The participants of the Vajrapani founders’ retreat, Vajrapani Institute, Boulder Creek, CA, US, January 2016

Long-time student and Vajrapani Institute co-founder Elaine Jackson shares some early Vajrapani Institute history and reports on the January 2016 Vajrapani Institute’s founders’ retreat:

It was 1977. Two hundred or more baby Dharma students gathered in Yucca Valley, California for a month-long meditation retreat with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The Lamas were so inspiring that a rousing talk by Ven. Thubten Pende at the end of the retreat prompted two students, Janet and Ross Brooke, to ask their land partners if they would like to donate part of their California “Omland” for a retreat center. That was the beginning of Vajrapani Institute for Wisdom Culture, our retreat center in the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz mountains.

Lama Yeshe gave his blessing to this undeveloped mountainous land at a small gathering in the middle of a ring of redwoods, saying something like, “If you build a pond, the fish will come.” It was raw land and fish did eventually come. We lived in tipis and “carpet houses,” stick frames walled with carpets retrieved from dumpsters behind big carpet warehouses in San Jose.

Janet Brooke and James Kent, Vajrapani Institute, Boulder Creek, CA, US, January 2016

Many of us thought we’d build this center in a year or two, but it took two years just to change the zoning so we could apply for a building permit. We persevered and today, by the effort of many, many students, Vajrapani is a thriving retreat center serving hundreds of Dharma students every year.

Vajrapani’s pioneers, Lama’s “bushy people,” met in January 2016 to record its history—at least what we could remember of it. Shasta Wallace and Wanda Sisnroy, invited, organized, and prepared the food. Judy Weitzner facilitated the roundtable discussions with Don Broderson monitoring the recording and Tsering filming the video. It was a delightful event—like having a slumber party with all your old friends!

Jacie Keeley and John McKay came the greatest distances, flying in from Florida and Minnesota. We initially sat in chronological order, based on when we first came to the land. James Kent, Tom Post, and Janet Brooke were first as those who donated the land. Others in attendance were Elaine Jackson, Chuck Thomas, John McKay, Tom Waggoner, Jacie Keeley, Shasta Wallace, Bev Gwyn, Richard Prinz, Thubten Pende, Sharon Gross, Barbara Vautier, Lennie Kronisch, George Galt, Valerie Thomas, Steve Pearl, Wanda Sisnroy, Keith Emmons, Judy Weitzner, and Don Broderson. Lara Brooke and her daughter, Arya, as second and third generation “bushy people,” also attended some of the sessions. Ven. John Jackson, a kingpin in construction of the center, was missed as he was in Washington State engaging in retreat. Åge Delbanco, now 91 years old, was also unable to attend, but we are hopeful that their stories will be recorded soon.

Lennie Kronisch, Don Broderson, Barbara Vautier, and Steve Pearl, Vajrapani Institute, Boulder Creek, CA, US, January 2016

Most of us came to Vajrapani via Asia, meeting Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery. Many mentioned reading Be Here Now by Ram Dass as a catalyst for leaving this country in search of truth. All the stories were miraculous and just downright “cosmic”! Many times Anila Ann McNeil’s name surfaced as someone who was influential in pointing the way. Mommy Max and Zina Rachevsky played a big part too, as Judy Weitzner and others relayed their hilarious experiences—notably riding in Mommy Max’s Hudson. Steve Pearl’s story of riding horseback across Afghanistan was amazing. Everyone described how Lama hooked them with his compassion, his wisdom, and his wonderful sense of humor. Oh, the tricks Lama played— displaying siddhis and “playing dead”—to kick his students to the next rung up the Dharma ladder! Jacie Keeley wowed us with stories of her time with Lama.

We laughed and we cried hearing about those who are no longer with us: Anila Ann McNil, John Schwartz, Diney Woodsorrel, Ashley Walker, Ross Brook, and others.

Jacie Keeley was with Lama in Italy just before Lama made his last trip to California in 1984. She told us that she knew this would be the last time the Italians saw Lama. She made us weep when she said, “Of all the places Lama could go, Lama intentionally chose Vajrapani as his final stop.” 

Jacie Keeley, Tom Waggoner, Chuck Thomas, Don Broderson, Elaine Jackson, Janet Brooke, Vajrapani Institute, Boulder Creek, CA, US, January 2016

Tom Waggoner and Shasta Wallace relayed their story of being with Lama as he manifested leaving his body. Lama Zopa Rinpoche announced, “Lama’s meditation is finished.” Even now, more than thirty years later, my heart cracks open at the memory.

We all expressed such huge gratitude for meeting Lama, for living our lives in ways that we felt would make Lama happy, and for the endearing and enduring Dharma connection we all have. We do have this amazing, beautiful, as Lama used to say, “pamily peeling ” [family feeling], and it exists all over the world—wherever Lama’s holy feet touched this earth. For this, we all rejoice!

Read more about the founding of Vajrapani Institue in “A Venture in Real Estate” from Mandala August-September 2007 and in “Reaching Out: A History of and Contemporary Look at the Centers, Projects and Services of FPMT” from Mandala July-September 2009.

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