Thinley Rapke’s life didn’t turn out the way he expected it would.
“It is karma,” he said with a chuckle. “Good karma.”
Born in the tiny country of Bhutan - bordered by India on the south and Tibet on the north - Rapke entered the monastery when he was 9. Most families choose a child - or two or three - to study at a monastery. The monastic life was Rapke’s choice, he said in heavily accented English. He asked to go when he was 8.
Had his destiny unfolded as he thought, Rapke would be in “life retreat,” living alone somewhere secluded. His students would come to him there, he said, but he would not leave - ever - unless his presence was required by another Buddhist “lama” (teacher).
Instead, “Lama Thinley” finds himself living in Northwest Arkansas, meditating, teaching and working as a carpenter and shop owner. Wanting to teach and make money for his family in Bhutan brought him to the United States in 2000, he said, but now he is trying to raise money to help the monastery where he spent his childhood.
A HOLY PLACE
Perched along a ridge of the Himalayas, the Wangdue Phodrang Dzong was built in 1638 by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, the founder of Bhutan. It was repaired in 1837 after a fire and in 1897 after an earthquake, but another fi re in June 2012 took the ancient fortress down to the rock foundation.
It is a significant loss not just for Lama Thinley or for the country but for the world, he said, because of its role in the advancement of the Drukpa Kargyupa sect of Mahayana Buddhism, which ultimately became the state religion of Bhutan.
The dzongs in Bhutan were builtin the 17th century to unify the various schools of Buddhism coming from Tibet. Legend has it that the location for the Wangdue Phodrang Dzong was chosen because of its location at the intersection of two rivers and was named after a boy named Wangdi who was playing beside the river - hence the name “Wangdi’s Palace.”
“The place is special,” Lama Thinley said simply. Restoring themonastery will “benefit all sentient beings.” MONASTIC LIFE
A day at the monastery started early and ended late for the young monk, Lama Thinley said, just as his days did at his parents’ home. His father was a farmer, who also sometimes traded at the borders of Tibet and India. Growing up with three brothers and two sisters, he helped care for the calves and milk the cows while his mother was in the rice field or tending the chili peppers, both staples for Bhutanese.
“The temperature is good, no cold, no hot,” he said of his childhood home. Everyone raises almost everything they eat, and most families make cheese. The community now has electricity and cars, but that happened after Lama Thinley left, he added.
By the age of 3, Lama Thinley was making a morning offering and praying in his home’s shrine room, a space set aside by many families for their daily devotions. When he moved to the monastery, the prayers continued as the monks rose. They memorized sacred texts and prayers throughout the day, studied Buddhist philosophy and chanting and learned the arts of sacred dance and creation of the sand mandala.
It was a very strictly regulated life, he said, with no free time between rising at 5 a.m. and retiring at 9 p.m.
When he was 17, Lama Thinley was chosen for meditation training at a mountain retreat. Only seven of 300 who sought to go were selected by the high lama in a lottery held after three days of prayer, and Thinley was the youngest.
He spent 11 years studying meditation, another five at a Tibetan monastery learning philosophy and yet more years in a meditation retreat. It was a lot to leave behind, he admitted, but “I no change.” He is still immersed in prayer and meditation, keeping the “dharma mind.” HELP AT HOME
Lama Thinley also keeps close ties to his homeland and learned almost immediately about the fire that devastated the Wangdue Phodrang Dzong. News reports said the monastery was in the middle of renovations. Many of the antiquitiesand treasures it housed were elsewhere, and little was lost.
Lama Thinley shook his head, saying much was destroyed that cannot be replaced.
But rebuilding is essential, he said, and a fundraiser in Fayetteville seemed like a necessary element to that success - and a way for local people to connect with this remote monastery in the Himalayas. As of July 8, the Department of Culture in Bhutan reported about a thirdof the roughly $11 million needed for reconstruction had been raised.
An Evening for Bhutan, scheduled for Friday, will include “food from the kitchens of the Himalayas” - vegetable curry, steamed jasmine rice, E-Zee (Bhutanese hot relish made with fresh green and red chilies from Lama Thinley’s garden), Tibetan momo (steamed or pan-fried dumplings that are favorites of both Tibetans and Bhutanese) and padgra-pow courtesy of Twin Kitchen Thai in Fayetteville.
There also will be desserts, music by Shore & Cockram and Donovan, Rachel & Anne, a slide show about Bhutan and a silent auction, all taking place in the Parish Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Rector Lowell Grisham hasbeen at St. Paul’s for 16 years and said he has been blessed to have “a wonderfully open and generous congregation.”
“As Episcopalians, we inherit that tradition from the Church of England,” he said. “Our church belongs to everybody. We have a responsibility to the whole community, whether members or not,and we try to be responsive to the whole community.”
Over the years, Parish Hall has held a sand mandala, been turned into a Hindu temple for a wedding and has closed Ramadan with the Muslim community.
“It’s good to have a church that’s open to so many traditions,” Grisham said.
Religion, Pages 10 on 09/28/2013