In Italy
THE EARLY DAYS
For the second meditation course held by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Italy in October 1976 we had chosen the “Grand Hotel Terme di Tartavalle” at Taceno, not far from Lake Como in Lombardia. It was an imposing hotel, towering over the small valley bearing the same name; it had several halls on the ground floor, some fifty rooms and an apartment on the upper floors, and even an elevator. There was just one drawback: it had not been used for almost two years. So, when the day before the start of the course we opened the main doors, we stepped right into the water that had completely flooded the ground floor. Setting all the systems back to work, cleaning and having the whole building ready for the arrival of the “sentient beings” the next day was a tremendous job. Some of us even got hysterical, but such difficult moments strengthened our desire to create a Dharma community centre equipped with proper facilities to receive guests and therefore to organize meditation courses. We talked about it with Lama Yeshe and, after several night-time meetings, we finally got a clear idea of Lama’s vision of our future Dharma community. His vision was so far-sighted that sometimes it was difficult for us to grasp it and, as far as I am concerned, only now, twelve years later, can I appreciate how perfectly that vision fitted our specific situation.
Lama saw that it would be extremely difficult for Dharma to spread in the West; he therefore wanted to create in his community centres some Buddhist mini-societies. In this way the Dharma centre would not only be able to organize Buddhist study and meditation courses but would also be a way for those in the community to learn to live Buddhism, being compelled to continually test and develop their practice through their close contact with the other members.
Our search for the right place took us eventually to Pomaia. Lama Yeshe immediately approved the place, and in May 1977 we bought it. For the first three years we carried out the dismantling and reconstruction of more than half of the castle. It took another seven years to complete this work and this shows how extraordinary the work done by the residents in those first three years really was. I can still hear the noise of the cement mixer running all night while monks and lay people kept working on the roof in the light of the halogenous lamps, and can still see the incredible toil of those people who were working neck-deep in the ditch, under the July scorching sun, installing the sewerage, and I can remember scores of similar episodes. It was all voluntary work, for which only room and board were provided.
The atmosphere of those days, so full of dedication, Dharma energy and sometimes even bliss, is unforgettable and in a sense unique. Probably because the enthusiasm of starting new things was all there, or because the young people of those years (end of the seventies) were still full of idealism (a right dose of it is a positive quality), for sure because during Lama Thubten Yeshe’s yearly visits, we were nourished by his realization of Great Bliss, for these and other reasons it seems that today there is no such atmosphere at the centre any more. And so we often find ourselves longing for those days, being nostalgic about that Dharma energy that we have lost and wondering “Why?” And the simple answer seems to be “because Lama Yeshe is not here anymore.”
But obviously this is just another game of our ego; it is in fact obvious that in these twelve years we have changed. I, for instance, have become a middle-aged businessman, gone slightly bald, fully integrated in society, totally different from what I was at that time. Naturally also my energy has changed, although my “Dharma mind” is still there, inside me. What I mean by “Dharma mind” is one’s practice, the knowledge of oneself through the practice, in other words one’s realizations, however little they may be. And this can neither be eliminated nor can it diminish. All the rest – our life style and the environment we live in, everything – is just the projection of our hallucinated mind. For this reason we cannot help passing judgments, having opinions on everything, like “once everything was better, those people were extraordinary, these ones are impossible, that Lama is traditional, this other one is a true yogi who does not bother about empty rules of discipline,” and so forth.
I remember that in the last period of his life, Lama Yeshe started using the term “self-pity mind” to indicate our ego. With his great skill he taught us to discriminate between ego-manifestation and wisdom, and with this new awareness we can see that Lama Yeshe is here now, externally in Lama Zopa Rinpoche and internally in our Dharma mind. By continuing our relationship with our Guru in this way, we can operate the integration of life and practice with serenity, security, and dedication to the benefit of others.
This is the meaning of the Dharma community centre.
