Um, I just thought I'd say something because a few people asked asked me about um, they've seen us here in Ram's presence, but they just wanted to know our uh, our record or history. I'm not going to bore you along just to let you know. Yes, I think you all know us as Shantaloo.
That's probably what you saw on the most prehistoric archaic website that you have ever seen. Archaic. Araic.
And it is made to confuse you rather than inform you. Some of my kind friends typed into that. And it really looks like one of those prehistoric caves where we are like like where where actually Shantloop is based.
It is uh based in the it was meant to be the cradle of humanity until you know our scientists discovered the cradle elsewhere and who knows where where else it'll be. Anyway, the word shantloop literally means wolf's cry and the place where the uh place where it is actually situated the retreat place um I heard from my brother Turumi that Nurumi said that it was actually um one of the uh places of uh Raj Kallaya of his treasure the treasure of I think it was but um I'll have to find out from Dur thanks to um u multiple multiple coits my memory is not as um it should be but still I have my what do you call it it's still functioning but I think all of you also have some memory lapses. So nothing drastic.
So this place Chantloop started uh with uh my father Kji. Um although he didn't come here but that's how it started. Um anyway um I think many of you know possibly know this um documentary called the lake of the yogis.
It was a a French um doc documentary maker called Arno Dejata came to India just um I think late 50s early 60s and he made a documentary in which you can see you can also see the 16 kamapa and many other teachers and uh I think after he made that he came to France, showed it and even wrote a book about it and I think many uh audience in the from the west met many of our teachers through that. And so um many of uh our friends who became Kanger student and later on student they saw that documentary and um amongst them you know one of the most famous French monk Matthew. And then those of you who have seen some photos of the Kinder Rumache, you can see one photo of Rumache uh almost holding closely uh an elderly French monk.
Yes. Where is wearing a blue wig. And so these people met Kanye.
They saw this uh documentary and read the book and then they came to that dealing. I think they were very very adventurous. Matthew was a scientist.
Jer was a very um square businessman and also very polite and very elegant, very kind. So they met and then after that uh the grandfather of this lady translator Claraara he also came who who's called Claraara his his name was called Bernard Benson and I remember so well he had curly hair like yours and like you he had a big beard like you and like you sorry and he used to he used to cry and jiggle a lot. He was he was just like a a little child when he came to see and he would be with his eyes squinting and cried a lot.
He was so excited to use this example. I don't want to say this, but the best thing that could actually say it would be like a little puppy who was so excited to see their their friend that he he was uncontainable. Did they go?
So then through them many many uh westerners um also very um uptight ones and extremely um unuptight and uh what do you call it? um hippies came there on their way to experience India's um what do you call it hippie drug scene so there was a vast array of um people from the US from England and from France even Brazil uh New Zealand from everywhere many of them came shopping for experiences And then they somehow strayed into meeting spiritual shopping. Some of them came directly to see just after seeing the book they could not hold hold back.
After seeing the book and the documentary, they decided to come and then many of them wanted to receive teaching from him and unfortunately for them it happened that there was a war between the two Pakistans and then India get got involved and during that time um people were not allowed to stay there at all. And then um many of them had to would come in secret at night and hide and come in secret. You remember at night in the daytime they would hide.
Some of them even told me they would hide under the beds of their uh hosts when the police or came to check for them. So they would hide there. So they had such hardship.
Some of them knew how to knew certain people and made they accumulated a lot of merit making offerings to certain um um what do you call it? Um certain um protectors of digiling. One of them was called the young spy Mr Chhattaji.
Chhatti Chhatri that's his name. So many of my friends would make offerings to him once in a while. Whenever he needed, he would come and put a note saying, "I want this whiskey, this pen or this much.
" And then then they could stay. It wasn't any pen. He would say, "I want this parker pen.
" And then he then they could stay maybe a few weeks more. Like you know the in the old times the translators went to India they made offerings to to the customs officer, immigration officer. These people also uh made those offerings.
So after a while it was not tenable. So they asked please come to the west and he said something like okay I will come but actually I will I will look from here I will sort of yeah I'll look look from here. So um at that time one of the people who asked him was this jiggly hair with uh your grandfather.
Yeah. And he even showed a photo of Shantaloop. That is where the the retreat place is, where the stupa is, he said, "Yes, that is my place.
