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Vajrapani
Institute History
A walk down memory lane by John
Jackson, Valerie and Chuck Thomas, Tom Waggoner, Lennie Kronisch,
Richard Prinz and Elaine Jackson.
Click
Here to see the Vajrapani History Slideshow
Vajrapani Institute started
back in 1975. Back then Dick
and
Merideth
Robinson organized the first American course with
Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. It was held at Lake
Arrowhead, California (east of Los Angeles) and was similar to
the month-long courses offered at Kopan Monastery. During the
retreat, Lama was asked what would be a good name for a center
in California. Lama immediately said "Vajrapani Institute
for Wisdom Culture."
After the course, Vajrapani
slowly began to develop with courses being given in Venice (in
the Los Angeles area) and then in Santa Barbara.
In 1977, in the desert of southern California, Lama Yeshe
and Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave their second month-long American
course at a place called Yucca Valley. Inspired by the Lamas and
the teachings, Janet and Ross Brooke called their land partners,
James and Miriam Kent and Tom and Harriet Post, in northern
California and asked if they would like to donate 30 of their 80
acres to build a Buddhist retreat center. They thought it was a
splendid idea. So, Vajrapani, the retreat center, was born.
The donated land was located in
the Santa Cruz Mountains about sixty miles south of San
Francisco. Covered with redwood and live oak trees, the newly
acquired land was secluded and quiet. Deer wandered through the
mountains, and during the rainy season, water rushed down the
creek that bordered the property. It was a beautiful place, full
of potential.
John and Elaine Jackson were
the first to arrive in their Volkswagen bus with their two small
children. Shortly thereafter, Ani-la Ann McNeil arrived to be
the retreat center’s first director. Soon, Chuck Thomas, John
McKay, Chris and Barbara Vautier, and Tom Waggoner arrived. They
were followed by Bev Gwyn, Rich Prinz, Shasta Wallace, Ashley
Walker, Age Delbanco, Rick Crangle, Jackie Keeley, Jody Ezell,
and Andy Robbins. Lennie Kronisch showed up with her gypsy wagon
a few years later. These individuals became the core group of
Vajrapani, with many of them living at the center for many
years. To this day many of them still live on the land.
The first ‘buildings’ which
were raised were tipis and makeshift cabins with carpet walls.
The first winter, we built the “Jackson Kitchen,” which was
just a frame with mylar walls. We communicated by shortwave
radios, cooked on a wood stove, ate our meals together, and had
Lam Rim discussions over tea after dinner. A second kitchen
sprang up on the other side of the land as more people came to
help. Lama Yeshe called us the “bushy people.” We were.
County red tape created
numerous obstacles in the beginning. It was two years before we
had a permit to build our gompa. We purchased a sawmill to mill
our own lumber and slowly began the work of building the center.
Because our builders also worked at construction jobs in town to
pay the bills, it was a slow process.
Not having proper facilities
did not deter us from inviting the Lamas to come. In 1979, Chris
Vautier became the director and we organized and sponsored a
visit by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the University of
California at Santa Cruz. We also organized a course on the
Seven Point Mind Training with His Holiness Zong Rinpoche during
which Lama Zopa Rinpoche translated.
In those early days, Vajrapani
was a community of dharma brothers and sisters with their
families. The Brooke’s and Jackson’s had babies born on the
land and families with children shared the responsibility of
chauffeuring them to school each day. The children played
together and careened down the mountain trails on their big
wheels. On Friday afternoons, during the summer, we would go to
the beach to swim and picnic. Sometimes there would be 20 to 30
of us enjoying the California sun.

His Holiness Zong Rinpoche came
back to Vajrapani in early 1981 and gave the Vajrapani Hayagriva
Garuda initiation and the commentary in the “Jackson
Kitchen” to a handful of students. In Boulder Creek at Lennie
Kronisch’s house, we received teachings and initiation from
Serkong Rinpoche. Later that year, His Holiness Deshung Rinpoche
bestowed Bodhisattva vows to a group of students under a
“parachute gompa” on the ridge.
As money would allow, we bought
additional parcels of land; eventually growing Vajrapani to its
current 70 acres. But it was not easy to keep the retreat center
functioning. Finally, after repeated requests for a resident
teacher, Geshe Lobsang Gyatso arrived and took up the position.
From 1981 through 1983, Venerable Sogyal Rinpoche brought his
students to Vajrapani for meditation courses in sometimes very
difficult conditions of rain and cold. It was through
Rinpoche’s kindness that we were able to generate money in the
early years to keep the center alive and make progress in our
building program.
