realms there is no motivation for spiritual practice. And in the hell realms there is no opportunity to cultivate compassion because those beings are caught in anger and paranoia.― She explains that it is the human experience of both sadness and happiness and the blessing of intelligence that makes the human realm a precious one. “We need challenges to grow spiritually. How will we become patient if everyone around us is kind and lovable?― It occurs to me so clearly that Tenzin Palmo is speaking from her own experience when she describes the conditions that are perfect for developing compassion. No longer just a theory, her experiments with compassion-based social action to transform gender bias in Tibetan Buddhism have had formidable results. It was her root guru who originally suggested to Tenzin Palmo that she dedicate herself to establishing a nunnery. “Khamtrul Rinpoche had on several occasions asked me if I would start a nunnery. And I said, ‘Yes, Rinpoche.’ And of course I didn’t do anything because I didn’t have two rupees to rub together at that time! But in the future when I was again asked by the lamas to do something, I felt this is the time because if I don’t do it, who will?― In January 2000, Tenzin Palmo established the Dongyu Gatsal Ling (“Garden of the Authentic Lineage―) Nunnery in northern India. Fifty nuns currently live there, with room to expand to eighty. The DGL Nunnery includes a retreat and study centre, and construction of a temple is currently underway. Nuns learn grammar, philosophy, languages (Tibetan and English) and Buddhist practices. The buildings were designed by Tenzin Palmo with architectural details that http://tenzinpalmo.com Powered by Joomla! Generated: 23 October, 2016, 01:09 Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery - The Official Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo Website emphasize the feminine: “I was tired of straight lines and decided to make the buildings circular, with an open courtyard in the middle.― She elaborates, “The nuns’ residences are in a circular form, with an open space in the middle. I did feel that it was a mo sheltering kind of an environment, sort of nurturing. And having the inner courtyard would give them the opportunity to be out in the air, on the grass with the trees without being seen by the public, should anyone turn up.― The nunnery design is strikingly modern, fixed in the shape of a wheel with stone walkways as spokes interconnecting the facilities. “The buildings certainly were not traditional, which is why we’re creating a very traditional-looking temple. Although now we are getting the idea that in the temple maybe we could have some stained-glass windows. I think that the lamas will just die of envy when they see our beautiful Buddhist stained glass! They never had that in Tibet. So that will be a bit of an innovation. I think it’s a beautiful idea: the sun streaming through Green Tara or a mandala. If they only had that in Tibet, imagine!― The Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery is one manifestation of Tenzin Palmo’s dedication to inner and outer liberation and one that will surely make things easier for coming generations of women in the East and West. “Things are much better than they were,― says Tenzin Palmo. “Everything is revolutionized in the last twenty years. Women were this hidden potential within Buddhism that had been overlooked.― The morning after Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo’s public talk, I had the great joy of speaking with her one on one, with a forest of tall California redwoods providing a serene and powerful backdrop to our conversation. The winter sun gently illuminates her face, lighting her expressions and warming her gestures. As I finish asking her my first question, she removes the teabag from my cup, gently stirs the fragrant tea and hands me the cup to enjoy. She leans forward and tells me, “I had no idea that I would spend so much of my life wandering around the world giving talks and trying to raise funds. And had I known, I think I would’ve stayed in the cave! But fortunately one doesn’t know what the future has in store and if one takes it a step at a time, it’s fine.― In a cave measuring only ten feet wide by six feet deep, she experienced a deep silence and a freedom from worldly matters that was ideal for Buddhist practice. The stories of Tenzin Palmo’s solo retreat in a Himalayan cave at 13,200 feet were made famous by Vicki Mackenzie’s biography Cave in the Snow and have inspired meditation practitioners around the world. Tenzin Palmo spent twelve years—the last three in strict seclusion—in a small, damp cave practising meditation and studying the dharma day and night. “The whole thing appeared very dream-like. It seemed almost impossible that I actually spent all that time in seclusion. It seemed more like three months. Of course, when one has been in solitude for such a long time, one’s mind becomes extremely clear. And that clarity reflects in the ability to be able to see the underlying confusion of the people around one. Then, of course, great compassion arises toward others as well as toward one’s own confusion.