WEEKLY GROUP MEDITATION IN AND FROM MY LIVINGROOM To introduce the Colombian sangha we interviewed Santiago Villaveces. In this interview he shares early memories when Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche started to teach in the US, experiences in The 3 Doors Academy, and how that deepened his own understanding, trust and depth in his own practice. Ton: When we ask “How did you meet Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche?” we always get interesting stories. What is your story? Santiago: Just picture how likely it is for a Colombian to meet a Tibetan lama in Houston, Texas, make a deep connection and start a spiritual path of over 24 years? So here is the story. In 1991 I went to Houston do my graduate studies in Anthropology at Rice University. One year later one of my teachers told me, “Tomorrow there is an interesting talk and I think you'd like it.” Although I had never talked about my spiritual interest with her, she thought I would be keen to listen to a Tibetan lama. A good friend of my teacher, Anne Klein, had organized a presentation of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche in a big auditorium at the university. Over a hundred people came. There I heard Rinpoche for the first time giving a talk and slideshow that included sky burials. I was mesmerized. At that time Rinpoche was not living in Houston, but just passing by and making his arrangements to come to Rice the next semester.
Santiago Villaveces.
There was no chance of meeting him then, too many people wanted to talk with him and a lot was happening, but I didn't give up. Next day I went to see Anne Klein, then Head of the Religious Studies Department at Rice, asked her about Rinpoche and told her that I was very interested in Tibetan Buddhism. She encouraged me to take a course she was teaching the following semester on Tibetan Meditation Theories. So, I ended up taking it on top of an already full course load in Anthropology. It was the wisest choice I could have ever made.
Institute of Technology]. We decided to meet on an early January day for lunch so we could say goodbye. As I entered the restaurant where we were to meet I saw Mike finishing a lively conversation with Rinpoche! I couldn't believe this coincidence! In five short minutes I told Rinpoche I had heard him a few months back at the big auditorium. Of this short encounter, what I remember the most was that he pulled out from his shirt the turquoise he was wearing around his neck and showed it to me. I had no idea what the turquoise symbolized but again I was captivated. It turns out that among Mike's multiple interests, spirituality is an important one, and in pursuing this he had been interviewing Rinpoche for some time around topics on Tibetan spirituality. Circumstances were brewing my initiation on the path.
A couple of months after hearing Rinpoche for the first time, and before starting my course with Anne, one of my teachers, Michael Fischer, was taking a new position at MIT [Massachusetts
A few weeks later I started Anne's class. We were around eight people. After a couple of weeks, I mentioned to Anne that the readings of the course were great and then asked her if we would
The sangha
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