The Jolly Lama

I’m reading a book called “The Heart of the World”, subtitled “A Journey to the Last Secret Place”, about Ian Baker’s journey into uncharted territory in Tibet and his subsequent discovery of a legendary waterfall.

One of his fellow journeyers was a lama called Kawa Tulku, who the others dubbed “the Jolly Lama”. Throughout their challenging travels traversing unrelentingly harsh terrain, often including leech infested jungles, this lama remained an ever smiling and cheerful figure.

Two of the travelers, brothers, who after becoming drenched and caked in mud, with much swearing and bad dispositions, were able to cross a chest-high fallen log. They decided to hide in the bushes nearby to see how the lama would deal with this obstacle, convinced this would finally break his spirit.

Ian Baker recounts their observations:

“He trudged up to the log. Ever smiling he took a couple of steps back and tried his jump with a running start. With not enough momentum, coupled with a portly belly, he slid back down the log landing on his back in a large puddle, and bursting into spasms of uproarish laughter. Staggering to his feet, he repeated the maneuver, with the same result three more times. With each collapse back into the puddle, his laughter grew stronger and louder. On his fourth attempt he made it over, sliding headlong into the muddy puddle on the other side. Again with knee slapping laughter. He wiped himself off, lovingly patted the log like an old friend, and still chuckling proceeded up the trail.”