I sat there, with the evening shadows stealing across the room, bathing the Lama Mingyar Dondup in the growing dusk, and as the dusk increased I saw his aura flaring with the great gold of spirituality. To me, clairvoyantly, the light was bright indeed and interpenetrated the dusk itself. My clairvoyant perceptions told me – as if I did not know before – that there I was in the presence of one of the greatest men of Tibet. I felt warm inside me, I felt my whole being throb (pulsere) with love for this, my Guide and tutor.
Beneath us the Temple conches blared again, but this time they were not calling us, but calling others. Together we walked to the window and looked out. My Guide put his hand on my shoulder as we looked out at the valley below us – the valley now partially enveloped in the purple darkness. “Let your conscience be your guide, Lobsang,” said my Guide. “You will always know if a thing is right or if a thing is wrong. You are going far – farther than you can imagine – and you will have many temptations placed before you. Let your conscience (samvittighet) be your guide. We in Tibet are a peaceful people, we are people of a small population, and we are people who live in peace, who believe in holiness, who believe in the sanctity of the Spirit. Whereever you go, whatever you endure, let your conscience be your guide. We are trying to help you with your conscience. We are trying to give you extreme telepathic power and clairvoyance so that always in the future for so long as you live you can get in touch telepathically with great lamas here in the high Himalayas, great lamas who, later, will devote (vie) the whole of their time to waiting for your messages.”
Waiting for my messages? I am afraid my jaw dropped with amazement; my messages? What was there so special about me? Why should great lamas be waiting for my messages all the time? My Guide laughed and slapped my shoulder. “The reason for your existence, Lobsang, is that you have a very very special task to do. In spite of all the hardships, in spite of all the suffering, you will succeed in your task. But it is manifestly unfair that you should be left on your own in an alien world, a world that will mock you and call you a liar, fraud and fake. Never despair, never give up, for right will prevail (seire). You – Lobsang – will prevail!”
The evening shadows turned into the darkness of night, below us the lights of the City were a twinkle (glimtende). Above us a new moon was peeping down at us over the edge of the mountains. The planets, vast millions of them, twinkled in the purple heavens. I looked up, thought of all the forecasts about me – all the prophecies about me and I thought also of the trust and the confidence shown by my friend, my Guide, the Lama Mingyar Dondup. And I was content (hadde indre fred).
***
The wisdom from Guide, the Lama Mingyar Dondup goes on – here from page 195 – where he starts to talk about the school of life and the planning of the coming incarnations from the spiritual dimentions:
“Lobsang,” said my Guide, “does it occur to you that life itself is just a school?” “A school?” I looked at him as if he had suddenly taken leave of his senses. I could not have been more surprised if he had told me that the sun had retired and the moon had taken over! “Honourable Lama,” I said in astonishment, “did you say that life was a school?” “Most certainly I did, Lobsang, rest awhile, let us have tea, and then we will talk.”
The attendant who was summoned (fremmøtt) soon brought us tea and enjoyable things to eat. My Guide partook of food very sparingly indeed (spiste lite). As he once said, I ate enough to keep about four of him! But he said it with such a twinkling smile that there was no offence (støtende) implied or taken. He often teased (spøkte/ertet) me and I knew that he would never under any consideration say anything that would hurt another person. I really did not mind in the least what he said to me, knowing how well he meant it. We sat and had our tea, and then my Guide wrote a little note and gave it to the attendant to deliver to another Lama. “Lobsang, I have said that you and I will not be at Temple Service this evening, for we have much to discuss, and although Temple Services are very essential things so – in view of your special circumstances – is it necessary to give you more tuition (undervisning) than average.”
He rose to his feet and walked across to the window. I’ scrambled to my feet too and went across to join him, for it was one of my pleasures to look out and see all that was happening, for my Guide had one of the higher rooms at the Chakpori, a room from which one could look out over wide spaces and see for long distances. Besides, he had that most enjoyable of all things, a telescope. The hours I spent with that instrument! The hours I spent looking away across the Plain of Lhasa, looking at the traders in the City itself, and watching the ladies of Lhasa going about their business, shopping, visiting, and just (as I put it) plain wasting time. For ten or fifteen minutes we stood there looking out, then my Guide said, “Let us sit down again, Lobsang, and discuss this matter about a school, shall we?”
