Lama Padma Norbu (David Everest) is a longtime student of H.E. Chagdud Rinpoche whose construction skills have been indispensable at Rinpoche's centers for many years. When Rinpoche announced this summer that he was naming David as a Chagdud Gonpa lama he compared him to Milarepa, whose guru yoga practice consisted of building (and often rebuilding) many retreat houses at his teacher's request. After living in Brazil for six months, David recently visited Rigdzin Ling and shared the following impressions with the Windhorse. He has since returned to Brazil to help teach at Odsal Ling in Sao Paulo and assist with the construction projects in Tres Coroas.
When Rinpoche first moved to Tres Coroas in August 1995, the residents had had no previous exposure to Buddhism, so to them Rinpoche was Buddha himself. In the marketplace, you could see the word "Buddha" form on people's lips while they pointed at him with excitement. People coming up our road would say, "We are going to the Buddha."
The retreat land sits at the top of a curving ridge, as if it were nestled in a huge armchair. When you look down the valley, you can see all the way to the distant town of Porto Allegre on the coast. I have never seen anything like the sky there. In that part of Brazil, the cold and warm air currents meet overhead, so the sky is always changing and the clouds always churning. The thunderstorms can be very intense, and from a distance you can watch them rolling up the valley like an enormous freight train. I once asked Rinpoche if, in all his travels around the world, he had ever seen anything more beautiful than the land around Tres Coroas, and he said that he hadn't. It has a very peaceful quality.
When Rinpoche is gone, Jane is the boss. She puts on her boots and gets out there with the crew, helping to run the ranch. As primitive as the conditions are, she says she feels completely at home. Chris Taylor is doing a wonderful job supervising the local pedrieros (bricklayers) and Sonia's expertise as a translator is indispensable.
The shrine room, kitchen, and bath facilities are almost finished now, and three guest rooms are under construction. Modern conveniencescan be hard to come by. For instance, people don't have heat in their homes and insulation is a novel idea. You wouldn't think to take your long johns and downjacket to Brazil, but it's a good idea.
It is challenging doing construction in Brazil. I took only a small tool kit the first time I went there, but it was a good thing I did because it was all that I had to work with. Most of the building is done with masonry, and the methods are quite different. Still, skilled labor is easy to find, very reasonably priced, and there is little worry about building codes. Brazilians don't have the same ideas we do about doing things yourself, and it is unheard of for someone to build their own house. The Brazilians were surprised that Chris and I became involved in the construction.
When you are doing construction or working in the kitchen or trying to get almost anything done in Brazil you've got to know Portuguese, because it is the language that the service and tradespeople speak. Portuguese is a very flowing, beautiful language and it is a pleasure to learn. It is like being six years old and having to learn all sorts of new words all over again.
It is difficult to compare the process we are going through in Brazil with what has happened at Rigdzin Ling because everything is so different. When I first arrived at the retreat land in December 1995, the water system was just an old wooden box full of mud with a trickle of water dripping off the top of it. That was the only water on the land, and thirty people were coming for the dzogchen retreat in three days. Fortunately, we were able to get that system partially working, and since then Chris has supervised the construction of a large storage tank. During the dzogchen retreat, Rinpoche reworked the temple plans to suit Brazilian construction methods and the current needs, and now a local architect is completing the detailed drawings as an offering.
The local people have been tremendously kind. During the dzogchen retreat, when we hadn't fully developed the water system, the mayor of Tres Coroas offered the use of the town's water truck. Every three days he would send the truck up the hill so that we would have water. When the weather got so bad that they couldn't get the truck up the road, he sent the town backhoe to pull it up the hill.
There is another man who lives in Porto Allegre who is always donating trees to us. He is not Buddhist, but he loves Rinpoche and every few weeks he shows up with a carload of trees to plant. On one of his visits, he noticed me using a piece of plywood to draw on, and the next time he came, he brought a beautiful drafting table. Many other local people have been extremely supportive.
