Karmapa is a fireball of blazing amazing, so energetic and present while being outrageously serious and incredibly funny at the same time.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him balance the two so extremely - one second as the earnest and determination in his eyes so fierce and gleaming I’m deeply taken aback, to the next as the whole hall bursts into laughter alongside him as he makes hilarious example after example that he himself cannot even finish with a straight face. So funny! His humor touches everyone deeply, while his desire for all to truly understand every single word so powerful. People are cheering and crying from deep belly laughter, then stricken with faces of deep and intense prayer, then again the brimming room cannot contain the smiles bursting across all faces as the entire gathering roars into the night over and over. I have never experienced a Chenrezig Empowerment like this before - such is the way this course has begun - we’re off to a great start!
Every year I look forward with great anticipation to this short but sweet and forever-powerful course in Delhi. Seeing Karmapa in this venue, his home base and Asian seat is always a great treat and I know this place so well yet I always seem to discover something new every time I’m here. Over four hundred attendees making this the largest public course in KIBI in a great while, the main hall totally full to the brim. So many friends from all over gathered here it’s hard to work as I’m constantly bumping into everyone I haven’t seen yet in forever but desperately wanted to see and check in with. A great problem to have as the atmosphere here is rampant humor and cheerful remembrance already thick in the air, I can’t even imagine what tomorrow will bring. The great black crown, the incredible laughter with gleaming face of delightful joy, the many faces of Karmapa this night leaves me with such a feeling. A feeling I cannot explain but I’m sure will carry on with me through the rest of the course. As Karmapa himself said over and over tonight, “at the end of the day”, the most important thing is to just be. To be natural, to be genuine, to just be. So I will do that. At the end of the day this is where I am supposed to be. At the end of the day, at the very least I know for sure that Dharma is surely the most powerful force in the world.
KIBI - Karmapa International Buddhist Institute
