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~Song of Fulfillment~

Founded by His Eminence KALU RINPOCHE

Directed by Venerable LAMA LODU RINPOCHE

An Unexpected Gift


(This is 26th in a series of reminisces by Lama Lodu Rinpoche)


Readers of this newsletter may remember that about a year ago Lama Lodu Rinpoche was hit by a van at the intersection of Haight Street and Masonic in San Francisco. He was taken to the hospital and found to be bruised but free of serious injuries.

While lying on the street after he was hit, many people overheard him speaking gently to the distraught young man who had been driving the delivery van. Although onlookers were clamoring to call the police, Rinpoche kept insisting that he was not seriously hurt and did not want to get the man in trouble or do anything that could make him lose his job.

One woman in particular, whom Rinpoche had noticed, saw everything that happened and followed him home to KDK. She left a note under the door that was discovered the next morning, describing the goodness of the Tibetan man who had been knocked down in the intersection and who, instead of being concerned with himself and his injuries was worried about the wellbeing of the driver who had accidentally hit him. She said that she had never before in her life seen such kindness.

Rinpoche was accompanied that day by one of his students, who decided to pursue the legal side of the incident on his own. Even though Rinpoche had insisted that he did not want to press charges, the student reported the accident to KDK’s insurance company and as a result, a year later--to Rinpoche’s astonishment--he learned that he had been awarded $10,000 in damages for the accident.

No one who knows him will be surprised to learn that Rinpoche immediately donated the entire sum to the Enlightenment Stupa that is right now being erected at KDK’s Mendocino County retreat facility. The great marble stupa will be the centerpiece of an array of eight smaller stupas that adorn the crest of a golden hillside above the retreat-land. Rinpoche has expressed a profound wish that this gift of money be made for the benefit of all sentient beings but that it should be dedicated in particular to the driver who unintentionally hit him and to the anonymous woman who was so deeply moved by what she witnessed that day.

  • 1. Lama Lodu Recalls His Childhood
  • 2. Memories of Adolescence and Coming to the Dharma
  • 3. Early Dharma Studies and Ngondro
  • 4. Leaving Gangtok
  • 5. On the Road to Bhutan
  • 6. The Journey to Chang Chub Ling
  • 7. In Retreat at Chang Chub Ling
  • 8. After the Retreat
  • 9. Journey to Penang
  • 10. At the Penang Caves
  • 11. With My Teachers Again
  • 12. Lonely In Copenhagen
  • 13. His Holiness Intervenes
  • 14. The Dharma Bus
  • 15. Stockholm Days
  • 16. The Western Paradise
  • 17. KDK San Francisco Grows Up
  • 18. Double Miracle
  • 19. A Teaching Without Words
  • 20. The Kalachakra In America
  • 21. Closing the Gates
  • 22. Perfect Mind
  • 23. Kalu Rinpoche's Last Days
  • 24. The Forty-Nine Days
  • 25. An Unknown Witness
  • 25. An Unexpected Gift
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