bloodshot, glossy eyes

someone asked me on sunday how i first came to these tibetan teachings - brought to america by the escaped tibetan lama Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche - and i remembered an interesting aspect of the story. Click “more” to hear about it.

when i was a teenager, i read a book written by that tibetan lama and it really spoke to me. but the next year, in my high school religions class, a man named david came to talk to us during the buddhism segment. as chance had it, david had been a student of this very same tibetan lama. he told this story:

once when he was meditating with Trungpa Rinpoche, another lama entered the room. this older lama looked over the group meditating, his eyes were bloodshot and wet, almost in tears. they looked incredibly soft. david was overcome with love for this old lama, and in slow motion it seemed he tried to get up and go to the man. but people kept crossing in his way and by the time he was to the door the lama was gone.

it was an odd little story, and fantastical how he described the experience, but for years after that i would occasionally wonder how that old lama could be so filled with emotion just looking over a group of westerners meditating. what makes someone that soft?

what’s even more awesome to me now is how often i meet someone with those same soft, bloodshot eyes at these meditation retreats. it’s not fantastical at all. in fact, it’s downright human.

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