The Tibetan Book of Living and Lying
Michaela Haas
When Oane Bijlsma walked into Rigpa’s Buddhist meditation center in Amsterdam for the first time, she was at a crossroads: At 34 years old, she was just recovering from a bad breakup and was looking “for love, care, and a new direction” in her life. She liked the warm atmosphere in the center with the golden Buddha statues, the friendly people and she enthusiastically enjoyed the meditation course. “At first it was all about mindfulness and loving kindness, only at the end did they say that the essence of the Buddhist path is the devotion to the guru. I wasn’t looking for a guru.“
Like many before her, the publishing assistant didn’t really want to become a Buddhist, but was in desperate need of a community, a good cause, and wanted to learn to meditate. “As we say in Holland, I was walking around with my soul under my arm.“ But she fell in love with...