Amaa II

Wow. Y'all're completely inscrutable. Impervious to scrute. I thought for sure posting pix and tales of 104-year old (you did catch that, right? 104?) Amaa would provoke declarations of wonder in the comments. But perhaps you were struck speechless, an affliction from which I rarely suffer, I'm afraid.

 

Anyway, 'tis spring, and my thoughts would not wander from my beloved, so I contrived to visit Amaa once again yesterday afternoon. More stories, more laughs, and an unexpected visit from Ani Kunze, just back from a months-long jaunt in Dharamsala, Moscow, and who knows where else.

 

This was a very sweet moment. Both are dedicated Chöd practitioners, though Amaa’s got Kunze by a good 70 years. It was their first meeting. I felt a poignant sense of historic tableaux – the ancient crone who persisted in her practice with almost unimaginable determination through seven decades of actively hostile Communist rule, and a leader of the new generation of Mongolian Buddhist women coming to pay her respects and receive her blessing. Naturally, I faded back and took a few photos. I got lucky. Feeling a bit shy, I only took three shots, but one of them was this:

 

 

That’s a keeper.

 

I also want to clarify something from the last post. It turns out Amaa did not do a solitary retreat in a cave for two years. She said she was actually the youngest of 16 tantric practitioners who went to the remote countryside for extensive teaching and practice with a powerful Tibetan lama by the name of Zundui. They managed to stay together for a little more than two years before the Communist zealots got wind of their enclave and forced them all to flee. Some were caught, others escaped and melted into the general population.

 

Amaa seems full of stories of the unusual cat-and-mouse with the cops these lamas played. One of her teachers, Artiin Mergen Pandita, was with a friend when the troopers came. He quickly made two circles of sand on the ground and told his friend to stand in one while he stood in the other. He told his friend, “No matter what, don’t move.” As the armed men approached, however, the friend couldn’t contain his fear and crawled out of the circle. As soon as he did so, he became visible and was captured. The lama remained invisible inside his circle and escaped.

 

Zundui also escaped several times in odd ways. Once, he had gone to visit his mother with two horses. The authorities, who were trying to round up all the high lamas, got wind of this and galloped over to her home. On approaching, Zundui and his horses could not be seen, but they were confronted by two bears and ran away. Another time, Zundui was on his horse and detained by another on horseback. Zundui asked the other, “I wonder how heavy you are?” He then pinched the man’s clothes with two fingers and lifted him off his horse. The other man, petrified by the lama’s power, let him go. Another time, he was being chased in the mountains on horseback when a sudden fog rolled in, and even though his pursuers saw steaming piles of horse manure to indicate he had been there seconds earlier, they could never find him.

 

There’s more, and wilder, but we’ll save it for another time.

 

 

Comments

[Janet in Seattle]

Ahem. Actually, it WAS sheer wordless appreciation... please keep on tellin!

[Christian]

The picture is fantastic!

[Kay in NM]

I was so scruted I was dumblewhacked. I read the post about six times, and got tears in my eyes each time. How much richer the world is for this woman's life! You continue to bring me the most marvelous peoople...

[Tim]

Hey Konchog,

I saw a video once of (another maybe the same?) a chod ma called ----dakini? Amazing its like you are our early career intrepid american padmasambhava being swallowedand passed by the dakinis (wisdom) in your ardent pilgimage on all our behalf. Well happy Saga dawa and happy trails!

[caroline]

she's wonderful, Konchog, keep on telling us and showing us...

[conceicao]

beautifull story

[Karma Wangchuk Dorje]

How about doing a video interview with this wonderful lady? I think she should be given the possibility to tell her story and stories to the world, don't you think so?

Michael

[Sangye]

Michael's idea is a great one. Does Mongolia (or one of the Buddhism reintroduction groups there) have something like the US Smithsonian archives? They have audio and video recordings of Americans like the last surviving member of a tribe, civil war witnesses, life stories of ex-slaves told in their own words, etc.... I don't know more than that-- I just hear occasional clips on radio programs. Might be worth checking into.

[annmarie]

I'm so glad that you finally got to meet this lady. Your first mention of her was intriguing. On the other hand, I'm a little freaked by the fact that she looks so much like my late grandmother. This was my 100% German-American grandmother; one picture looks like her daughter also. Hmm.