Where to Begin?

From the left to right: Namgyal Rinpoche, Terry Hagan, Stefan’s sister (cook), Michael Gohl, Stefan Schmidlin (guide), Ulli Goerke, Annemarie Deldique, Matthew Wright, Christina Weiss (guide), Marianne Frölich, Hart Massey, Melody Massey, Hilde Niederer, Anne-Marie Colonna

Thanks to Trudy, Marion and all the wonderful people that support and maintain the Dharma Centre of Canada 🍁 in one form or another, for offering this opportunity to share stories of an extraordinary man who turned my life around and upside down 40 years ago.

I am convinced that the adventure began eons ago, but let’s keep this exercise to relative time. So where to start, what story shall it be? Why not the beginning: 1982 in Victor Harbour, SA, Australia. 

Final preparations were being made for the retreat. When a large man with a safari hat walked in the room, I jumped up and immediately knew my life was about to change… dramatically! Oh, there was a young lad lingering in his shadow who later became one of my closest friends, no other than Terry Hagan. That’s the setting and seeing there is a justifiable limit to the number of words to be used in this exercise, here’s the short version.

We sat attentively listening to exceptional Dharma discourse all of which was well beyond my comprehension, in other words I wasn’t getting it, but I knew this was exactly where I was to be. As the days passed Rinpoche would lean back in a very relaxed way and announced that there was going to be a houseboat trip on the Murray River and if anyone were interested see Terry after class. This I understood perfectly and was first in line to get my name on the list. Glorious teachings continued day after day and yes not a word was understood by this dull mind, I was lost and funnily found at the same time. Rinpoche leans back once again and announces that he and a small group would be going to Ayers Rock via train after the Murray River adventure and if anyone was interested see Terry after class. Got it! First in line to sign up, Terry gives me a suspicious look and writes my name down. The high teachings continue to float out of reach as I sit in awe, then Rinpoche belts out if anyone might be interested in taking a ship up to Japan with stops along the way in exotic places like Papua New Guinea and other ports see Terry after class. Without hesitation I calmly sprinted to where Terry was standing once Rinpoche left the room. By this time Terry was more than dubious about this brash American, snarling he wrote my name on the list. Then once again Rinpoche gazed over the crowded room and announced that after time and teachings in Japan he was going to take a ship north to Easternmost Siberia where he and others were going to board the Trans Siberian Express that would eventually bring them to London, see Terry if you’re interested. 

For the next two years I hung onto the tail of the tiger for dear life…

by Matt Wright