― Although famous for the long retreat, she has with equal dedication agitated for equal rights for nuns. Like Thich Nhat Hanh, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and so many others, Tenzin Palmo teaches that the cultivation of liberation within one’s self is deeply interconnected with the liberation of others by cherishing their well-being and striving for peace and justice. She explains, “It’s not enough just to sit on your cushion and think may all beings be well and happy and send them lovingkindness. This good feeling has to be taken into actual actions.― Compassionate action is perhaps the best way to describe the effort and energy that Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo has extended to address suffering caused by prejudices against women in the world of Tibetan Buddhism. When she first arrived in Tibet in 1964, she encountered the dominant belief that although women were able to get close to experiencing nirvana, they would have to be reincarnated in a male body to be fully liberated. This attitude supported the further idea that the main role for nuns should be to serve monks on their own spiritual paths, meaning cooking and cleaning. “Tibetan Buddhism, as with all Buddhism, was basically hierarchical and patriarchal. That’s just the way it was,― she explains. “Traditionally, women were not educated and nuns also were educated and therefore they played a much lower role in society, and as far as Buddhism was concerned, women had no voice.― She immediately challenged ideas that limited the role of women in monastic and lay society, asking Buddhist lamas such simple and courageous questions as, What is it about the male body that allows for liberation? While some teachers examined and changed their attitudes regarding women, some Buddhist lamas still argue against the right of women to equally participate in spiritual practice. Some cite Buddhist texts that support limitations based on gender. “Certain texts state that in order to attain full buddhahood, one needs a male body,― Palmo tells me. But she emphasizes that in the earliest sutras, Buddha himself confirmed that enlightenment is not gender-biased. “When the Buddha’s attendant Ananda asked him if women were capable of liberation, he said, Yes, of course women are capable of liberation. Naturally, my feeling was that seeing Buddha nature—our inherent perfect, primal awareness, which is the http://tenzinpalmo.com Powered by Joomla! Generated: 23 October, 2016, 01:09 Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery - The Official Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo Website fullness of our wisdom/compassion mind—is beyond gender. “What is it about the male body that is so special and has to do with attaining the goal of the spiritual path?― she asks rhetorically. “We went to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama and he said that as far as he was concerned—male or female body—it made no difference.― Although the Dalai Lama agreed that gender doesn’t play a role in realizing enlightenment, Tenzin Palmo wanted His Holiness to understand that other lamas still refuse to treat nuns and monks equally. “I told him that other lamas had different views. He wanted to know which lamas had different views. There are at least two lineages that are very opposed to women receiving full ordination. They say, ‘Women didn’t have it in Tibet. Nuns are perfectly happy just being novices. What’s the problem?’ And that wanting them to get the full ordination is just the work of a bunch of Western feminists trying to create problems, and that since the nuns are perfectly happy as they are, they should be left alone. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is very keen for nuns to receive the full ordination but he says that the people behind him are not. And he’s not the Pope, so he can’t just make declarations. He can only go forward if he knows he has the support o the monks behind him. And he doesn’t have the support. The whole subject has been under ‘research’ for the last thir years and they haven’t come to a conclusion yet.― Tenzin Palmo concludes, “It’s very hard for people who are trying to maintain their traditions and are always looking backward to really happily countenance any kind of fundamental change, especially when it doesn’t affect them in any way positively. Therefore, the monks have no incentive to give full ordination to the nuns. So they don’t.― Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo has defied the odds and achieved extraordinary results by gently yet firmly confronting aspects of Tibetan Buddhism that do not serve men or women. In February 2008, His Holiness the Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa, head of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage, gave Tenzin Palmo the rare title of Jetsunma, which means “venerable master.