The entrance to dharma in the West
I'm in Boston now, learning about Rinpoche's early visits to the San Francisco Bay area from Michael Fagan, and Hazel and Sam Bercholz. I also spent an afternoon talking to Aba McHardy who -- although she had very little direct contact with Rinpoche -- has a unique and important perspective on his teachings and the Shambhala community. Tonight I'll be talking to Michael McLellan about his past-life experience as a pygmy.
My visit to New York was very fruitful. I had great conversations with Selda Chender, Berkley McKeever, John Sennhauser, David Nichtern, and Phyllis Segura. But I spent most of my time talking with Jack Niland. I scanned his collection of Rinpoche's drawings and sketches, and I recorded Jack's commentary on the way in which Rinpoche worked with him on art and design projects. Click below to hear Jack talk about the process of painting the front door of Tail of the Tiger. It's an interesting story and Jack is a really colorful and heartfelt storyteller. (This is just a small sample of our conversation.) By the way, I found out later that the little girl in Jack's story -- the one who mixed the right shade of turquoise -- is Stephanie Pukit's daughter who was 5 years old at the time.
 Listen to Jack Niland's story about painting the door at Tail.
Door to Tail of the Tiger
1970 |
Door to KCL
2004 |
Jack Niland
1970
The Chronicle Project East-coast road trip is nearing an end. I have a few more days of interviews and then I sail east on the Bar Harbor ferry (and into the mists) toward home. It's been a lot of fun to put these pages together on the road and I've gotten a lot of encouraging emails from many of you. Thank you all for your support. I'll post an end-of-the-road postscript from Halifax.
Yours in care of the interstate highway system
(love those American roads!),
Walter
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