American film actor and philanthropist Richard Gere was in Dharamsala in March 1998 for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings. He talked to Julia Hengst about participating in the Maitreya Project pilgrimage late last year with Ribur Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

When did you first meet Ribur Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche?

I met Ribur Rinpoche for the first time last September. His lotsawa [translator] is Fabrizio, an old friend of mine, and he had been telling me about this lama who is just extraordinary. Finally, in September, I was able to meet him here in Dharamsala, and I was completely floored by him; he has it all. He has such incredible warmth, and I think that’s what made me feel so comfortable with him. He’s so embracing and so vast in his compassion and his willingness to show it that I’m just in tears most of the time I’m around him, unabashedly so.

And Lama Zopa Rinpoche?

I met Lama Zopa Rinpoche about eight or nine years ago up at Tushita [Meditation Center in Dharamsala]. I don’t remember exactly why I was there, maybe visiting someone. Anyhow, we met briefly and he gave me a tour of the place. So I hadn’t seen him since then until this pilgrimage. Then I think it was in Benares, during the pilgrimage, when we next hooked up. I immediately felt very connected and warm around him. I think what began to strike me and more and more so as we went on is I don’t think I’ve ever met a lama who is so compulsively and completely transforming every moment into devotion and merit.

There was a dinner I had in Bodhgaya with Rinpoche, and we were talking about several things as we waited for dinner. Dinner arrived in his room, and Rinpoche did a prayer and dedication, and Rinpoche started a visualization. It was an incredibly ornate visualization that went on for about 45 minutes! It was so psychedelic and all-encompassing, and even though 45 minutes had passed it felt like 30 seconds. It was so complete, and by the end of it, we were so full anyhow we had no need for the food. But I think anyone who has been around Lama Zopa Rinpoche would recognize that. We’re dealing with someone who has no sense of time whatsoever, to a degree that I have never before seen in a lama.

And he has a vast mind in terms of seeing the big picture. Obviously he’s a lama who is doing an enormous amount of good works, enormous amount of projects for the benefit of all sentient beings, but he never gets caught up in the details or the smallness that one can when one is doing projects. He’s always able to see the large picture. He and I connect very much that way, as I have been able to direct my life, at least sometimes that way. My ideas tend to be a bit large and cumbersome sometimes, although I see how they can fit into the larger picture. It is very easy for me to talk to Rinpoche about that and he gets it immediately.

I remember there were some times in Benares where I would go in to say goodnight to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and pay my respects. He would tell me to sit down, and we would start talking at around ten o’clock. It would be six in the morning by the time we finished, and we would be absolutely dead. We would have ten minutes to sleep before we woke up to do our prayers and start another day, but Rinpoche was totally fresh. In that sense he’s like a long-distance runner. At one point I just said, “Rinpoche, I have to go, I just have to go. I cannot keep up with you.”

What made you decide to do the pilgrimage rather than do retreat, as you often do in India?

Well, I wanted to spend time with Ribur Rinpoche, frankly. And there places on this pilgrimage I had never been to before, including Sravasti and Benares. To go there with a lama of his depth and vastness, and ease of communication, and also with the connection he and I had, which came very smooth and very fast, it was something I wanted to do. As it turns out it was an important thing to do, and I am happy I was there.

What did you do on the pilgrimage? And were there any moments during the pilgrimage when the actions of the lamas were particularly memorable and profound, which enhanced the awareness of how precious an opportunity it was?

There were continually Maitreya pujas going on, as this pilgrimage was centered around the Maitreya Project. Not having been around the “Lama Zopa people” before, I was struck by how effective and organized they were, which is not a normal state in Dharma centers around the world. They are to be very much commended for that, because these were incredibly vast pujas and extensive offerings made in all these points, at Benares, Sravasti and in Bodhgaya. There was also one done at Nalanda. It was very impressive and very moving to have Ribur Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rinpoche and so many dedicated students there.

Probably the most extraordinary moment concerned Ribur Rinpoche. For those who don’t know, Ribur Rinpoche is not that well and finds it very hard to move around; he can’t walk that far and is in a wheelchair most of the time. But he decided he was going to walk most of the way up to Rajgir, where the Buddha gave The Heart Sutra and which takes about 40 minutes for a healthy person to walk at a good speed. It was here that Buddha also offered his really important teachings to his students and to the universe. A host of bodhisattvas, dakinis, spirits and beings from all the universes came to receive the teachings.

So Ribur Rinpoche decided he was going to walk up the hill, and God bless him, he did, he walked all the way! We were astonished, and there was this amazing light in the sky as he was doing it. Although he had to rest a few times on the way up, it was miraculous, it really was something extraordinary. I have amazing pictures of him glowing, walking up, being held by a tag team of students holding one arm and the other, steadying him on the way up. Really it was very moving.

Then pujas were done at Rajgir, overlooking the whole plain; we had a sense of being in the fellowship of a lot of buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Finally, I wanted to mention that Ribur Rinpoche gave a talk on the proper way to dedicate merit. He indicated the proper way to dedicate from the heart, and he suggested as the perfect object of dedication His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s long life, because if you’re interested in the welfare of all sentient beings, there is no better way than to prolong the life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is the greatest light in the universe at this time.

Excerpted from a longer interview, published in Mandala, May 1998.