Susan Sayre

Oh Fran! The last of the old guard. I loved her so much! She was so kind to me when I was such a beginner. She truly embodied the superb vajrayana Dharma. She was Lenny Bruce’s secretary, and it showed. What a wicked sense of humor. One time we had just received a Chenrezig empowerment in the old KTD apartment on West End Avenue and there was Fran in her little room off the kitchen, swatting at the overwhelming cockroaches and saying “om mani peme hung!” with each swat. So many stories of Trungpa Rinpoche, starting with Vermont and on through Boulder. The day she suddenly really realized emptiness, and how it felt to open her friend’s door to a crowd of her friends...but empty. Like when you push the down button on an elevator and the floor seems to give way and for a second you’re falling. So many stories, like when she was having a furious and passionate fight with her boyfriend of the time, screaming and even dish throwing. Then suddenly they both stopped, looked at each other, and burst out laughing. Short pause, and then they resumed the fight right where they left off. Dharmadatu knew what they were doing when they asked her to take care of the precious Tibetan visitors who had been assigned to be KTD in America. The monks didn’t know America or westerners, but they knew people. And Fran knew the ways of the world, and guided them through the maize of setting up a nonprofit organization in New York. 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
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