" Good. So when Kjuri passed away not long afterwards before he passed away he had already requested and to be kind enough to guide us um on the path and to be our teachers and they kindly accepted to look after all of us. Asi said that his students well when says his students please don't think it is somebody else we all received empowerment and teachings from him so we are all students so basically we are all what say uh mentally unstable I should add we were not only mentally unstable but we were all extremely volatile and emotional and that is why I feel so grateful that so kindly accepted us under their uh career and My father's teacher was called uh Jirung Tampa who was also one of the teachers of and um this Junich was a direct student of Jamai and there are stories about that too but that uh we don't have time.
So then uh after my father passed away requested and to come to France and bring the Buddha Dharma here and that is why we have such fortune in Doddine in Shantloop to have had two of the greatest teachers not just of the last century but ever because they were both um none other than Gurimi and none other than Vimmanitra. Just like when Buddha Dharma came to Tibet there was great teachers like Valamitra we have had that fortune in France. They were instrumental to bring the Buddha Dharma to Tibet.
These two great teachers um they were instrumental to bringing Buddha Dhama to Tibet. And both were many of these teachers in one. If you readjun's um prayer of his biography, you will see that he is none other than Guru, none other than and then none other than um and then of course no different from Guru.
is no different from the Vimitra and also King. Okay. So then I would like to tell all of you that even though you know we have so many precious places to go to pilgrimage these two teachers having been to to do gave teachings and even left his um physical manifestation there it's really no different from any of these precious places that we we can see elsewhere.
So all of us, you French people, not just me, all of you French people following the the Buddha's teachings, especially Guri's uh following Guri's lineage, you should feel actually proud of this. This is something more important to feel proud about than anything else. Particularly what is it baguette and the hundreds of cheeses that you have.
This is much more precious from the point of view of being Gurum's lineage follower. This is so much more important. So you should feel proud of it.
Not just French. France happens to be stuck to other countries. So this continent is so precious for us.
So um please remember and feel proud. This is worth being proud about. And as Kamji on the first day of Egyptian when he was uh speaking he did say this place not far from the place of God and blessed by and so this place Shantloop this is how it started.
In fact, the place of Shantloop was given by your grandfather to your mother, wasn't it? And then that's how now this uh we have the retreat place where the stupa is people go to the stupa there and of course it's very blessed and just next to it there's a sort of an old barn a dilapidated barn um which thanks to the French um regulations is very difficult to touch very much but that is where these great teachers spend some time giving teachings to a handful of people. So that is the how Shantloo began.
When I meet people they say how did you come here? Why did you come here? I said your people brought us here.
Yes. Not that person but they and then of course there was others. So then um we first have this fortune of having these places.
So when you go to the stuper, don't just go to the stuper. Look to the right. This sort of old house at least if you're if you're what do you call it?
Embarrassed to bow down to a house at least in from the inside really bow down because that is where these great masters taught that they have been there. The place is blessed. their blessings are no different from them.
Therefore, it's like being in their presence. And then if you look on the other side, there's again a small place which is at the moment uh closed. You see that is where the three years retreat started since the early 80s and that those people are so fortunate because they had as retreat masters and eventually I think they they know how fortunate they were at that time.
I don't know. Maybe they thought this is normal. Imagine if you were a Christian, the Christ himself giving you a teaching every day.
These two were these two great masters were there. I think used to visit weekly or every two weeks and then uh pour their blessings. Kinder used to visit every year and spend almost month giving teachings and empowerments.
when we count it had been about 17 or 18 times over that many years. So for us there is really no difference between sat and dong where the Buddha taught here two Buddhas taught and not only that him passing away there it's really no different from um Kushagar so and then both of them being enlightened and manifest ing their enlightened qualities every day. I think there's really no difference from Bodgaya.
Now, please don't make me accumulate bad merit by making you uh become lazy and frugal thinking it's easier to go here, it's cheaper to go there, that's why I'm going to go to dodine. Please, if you wish to go to Podka, you absolutely should. Even if you don't want to, you should go.
No, no, no. So I really wanted to tell you this because um what we're doing here this is the kindness kind activity of these teachers and now when my father passed away Dr Kinder Mitch came for the uh funeral rights. I think he stayed almost 49 days and uh with Judge Kins came [Applause] at that time was there too.
or that is where I first met. So uh I also heard that when in dings was receiving uh empowerment from deput I heard on some occasion was very young so he would also sit on kandur's lap. this is here sit himself didn't tell me so uh please take it with a grain of salt but I would like to think like that anyway and um also later on um I heard um um mentioned to um to advise us and to look after us And I think that is really so precious.
