Allen's Park summer 1971

I hitch-hiked up to Rinpoche's house in Four Mile Canyon in early July1971 to catch a ride up to the first summer seminar in Allen's Parkalong the Continental Divide. I got a ride in the back of a truckdelivering supplies with, among others, a tall colorful talkativefellow named Alan Marlowe who said he had just returned from Thailandwhere he had been practicing in a monastery as a Buddhist monk.

I have many vivid memories of those 10 days which were extremelyformative in my 21-year-old life and emerging Buddhist path.Rinpoche's teachings were utterly unfathomable and equallycaptivating. Marv Ross was taping the talks, and immediately aftereach teaching I would listen to them with his headphones to try andcomprehend what Rinpoche had just taught us. We also had discussiongroups in the afternoons. But I was still utterly bewildered by thematerial (even though I had studied Kant and Hegel as a philosophymajor at UCLA two years earlier).

Karma Dzong -- with Jonathan Eric's inheritance -- was about topurchase the land near Red Feather Lakes which Rinpoche soonchristened Rocky Mountain Dharma Center (and Sakyong Mipham renamedShambhala Mountain Center many years later). The Pygmies were planningto move up there later in the summer, and I planned to move there,too. There was some discussion about me camping with them in themountains above Boulder until it was time to move up to "the land."But one of the Pygmy guys said it wouldn't work out because I was notdeferential enough to men.

The camp at Allen's Park had some horse stables, and one afternoon Idecided to go riding. The horse bolted away up the mountain carryingme along with him. As we raced past Rinpoche's cabin Lady Diana camerunning out and yelled at me "Kick him! Control your horse!" I managedto stay upright, but it was a wild ride. A foreshadowing of things tocome...

Chris Keyser
Berkeley, Calif.