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Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo (born Alyce Zeoli) is an enthroned Nyingma tulku and controversial American Lama of Tibetan Buddhism. She is the first Western woman to be named a reincarnate lama and she serves as Kunzang Palyul Choling's spiritual director. She and her former husband founded a center in Poolesville, Maryland, and she went on to found centers in Sedona, Arizona, U.S.A., and Comboyne, NSW, Australia. Jetsunma is viewed within her sangha as an American dakini or female wisdom being. However, she has been troubled by questions from the press and her own teachers about her high salary, extravagance, and financial dealings for years.

Buddhist recognitions

The Palyul lineage leader, Penor Rinpoche, recognized Jetsunma as a reincarnate tulku and emanation of Genyenma Ahkon Lhamo, who had cofounded the Palyul lineage with her brother Kunzang Sherab in the 17th century. She was the first western woman to be enthroned as a tulku in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. She was enthroned at Kunzang Palyul Choling in Poolesville, Maryland in September, 1988. Penor Rinpoche is Jetsunma's root guru. Penor Rinpoche also recognized actor Steven Seagal as a tulku in 1997, which sparked numerous derisive articles in the mainstream US press and called into question both of Penor Rinpoche's American tulkus.

In 1994, Terton Orgyen Kusum Lingpa recognized Jetsunma as an incarnation of Lhacham Mandarava, the Indian princess of Zahor and one of the consorts of Padmasambhava, a tantric master who helped establish the Buddha's teaching in Tibet. He wrote Jetsunma a long life poem associating Mandarava with White Tara, a poetic device typical of long-life prayers. In 1996, she traveled to India and visited many of the places where Mandarava was known to have practiced.

Biography

Early years

Zeoli was born in Canarsie, Brooklyn on October 12, 1949, to a Jewish mother and Italian father. She left an abusive home life at seventeen and moved south, marrying Pat Mulloy.

She studied with a New Age teacher named Jim Gore and gave channelled psychic readings at the Black Mountain Light Center in North Carolina. Zeoli says she began a meditative practice and independent spiritual training, culminating in a spiritual experience at age 30.

In 1980, she met Michael Burroughs, a graduate student in religions at the University of Virginia. She and Mulloy separated in 1981.

Zeoli moved with Burroughs and her son Christopher to Kensington, Maryland. She married Michael in 1983 and changed her name to Catharine Burroughs. Together they formed the Center For Discovery and New Life beginning with former members from the Black Mountain Light Center. She channelled the prophet Jeremiah, a being called Santu, as well as "a being called Andor who claimed to be head of the Intergalactic Council." Her group quickly expanded. She taught a version of Jim Gore's Light Expansion Prayer and the group began a 24-hour prayer vigil in the basement of their Kensington home inspired by her experiences when she searched for a place to pray and found locked doors.

Meeting Penor Rinpoche

In 1984, the Burroughs met Kunzang, a student of H. H. Penor Rinpoche, who was selling rugs to support Namdroling monastery. The students sponsored seventy Namdroling monks. A few months later, H. H. Penor Rinpoche stayed with the Burroughs on his first visit to the US and gave the Bodhisattva Vow to her and her students. Rinpoche visited a meditation and prayer center operated by the Burroughs, which was in fact nonsectarian rather than Buddhist.

Thereafter she continued to channel the prophet Jeremiah, but the channelled teachings took on a more Buddhist flavor, gradually shifting terms such as "Christ consciousness" to "Buddha consciousness" between 1984 and 1987. According to the temple spokesman, the former New Age students were surprised to discover that they were now Buddhist.

Expansion

In 1985, the Center for Discovery and New Life formed a corporation and purchased an antebellum style mansion in Poolesville, Maryland. They purchased numerous large crystals weighing hundreds of pounds and held a three-day retreat to bring in Universal Spirit and reinstituted the 24 hour prayer vigil at the new location. Already overextended with their new mortgage, the crystals required the temple to refinance, driving it into the red.

Participants have maintained two-hour prayer shifts. The vigil is dedicated to the end of suffering and has remained largely unbroken. In 1999, Kunzang Palyul Choling began another 24 hour prayer vigil shortly after Alyce established the Sedona, Arizona location.