I have no doubt that um we are all under care and um these days um so And then um we tried to build a a structure in Dodo. But because it is a prehistoric place, even repairing even the slant of the roof is so uh restricted. We tried for a long time.
We were not we could not get to get a place to build on the precise spot. They told us you can build it elsewhere. Bit to the right, bit to the left.
Then it doesn't really we didn't manage so far. We wanted to build a place where Jiram had come for six 17 times and gave so many teachings and so so far we haven't managed and then um my mother a year or two before she passed away um she suddenly one day she was a little bit unwell and she's I I asked her what can I do to to make you feel And at that time she said I will I want to go to Nepal to Marika but unfortunately um there was this um civil sort of civil war in Nepal. So we tried but we couldn't we didn't um we didn't manage.
So when I told her about it, she said, "Okay, then that's it. " Then she said, "I want to go to Portugal. I'll feel better.
" So then we packed and went to Portugal and um we went to few different places. She just wanted to stay and she didn't like them. And then one day she said to us to go look for a place she wants to stay.
So we went every day we went and we told her about it. She said it's not that it's not that. We would show her photos.
She said it's not that. And then after some months we went to the we found one place. It felt just like Diling where we grew up.
And so we went there and we told her we found a place she said I want to go and look. So she came she liked it she said okay this is it I'm not going. My brother Dumj had to convince her that this is we we we will definitely ask the the owners if we can rent it first and we'll see if they want to sell it.
Then reluctantly she accepted to go to the other place so that we can arrange this place to rent this place first and then talk about buying it. So then eventually uh they talked with the owners the owners had died. Yeah, there was anyway there was a long story and then we finally um managed to rent it and then once we had rented it uh you know got the papers ready still we had to wait and she would keep asking us is it ready?
Is it ready? Is it ready? Portugal is part of Europe but it is really part like India.
People are so sweet. bureaucracy takes the time it takes. And so one day she said, "Oh no, that story I won't tell.
" So anyway, um we got that place. Yeah. She could rent it and then uh we were wanting to buy it and uh you know got some help and then wanted to buy it.
He raised some funds so that we could uh buy it. Yeah. And then just before signing the contract because felt that we should um you know there wasn't enough to pay for the whole amount they wanted.
So then just about a few days before signing the contract, our place was uh burnt by fire. After that forest fire, when we looked back, it felt like the face of the moon cuz everything was ashes. Then the the one who was the lawyer who was going to sell the place came and looked.
We introduced him to my mother. When he came in, he was first quite shocked because first the place was unrecognizable and then the owners left a dog. That really helped us in the in the negotiating.
The lawyer when he saw that dog, every time he used to come there, he used to be afraid of the dog cuz dog would try to attack him. In the past with the previous owner, no, he was trying to attack. But this time when he came he saw the dog came sniffing with a tail wagging.
So he was completely uh transported. So first he was shocked at looking looking at the surface of the moon and then the dog seduced him before the surface of the moon. I think it looked very much like what we think of the garden of Eden.
It was so beautiful. So then when they negotiated saying now look at this place we're not very interested he agreed saying we do need to put the price down he said I will do everything to talk with the people and reduce so we just managed to get it for the price that uh we could so the fire the dog and my mother all three of them managed to get us this is and she didn't live very long after that. So then as we can't build what we want here, we decided maybe we should try it there.
So once we got it, then we had the fortune of having there who came there to bless it. He's really again uh used to say that if you want know that for him was none other than the great translator Vana. So my mother passed away in Portugal and we also did her cremation in that place.
Plus and then Portugal being Portugal it took us seven or eight I don't even know maybe more than that. How long was it to get the permission? How long did it take?
It was 10 years. Anyway, six or seven years. Seven, six or seven years.
But I think to be safe, I could say 10 years. And then um after we got it and then recently we I think we got the permission to start something now and there I hope one day when and if it is finished it's a big when and big if if it finishes I hope we will be able to do there and I have I I've already requested to come to come to to Portugal and he kindly did not refuse. He didn't say don't even think of it.
No. So I I take it as a possibility and a real good possibility. So if anybody of you want to know, there's two small posters in the corner there.
That's what it is hopefully going to look like. And um well, it's going to it's going to start slowly. I hope one day it finishes.
that you know depends on um on our merit and um many of our friends have uh very kindly pledged support for it to to be able to build it and so that's who we are now you know. Okay, that's it. Thank you very much for listening.