The small town of Tres Coroas, which is located a few kilometers below Rinpoche' s land, is very pleasant. At noon the streets are crowded with people on bicycles as everyone heads home for lunch. Being in the town is like going back 50 years in time, and on some of the farms you feel like you have gone back 200 years. People still pull wooden carts with teams of oxen, and the tools are handmade. Everything is a little slower. Sao Paulo offers quite a contrast. People there are hard-pressed just to meet their living expenses. There just isn't as much time to sit back as there is in the rural areas. In this city of 22 million, the slums push right up against the rich neighborhoods, so the widespread poverty and suffering of others are always apparent. You never have the freedom to ignore the extreme social inequalities and there is no room for false contentment. Between the crime and the traffic,danger is a general presence in the city. The traffic is a force to be reckoned with. Whenever you get in a car, you pray. Sao Paulo is a perfect training ground for mindfulness. Lama Tsering affectionately refers to it as"Gotham City."
Rinpoche was invited to speak at a Waldorf school in one of the favelas (slums) of São Paulo. What he said to the children was so inspiring. As we sat and listened to him, many of us were moved to tears by Rinpoche's loving kindness. He told the kids that if they wanted to improve their lives they shouldn't steal or take advantage of people, but rather help others, undertake virtuous activities, and be generous and kind. He told them that this was how things would truly change in a way that would better their lives.
The kids really loved Rinpoche. They asked him if he was a kung-fu master and he said, "Yes, I'm a kung-fu master of the mind." Afterward one child came to Rinpoche and tried to give him his necklace. Rinpoche blew on it with a prayer and handed it back to the boy, telling him to keep the necklace and use it to say prayers whenever he needed help.
Until recently I have always avoided cities. When I first visited Junction City and saw only one gas station (which was closed) I felt right at home. But then Lama Tsering toured Brazil. Everywhere she went, they asked her to stay. When she decided on Sao Paulo, I was shocked. She told me every bad thing she could think of about the city: "It's so polluted your eyes gum together; the traffic is so bad you can't go anywhere; there are twenty-seven different varieties of mosquitoes"; etc. So when I got there,I was prepared for the worst, but of course it wasn't so bad. I have come to really enjoy Sao Paulo, and especially the people.
The dharma is flourishing in Brazil thanks to Rinpoche's many efforts over the years. His teachings in Sao Paulo inspired a group of Tara practitioners, which has now grown to over 50 people, and they continue to brave the traffic to come and practice every week. The Brazilian students are very diligent and devotional. They appreciate their time with Rinpoche as a rare opportunity and have great faith in the teachings. The existing centers are all growing and many new centers are starting up. Every day people call our center wanting to know more or wanting to visit. The developing faith in the dharma is a wonderful thing to see.
In the future I hope that more people will be able to come and visit. We have a guest room in the center in Sao Paulo so that people who are passing through can stay overnight, and soon guest accommodations will be available on the land in Tres Coroas.
Lama Padma Norbu (David Everest) is a longtime student of H.E. Chagdud Rinpoche whose construction skills have been indispensable at Rinpoche's centers for many years. When Rinpoche announced this summer that he was naming David as a Chagdud Gonpa lama he compared him to Milarepa, whose guru yoga practice consisted of building (and often rebuilding) many retreat houses at his teacher's request. After living in Brazil for six months, David recently visited Rigdzin Ling and shared the following impressions with the Windhorse. He has since returned to Brazil to help teach at Odsal Ling in Sao Paulo and assist with the construction projects in Tres Coroas.
When Rinpoche first moved to Tres Coroas in August 1995, the residents had had no previous exposure to Buddhism, so to them Rinpoche was Buddha himself. In the marketplace, you could see the word "Buddha" form on people's lips while they pointed at him with excitement. People coming up our road would say, "We are going to the Buddha."
The retreat land sits at the top of a curving ridge, as if it were nestled in a huge armchair. When you look down the valley, you can see all the way to the distant town of Porto Allegre on the coast. I have never seen anything like the sky there. In that part of Brazil, the cold and warm air currents meet overhead, so the sky is always changing and the clouds always churning. The thunderstorms can be very intense, and from a distance you can watch them rolling up the valley like an enormous freight train. I once asked Rinpoche if, in all his travels around the world, he had ever seen anything more beautiful than the land around Tres Coroas, and he said that he hadn't. It has a very peaceful quality.
When Rinpoche is gone, Jane is the boss. She puts on her boots and gets out there with the crew, helping to run the ranch. As primitive as the conditions are, she says she feels completely at home. Chris Taylor is doing a wonderful job supervising the local pedrieros (bricklayers) and Sonia's expertise as a translator is indispensable.
