The Passing of John Perks

When I was a little girl, my Mom who was Uncle John’s sister, took me, my sister, and brother to a farm where Uncle John was living. We found a baby dear without his Mom, and fed him from a bottle. I was able to run, play, get to know my cousins, and will always remember this wonderful time.
Thank you, Uncle John, please let my Mom know how much we Love & Miss her in Heaven.

On the passing of John Perks

Where this lord walked and where he prophesied
This includes the buildings and the people. They are all blessed. This is something that we used to know in relating with a person like Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche-- a mahasiddha. It is the science of Sacred World.
We are blessed.
John Perks is blessed.
I guess it helps to know what you are looking for. When you know, then your heart breaks constantly.
There should be hundreds of people, thousands of people mourning.

Was it strange
To go back home?

Yesterday
I could feel it when I woke up

it still haunts me

Seonaidh Yeshe Tungpa Perks embodied the warmth and beautifully crazy lineage of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. For those of us lucky enough to learn from him, he lived and expressed the Dharma in all his activities..........He was to us of the younger generation a being who existed with a heartbeat of the words of Trungpa's published works brought to life.
He was a Celt in his wanderings, an idiot siddha and fool of the highest order......He was a shining example of warrior-spirit and the embodiment of Shambhala through is generous hospitality of himself and his world.
His laughter challenged us to let go while bringing us fully into the moment.
He knew realization is beyond form and with such bravery and light-heartedness he let us play with form while speaking from the formless.
His wisdom trumpeted would cut the flesh off illusion's game while still appreciating and inviting our small selves to the table to feast.
He had confidence in everybody (deserved or not) for he knew and shared that we are all enlightened and just don't know it yet.
That is the wisdom from the ocean and not the wave.
No one I met showed me the spirit of Trungpa in such completeness as did Sir John A Perks--------He was my teacher, my friend, my mentor, my Bonnie love

Both my wife, 'Nessie Devil' (the former Miss Dessie Neville, and I wish to honor Major John Perks. As a leading creator of the service format and staff at the Kalapa Court, John set an example and inspired us to take a definite place, a job to do, in the inscrutable life of the royal household. One felt both alone and welcomed, relaxed and formal, on-edge and curious. His definite presence, humour--including puns, and sense of duty made it possible to join in. His life was generous to both of us.

John connected with and brilliantly emanated a very important aspect of the Vidyadhara's mind and teaching. I will be forever grateful for all he taught me, and I loved him as a brother.

So many meals together – nearly all you cooked
So many drinks – nearly all you poured
So many good times you created – which I did so little to deserve
So much good spirit, so much delight, so much daring, so much bright.

I cannot imagine a world without you in it
But since you will dwell in my heart forever,
Dearest Dharma Uncle and Friend,
I will never have to.

Much love to you, Julia, Sophie, Tilly, Percy and all.
Much love to you, Johnny,
Much love.

Ashley
Your erstwhile Baron of Brad D’Or
from coffee country Mexico, land of the old Olmeca.

I believe H.H. would allow a statement here.

From the Office of the Pirate Jester, Kalapa Court:

We find ourselves “deeply moved” by Mr. Perks’s whole performance.

He also mentioned that in lieu of flowers everyone should donate whiskey and steak to the above office.

“One may be doing all kinds of wonderful things. One should return to the discipline of compassion for all beings. Always.”

See you around, Johnny

I love you

Fair winds for sailing, sir.

The lineage proves
Framed images on walls
Walls on space
Labrynths on fields
Secrets on face.

I had the great honor of knowing a teacher Mr. Scheffel who revered the Celtic Buddhism path, and so I do as well.

Warmly,
Chris

Mr. Perks was a funny guy. No matter what he was doing, pouring tea, or eating in a restaurant, he always had a twinkle in his eye, a mischievous smile on his face. It was hard to tell if he was telling the truth or embellishing a story. He moved to NYC to work for a big shot celebrity. John hired sangha for parties as servers, flower arrangers, and cooks. A big heart, one never really knew him. The only thing we knew for certain is that his love and devotion for his Guru was bigger than the sky. Love to you dearest John. No doubt you are with him now. XO

I was a newcomer in the early 70's at Karme Choling, faced with the insider mentality of the sangha. John accompanied the Vidyadhara during his frequent visits and I gave him a ride to St. Johnsbury so he could shop for the Boss. He accepted me as a friend and fellow devotee and gave me confidence, as well as told amusing stories. He loved joking, as I did and we had the comfortable wordplay of those who practice this, a clever repartee with no winners.
I served the Kalapa Camp at 1978 Seminary under his direction. Here is a poem I wrote of what he taught me:
"Who but the vajra dustman can clean up the detritus of the mandala's unending play? With the twinkling of his eye, he reveals the essential emptiness of the garbage can."
The last time I saw him was in Ireland, he had a small house in the north-east of the country and I rode a bus all day to arrive to his welcome and a glass of stout looking over valley with more sheep than humans. I stayed a few days, we had a wonderful time. His entourage at the time was mostly former IRA veterans who had moved west from Northern Ireland. They were tough, but warm and devoted to him. He told me I was giving a talk half an hour before Sunday sitting. We had another laugh about that while he drove me to the bus back to Cork.
We have had few emails since, but his kindness and humor are enduring gifts. He was never uppity, despite being closer to the Boss than anyone else those years. He inspired my service of many years with his example of not pestering the boss for advice, just being there in his presence and helping the play of the mandala. I hope to see him in the next life.

