in October we had the most amazing karma to have H.E. Garchen Rinpoche come to Israel for the 5th time to give teachings. we also had the most incredible karma to have been asked to be the drivers of the hole group that came with Rinpoche.
when the seminar ended we also helped and stayed for another 2 days with Rinpoche and his Lamas and translator. as we were taking things apart and storing them for the next event we were asked by our very good friend Smadar Ginzborg if we are coming to Arizona in November for the Vajrakilaya retreat? we said no... (being poor and not having much money we felt that this is a huge expense that we can not handle with our current monetary situation)
Smadar did not accept our answer and told us that we should rethink this because we do not know how much time we will have with Rinpoche since he is not young anymore and every opportunity to spend with him and receive teachings is SO precious! we should really think this through...
well, to tell you the truth, as she asked the first time we had the intuition to go... then came all the "mind games" of yes and no... have money, do not have money, have time, do not have the time... and so forth... you know what i mean :)
so, we went home and talked it through... we counted our money and figured out that this trip will take up about half of our life savings! holy moly! we took a car and went to Haifa to talk this over with Smadar and another good friend that was staying with her at that time.
after much talking and mind games of Ego and money counting (hahahaha) we decided that it was the right thing to do, go and travel to Arizona to participate in the Vajrakilaya yearly Drubchen. after all, H.E Garchen Rinpoche has taken the time and effort to come to Israel 5 times to give teachings and even come to our prayer wheel crafting studio! so we should at least once in this lifetime come to him, to his home.
and so we did! we only had 2 weeks to prepare for this adventure and let me tell you, it was super short! so much had to be done prior to our trip.... we did not know if we will make it!
Smadar has told us one thing to keep in mind: "once you decide you wish to come and the mind is tuned to that frequency, all possible obstacles will arise. pay no mind to them and just keep going forward, all will be resolved. trust me"
boy, she was not kidding! wow!
since Vajrakilaya is a remover of obstacles and a wrathful deity, many things will come up and we will need to go through them, no matter what happens!
what ever could have gone wrong, did. passport not valid, bank will not pay for the tickets, credit card company will not accept our charges for the plain tickets and retreat, teeth starting to hurt, family members giving us a hard time for going... oh, so many things! but through it all, we did not give up!
finally the plain tickets were bought, though it was so late i could not find seats next to each other or at a door (i am 6.4" or 193cm... tall fellow... ) but, still we bought them hoping someone would be kind and switch seats with us (did not happen)...
the passport was a long and costly process but on the day before our flight i had it in my hand!
the obstacles still kept on coming and we almost missed our flight when the ticket lady at the counter told Ayelet that she needed a visa to the US since she is a France citizenship (this is new, up until a few years ago you could just travel to the US and once you entered you got a 3 moths visa) and we have 5 minutes to fill 6 forms over the internet before she closes the flight...
a very nervous 5 minutes pass by as i struggle to fill this ridicules form on Ayelet's phone but it would not accept the Garchen Buddhist Institute's address (later i found out it was not a real address and that is the reason it did not accept it) so i called my good friend Doron in Colorado and got his address... the phone call went something like this:
me: quick! give me your address!
Doron: hey brother! how are you? i am just putting a roast in the oven..
me: (cutting him off) your address now! or we will not get on the plane!
Doron: ha, i was thinking if to pick up the phone or not, and may be calling you later..
me: the address! now!
finally he gave it to me, i hung up and finished filling the form and... hooray! but we were a minute late and she closed the boarding... Ayelet told her to bring her manger (this is 1:00 am) and she did reluctantly... the manager came and told us to board.... we made it to the flight!
the flight was a 15 hours non stop to San Francisco, a 5 hour lay over, a 2 hour flight to Phoenix AZ, a 2 hour shuttle to Prescott AZ and then a hour taxi to Chino Valley to the Institute...
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| us in the San Francisco airport waiting for the flight to Phoenix |
we decided to stay in Prescott for the night and take the taxi in the morning to the institute...
Ayelet bent over to ask the shuttle driver if he can stop for us in a motel 6 or something and he said he can't. the lady behind her bent over and told Ayelet that he is not allowed to stop anywhere and that she can help us to get to where we are going if we just let her take us...
this is the point where all obstacles changed to good fortune! this amazing lady, out of nowhere, took us under her wing! her name was Alison and she was the kindest women! she took us to a motel 6 and told us that in the morning she will come and pick us up to go to the Garchen institute... we told her that we have things to buy like sleeping bags and pillows and she told us that this is no problem! she will come in the morning, take us to Walmart where we can buy all this things, but maybe she has in her house and we will not need to buy...
i think that the phrase: "what is happening?!" was the most used phrase during this whole trip....
we had dinner in the resturant she sent us to and went to sleep... so so tired!
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| me tripping out in the restaurant next to a wood turners event coming up... hahaha |
got up in the morning and called Alison up, not sure if this was all a dream or maybe we need to call a taxi...
Alison came as promised and took us for a trip in Prescott showing us the landmarks of the town before heading to the Garchen institute...
finally! after SO MANY hours of travel, we arrived at the Garchen Buddhist Institute!
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| next to the sign in the entrance to the institute |
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| me and Alison looking for heart shaped rocks on the ground |
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| sweet Alison, our guardian angle |
we arrived one day before the Drubchen started so we had time to set up our sleeping bags in the Stupa where we stayed for the whole 10 days (although in the last 2 nights our karma cleared up and we got a better sleeping arrangement, but that is another story)
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