The shrine room, kitchen, and bath facilities are almost finished now, and three guest rooms are under construction. Modern conveniencescan be hard to come by. For instance, people don't have heat in their homes and insulation is a novel idea. You wouldn't think to take your long johns and downjacket to Brazil, but it's a good idea.
It is challenging doing construction in Brazil. I took only a small tool kit the first time I went there, but it was a good thing I did because it was all that I had to work with. Most of the building is done with masonry, and the methods are quite different. Still, skilled labor is easy to find, very reasonably priced, and there is little worry about building codes. Brazilians don't have the same ideas we do about doing things yourself, and it is unheard of for someone to build their own house. The Brazilians were surprised that Chris and I became involved in the construction.
When you are doing construction or working in the kitchen or trying to get almost anything done in Brazil you've got to know Portuguese, because it is the language that the service and tradespeople speak. Portuguese is a very flowing, beautiful language and it is a pleasure to learn. It is like being six years old and having to learn all sorts of new words all over again.
It is difficult to compare the process we are going through in Brazil with what has happened at Rigdzin Ling because everything is so different. When I first arrived at the retreat land in December 1995, the water system was just an old wooden box full of mud with a trickle of water dripping off the top of it. That was the only water on the land, and thirty people were coming for the dzogchen retreat in three days. Fortunately, we were able to get that system partially working, and since then Chris has supervised the construction of a large storage tank. During the dzogchen retreat, Rinpoche reworked the temple plans to suit Brazilian construction methods and the current needs, and now a local architect is completing the detailed drawings as an offering.
The local people have been tremendously kind. During the dzogchen retreat, when we hadn't fully developed the water system, the mayor of Tres Coroas offered the use of the town's water truck. Every three days he would send the truck up the hill so that we would have water. When the weather got so bad that they couldn't get the truck up the road, he sent the town backhoe to pull it up the hill.
There is another man who lives in Porto Allegre who is always donating trees to us. He is not Buddhist, but he loves Rinpoche and every few weeks he shows up with a carload of trees to plant. On one of his visits, he noticed me using a piece of plywood to draw on, and the next time he came, he brought a beautiful drafting table. Many other local people have been extremely supportive.
The small town of Tres Coroas, which is located a few kilometers below Rinpoche' s land, is very pleasant. At noon the streets are crowded with people on bicycles as everyone heads home for lunch. Being in the town is like going back 50 years in time, and on some of the farms you feel like you have gone back 200 years. People still pull wooden carts with teams of oxen, and the tools are handmade. Everything is a little slower. Sao Paulo offers quite a contrast. People there are hard-pressed just to meet their living expenses. There just isn't as much time to sit back as there is in the rural areas. In this city of 22 million, the slums push right up against the rich neighborhoods, so the widespread poverty and suffering of others are always apparent. You never have the freedom to ignore the extreme social inequalities and there is no room for false contentment. Between the crime and the traffic,danger is a general presence in the city. The traffic is a force to be reckoned with. Whenever you get in a car, you pray. Sao Paulo is a perfect training ground for mindfulness. Lama Tsering affectionately refers to it as"Gotham City."
Rinpoche was invited to speak at a Waldorf school in one of the favelas (slums) of São Paulo. What he said to the children was so inspiring. As we sat and listened to him, many of us were moved to tears by Rinpoche's loving kindness. He told the kids that if they wanted to improve their lives they shouldn't steal or take advantage of people, but rather help others, undertake virtuous activities, and be generous and kind. He told them that this was how things would truly change in a way that would better their lives.
The kids really loved Rinpoche. They asked him if he was a kung-fu master and he said, "Yes, I'm a kung-fu master of the mind." Afterward one child came to Rinpoche and tried to give him his necklace. Rinpoche blew on it with a prayer and handed it back to the boy, telling him to keep the necklace and use it to say prayers whenever he needed help.
Until recently I have always avoided cities. When I first visited Junction City and saw only one gas station (which was closed) I felt right at home. But then Lama Tsering toured Brazil. Everywhere she went, they asked her to stay. When she decided on Sao Paulo, I was shocked. She told me every bad thing she could think of about the city: "It's so polluted your eyes gum together; the traffic is so bad you can't go anywhere; there are twenty-seven different varieties of mosquitoes"; etc. So when I got there,I was prepared for the worst, but of course it wasn't so bad. I have come to really enjoy Sao Paulo, and especially the people.
