From Jon A. Frank

As the Halifax sangha gathers to honor our friend and sangha brother, Paul Halpern, we will be doing the same in Washington, D.C. As everyone knows by now, this is where Paul joined the sangha of the Dorje Dradul and began his career in the Dorje Kasung. Something about Paul lends itself to vivid memories, starting with the evening he first appeared at an open house, and introduced himself as Alex Halpern's brother. Not that any of us had any idea who Alex Halpern was. In any event, Paul disappeared for a bit, then came back, moved into one of our group houses, and joined our fledgling dorje kasung squad, which had been created from whole cloth in anticipation of His Holiness Karmapa's first visit to Washington in 1976. In short order, Paul took on the mantle of leader of our squad, eventually deciding that it would be a good idea for us to have a rusung, and promptly informing the command group in Boulder of his appointment.^* A few years later, after Paul had departed for the west, the Kasung Kyi Kyap would comment during a visit that this was a rather non-standard approach to appointing a rusung, but that the command group had decided to go along with it and, in retrospect, it had worked out rather well.

Mr. Boyce has described Paul's unique qualities more eloquently than I can. I can only laugh at his description of our center as a hot bed of temporary proof reading services. The anecdotes could be legion, but I will spare you. However, let it be known that I once spilled some sake at a party, and Rusung Halpern, with evident glee, commanded me to "please commit seppuku." I've always assumed he was kidding.

As Rusung, Paul's devotion to duty inspired the same in his squad. He also had an intuitive understanding of Shambhala culture, and in this respect brought his literary and other interests to bear. Those were the days when independent movie theaters still thrived in Washington, and when the Biograph had one of its six week festivals of Japanese Cinema, he would lead the entire squad out to see some of his favorites.

More to the point than any of these old memories, however, is that the fact that as sad as we all are, we are also moved and inspired by who Paul was, and is. Every time I saw him in subsequent years, the last time at the Sakyong's wedding, I was touched by his openness and warmth. He shed his hard shell, and let the sun of his basic goodness shine. That's all any of us can do, and Paul continued to do it as he shared the path of his cancer so directly and openly with us. So, jolly good show, old friend. Such thunderstorm does not stop.

-Jon A. Frank

*Paul became a Rusung in DC at the suggestion of David Sable, the DC Ambassador to the DK leadership in Boulder.