For my friend Robin Kornman

My friend and teacher has recently passed. I was there with him up until the end. A community of practioners overcoming there on fear of death united for a dear old friend - we practiced for him day and night. It was his last gift to us.

Robin touched the lived of all who came into contact with him. He would talk to waitresses, clerks, priests, Buddhists, gardeners, students - all with generosity and infectious glee. Robin was one who truly enjoyed life to its fullest. He is an inspiration for me as a tantric practioner and as a human being. We will all miss this great warrior!

Here is a poem I wrote for him after I left the hospital and shortly after he passed. /* A Child of Tigers becomes a Tiger Himself - */

Ala Ala Ho!

Homage to you marvelous Tantrika who enjoys all sense fields with passion and precision!

I enjoyed your presence in life and now still in your dying -

You are a true Sadhaka. You are a true friend.

You have taught me through my pain and through my joy; the dharma that liberates.

You were next to me as a friend and teacher through all of my changing life circumstances.

You taught me to revel in impermanence and enjoy the fundamental purity of the phenomenal world;

through music, through taste, through love - the feast of the senses!

I sat on your couch and in your kitchen, I listened as you talked with great love and devotion about your Lama -

The Great Mahasiddha Trungpa Rinpoche who said he would never abandon you -

Trust him, dear friend, now that you face this great and dangerous impasse.

I wish that I could come with you, I wish that I had the power to guide you through the bardos,

the intermediate space between this life and the next.

But I have confidence in you because you practiced the path of the Rig'dens.

You followed your tiger parents and watched as they crossed through the gates of death.

You defied and tested, you challenged and surrendered, you ignored and you listened well -

That is the swift path of the diamond vehicle;

this indestructible vehicle that provides liberation from cycles of suffering with promise.

My friend, I am here, by your side.

I stand next to your hospital bed and breath with you.

I watch as your breath arises and dissolves, your chest seems rough but your mind is smooth.

I sense that you are mixed with the Vidyadhara now.

You are mixed with the love of your friends and family.

You are mixed with the wondrous Kings and Queens of Shambhala.

You are mixed with the beautiful dancing Khandros who fiercely guard you.

You are mixed with that breath until your last breath -

That last breath that you breathe out into the loving space of the Dharmata.

And I will be by your side until that last breath -

May we meet again my old friend.

I love you. I will not forget you.

With love and devotion, Ja'tsal Pawo (Jason Geils, Milwaukee, WI)