So far, I would say we are in the bounds of ordinary, predictable events: when one feels attracted to a culture, it is only normal they should sooner or later come into more immediate personal contact with it. What I could not have foreseen in the slightest degree is what happened to me last year.
It is probably best if I give some background information first and explain that, in February 2004, a man called Roberto Rivola, and his partner Ivana enrolled at my Dojo: Roberto is a rather outstanding character; Ivana is his companion not only in life but in business also, and the reason they had come to the Dojo was their common interest in Aikido, the Japanese martial art I have practiced for many many years, and also teach.
The line of business Roberto and Ivana are involved in a quite remarkable: they are illusionists and have a specialisation in escapology (same as the great Houdini, that is).
Roberto usually performs on cruise ships and has the stage name of Robert Kimera. Travelling the world over, he has developed a particularly open and cosmopolitan frame of mind. Alongside this, martial arts have been his passion from the age of eight.
His first contact with Aikido came very early on, under the guidance of Maurizio Pastore, a teacher very few people in Italy will be able remember, who at the time was living temporarily in Faenza, Roberto's home town.
Roberto assiduously, almost obsessively pursued the study of various styles of martial art and achieved a high level of mastery in each, with grades ranging from first to sixth Dan. First and foremost he devoted himself to Kick boxing, and has competed at international level; he also trained in Shotokan Karate, Nambudo, Ju Jutsu, Escrima, and also Wing Chung and several styles of Kung Fu and Thai Chi.
As often happens in the martial arts world, this long path eventually led Roberto back to Aikido. During a longer stay at his home in Cattolica, a town on the east coast of Italy not far from where I am, he again decided to take up Aikido practice. He thus came to my Dojo and was followed by Ivana, whose out of the ordinary aptitude became immediately apparent.
Due to the nature of his work, Roberto had difficulty setting a regular training routine. Worst of all, he was later prevented from training by the rather serious consequences of a banal accident that occurred while he was preparing for a sensational performance: a free fall parachute jump whilst tied up in a straitjacket.
The accident and the prolonged period of rehabilitation meant that he was forced to take a long leave from the martial arts, during which time Roberto continued to cultivate his passion for the culture and religions of the East, and practiced meditation and Yoga. Eventually, his spiritual search and interest in Buddhism inspired him to make the decision to move to India and live at the Palpung Sherabling monastery, where he's now been living for three years together with Ivana.
This monastery, cast amidst mountain scenery and immersed in woodland, is situated at about thirty miles from the residence of the Dalai Lama – which is not, as is often said, in Dharamsala, but in the same area as this monastery, at McLeod Ganj, more precisely.
In the fifty years of the Dalai Lama's permanence here, what was formerly an ordinary village in the mountains has become a kind of Mecca for anyone with an interest in Buddhism. It has also become a popular destination with tourists in search of alternative destinations, so that it now gathers a lively and colourful miscellany of young travellers distinguished by their extravagant attires and temperament.
In the three years of their stay at the monastery, Roberto and Ivana have harmonised more and more fully with its life patterns. Their teachers are the two leading figures of Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama, namely His Holiness Gyalwa Karmapa and Kenting Tai Situ Rimpoche.
Let me add a few words, just so that the calibre of these figures, whose audiences we were fortunate enough to attend, might be understood: the former is designated to take the place of the Dalai Lama and to be the one to recognise the Dalai Lama's future reincarnation, whereas the Tai Situ, who is regent abbot at the Sherabling monastery, will most likely be the one to teach him.
The term Rimpoche, which literally means "precious", is the designation which in Tibetan Buddhism is reserved for the religious figures whose former incarnation is known with certainty.
With Karmapa, the chain of former incarnatons leads back to Prince Siddharta, the very Siddharta who became the Buddha when he reached enlightenment and initiated the circulation of his doctrine throughout Asia.
