Episode Thirty-Four: The Byte-Don Handrick

This Buddhist teacher reminds us all that what is most magical is our own dynamic minds. In this byte sized episode we learn that it is his devotion to Green Tara that has shown him miracles aplenty.

Transcript

One thing I might say in this whole idea of like magic or miracles was a quote that came from Lama Yeshe.

He was,

Of course,

As I said,

Over there in India and Nepal,

All these people coming over there looking for mystical experiences,

Magical experiences,

All these wild things.

And Lama Yeshe pulled the student aside once.

He says,

All these people,

They're looking for something magic.

But he says,

Ah,

The mind is magic.

Talk a little bit about the green Tara and the role that that being,

That Buddha has played.

When we talk about Buddhas in our tradition,

Of course,

We're not like trying to signify a particular individual entity per se,

Because when we talk about people achieving Buddhahood,

They become part of sort of this larger enlightened presence in the world and manifest in whatever way is useful to others.

It's a bit of the kind of woo woo teachings in Buddhism.

But green Tara,

As I said,

Sort of embodies the enlightened activities of the Buddha.

So if we think about these beings who've achieved this state,

Which they were ordinary beings just like us,

And they've developed their minds to that degree where they can play a very key role in helping others on their path of awakening,

Green Tara represents that active part of it.

In fact,

When she's sitting on her Lotus,

She has her one,

Her left leg drawn in that shows her kind of stability of wisdom and all these great qualities,

But then she has her right leg extended out,

Like she's ready to kind of like jump to your aid at a moment's notice.

The practice of green Tara,

I didn't have that great a connection with it initially when I was involved in Tibetan Buddhism.

But in the year just before I went off to the master's program,

The seven year study program,

I was actually sitting with Venerable Vena at our center in San Francisco.

And she said to me,

Well,

Don,

What are you doing to prepare to get over to the program?

Have you looked into whether there's obstacles to your being there and studying and what have you?

And I said,

Well,

No,

I haven't really.

And she says,

Well,

You need to contact this Lama.

There was this Lama,

I think Lama Akonchok,

He was in Nepal at our monastery in Kathmandu,

Koppan monastery.

I wrote to the woman who's there and I asked her,

You know,

I told her who I was and I was planning to go to the program and that Venerable Vena said I should contact this Lama and find out what practices or what things might need to be done to clear any obstacles.

And he told me that I should do three of the sets of what are called the praises to Tara.

You recite these praises.

And of course,

I learned them initially in Tibetan,

Though there is an English chantable version of them as well.

And what he essentially said then was,

Yeah,

If you do this three times a day,

These praises to the 21 Taras,

I'll be fine.

And so I just completely,

You know,

Trust that this Lama was giving me great advice.

And so I started reciting those.

So there were a number of incidents where I've kind of used that as a means to remove maybe kind of temporary obstacles,

Things that were coming up.

But I've also sort of seen it as a main practice that I go to and have even done some green Tara retreats where you focus on her in particular and kind of try to invoke her presence.

My own incidents of kind of invoking her and having her be sort of an instrument of helping to cut through some stuff have been pretty minor compared to some of the things I've heard from other people.

I'll tell you one of mine,

But it was not too long after all of that when I was actually going to Italy for the first time.

I was still in San Francisco.

And so I got one of these super shuttle vans in San Francisco.

They're kind of notorious for kind of taking you out to the airport.

Anyway,

I had gotten on one.

And the van was full of all these people,

And we were heading down Highway 101 to the airport.

And,

You know,

Had plenty of time to get out to the airport and what have you.

But all of a sudden,

We're in the fast lane,

And all of a sudden,

The van stops.

I mean,

The engine goes dead.

There's nothing happening.

He kept trying to turn the thing and trying to get it to run.

And of course,

We're in the fast lane.

And this is the beginning of like rush hour traffic.

And there's just like all this traffic and we're kind of worried about our lives if somebody could run into us.

And I start doing the praises to Tara and just kind of,

You know,

Because I want to make sure I get on my flight,

Get to Italy,

Begin my studies,

Whatever,

All of this.

And so I,

You know,

Had a good motivation for it.

And then,

You know,

After doing this for a while,

All of a sudden,

He turns it and it starts.

And I've had other incidents where I've used Tara to help start a car.

It actually seems to help.

Even though the master's program is long gone,

And he only told me to do that three times a day during the program,

I've continued to do it as a practice every day.

And so I really have come to find that to be again,

Sort of my Virgin Mary,

Like my father found that in his own spiritual practice as somebody I turned to quite frequently.

I'll tell you one of the stories I've heard from somebody else,

Which is really a story that gave me goosebumps.

This was a story told to me by a woman named Jean Wilkins.

I think I can share her name.

She wouldn't have a problem with that.

Jean was a student that helped out with Upaya Zen Center here in Santa Fe.

And she would come to our center to study with me because she liked my teachings.

There's a difference between Zen and Tibetan in terms of the types of teachings they have.

But anyway,

She liked to study with me.

And she told me this story once because she's from Wales.

And there's a center in Wales that she was at,

A Tibetan Buddhist center.

And she was staying there for quite a while.

And there was a visitor,

A woman that came there.

And during the day,

She'd gone out for a hike.

And I guess the center is located in a wooded area and pretty dense woods.

And the woman wandered away into the woods.

And it got to be dusk and the woman had not returned.

And then it got to be dark and the woman was still not there.

And so they decided they would check with their resident teacher.

I don't know who his teacher's,

What this teacher's name was.

He lived in the upstairs area.

And then the gompa,

The meditation room,

Was down below.

So she went up there and asked him what prayers they should do.

Or was there something that they should be doing to try to help this woman?

And he said,

Of course,

Do the praises to Green Tara.

And so they went downstairs and started doing the praises,

Chanting them.

And then they hear,

After a while,

A sort of thump from the upstairs,

Like the geshis,

Or the teacher's going,

Well,

OK,

That's enough.

You've done enough.

And then within minutes,

This woman shows up.

And they asked her,

They said,

Well,

What happened?

And she says,

Oh,

I was hiking and I got really lost.

And then it got dark and I didn't know which way the center was at all.

And then I saw a green light.

And I started following where the green light was and got,

You know,

And it's not like at the center they have a flashing green light or something.

She saw this green light and the green light took her to the center.

And again,

You know,

There are people,

Of course,

Who think that maybe this was the teacher who was doing this to help her,

You know,

Or maybe it's this being we would call green Tara that is the enlightened mind of the Buddhas that's there to help beings in their fear and what have you.

So that one gave me goosebumps when I heard that story.

I haven't had that kind of predicament where I've needed green Tara to save my life,

Though maybe I would have been in a horrific accident on the 101 that day if green Tara hadn't gotten the shuttle van started.

So I don't know.

Thanks for listening to episode 34 of bite sized blessings,

The podcast all about the magic and spirit that surrounds us as long as we open our eyes to it.

I'd like to thank my guests today,

Don Hendrick for sharing his story,

As well as the creators of the music used music,

Elle files,

Raphael crux,

Frank Schroeder,

Brian Holt's music,

And Winnie the Moog.

For complete attribution,

Please see the bite sized blessings website at bite sized blessings.

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People,

Music,

And change makers that are making this world a better place.

Thank you for listening.

And here's my one request.

Be like Don,

Investigate yourself.

What's your karma?

And what do you need to do to reach enlightenment?