How Tomo Geshe Rinpoche changed Lama Anagarika Govinda’s path in The Way of the White Clouds
In 1931, Lama Anagarika Govinda travelled from Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, to a Buddhist conference in Darjeeling (India). He came as a representative of the Theravada tradition he had studied there, intending to share its teachings. He did not expect the journey to change his own understanding of Buddhism.
While in the Darjeeling area, Govinda visited Yi Gah Chö Ling monastery in nearby Ghoom. There he encountered Tomo Geshe Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher whose presence deeply affected him. Govinda had arrived with reservations about Tibetan Buddhism; meeting the teacher opened him to a tradition he had previously misunderstood. Tomo Geshe Rinpoche would become his guru.
Govinda recounts their meeting in Chapter 8 of The Way of the White Clouds, “Meeting with the Guru.” He describes entering a small shrine room in the monastery, where the encounter took place. Later in the chapter, he recalls what Tomo Geshe Rinpoche told him when he formally accepted him as a disciple:
“As long as we are engaged in observing the imperfections of others, we deprive ourselves of the opportunities of learning from them.”
That teaching feels especially fitting here. Govinda’s journey changed because he was willing to look beyond his first impressions and learn from someone he had not expected to call his teacher.
The Way of the White Clouds is a fascinating book: a journey through Tibet, but also an account of how a meeting in a monastery changed the course of one man’s life.
About Lama Anagarika Govinda (17 May 1898 – 14 January 1985) : Born Ernst Lothar Hoffmann in Germany, he was a Buddhist writer, teacher and artist. He later lived with his wife, the artist Li Gotami, near Kasar Devi in Almora. Years after meeting his guru, Govinda travelled through Tibet with his wife, Li Gotami, in 1947 - 48. Those journeys became part of The Way of the White Clouds.
Photo: My copy of The Way of the White Clouds.
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