Wongmo Meston, Buddhist nun
Wongmo Meston
La Grande Boissière, 1959
Buddhist nun
USA
Learn more about me :
After living in India and Nepal for 35 years, I am now based in Washington State, on my Tibetan Buddhist master, Lama Zopa Rinpoche's property called Amitaba Buddha Pure Land. I live alone, as a Buddhist nun, in an old refurbished mobile home. At this time, there are four monks and myself living on the 400 acres. Two monks take care of Rinpoche’s house, many altars, statues and gardens. I hardly go out, other than to town almost an hour away for errands or doctors. Otherwise, I stay home to study Buddhist philosophy and do my many meditations and practices. I am one of the elder monastics and have lived, taught and attended many teachings and events in India, Nepal and other countries. My various international friends and I share Zoom teaching events by Rinpoche, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other great Tibetan Buddhist masters. This past year, I have been doing a 3- or 4-year meditation and mantra retreat so I am even more isolated. But I am quite content and living in practice brings the mind more peace, and concentration.
The most exciting moments are when Rinpoche is in residence here. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, he travelled constantly, visiting the various Foundation For The Preservation Of The Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) centres around the world to give teachings, blessings and so on. When here, Rinpoche would invite us for dinner and prayers that usually lasted all night. It is an amazing and unusual thing to spend such private, personal time with such a great being. I first met Rinpoche in 1972 in India and have been his student since then. When I first moved here in 2005, I taught Buddhist meditation and philosophy for a few years to some local people at a community centre an hour away. Now they help me with my little garden in the spring or visit when I’m not in retreat.
My best Ecolint memory: I had never skied before, so that was really nice. Plus we travelled to amazing ski slopes and beautiful mountains in France and Austria. And I most enjoyed tea time where you were served a piece of lovely soft baguette with a slice of totally yummy dark Swiss chocolate on top!
I had put myself on the ‘French side’ of Ecolint to learn French, and somehow it worked. It has been nice to know another language and helped me later learn Spanish as well. It was also an opening experience to live abroad and meet and live with international people for the first time, especially at a young age. I cannot think of anything I would do differently.
My words of wisdom for Ecolint students: of course, it is good to be a good student in terms of the scholastic curriculum, but from my experience in life and as a Buddhist practitioner, I have learned that the most important things are to have a good heart, to be kind, generous, patient, loving, caring and gentle and to use your wisdom rather than emotional reactions in situations.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has taught, “If you want to be happy, practice compassion. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.” When the mind is in a positive state, you feel relaxed, happy rather than down and uptight. Try not to judge others based on beauty, race, colour, religion, politics and so on but see everyone as an object of your love and compassion. This means only wishing that they be happy and free of suffering. Aim to help everyone, including animals and insects who need support, advice (not that insects need advice!) or anything else from you. Living in this Ecolint international community offers great opportunities to be non-judgmental and accepting.
I also learned the importance and joy of cultivating a good sense of humour. Making people laugh is a great thing. If you go around with a smile on your face, especially when greeting people, it helps everyone around you immediately feel nice and relaxed.