The dharma is flourishing in Brazil thanks to Rinpoche's many efforts over the years. His teachings in Sao Paulo inspired a group of Tara practitioners, which has now grown to over 50 people, and they continue to brave the traffic to come and practice every week. The Brazilian students are very diligent and devotional. They appreciate their time with Rinpoche as a rare opportunity and have great faith in the teachings. The existing centers are all growing and many new centers are starting up. Every day people call our center wanting to know more or wanting to visit. The developing faith in the dharma is a wonderful thing to see.
In the future I hope that more people will be able to come and visit. We have a guest room in the center in Sao Paulo so that people who are passing through can stay overnight, and soon guest accommodations will be available on the land in Tres Coroas.
Lama Padma Norbu (David Everest) is a longtime student of H.E. Chagdud Rinpoche whose construction skills have been indispensable at Rinpoche's centers for many years. When Rinpoche announced this summer that he was naming David as a Chagdud Gonpa lama he compared him to Milarepa, whose guru yoga practice consisted of building (and often rebuilding) many retreat houses at his teacher's request. After living in Brazil for six months, David recently visited Rigdzin Ling and shared the following impressions with the Windhorse. He has since returned to Brazil to help teach at Odsal Ling in Sao Paulo and assist with the construction projects in Tres Coroas.
When Rinpoche first moved to Tres Coroas in August 1995, the residents had had no previous exposure to Buddhism, so to them Rinpoche was Buddha himself. In the marketplace, you could see the word "Buddha" form on people's lips while they pointed at him with excitement. People coming up our road would say, "We are going to the Buddha."
The retreat land sits at the top of a curving ridge, as if it were nestled in a huge armchair. When you look down the valley, you can see all the way to the distant town of Porto Allegre on the coast. I have never seen anything like the sky there. In that part of Brazil, the cold and warm air currents meet overhead, so the sky is always changing and the clouds always churning. The thunderstorms can be very intense, and from a distance you can watch them rolling up the valley like an enormous freight train. I once asked Rinpoche if, in all his travels around the world, he had ever seen anything more beautiful than the land around Tres Coroas, and he said that he hadn't. It has a very peaceful quality.
When Rinpoche is gone, Jane is the boss. She puts on her boots and gets out there with the crew, helping to run the ranch. As primitive as the conditions are, she says she feels completely at home. Chris Taylor is doing a wonderful job supervising the local pedrieros (bricklayers) and Sonia's expertise as a translator is indispensable.
The shrine room, kitchen, and bath facilities are almost finished now, and three guest rooms are under construction. Modern conveniencescan be hard to come by. For instance, people don't have heat in their homes and insulation is a novel idea. You wouldn't think to take your long johns and downjacket to Brazil, but it's a good idea.
It is challenging doing construction in Brazil. I took only a small tool kit the first time I went there, but it was a good thing I did because it was all that I had to work with. Most of the building is done with masonry, and the methods are quite different. Still, skilled labor is easy to find, very reasonably priced, and there is little worry about building codes. Brazilians don't have the same ideas we do about doing things yourself, and it is unheard of for someone to build their own house. The Brazilians were surprised that Chris and I became involved in the construction.
When you are doing construction or working in the kitchen or trying to get almost anything done in Brazil you've got to know Portuguese, because it is the language that the service and tradespeople speak. Portuguese is a very flowing, beautiful language and it is a pleasure to learn. It is like being six years old and having to learn all sorts of new words all over again.
It is difficult to compare the process we are going through in Brazil with what has happened at Rigdzin Ling because everything is so different. When I first arrived at the retreat land in December 1995, the water system was just an old wooden box full of mud with a trickle of water dripping off the top of it. That was the only water on the land, and thirty people were coming for the dzogchen retreat in three days. Fortunately, we were able to get that system partially working, and since then Chris has supervised the construction of a large storage tank. During the dzogchen retreat, Rinpoche reworked the temple plans to suit Brazilian construction methods and the current needs, and now a local architect is completing the detailed drawings as an offering.