― The title was awarded in recognition of her spiritual achievements as a nun and her efforts to promote the status of female practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. Tenzin Palmo was never a person easily dissuaded by others’ views. How can I become perfect? was the penetrating question that fascinated and inspired Tenzin Palmo as a little girl growing up in London, when her family and friends knew her as Diane Perry. Although it would be years before she would become one of the first Westerners to travel to the East and ordain as a Buddhist nun, her love for the spiritual life had already been sparked. Born in 1943, Tenzin Palmo exhibited a self-motivation and confidence that was surprising to adults, expressing no doubts that her life would be dedicated to spiritual practice. In 1964, when she was twenty-one, she journeyed to Tibet and met her root guru, His Eminence the Eighth Khamtrul Rinpoche from the Drukpa Kagyu lineage, then ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun. As a child, she had been reluctant to choose between thinking of herself as a boy or a girl, and her curiosity about distinctions between male and female now appear as something of a precursor to the great efforts she’s made to confront gender bias in Tibetan Buddhism and to support nuns. Tenzin Palmo has led nothing short of a spiritual revolution to change patriarchal attitudes in Buddhism by revitalizing the ancient feminine teachings of the Togdenma, a mystical Buddhist tradition that was virtually wiped out during the Chinese Communist takeover of Tibet in 1959. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo’s compassionate commitment to end sexism is evident in her own vow to become enlightened as a woman. “As long as there is discrimination against females,― she says, “then one should strive to be born again and a in a female body to help that situation. Should the time come when males are in a weaker position, then one would vow to be reborn in a male body.― Sitting with Tenzin Palmo, I’m grateful to be reminded of the freedom and lovingkindness that we’re all born with. As she says, “We always have a choice how we respond.― When I remind her of all she has done to support nuns and diminish suffering she humbly says, “Slowly, slowly… It just takes a bit of time and patience.― As our time together draws to a close, I ask a final question about the possibility of developing empathy and peace in a world so caught in fear, distrust and violence—and how the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery might support such a transformation. “Obviously, as far as the nunnery is concerned, we are hoping that some of the nuns will really continue with their philosophical studies and later become teachers themselves. I think it is very important. And His Holiness the Dalai Lama also feels it’s very important that the nuns rely much less on the monks and that they themselves become teachers of each other. So, this is what we are aspiring to.― With these words, I catch a glimpse of Tenzin Palmo’s nunnery as a model of compassionate community for the planet, with responsibility for change residing in each one of us. “Up until now, human beings have not had a good track record. If you look at history, it is full of violence and deprecations and we don’t seem to learn much. “For all of our intelligence, we don’t seem too bright. I’d like to be positive, and certainly at this time, after going so fa the wrong track, now finally America has a hope. But one man cannot do it on his own. He needs the population and his http://tenzinpalmo.com Powered by Joomla! Generated: 23 October, 2016, 01:09 Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery - The Official Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo Website own government to really change their attitudes and lessen their aggression and greed and to try to find a better way to live a life which brings benefit to beings instead of so much harm. We pray that some sanity will arise in this world and replace this tremendous paranoia which has gripped the country.― Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo breathes in deeply and exhales with a gentle and optimistic smile. “What can I say? Never give up hope. Nil desperandum. This is a new start. Let’s hope that America and the world uses that instead of going through the same old tired, habitual responses which in the past didn’t work, and in the future will not work either. Let us hope this is the dawn of a new day.― John Malkin is a writer and musician in Santa Cruz, California, where he hosts a weekly radio program, The Great Leap Forward, on Free Radio Santa Cruz. His two books are Sounds of Freedom (Parallax Press, 2005), interviews with musicians on social change and spirituality, and The Only Alternative: Christian Nonviolent Peacemakers in America (Wipf & Stock, 2008). http://tenzinpalmo.com