My drive with a monk

I had to drive Venerable Sangpo from Grand Baie to the centre last saturday. I spent more or less one hour in his presence with the underlying impression that I was attending a private masterclass.
When Vimla asked me to go and fetch the Master the previous day, I was a bit intimated and thought it would be good to have a few questions in store. But then I didn't know what to ask and  I just decided to go with the flow.

The conversation turned out to be very fluid with such a clairvoyant person. Actually it was so pleasant and interesting that at one point Venerable Sangpo told me: ' On peut se tutoyer, hein, il n'y a pas de soucis...'. Incroyable! Venerable Sangpo is over 70 years old and did part of his apprenticeship with the Dalai Lama himself. He had been introduced to buddhism in 1969 and gave up his life as a renowned and wealthy artist in Paris to walk the middle path. He is now invited around the world to give teachings. Comment diantre le tutoyer? He told me that everything happens for a reason and that his presence in my car is not due to sheer luck. 'Everyone who walks into your life has a connection with you in a way or another'. We talked about reincarnation, we talked about generosity, we talked about selflessness.

It is the second time I am driving a monk. Both have been extremely down-to-earth, simple and making me feel at ease as if I was a long time friend. This is truly a very humbling experience. I have been feeling happy and at peace with myself and the outer world for some time now. I am aware that this happiness is naturally vulnerable and that it requires a sustained effort of the mind to develop qualities such as inner peace and compassion but I also acknowledge the fact that my environment allows me in developing such qualities. Unlike many of my peers, I am not distracted by family, work or relationship issues anymore.

I feel a lot for Michael these days. The more I think about his struggles, the more I feel that he tends to set foot unprepared on this battlefield called life. He feels lonely in his couple, he struggles in standing up for himself at work, he finds it hard to make new friends and he perceives the outer world as a threat to the harmony that he wants to build inside his cell. I think he should be committing himself to what he really wants to do with his life. The question is: Is he really stuck in a life that he doesn't want? How long will he keep looking for the missing piece of the puzzle that will eventually relieve him from all his stress? 

Truth is: There is no missing piece of the puzzle. 

Life is a mandala, not a puzzle.