The local people have been tremendously kind. During the dzogchen retreat, when we hadn't fully developed the water system, the mayor of Tres Coroas offered the use of the town's water truck. Every three days he would send the truck up the hill so that we would have water. When the weather got so bad that they couldn't get the truck up the road, he sent the town backhoe to pull it up the hill.
There is another man who lives in Porto Allegre who is always donating trees to us. He is not Buddhist, but he loves Rinpoche and every few weeks he shows up with a carload of trees to plant. On one of his visits, he noticed me using a piece of plywood to draw on, and the next time he came, he brought a beautiful drafting table. Many other local people have been extremely supportive.
The small town of Tres Coroas, which is located a few kilometers below Rinpoche' s land, is very pleasant. At noon the streets are crowded with people on bicycles as everyone heads home for lunch. Being in the town is like going back 50 years in time, and on some of the farms you feel like you have gone back 200 years. People still pull wooden carts with teams of oxen, and the tools are handmade. Everything is a little slower. Sao Paulo offers quite a contrast. People there are hard-pressed just to meet their living expenses. There just isn't as much time to sit back as there is in the rural areas. In this city of 22 million, the slums push right up against the rich neighborhoods, so the widespread poverty and suffering of others are always apparent. You never have the freedom to ignore the extreme social inequalities and there is no room for false contentment. Between the crime and the traffic,danger is a general presence in the city. The traffic is a force to be reckoned with. Whenever you get in a car, you pray. Sao Paulo is a perfect training ground for mindfulness. Lama Tsering affectionately refers to it as"Gotham City."
Rinpoche was invited to speak at a Waldorf school in one of the favelas (slums) of São Paulo. What he said to the children was so inspiring. As we sat and listened to him, many of us were moved to tears by Rinpoche's loving kindness. He told the kids that if they wanted to improve their lives they shouldn't steal or take advantage of people, but rather help others, undertake virtuous activities, and be generous and kind. He told them that this was how things would truly change in a way that would better their lives.
The kids really loved Rinpoche. They asked him if he was a kung-fu master and he said, "Yes, I'm a kung-fu master of the mind." Afterward one child came to Rinpoche and tried to give him his necklace. Rinpoche blew on it with a prayer and handed it back to the boy, telling him to keep the necklace and use it to say prayers whenever he needed help.
Until recently I have always avoided cities. When I first visited Junction City and saw only one gas station (which was closed) I felt right at home. But then Lama Tsering toured Brazil. Everywhere she went, they asked her to stay. When she decided on Sao Paulo, I was shocked. She told me every bad thing she could think of about the city: "It's so polluted your eyes gum together; the traffic is so bad you can't go anywhere; there are twenty-seven different varieties of mosquitoes"; etc. So when I got there,I was prepared for the worst, but of course it wasn't so bad. I have come to really enjoy Sao Paulo, and especially the people.
The dharma is flourishing in Brazil thanks to Rinpoche's many efforts over the years. His teachings in Sao Paulo inspired a group of Tara practitioners, which has now grown to over 50 people, and they continue to brave the traffic to come and practice every week. The Brazilian students are very diligent and devotional. They appreciate their time with Rinpoche as a rare opportunity and have great faith in the teachings. The existing centers are all growing and many new centers are starting up. Every day people call our center wanting to know more or wanting to visit. The developing faith in the dharma is a wonderful thing to see.
In the future I hope that more people will be able to come and visit. We have a guest room in the center in Sao Paulo so that people who are passing through can stay overnight, and soon guest accommodations will be available on the land in Tres Coroas.
Lama Padma Norbu (David Everest) is a longtime student of H.E. Chagdud Rinpoche whose construction skills have been indispensable at Rinpoche's centers for many years. When Rinpoche announced this summer that he was naming David as a Chagdud Gonpa lama he compared him to Milarepa, whose guru yoga practice consisted of building (and often rebuilding) many retreat houses at his teacher's request. After living in Brazil for six months, David recently visited Rigdzin Ling and shared the following impressions with the Windhorse. He has since returned to Brazil to help teach at Odsal Ling in Sao Paulo and assist with the construction projects in Tres Coroas.
When Rinpoche first moved to Tres Coroas in August 1995, the residents had had no previous exposure to Buddhism, so to them Rinpoche was Buddha himself. In the marketplace, you could see the word "Buddha" form on people's lips while they pointed at him with excitement. People coming up our road would say, "We are going to the Buddha."
