Karmapa gave a very direct and powerful answer:
Just let it settle.
We all want answers now. We want confirmation of the next step, reassurance that all will be well. We wish for a clear and brilliant path to appear before us, brightly lit and glowing.
Easy to follow.
We want this more than anything. We yearn for it, need it, wish it from the heavens.
Karmapa kept reminding us, over and over, that this is simply too big to rush through. We haven’t even begun to understand what it means for us. It hasn’t sunk in yet. It isn’t in our hearts, regardless of how much we believe it to be so.
Mourning and pain don’t rush.
They falter and fall.
They take time—so much time.
It hurts.
Our urgent desire for answers is met with confusion. Only by taking our time and letting it all sink in will we find wisdom.
I found this unbelievably powerful.
Each time he was asked, he said it again.
Gently.
Sweetly.
But with great assertion and solidity too.
I gaze at Lama Ole’s empty chair, adorned with a khata, his power still cascading outwards like lightning in the dark.
He is gone.
There is no way to push through this. We must let it come, settle and deepen. Only when it is ready will we be prepared for the next step.