“I want you to listen to me, Lobsang, for this is a matter which you should have clear from the start. If you do not fully understand what I say then stop me immediately, for it is essential that you understand all this, you hear?” I nodded to him, and then as a matter of politeness said, “Yes, Honourable Lama, I hear you and I understand. If I do not understand I will tell you.” He nodded and said, “Life is like a school. When we are beyond this life in the astral world, before we come down into a woman’s body, we discuss with others what we are going to learn. Some-time ago I told you a story about Old Seng, the Chinaman. I told you that we would use a Chinese name because you, being you! would try to associate any Tibetan name with a Tibetan of your acquaintance. Let us say that Old Seng who died and saw all his past decided that he had certain lessons to learn. Then, the people who were helping him would look about to find parents, or, rather, prospective parents, who were living in the circumstances and in the conditions which would enable the soul which had been Old Seng to learn the desired lessons.” My Guide looked at me and said, “It is much the same as a boy who is going to become a monk, if he wants to become a medical monk he comes to the Chakpori. If he wants to do perhaps domestic (hjemme-) work, then no doubt he can get into the Potala for they always seem to have a shortage (mangel på) of domestic monks there! We choose our school according to what we want to learn.” I nodded (nikket), because that was quite clear to me. My own parents had made arrangements for me to get into the Chakpori (the monastery/ klosteret der) provided I had the necessary staying power to pass the initial test of endurance.
My Guide, the Lama Mingyar Dondup continued, “A person who is going to be born already has everything arranged; the person is going to come down and be born of a certain woman who lives in a certain district and who is married to a certain class of man. It is thought that that will give the baby to be born the opportunities for gaining the experience and knowledge previously planned. Eventually, in the fullness of time, the baby is born. First the baby has to learn to feed, it has to learn how to control certain parts of its physical body – it has to learn how. to speak and how to listen. At first, you know, a baby cannot focus its eyes, it has to learn how to see. It is at school.”
He looked at me and there was a smile on his face as he said, “None of us like school, some of us have to come, but others of us do not have to come. We plan to come – not for karma – but to learn other things. The baby grows up and becomes a boy and then goes to a classroom where often he gets treated rather roughly by his teacher, but there is nothing wrong in that, Lobsang. No one has ever been harmed by discipline. Discipline is the difference between an army and a rabble. You cannot have a cultured man unless that man has been disciplined. Many times now you will think that you are ill-treated, that the teacher is harsh and cruel, but – whatever you think now – you particularly arranged to come to this earth in these conditions.” “Well, Honourable Lama,” I exclaimed excitedly, “if I arranged to come down here, then I think that I should have my brains, examined. And if I arranged to come down here, why do I know nothing at all about it?”
My Guide looked at me and laughed – laughed outright. “I know just how you feel, Lobsang, today,” he replied, “but really there is nothing that you should worry about. You came to this earth first to learn certain things. Then, having learned those certain things, you are going out into the greater world beyond our borders to learn other things. The Way will not be easy; but you will succeed in the end, and I do not want you to be despondent. Every person, no matter his station in life, has come down to earth from the astral planes in order that he may learn and, in learning, progress. You will agree with me, Lobsang, that if you want to progress in the Lamasery, you study and pass examinations. You would not think much of a boy who was suddenly placed over you and by favouritism alone became a lama or an abbot. So long as there are proper examinations, then you know that you are not being passed over at some superior person’s whim (lune) or fancies or favouritisms.” I could see that too, yes, when it was explained, it was quite a simple matter.
“We come to earth to learn things, and no matter how hard nor how bitter the lessons which we learn on this earth, they are lessons for which we have enrolled before we came here. When we leave this earth we have our vacation (ferie) for a time in the Other Worid, and then if we want to make progress we move on. We may return to this earth under different conditions, or we may move on to a completely different stage of existence. Often when we are in school we think that there is going to be no end to the day, we think that there is going to be no end to the harshness of the teacher. Life on earth is like that, if everything went smoothly for us, if we had everything that we wanted we should not be learning a lesson, we should just be drifting along on the stream of life. It is a sad fact that we only learn with pain and suffering.”
“Well then, Honourable Lama,” I said, “why is it that some boys, and some lamas too, have such an easy time? It always appears to me that I get hardships, bad prophecies, and beatings-up by an irritable teacher when I really have done my best.” “But, Lobsang, some of these people who apparently are very self-satisfied – are you sure that they are so self-satisfied? Are you sure that conditions are so easy for them, after all? Until you know what they planned to do before they came to the earth you are not in a position to judge. Every person coming to this earth comes with a prepared plan, a plan of what they want to learn, what they propose to do, and what they aspire (streber etter..) to be when they leave this earth after sojourning (oppholdet) in its school. And you say that you tried really hard at class today. Are you sure? Were you not rather complacent(likeglad), thinking that you knew all there was to know about the lesson? Did you not, by your rather superior attitude, make the Teacher feel rather bad?” He looked at me somewhat accusingly(anklagende), and I felt my cheeks grow some-what red. Yes, he really knew something! My Guide had the most unhappy knack of putting his hand on a spot which was tender(sårt).
The story continues in Summary part 4: Link to Summary part 4