The retreat land sits at the top of a curving ridge, as if it were nestled in a huge armchair. When you look down the valley, you can see all the way to the distant town of Porto Allegre on the coast. I have never seen anything like the sky there. In that part of Brazil, the cold and warm air currents meet overhead, so the sky is always changing and the clouds always churning. The thunderstorms can be very intense, and from a distance you can watch them rolling up the valley like an enormous freight train. I once asked Rinpoche if, in all his travels around the world, he had ever seen anything more beautiful than the land around Tres Coroas, and he said that he hadn't. It has a very peaceful quality.
When Rinpoche is gone, Jane is the boss. She puts on her boots and gets out there with the crew, helping to run the ranch. As primitive as the conditions are, she says she feels completely at home. Chris Taylor is doing a wonderful job supervising the local pedrieros (bricklayers) and Sonia's expertise as a translator is indispensable.
The shrine room, kitchen, and bath facilities are almost finished now, and three guest rooms are under construction. Modern conveniencescan be hard to come by. For instance, people don't have heat in their homes and insulation is a novel idea. You wouldn't think to take your long johns and downjacket to Brazil, but it's a good idea.
It is challenging doing construction in Brazil. I took only a small tool kit the first time I went there, but it was a good thing I did because it was all that I had to work with. Most of the building is done with masonry, and the methods are quite different. Still, skilled labor is easy to find, very reasonably priced, and there is little worry about building codes. Brazilians don't have the same ideas we do about doing things yourself, and it is unheard of for someone to build their own house. The Brazilians were surprised that Chris and I became involved in the construction.
When you are doing construction or working in the kitchen or trying to get almost anything done in Brazil you've got to know Portuguese, because it is the language that the service and tradespeople speak. Portuguese is a very flowing, beautiful language and it is a pleasure to learn. It is like being six years old and having to learn all sorts of new words all over again.
It is difficult to compare the process we are going through in Brazil with what has happened at Rigdzin Ling because everything is so different. When I first arrived at the retreat land in December 1995, the water system was just an old wooden box full of mud with a trickle of water dripping off the top of it. That was the only water on the land, and thirty people were coming for the dzogchen retreat in three days. Fortunately, we were able to get that system partially working, and since then Chris has supervised the construction of a large storage tank. During the dzogchen retreat, Rinpoche reworked the temple plans to suit Brazilian construction methods and the current needs, and now a local architect is completing the detailed drawings as an offering.
The local people have been tremendously kind. During the dzogchen retreat, when we hadn't fully developed the water system, the mayor of Tres Coroas offered the use of the town's water truck. Every three days he would send the truck up the hill so that we would have water. When the weather got so bad that they couldn't get the truck up the road, he sent the town backhoe to pull it up the hill.
There is another man who lives in Porto Allegre who is always donating trees to us. He is not Buddhist, but he loves Rinpoche and every few weeks he shows up with a carload of trees to plant. On one of his visits, he noticed me using a piece of plywood to draw on, and the next time he came, he brought a beautiful drafting table. Many other local people have been extremely supportive.
The small town of Tres Coroas, which is located a few kilometers below Rinpoche' s land, is very pleasant. At noon the streets are crowded with people on bicycles as everyone heads home for lunch. Being in the town is like going back 50 years in time, and on some of the farms you feel like you have gone back 200 years. People still pull wooden carts with teams of oxen, and the tools are handmade. Everything is a little slower. Sao Paulo offers quite a contrast. People there are hard-pressed just to meet their living expenses. There just isn't as much time to sit back as there is in the rural areas. In this city of 22 million, the slums push right up against the rich neighborhoods, so the widespread poverty and suffering of others are always apparent. You never have the freedom to ignore the extreme social inequalities and there is no room for false contentment. Between the crime and the traffic,danger is a general presence in the city. The traffic is a force to be reckoned with. Whenever you get in a car, you pray. Sao Paulo is a perfect training ground for mindfulness. Lama Tsering affectionately refers to it as"Gotham City."
Rinpoche was invited to speak at a Waldorf school in one of the favelas (slums) of São Paulo. What he said to the children was so inspiring. As we sat and listened to him, many of us were moved to tears by Rinpoche's loving kindness. He told the kids that if they wanted to improve their lives they shouldn't steal or take advantage of people, but rather help others, undertake virtuous activities, and be generous and kind. He told them that this was how things would truly change in a way that would better their lives.
