The kiss and the pimple

by Stéphane Bédard

In 1981, even though we were not tantrikas yet, the Vidyadhara invited some members of the Nalanda Translation Committee French Section, which was established in Montreal three years before, to the Vajradhatu Seminary held at Château Lake Louise in Banff, Alberta.

He wanted us to attend a few working sessions with the Nalanda Translation Committee members so that we would see how our colleagues, who worked then under his direction—from Tibetan into English—approached the art of translation. I was then traveling with Simon Lahaye and recall that we arrived quite late at night and got up too late in the morning to get any breakfast. We were invited to find leftovers in the hotel kitchen. So we walked into this huge kitchen and saw a man's back and kasung standing on each side of him. We walked a little bit more and suddenly the man, wearing a kimono, turned towards us with a huge smile: it was Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

I walked directly towards him and kissed him on the right cheek while noticing that he had a pimple on the left cheek. Since these Chronicles are reaching a multicultural audience, I should say that it is a tradition for most French people to kiss people they feel close to. After the kiss, Rinpoche, radiant and motherly-fatherly, asked us if we had a good trip and welcomed us to Lake Louise with his legendary warmth and mischievous gentleness.

After he left the kitchen, there was a joyful silence in us and around us. But it didn't last long because I started to play with two main questions in my mind. 1) Should a beginning student kiss the Buddha? 2) Why does the Buddha have a pimple? It was easy to find an opinion about the second question. Elisabeth Gold, the doctor who took care of Rinpoche during the 1981 Seminary, was then a Montreal Dharmadhatu member. So I asked her why her patient had a pimple on the left cheek? She told me: "I have been telling Rinpoche over and over again to stop drinking Coca Cola in the morning, but he won't listen to me."

Over the years, this simple story has been filled with numerous meanings for me. I have come to the conclusion that it is a good thing to kiss the Buddha. It is also good to know that some buddhas drink Coca Cola in the morning. And it is even better to know that they don't always listen to their doctors. But the most important thing is knowing that when a buddha has a pimple, he doesn't try to hide it.

© 2005-06 by Stéphane Bédard

Stéphane Bédard, Ph. D., is a master-instructor of ikebana and a founding member of Les Traductions Nalanda. He has been translating texts and many books into French since 1978, including many works by Chögyam Trungpa. He now lives in Ottawa where he teaches Shambhala Art Programs and Shambhala Levels, and works as an expert-translator for Cultural Affairs with the government of Canada.

Copyright 2011 Chronicles of CTR

Brief encounters
	I respectfully request .. by Frank Berliner
	Every lifetime by Emily Danies
	More interesting... by Connie Moffit
	Hare Krishna by Poly Wellenbach
	The Day I Shook Hands with my Guru by Alan Ness
	My First Buddhist Event by Walter Bachteler
	The architect by John Tischer
	A Dowsing Lesson by Olive Colón
	First teaching by Joel Wachbrit
	A penny for your thoughts? by Hildy Maze
	The Mala by Christine Keyser
	Scattered pearls by Sarah Trefethen Whitehorn
	You knocked over the musician by Mark Hazell
	Two moments by Joel Mandel
	It's much more interesting than that by Erika Wilton
	We're going to test your realization by Richard Holden
	A Message by Kate Abato
	No place to go by Meera Flint
	Cooking Indian food at Kalapa Court by Ravinder Rai
	At Waterways duck farm by Vincent Hawtin
	At a campfire by David Brown
	Called on the Carpet by John Castlebury
	What Space? by David Darwent
	Loss by Zenaida Nickel
	Tea Offering by Cliff Esler
	The kiss and the pimple by Stéphane Bédard
	The shrine blessing by Chris Bauman
	The apple stem by Phyllis Segura

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