Wed, 12 Jul 2006
The Intimidator
The last Saturday of the retreat Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche gave a Medicine Buddha Empowerment. After the empowerment I asked Karma Lodro how Khenpo wound up at Thrangu Monastery. He said he wasn't sure, but his two older brothers also were monks at Thrangu monastery, so it's not surprising Khenpo Rinpoche went there as well. Then he added something that was a little surprising. He said that the current Traleg Rinpoche as the other young monks that Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche had tutored were intimidated by him. Karma Lodro repeated something that Traleg Rinpoche had said, "The only two people I'm afraid of are myself and Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche." This was a little surprising because anyone who's met Khebpo Rinpoche knows what a kind and loving person he is.
So I thought about the paradox of how such a gentle soul could seem intimidating and this is what I came up with. People who know me will tell you I'm shy. Well, that's the polite term, wimpy is probably a better one. Despite that, people are sometimes intimidated by me, because I know more than they do about a few subjects. What happens is sometimes people are a little insecure in what they know about programming or some other subject and they're afraid when I speak I'll expose that. I think the same thing is going on with Khenpo Karthar. His conduct is spotless, his knowledge of Buddhist philosophy is deep, and meditational attainment is unquestioned. People who are sincerely trying to live according to the principles of Buddhism are bound to feel a little intimidated when they compare themselves to him. It's only persons like myself whose commitment to Buddhism is nothing more than a pretense that comes from the lips and not from the heart who are so shameless that they don't feel some of their shortcomings when they meet him.
