RECOLLECTIONS
Geshe Drakpa Gelek Archive
Geshe Drakpa Gelek Archive
Covita Moroney
aka Tenzin Chodon / Tenzin Paldon
To meet Geshe Drakpa Gelek, and to be accepted as his disciple, fulfilled a deep-rooted aspiration that cycled around my psyche for a number of years. Perhaps it began at about the age of 18 when I may have first heard of the concept. After decades of sincerely adopting a series of spiritual practices that included Metaphysics, A Course in Miracles, and Sufism, Buddhism finally pushed its way to the surface just before my 50th birthday,
Lama Passang Gelek was living and teaching in San Antonio when we met in 2005. It was he who invited Geshe Drakpa to San Antonio in order teach a handful of students who, evidently, exhibited an earnest desire to study and practice traditional Tibetan Buddhism. After meeting Geshe Drakpa and being accepted as his student I felt a powerful sense of deep joy accompanied by disbelief that such a marvelous being as Geshe-la would take me on. That is how I feel today, eighteen years later.
Geshe Drakpa has just recently completed a 9-year Kalachakra retreat and was in the USA in order to lead a retreat at Namgyal Ithica, the North American seat of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. But it was simply the kindness of Lama Passang Gelek, who sensed our cpotential commitment, that connected a group pf students with Geshe Drakpa. Lama Passang served as translator for each of Geshe Drakpa's seven visits to San Antonio.Without him we would not have understood even on syllable of the teachings we received. Although we did not understand it at the time, Geshe Drakpa led us through a series of teachings that, in the Gelugpa lineage's approach to practice, included the entire path from A-Z.
The profoundly generous commitment that Geshe Drakpa made to us meant that he travelled to San Antonio seven times over a ten-year period. Each time he stayed for several months in order to transmit the fullness of the topics, which he continually stated was to "plant seeds." The Geshe Drakpa Gelek Archive pages contain information about the vast scope of Dharma given to students in San Antonio, so I won't catalog that here. I just want to emphasize that as his student I was insatiable with regard to receiving teachings. Most weeks during his visits we met as many as four times a week in order that he could download complete information on each topic. We were thrilled to have this blessing and somehow managed to make time for this transmission of Mahayana Dharma.
Eventually Geshe Drakpa became, and still is, like an ever-present mountain that dominates the inner landscape of my heart and mind. If my life eventually has some benefit, it will be due to him. My feeble attempts to integrate and embody the essence of the teachings are the only way to repay him and Lama Passang. May whatever effort I am able to invest in the great path Geshe Drakpa set me upon bring magnificent fruit that will be heaped upon the ground at his blessed feet,
Tenzin Chodon Paldon, October 2023.
aka Tenzin Chodon / Tenzin Paldon
To meet Geshe Drakpa Gelek, and to be accepted as his disciple, fulfilled a deep-rooted aspiration that cycled around my psyche for a number of years. Perhaps it began at about the age of 18 when I may have first heard of the concept. After decades of sincerely adopting a series of spiritual practices that included Metaphysics, A Course in Miracles, and Sufism, Buddhism finally pushed its way to the surface just before my 50th birthday,
Lama Passang Gelek was living and teaching in San Antonio when we met in 2005. It was he who invited Geshe Drakpa to San Antonio in order teach a handful of students who, evidently, exhibited an earnest desire to study and practice traditional Tibetan Buddhism. After meeting Geshe Drakpa and being accepted as his student I felt a powerful sense of deep joy accompanied by disbelief that such a marvelous being as Geshe-la would take me on. That is how I feel today, eighteen years later.
Geshe Drakpa has just recently completed a 9-year Kalachakra retreat and was in the USA in order to lead a retreat at Namgyal Ithica, the North American seat of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. But it was simply the kindness of Lama Passang Gelek, who sensed our cpotential commitment, that connected a group pf students with Geshe Drakpa. Lama Passang served as translator for each of Geshe Drakpa's seven visits to San Antonio.Without him we would not have understood even on syllable of the teachings we received. Although we did not understand it at the time, Geshe Drakpa led us through a series of teachings that, in the Gelugpa lineage's approach to practice, included the entire path from A-Z.
The profoundly generous commitment that Geshe Drakpa made to us meant that he travelled to San Antonio seven times over a ten-year period. Each time he stayed for several months in order to transmit the fullness of the topics, which he continually stated was to "plant seeds." The Geshe Drakpa Gelek Archive pages contain information about the vast scope of Dharma given to students in San Antonio, so I won't catalog that here. I just want to emphasize that as his student I was insatiable with regard to receiving teachings. Most weeks during his visits we met as many as four times a week in order that he could download complete information on each topic. We were thrilled to have this blessing and somehow managed to make time for this transmission of Mahayana Dharma.
Eventually Geshe Drakpa became, and still is, like an ever-present mountain that dominates the inner landscape of my heart and mind. If my life eventually has some benefit, it will be due to him. My feeble attempts to integrate and embody the essence of the teachings are the only way to repay him and Lama Passang. May whatever effort I am able to invest in the great path Geshe Drakpa set me upon bring magnificent fruit that will be heaped upon the ground at his blessed feet,
Tenzin Chodon Paldon, October 2023.