Personal Statement from Amadea
May 21, 2008
I would like to respect samsara * more in the future , that is to say, work skillfully with all the demands of this life. We are here together in these bodies and psyches at a difficult and crucial point in the planet’s history (and obviously our own!). It is important to work together skillfully in this existence as best we can, respecting our individual strengths and differences. Each of us has a unique path and Ayurveda can help many of us fulfill our goals on this path.
I am 55 years old and have been working with healing for 34 years, having started relatively young. I see younger people than that now who have greater wisdom than I did at a similar age, and I rejoice in this.
While I’m relatively well known for my vegetarian cookbooks, I myself am no longer a strict vegetarian. I think it’s important for people who are considering studying or working with me in Ayurvedic cooking and nutrition to know this. I continue to teach, and help people to shift to, traditional Ayurvedic vegetarian cooking when appropriate because I’ve found it to be so useful in healing a wide variety of conditions. Yet the ancient texts also advocated using meat as medicine in certain conditions, and I respect that and the animals that give their lives for those of us who do eat them when needed. As a result of living at high altitude and having had various injuries, I occasionally will eat meat, with prayer, to strengthen this body. Yoga has also been an enormous help in my own healing journey.
My personal spiritual path is Tibetan Buddhist. My teachers, Garchen Rinpoche, Traga Rinpoche, and Tulku Nyima Gyaltsen Rinpoche are Tibetan lamas. While some Tibetan lamas are vegetarian, ** my teachers are not (though one does love kichadi). Over the last few years, I have been fortunate enough to cook for them, including preparing meat for them, with respect for the life of that animal. I am not a very good cook of animals; vegetarian cooking is easier for me to do well.
If you are interested in working with an Ayurvedic teacher who is a pure vegetarian, there are many fine people, respected colleagues of mine, with whom you can work. If this is your aspiration, I urge you to follow it.
I am no longer able to answer personally every inquiry that comes to me, nor to work personally with each person who has an interest in this. I do what I can. This is part of being respectful of samsara and trying to work as skillfully as possible, honoring my limits and the limits of this life. If you contact me and let me know that you are genuinely interested in working on yourself and healing for the benefit and awakening of all us sentient beings, I appreciate that, and will really try to work with you, or connect you with people who can. If you do not hear from me, then you’ll know I’ve not kept up with the load that comes in, yet again. It is not personal; there is just a lot going on here.
In the next couple of years, I’m experimenting with traveling less and offering smaller, more intensive learning opportunities here in the Southwest. I’ve found working in small groups can often have a deeply transformative effect. I may also offer more distance learning options again, one on one, when possible. Please consider these options.
All of my teachers, including my first teacher, the Hindu sage Neem Karoli Baba (a vegetarian), have emphasized the interconnectedness of all life. As Baba said, “We are all one family.” Many brothers and sisters are starving, on the street, sick, at home, in hospitals, or living in prisons. Others of us are currently comfortable, with plenty to eat, in good health (though perhaps wondering how in the world to make the next mortgage, rent, or car payment). We are living in times of vast change. On a mundane level, in my hometown of Santa Fe, NM, there is only one place now to buy organic split mung beans, the staple of Ayurvedic cuisine, and they’re running $3.49 per pound. How we practice Ayurveda, and how we help each other, is likely to shift with changing conditions. May it always be with bodhicitta and a respect for all life and the ancient yogic traditions.
There are many precious loved ones I am fortunate to know in many places around the globe. It makes the intention and activity toward world peace all that more vital to me. Life is short, this life is precious, we must do what we can.
I wish each of you reading this the very best in your lives on all the varied paths you travel. May we all work together and wake up!
With love and respect,
Amadea
* samsara: cyclic existence, the apparent nature of reality.
** If you are interested in the growing number of Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhist practitioners shifting to vegetarian diet, here is a link: http://rawveg.info/buddhistvegetarian.html
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