By 1983, we finished building
our gompa, complete with a commercial kitchen, dining room,
offices, and library. That summer we had the blessing to receive
the last teachings from our precious Lama Yeshe. Lama gave a
month long course on the Six Yogas of Naropa and Vajrasattva
Tsog. The gompa was packed with students and Lama inspired us
with his amazing teachings. Afterwards, His Holiness Zong
Rinpoche arrived to give the initiation and commentary on the
Heruka Body Mandala. Overall, this was a remarkable year for
Vajrapani.
One day, during Lama’s visit,
we had a picnic at the beach with our resident teacher Geshe
Lobsang Gyatso and our precious Lama Yeshe. Lama wore a long red
caftan over a pair of yellow swim trunks. Although he did not
know how to swim, he was keen to “ride the waves.”
Surrounded by a group of nervous students, Lama climbed onto an
air mattress and rolled around in the white water at the edge of
the shore. So much laughter ensued. It was a magical day.
In 1984, Lama returned to
Northern California showing the aspect of being quite ill, but
he always said, “I am fine, dear” and was more concerned
about others than himself. A group of Vajrapani students helped
to nurse Lama for a few months until he was eventually moved to
a hospital in Los Angeles. Following his passing, his holy body
was returned to Vajrapani. Almost miraculously, we obtained the
necessary permits to hold his cremation at Vajrapani on very
short notice. Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Geshe Sopa, Geshe Tsondru,
Geshe Gyeltsen, Geshe Sopa, Lama Yeshe’s brother Geshe Thinley,
and His Holiness Zong Rinpoche came quickly and joined our Geshe
Lobsang Gyatso to perform the cremation. It was surreal as the
cremation site was prepared, pujas were recited, and 175
students arrived from around the world. We were in a state of
shock.
During one all night puja, just
at the time of the offering to the Vajra Master, the gompa door
flew open and Lama Zopa Rinpoche entered. He manifested as the
Vajra Master, climbed onto the throne, accepted the offering,
and departed. The following day, Lama’s holy body was driven
in a procession up the road to the ridge where the cremation
took place. The depth of sadness was palpable. It was a day we
will never forget and a loss we will always mourn.
During the next few years, we
began to build a stupa to commemorate the selfless life of our
precious Lama. Supervised by Venerable Lati Rinpoche, we
followed his instructions, building and filling the stupa
according to Tibetan tradition. There was tremendous excitement
when Lama’s incarnation was announced. In 1986, hundreds of
students gathered to greet the two-year old Lama Osel, who
arrived to preside over the consecration of the stupa with our
precious Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lati Rinpoche. In many ways,
Lama Osel showed that He was no ordinary two year old as he
toured Vajrapani and seemed completely at home. Many students
told stories of His behavior that gave them faith that this WAS
our holy Lama. Now we would pray to live long enough to receive
teachings from Him again!
Following the consecration of
the stupa, we continued to offer courses each summer and slowly
worked to make the gompa more comfortable. Then in October of
1989, we sponsored a visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to
Vajrapani, shortly after he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Seated outside around the stupa, about 650 people received
teachings on The Song of the Four Mindfulnesses, a teaching
originally bestowed on Lama Tsong Khapa by Manjushri.
In 1994, we completed six new
retreat cabins and a bathhouse on the ridge near Lama Yeshe’s
cremation site. Over the last ten years, the buildings have been
slowly fine-tuned and our cabins are filled with meditators.
Besides the teachings mentioned
earlier, we have had the pleasure of offering teachings from
many Tibetan lamas including Tara Rinpoche, Lati Rinpoche, Geshe
Dhargye, Zasep Tulku, Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, Geshe Sopa, Geshe
Gyeltsen, Lama Kunga, and Jetsun Kuchula.
We have many plans on the
horizon. Most important is the completion of Lama Yeshe’s
Memorial Shrine – a sacred place of pilgrimage in memory of
our beloved teacher. Jim Westbrook, one of Lama’s disciples,
recently completed an amazing life-sized statue of Lama Yeshe
that will be placed in the Shrine. It is uncanny how Jim was
able to capture Lama in bronze. We look forward to completing
the Shrine and placing Lama Yeshe’s statue inside as a symbol
of his selfless work and compassion for all sentient beings.
Wishing all beings freedom and
may peace prevail.
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