Editor’s note: On October 27, Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo shared the following teaching with the KPC community in a message that left the text open for members to edit. A longtime student, Louise Bertsche, took up the invitation and offered her own rendering of one passage. Jetsunma asked that the full exchange be shared publicly.
I see people still doing it at this age, trying to keep up appearances. To me, it’s the most bizarre thing. And then you die.
Who writes up your appearances? Who gives a shit after that?
What really matters is how you made the world a better place. What did you benefit? How did you benefit others, if at all? What the fuck is this? Keeping up appearances is just stupid. As I said, it’s a waste of time.
I tried to do it for, I don’t know. I really, really, really tried to be like a Tibetan. But it wasn’t honest. It’s simply: I am an American. I am a girl from Brooklyn. And that’s part of my identity. Maybe not the most flattering part, according to some people. I don’t know why—I love New York. People just have their prejudices.
But I am who I am. I am somebody from Brooklyn who founded a monastery after a very amazing life, founded a monastery here and it’s still going, limping along. I don’t know what else to say.
Reflecting on Purpose
I wonder, what are your thoughts about what you’ve done with your life? What did you do?
Won’t you join me in this effort? Won’t you be a Bodhisattva?
— Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo Rinpoche
A Student’s Response
Louise Bertsche offered this rewrite of the passage beginning “But I am who I am”:
But I am who I am. I am a girl from Brooklyn, recognized by Kyabje Penor Rinpoche as a reincarnation of a 17th-century woman central to the founding of the Palyul lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and its first nunnery, and renowned for bringing countless women to the path of Dharma, and also recognized as the Indian princess of Zahor, Mandarava, consort of Guru Rinpoche. A girl from Brooklyn whose contemporary works include the building of 32 stupas, founding a monastery which is still vibrant after more than 40 years and whose heartbeat is an unbroken 24/7 prayer vigil for world peace that continues to this day. Her teachings and spiritual guidance have played an important role in firmly establishing Vajrayana Buddhism in the West. A very amazing life, a testament that the Bodhisattva path is not just for Tibetan masters living centuries ago but can also be realized today by ordinary people from any culture or nation who have the heartfelt determination to relieve all sentient beings of their suffering.