John Seonairdh Perks is ever-present in my mind these days. Because I am the Idiot Scribe who did not know he had passed, although he arises again and again in my consciousness. I transcribed The Vajra Sandwich for him, his commentary on the 50 Practices of Guru Yoga. Every sentence was spoken aloud by Seonaidh with perfect grammar, syntax, significance. Occasionally we would together search for the best word or phrasing, but the manuscript is almost entirely Seonaidh's wisdom flowing onto the page, to illuminate for our times what it means to maintain samaya and establish unshakeable faith in our precious teachers. Contact me, nancy [period] crompton at the ubiquitious gmail with a request for a copy.

Thank you to Linda Zheng for pointing to the interview on Guruviking.com.

I hope the chronicles will post it for everyone to hear and see...especially our younger generations.

Dear John,

Your interview on the Guru Viking channel was deeply moving and has stuck with me since, especially the part when you recounted how the bell above your bed would ring at random times at night when the Vidyadhara needed you to make him some snack, your remark that "the guru sits on top of your head", and your responding "yes" when being asked whether the Vidyadhara loves you. Your generous teaching are so vivid and warm.

Bon Voyage!

with much appreciation and respect,
Linda

Here's to you JP - one of my dearest and greatest of friends these past fifty-one years. Your sense of play and spontaneity was always dazzling and exquisite. From turning a shaving brush into a wild badger in the New Mexico desert, to your faithful devotion to the moon spirits, you brought out the rascal in all of us.

You will be greatly missed my dear friend.

Love always......

When John was running his Butlering school in Nova Scotia, he and I were both dinner guests of Bill Gilkerson. One of John's trainee butlers provided the service and even played the piano for us while we sipped our aperatifs.

After dinner John produced a kind of kilt that he had designed, with much material for an over-the-shoulder part and numerous velcro tabs, here and there. He and Bill spent some time fitting this interesting garment on my body and it was gift for me as he knew that I am Scottish.

I still have that strange kilt and wonderful memories of John and BIll.

Among the scoundrels miscreants and rascals of the lineage of Marpa the translator John Perks found a home and then proceeded to help create a court for
our Guru . The court provided us a place we could be in Rinpoches presence.
Thank you Mr. Perks and travel well.

In the summer of 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, John was working alongside other children in a potato field near Portsmouth when a Luftwaffe Dornier 217 bomber flew low over the treetops, spotted the figures in the field, and machine-gunned them as it flew past. None of the children were hit, but they ran back to the farmhouse screaming and crying in fear.

From then on it was almost as if John set out to find the greatest fun, squeeze the maximum enjoyment and adventure, out of whatever situation he was in. And he would suck you in. Whether at the Kalapa Court in Boulder or at encampment in the Rockies, he imbued every task or project with high spirits and a sense of play, your full-hearted participation assumed – how, after all, could one miss some Brilliant Fun and Grand Adventure? – and any reluctance on your part simply deprived of oxygen, frozen out.

In many ways a born leader, John came from a long line of servants to the English aristocracy. His very name apparently born of some lord or lady’s whim, the original Perkins abbreviated for convenience or perhaps a kind of aristo affection. And he knew his business from bottom to top, from scrubbing floors to all the social skills and knowledge of a valet or butler, a gentleman’s gentleman. He not only infused Rinpoche’s Court with British service, style and decorum, he knew exactly which ancient tailors on London’s Savile Row to visit for Rinpoche’s elegant Gieves & Hawkes uniforms or exquisite Aquascutum suits.

When high spirits and the prospect of sparkling fun didn’t work with others, John was up to the game. In 1979 in Boston he invited me for a chat, beginning by saying that he’d heard that I’d been in the Army and asked “British Army?” – knowing, I’m sure, that a colonial would take that as a compliment. Then he said he wanted to invite me to Encampment and act as Sergeant-Major to the Kusung, Rinpoche’s attendants, who he felt were desperately in need of military discipline. I was aghast and said “The only Sergeants-Major I’ve known were big and nasty.” Without missing a step John said “Well, just come along and be small and mean.” Irresistible.

When in later years John began exploring what he called Celtic Buddhism, he adopted the title of Seonaidh and worked students studying the dharma. From that and the outlandish garb he sometimes wore in his Celtic capacity, I assumed that he’d drawn the title from some pre-Roman mystic and chieftain now wreathed in the hallowed mists of British history. One day I did some research: Seonaidh can mean either a water spirit or, in its Scottish Gaelic form just ‘Johnny.’

I knew John from the old days, definitely a character, and he was instrumental in turning VCTR’s home into a castle. A good man and great student of his Master.

I was as it was...once you met him the experience would not be forgotten. Maybe it was 1975 or 1976 when a friend George invited me over to his house to meet his roommate. As we walked through the front door we heard singing on the second floor. The tune sounded like an old sea shanty. George and I climbed the stairs to find his housemate naked, sitting in the bath tub surrounded by several floating navel vessels, having a wonderful time. George introduced him to me as 'Major
Perks'. I was 25 years, old back then and the experience was a bit stunning however John was one of my first encounters, within our sangha, to crazy wisdom.
So: to the unforgettable.....
Thank you Major Perks!

In my brief history with John Perks, he saw to my being accepted for personal shifts as Kasung with the Vidyadhara, at my seminary (in 1980, at Lake Louise). And he welcomed me both into his family and into the family of the Kalapa Court. He embodied welcome.

Major Perks it was an honor and my pleasure to serve with you.

I consider John Perks book one of the greatest treasures shedding light on the life of the Vidyadhara. Along with the Chronicles of course. I felt it was not that appreciated within the Sangha i knew at its time. Perhaps it was too raw, intimate or sort of crazy, but perhaps these were exactly the qualities that drew me in.