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Passing of Karma Wangmo

Nek777Nek777 Explorer
in Buddhism Today
Karma Wangmo is the first person in the United States to attempt and complete the 12 year retreat; doing so after having been ordained as a Buddhist nun, by H.H. the 16th Karmapa, March 1976, in Nepal.

Karma Wangmo completed three Ngondros' (preliminary practices) and a 210 day isolated Nyungne (thousand - armed chenrezig, fasting ritual) in a tree house in the Catskill Mountains, for the benefit of all sentient beings
karmawangmo.com

While I never had the pleasure to meet Karma Wangmo, she was very important and close to many members of my sangha. I have read through, She Ate Snow, and the lessons were deep and profound.

Being such a trail blazer for Buddhism in the States, I am surprised that there seems to be little written or discussed of her life.

She passed away on October 27.

Om Ami Dewa Hrih

ChazEvenThird

Comments

  • MaryAnneMaryAnne Veteran
    With respect I say- May she rest in peace.

    But perhaps her life is mostly undocumented or unacknowledged because she chose a path of solitude and isolation.
    What did that accomplish - in true, un-romanticized reality - for the world around her? To me, it seems such a waste of a lifetime; unless of course her goal for this lifetime was simply a spiritual one?
  • Nek777Nek777 Explorer
    image

    I don't really know it's hard to judge a life such as hers. When she came out of retreat she is quoted as saying,
    Nothing is ever lost, it all works out in the end
    Perhaps her story is not yet finished.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    What did she die of?
  • MaryAnneMaryAnne Veteran
    Well, like I said, perhaps she was meant to do exactly what it is she did in this particular lifetime of hers. ::: shrugs::: who knows.
  • Nek777Nek777 Explorer
    Dakini said:

    What did she die of?

    Pneumonia
  • ChazChaz The Remarkable Chaz Anywhere, Everywhere & Nowhere Veteran
    Nek777 said:

    Dakini said:

    What did she die of?

    Pneumonia
    How old was Ani-la?
  • Nek777Nek777 Explorer
    Chaz said:


    How old was Ani-la?

    I believe in her mid 60's.

    Here is an interview.

    tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/3-yoginis.html#karma
  • ChazChaz The Remarkable Chaz Anywhere, Everywhere & Nowhere Veteran
    edited November 2013
    Nek777 said:

    Chaz said:


    How old was Ani-la?

    I believe in her mid 60's.

    Here is an interview.

    tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/3-yoginis.html#karma
    Awesome!

    Thanx for the link.

    I find Yogins to be fascinating. As a Ngondro practitioner, myself, someone who can complete the practice not once but three times, seems almost superhuman. Her 210-day fasting practice is truly wonderful and to then complete a 12-year retreat?

    Amazing. Simply amazing.

    I would have liked to have known her in this life.

    May all beings benfit.

    OM AMI DEWA HRIH

    Nek777EvenThird
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    "I may be a fool, but at least I have enough sense to keep practicing."

    Marvelous words from a marvelous lady. She seemed by her interview and history to be a simple spirit with a simple practice, and the world needs all those we can get. Did living in a hut without human contact for twelve years prove anything besides the near-infinite capacity of the mind to adapt? Don't know. That's not my type of practice. But I do know her story touched me. Whatever your practice, can you do it with the simple determination of this woman?
    Nek777EvenThird
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