Now
I am positive, that not just me but all His students must
have lived with Rinpoche in past lives before. Rinpoche
is the reincarnation of the Lawado Lama - an Enlightened
Being who lived in that region in the first half of this
century.
I
was facinated with the thought that I too might have lived
with Him in Lawado. I was desperate to go to Lawado...
but Rinpoche is wise and kind. He worried that I might
not be strong enough to withstand the altitude, and I
think maybe he also wanted me to develop non attachment
to the idea of this specific past life connection...
It
was almost 18 months before Rinpoche at last took me up
to the Lawado Cave with Him. We flew there by helicopter,
to the Solu Khumbu region of the HIMALAYAS - very near
to the Base camp leading to Mount Everest. This is the
holiest part of the mountain range where it is believed
the Founder of Buddhism in Tibet also known as GURU RINPOCHE
or PADMASAMBHAVA is said to have buried sacred secret
texts.
The
scenery of Lawado was familiar. I recognized the high
mountain peaks and what I believed to have been rice fields
were potato fields... More significantly the HORSE ROCK
which looked so familiar. Later I was told that the Lawado
Lama's original cave was under that rock but that he had
moved to another cave because He had no felt comfortable
to live under an overhanging rock... feng shui? Past life?
No I did not dream dreams nor did anything come back in
a flash of brilliance... but I felt closer than ever to
Rinpoche.