The kids really loved Rinpoche. They asked him if he was a kung-fu master and he said, "Yes, I'm a kung-fu master of the mind." Afterward one child came to Rinpoche and tried to give him his necklace. Rinpoche blew on it with a prayer and handed it back to the boy, telling him to keep the necklace and use it to say prayers whenever he needed help.
Until recently I have always avoided cities. When I first visited Junction City and saw only one gas station (which was closed) I felt right at home. But then Lama Tsering toured Brazil. Everywhere she went, they asked her to stay. When she decided on Sao Paulo, I was shocked. She told me every bad thing she could think of about the city: "It's so polluted your eyes gum together; the traffic is so bad you can't go anywhere; there are twenty-seven different varieties of mosquitoes"; etc. So when I got there,I was prepared for the worst, but of course it wasn't so bad. I have come to really enjoy Sao Paulo, and especially the people.
The dharma is flourishing in Brazil thanks to Rinpoche's many efforts over the years. His teachings in Sao Paulo inspired a group of Tara practitioners, which has now grown to over 50 people, and they continue to brave the traffic to come and practice every week. The Brazilian students are very diligent and devotional. They appreciate their time with Rinpoche as a rare opportunity and have great faith in the teachings. The existing centers are all growing and many new centers are starting up. Every day people call our center wanting to know more or wanting to visit. The developing faith in the dharma is a wonderful thing to see.
In the future I hope that more people will be able to come and visit. We have a guest room in the center in Sao Paulo so that people who are passing through can stay overnight, and soon guest accommodations will be available on the land in Tres Coroas.
Lama Padma Norbu (David Everest) is a longtime student of H.E. Chagdud Rinpoche whose construction skills have been indispensable at Rinpoche's centers for many years. When Rinpoche announced this summer that he was naming David as a Chagdud Gonpa lama he compared him to Milarepa, whose guru yoga practice consisted of building (and often rebuilding) many retreat houses at his teacher's request. After living in Brazil for six months, David recently visited Rigdzin Ling and shared the following impressions with the Windhorse. He has since returned to Brazil to help teach at Odsal Ling in Sao Paulo and assist with the construction projects in Tres Coroas.
When Rinpoche first moved to Tres Coroas in August 1995, the residents had had no previous exposure to Buddhism, so to them Rinpoche was Buddha himself. In the marketplace, you could see the word "Buddha" form on people's lips while they pointed at him with excitement. People coming up our road would say, "We are going to the Buddha."
The retreat land sits at the top of a curving ridge, as if it were nestled in a huge armchair. When you look down the valley, you can see all the way to the distant town of Porto Allegre on the coast. I have never seen anything like the sky there. In that part of Brazil, the cold and warm air currents meet overhead, so the sky is always changing and the clouds always churning. The thunderstorms can be very intense, and from a distance you can watch them rolling up the valley like an enormous freight train. I once asked Rinpoche if, in all his travels around the world, he had ever seen anything more beautiful than the land around Tres Coroas, and he said that he hadn't. It has a very peaceful quality.
When Rinpoche is gone, Jane is the boss. She puts on her boots and gets out there with the crew, helping to run the ranch. As primitive as the conditions are, she says she feels completely at home. Chris Taylor is doing a wonderful job supervising the local pedrieros (bricklayers) and Sonia's expertise as a translator is indispensable.
The shrine room, kitchen, and bath facilities are almost finished now, and three guest rooms are under construction. Modern conveniencescan be hard to come by. For instance, people don't have heat in their homes and insulation is a novel idea. You wouldn't think to take your long johns and downjacket to Brazil, but it's a good idea.
It is challenging doing construction in Brazil. I took only a small tool kit the first time I went there, but it was a good thing I did because it was all that I had to work with. Most of the building is done with masonry, and the methods are quite different. Still, skilled labor is easy to find, very reasonably priced, and there is little worry about building codes. Brazilians don't have the same ideas we do about doing things yourself, and it is unheard of for someone to build their own house. The Brazilians were surprised that Chris and I became involved in the construction.
