Dear Friends
We wish to inform you that a dear Awakened Heart Sangha member passed away a few weeks ago on the 7th November.
We have been remembering her and reflecting on how she touched so many of our lives and we have a few words here from Lama Shenpen:
She joined the sangha in 2009 and was a one of our earliest mentors (called contact person in those days).
She was a member of the Brighton group run by Sherab and Namka and her ex partner Tashi is still a member of the group, Tash has always been close to her son Toby and helped to bring him up.
My strongest memory of Serlingma is her strong wish to live the renumciate life and become a nun in robes. She felt that if she were a nun people would understand what were her priorities in life and wouldnt think she was just being unsociable. I recognised that sense of clarity that robes bring and i encouraged her to do what a lot of Tibetan women do which is to live as a nun (celebate life) and wear a maroon Tibetan chuba and upper robe without necessarily taking further vows other than the five precepts - interpreting the sexual misconduct precept as celebacy.
She was very happy about this and even shaved her head as a further sign of her renunciate life style.
At the time i was advising a lady in Germany along the same lines and one or two other students. I wondered if they would get together to form a renunciate mutual support/community but it didnt happen.
I didnt see Serlingma for many years after that - except once rather briefly. She took on a lifer in an Australian prison as a pen-friend/mentor some years ago and from time to time asked for my help in advising him as he sought to immerse himself ever more deeply in the Vajrayana tradition.
In fact she had contacted me a month or so before she passed away about that.
To my delight she came to my weekend on mandala principle at the Shambala Centre in London just a week or so before she passed away. She joined us for our sangha lunch and looked so radiant and happy telling me how grateful she was that i was her Dharma teacher and how much i had helped her. She explained how she was doing a lot of teaching especially to interfaith groups and mostly about love and compassion practices.
It now feels both poignant and auspicious that we were able to meet again in this way just before she passed away, it shows she and I and the whole AHS sangha have a strong Dharma connection as we pray that we meet again and again in all our future lives in order to work together in order to bring all beings to Awakening.
She will be on our dedication list for 49 days and we will do a special ritual for her on the last day at the evening puja,
There are further sharing of memories of Serlingma from some of the Mahayanagana members of the AHS who were inspired by and loved her. Serlingma.docx There will be a private burial for her on the 8th December between 11am- 1pm, so we can all keep her in our prayers at the time.