The Lotus Still Blooms

Table of Contents

 

 

 

JEREMY P. TARCHER/PENGUIN
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014,
USA • Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,
Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Canada Inc.) Penguin
Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Ireland,
25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124,
Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) • Penguin Books
India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017,
India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632,
New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) • Penguin Books (South
Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Copyright © 2008 by Joan Gattuso

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or
distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please
do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in
violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Published simultaneously in Canada

Most Tarcher/Penguin books are available at special quantity discounts
for bulk purchase for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, and
educational needs. Special books or book excerpts also can be created to
fit specific needs. For details, write Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Special Markets, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gattuso, Joan M.
The lotus still blooms / Joan Gattuso.
p. cm.

eISBN : 978-1-585-42637-9

1. Religious life—Buddhism. 2. Buddhism—Doctrines. I. Title.
BQ4302.G
294.3—dc22

Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

BOOK DESIGN BY AMANDA DEWEY

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

With a sincere heart, I acknowledge and thank:

—HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA

WHILE I WAS ON A BOOK TOUR in Los Angeles, a totally unexpected and life-expanding event began to unfold. I had a free afternoon in which my childhood friend Ginna, then the chef at Deepak Chopra’s healing center, was coming to fetch me for the day. She was temporarily on leave from the healing center, living in the Los Angeles area and working as the personal chef for an action-movie hero while he was getting in shape for his upcoming movie.

Ginna offered me a choice: Would I prefer to go to his movie set, or would I like to see his home in Bel Air? I instantly chose his home, a spontaneous decision for which I remain grateful to this day.

The Bel Air area is most luxurious, lined with manicured estates. We pulled through the gates of a grand home. Upon entering we were greeted in the kitchen by the young live-in girlfriend, who appeared to be a little upset. Ginna, multitalented artist, chef, earth-mother goddess personified, said she needed to talk with the young woman. Did I mind being alone for a while? Of course I told Ginna I did not. It was fascinating sitting in the kitchen observing the famous movie star’s domestic life filled with two nannies, a cook, a helper and a chauffeur—all in the kitchen at the same time. I took in a very animated conversation in the midst of the unpacked groceries that were everywhere. Then the unexpected occurred.

Through the kitchen doorway two Tibetan monks in robes and wearing mala beads entered the kitchen. I immediately stood and bowed to them. They bowed to me, while my brain raced to comprehend this increasingly bizarre kitchen scene. The monks took seats opposite me at the kitchen table. We introduced ourselves. They were guests in the actor’s home while they were studying English at UCLA. The older of the two barely understood English, while the younger was fairly fluent.

After only a few minutes the younger one asked innocently, “Do you want to come to my room?”

I was for a fraction of a second taken aback, not having received such an offer in many a year, let alone from a young Tibetan monk in saffron robes. “Okay, I guess so,” I responded haltingly. This is how I met Lama Chonam, my most precious Buddhist friend.

We walked through the great rooms of the mansion and up the stairs to the second floor. When we reached his room, the young monk opened the door and we entered. It was more like a sanctuary than a bedroom. It consisted of a beautiful altar with many butter candles burning, artistic figures of the Buddha, and various Taras and bodhisattvas.

He placed two chairs near the altar, and we sat at a right angle to each other. In the depths of my being I knew this was a significant occurrence. He opened his heart to me that afternoon, telling me of his arduous escape from Tibet over the Himalayas and into Nepal. His tales were spell-binding. He was amazed that I had been studying with the Dalai Lama for several years and had married my Western spiritual education to my Tibetan practices. We sat together for two hours deeply engaged in conversation, like two lost friends who had finally found each other again after many years or lifetimes of being separated.

When it was time to go, he walked me to the car and said, “We must have very good karma together.” Then he did an extraordinary thing for a monk. He reached out and hugged me, and I hugged him in return. “I have met many Americans,” he said, “but I never have met anyone that I felt so connected to. It is like we are meeting again. And you came to this house so we could meet. We shall meet again.”

And so we have, many times. He has taught Buddhism at my church, and as the years have gone by he has become a respected teacher in his own right within Buddhism.

Lama Chonam has the purest heart of anyone I personally know. And to think that on the day I thought I was to see a movie star’s home, a Tibetan monk saw my heart and I saw his.

I share this tender story because it so solidified for me that it is possible to remain a minister of Christian metaphysics and also to incorporate the Buddhist teachings on my path. Meeting Lama Chonam was for me a Divine message saying, Yes, it can and does all weave together into a most meaningful whole.

MY JOURNEY IN BUDDHISM began many years earlier, in the autumn of 1991, when two life-altering events occurred for me. The first was surgery for uterine cancer, and the second was my first encounter with the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism and being with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

This second event happened at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where I arrived in a wheelchair, just days out of surgery. Going to New York was one of those absolute knowings in life, where from my toes to my soul I just knew I had to go.

A friend in my congregation who was deeply attached to the people of India and Nepal, having adopted a child from each country, encouraged me to accompany her. I “knew” I was meant to go. The journey was undertaken much to my husband David’s consternation, since it was so few days after major surgery. I went having no idea what to expect or how my life would be forever changed.

At that first encounter of the teachings my knowledge of Buddhism was minuscule. I had, however, been practicing a Buddhist contemplation technique known as Mindfulness Meditation for more than a dozen years. I simply listened to my inner urging to attend and went. In short order a long-slumbering Eastern soul—more aligned with Eastern thought and culture than Western—within me began to stir and awaken. From that day to this I have inquired, studied, practiced, traveled, retreated and now teach what I have learned and am learning.