When you are doing construction or working in the kitchen or trying to get almost anything done in Brazil you've got to know Portuguese, because it is the language that the service and tradespeople speak. Portuguese is a very flowing, beautiful language and it is a pleasure to learn. It is like being six years old and having to learn all sorts of new words all over again.
It is difficult to compare the process we are going through in Brazil with what has happened at Rigdzin Ling because everything is so different. When I first arrived at the retreat land in December 1995, the water system was just an old wooden box full of mud with a trickle of water dripping off the top of it. That was the only water on the land, and thirty people were coming for the dzogchen retreat in three days. Fortunately, we were able to get that system partially working, and since then Chris has supervised the construction of a large storage tank. During the dzogchen retreat, Rinpoche reworked the temple plans to suit Brazilian construction methods and the current needs, and now a local architect is completing the detailed drawings as an offering.
The local people have been tremendously kind. During the dzogchen retreat, when we hadn't fully developed the water system, the mayor of Tres Coroas offered the use of the town's water truck. Every three days he would send the truck up the hill so that we would have water. When the weather got so bad that they couldn't get the truck up the road, he sent the town backhoe to pull it up the hill.
There is another man who lives in Porto Allegre who is always donating trees to us. He is not Buddhist, but he loves Rinpoche and every few weeks he shows up with a carload of trees to plant. On one of his visits, he noticed me using a piece of plywood to draw on, and the next time he came, he brought a beautiful drafting table. Many other local people have been extremely supportive.
The small town of Tres Coroas, which is located a few kilometers below Rinpoche' s land, is very pleasant. At noon the streets are crowded with people on bicycles as everyone heads home for lunch. Being in the town is like going back 50 years in time, and on some of the farms you feel like you have gone back 200 years. People still pull wooden carts with teams of oxen, and the tools are handmade. Everything is a little slower. Sao Paulo offers quite a contrast. People there are hard-pressed just to meet their living expenses. There just isn't as much time to sit back as there is in the rural areas. In this city of 22 million, the slums push right up against the rich neighborhoods, so the widespread poverty and suffering of others are always apparent. You never have the freedom to ignore the extreme social inequalities and there is no room for false contentment. Between the crime and the traffic,danger is a general presence in the city. The traffic is a force to be reckoned with. Whenever you get in a car, you pray. Sao Paulo is a perfect training ground for mindfulness. Lama Tsering affectionately refers to it as"Gotham City."
Rinpoche was invited to speak at a Waldorf school in one of the favelas (slums) of São Paulo. What he said to the children was so inspiring. As we sat and listened to him, many of us were moved to tears by Rinpoche's loving kindness. He told the kids that if they wanted to improve their lives they shouldn't steal or take advantage of people, but rather help others, undertake virtuous activities, and be generous and kind. He told them that this was how things would truly change in a way that would better their lives.
The kids really loved Rinpoche. They asked him if he was a kung-fu master and he said, "Yes, I'm a kung-fu master of the mind." Afterward one child came to Rinpoche and tried to give him his necklace. Rinpoche blew on it with a prayer and handed it back to the boy, telling him to keep the necklace and use it to say prayers whenever he needed help.
Until recently I have always avoided cities. When I first visited Junction City and saw only one gas station (which was closed) I felt right at home. But then Lama Tsering toured Brazil. Everywhere she went, they asked her to stay. When she decided on Sao Paulo, I was shocked. She told me every bad thing she could think of about the city: "It's so polluted your eyes gum together; the traffic is so bad you can't go anywhere; there are twenty-seven different varieties of mosquitoes"; etc. So when I got there,I was prepared for the worst, but of course it wasn't so bad. I have come to really enjoy Sao Paulo, and especially the people.
The dharma is flourishing in Brazil thanks to Rinpoche's many efforts over the years. His teachings in Sao Paulo inspired a group of Tara practitioners, which has now grown to over 50 people, and they continue to brave the traffic to come and practice every week. The Brazilian students are very diligent and devotional. They appreciate their time with Rinpoche as a rare opportunity and have great faith in the teachings. The existing centers are all growing and many new centers are starting up. Every day people call our center wanting to know more or wanting to visit. The developing faith in the dharma is a wonderful thing to see.
In the future I hope that more people will be able to come and visit. We have a guest room in the center in Sao Paulo so that people who are passing through can stay overnight, and soon guest accommodations will be available on the land in Tres Coroas.
