ever briefly, and explore what it means to practice. Drolma explains, “You can learn to watch your mind and recognize when you’re having a disturbing or negative emotion, and you can kind of step back, and you don’t have to react. You’re not always looking outside yourself. You’re looking at your own mind.”
‘Settle your mind’
Director The Department of Arkansas Heritage invites applications for the position of Director of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and Museum. The newly established museum is the Premiere African American museum in Central Arkansas. The Director will be responsible for planning and directing the overall operation of the museum; coordinating the primary fund raising pursuits for the museum programs; provide direction to other museum staff; work effectively and collaboratively with the museum’s various publics; coordinate activities with other agencies and museums within DAH; and perform various other administrative duties. The Director may be required to work other than normal office hours. Some in and out of state travel may also be required. The Director will possess a working knowledge of Arkansas History, particularly African American Arkansas History as well as knowledge of museum administration including standard museum and oral history practices outlined by the American Association of Museums and the Oral History Association, as well as the ability to work with community groups, other state agencies, legislators, etc. The director should have skills in editing as well as effective oral and written communication. Minimum qualifications: The formal education equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in public administration, business administration, or a related area; plus six years of experience in program development and administration, including three years in a supervisory or leadership capacity. Valid Arkansas Driver’s License and pre-employment criminal background check is required. Please apply online at www.arstatejobs.com OR send the required State of Arkansas application, resume and list of five references to: DAH Personnel, 323 Center St., 1500 Tower Building, Little Rock, AR 72201. Off list references may also be checked. All applications must be received by close of business June 3, 2011. EOE.
16 MAY 11, 2011 • ARKANSAS TIMES
“You learn that you’re not a puppet of your mind, and so you don’t get caught up in the superficial. Developing a focused mind is a skill, and anyone can develop it. What makes the Dalai Lama so powerful is the focus of his mind. That’s what the awakened mind — the enlightened mind — is: the mind that’s completely settled in its own nature.” Buddhists see a metaphor in the rivers around them. Storms can stir the water. But, says Drolma, as with water, “the longer you can sit and settle your mind, the more it clears. Sediments settle to the bottom. The mind sinks into more and more profound states.” As Drolma puts it, when one’s mind is “not constantly being whipped about,” the resulting clarity permits the “beautiful qualities” of compassion, generosity and patience to emerge. Yeshe, the center’s other monk, is the son of New York Quakers. He entered college to become a naturalist, worked as an environmental educator, then returned to school to study Eastern medicine, which he practiced in Oregon. He says that from the moment he became involved in Tibetan Buddhism, he “felt called to the path of a monk.” Yeshe was part of the group of 70 or so that accompanied Rinpoche to Tibet in 2007. “It was great to be around those monks,” he says. It was there that he was ordained. Yeshe followed Rinpoche to Arkansas because “he is the only teacher who has laid out the whole path for me and given me a very clear explanation.” Yeshe finds it remarkable that, at exactly the time he came here, with the blessing of the land last October, the couple from Hawaii found and contributed the property that Rinpoche plans to make into a healing center. When that happens, he hopes to work there. To support himself now, though, he works full-time in Jasper at a facility for developmentally disabled people. He wears “lay clothes” to the job instead of his monk’s robes because he wants to “give people a chance to know me and trust me, and the robes would have created a barrier.” “Right now, I’m basically mainstreamed,” Yeshe explains. “Can you imagine if I worked in a bank and wore robes? It would be too strange for people. But I keep aspiring to a job where I can wear my robes.”
At work, Yeshe also goes by his premonk name, Ken Davidson. “I call it my Social Security name,” he says. “It’s for taxes and all my legal stuff. Right now, it’s also my work persona.” Yet Yeshe realizes that Jasper is a small town, and that anyone who didn’t already know he’s a monk is likely to after this article. “Everything has to move slowly,” he says. “I’m here to integrate with the people and culture. I’m not here to build a wall between me and the community.”
Rinpoche
So there is assimilation all around. Via e-mail, I asked Rinpoche’s secretary and translator, Paloma Lopez Landry, to relay a few questions about that to him. What, for instance, has been the most difficult part of adapting to life in the U.S.? “Too many concepts about everything,” he responded via Landry. “This makes life overly complicated and takes a long time to do simple things.” And the easiest? “There are so many things. But if I have to choose one, it’s freedom.” (In parentheses, Landry wrote “human rights.”) Finally, I asked what, if anything, Rinpoche would like for the people of Newton County to understand about him. He replied: “I’m a lone Tibetan monk far from my homeland, monastery, family and friends. Since my arrival in Newton County, everyone who I have met I have felt has been welcoming, kind, friendly and helpful. I wish to thank everyone for this kindness.” On Wednesday, May 18, Khentrul Rinpoche will give a talk in Fayetteville. For the announcement, he wrote: “Consider how human desire turns into overwhelming greed, destroying in gradual stages the planet and our lives, in turn undoing the livelihood and sustenance of all future generations.” The question to be addressed, he says, is: “Within this infinite universe, how can we as humans abide without harming our small planet and ourselves?” A current of excitement runs through the mountains here, like the buzz from the saws in the colorful new barn temple. Jim Westbrook, the architect, almost expresses it. “I think I have the same feeling everyone here has,” he calmly says. “We can’t believe our good fortune. Rinpoche travels a lot, but he calls this place home.” Khentrul will teach a four-day retreat at Katog Katog Rit’hröd May 21-24, (Schedule and contact information at http://katogcholing.com/rinpoche.php.)