Controversies

Arrest

In 1996, Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo was arrested for an assault on two monastics in front of over thirty witnesses in her sangha who were invited to watch and served snacks. The Maryland state's attorney's office confirmed her 1996 arrest for the assault.

Salary and accusations of corruption

As reported in Random House's The Buddha From Brooklyn, initially Jetsunma had a $24,000 yearly stipend. After Michael left, it increased to $36,000, in addition to two houses, a yearly beach trip, and other gifts. According to Kunzang Palyul Choling's former CPA, students also pay the self-employment taxes on her salary for her, cover her family's health insurance, and pay for the cost of cleaning her swimming pool. From 1992 onward, her salary increased to $100,000 a year, one-half of KPC's operating budget. This caused the organization to run at a serious deficit. According to one of her monks who was their finance manager, the temple is perpetually on the brink of collapse and foreclosure. In a Mirabella article, her former CPA expressed concern over Jetsunma profiting from a non-profit organization.

Students empty their savings and retirement accounts and run deeply into debt to pay her salary. One student donated $200,000 for a monastic college but the money instead helped fund Ladyworks, the now-defunct hair product business of which Jetsunma was the sole shareholder. Taiwanese donors gave $100,000 for a 100-foot Amitaba statue, but the donations were instead used to pay for the first of Jetsunma's three houses.

Failed monastery

In 1990, Jetsunma announced ambitious plans to build a monastery for 500 monks and nuns on 65 acres of land purchased by KPC. Sixteen monks and nuns were temporarily housed in a retreat center until the monastery could be built. As reported by Mirabella magazine, by 1992, Jetsunma asked that the ordained give her the retreat center to be renovated into a house for herself. No monastery was ever built. Jetsunma does not financially support her monks and nuns, but instead, her ordained sangha support her financially. Her monks and nuns are asked to pay $300 a month rent for their lodgings as well as tithe to the temple and to the Lama Support Fund, which in almost all cases requires them to work outside full-time jobs. As a result, the KPC monks and nuns have little time for spiritual practice. In 1995 the KPC monks and nuns were asked to sign legal forms releasing KPC from any responsibility to take care of them in sickness or old age. This is in stark contrast to normal Buddhist practice, as most Buddhist lamas use the money they receive to support their monks and nuns, and Jetsunma's own teachers live frugally. Penor Rinpoche wrote Jetsunma a letter in 1996 demanding that she stop calling herself a Buddha and make her monks and nuns her first priority.

Consorts

In 1991, Jetsunma separated from Michael Burroughs. In 1992, when her divorce was finalized, she hosted a controversial divorce party where she and her students created an effigy of Michael, stabbed it with knives, threw it into the driveway, and ran over it in their cars, horrifying the Tibetans in attendance.

Following her separation she had a series of consorts, first a woman who was her personal trainer, and then a devoted student and construction worker in his mid 20s. In 1993 she married a 23 year old musician who helped her start Sky Dancer, a new age Buddhist rock band with whom she recorded Invocation (see discography below). As described in Random House's The Buddha From Brooklyn, the musician was not considered devoted enough and Alyce called a meeting to publicly vilify him, issuing a statement via her attendant that he had to be "broken like a wild mustang." Following their separation, in 1996 she approached a married long-term student who opted not to be her consort as it would be confusing to his children. She wrote the poem "War Cry" (below) in response and advised him to separate from his wife.

Publicity surrounding the treatment of her consorts raised a question in the Buddhist press: whether consorts are fortunate and spiritually blessed by their guru's attentions or if this represents exploitation and abuse of the teacher's authority.

Poetry

Jetsunma has also written Buddhist poetry, such as this excerpt from her poem "War Cry":

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Bitch,
I have seen you.
I have heard your voice.
I have smelt your smell.
I have lived
And died with you
I know your name...
Samsara.

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Bitch,
whore,
Whatever garment you wear
I will know you.
Your smile is no seduction
To me
I know you.

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You will appear
In lovely forms,
Seductive, caressing, singing songs
Filled with promises.
It is then I will appear
Far more beautiful than you

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Adorned with garments
Of pure aspiration
Of pure bliss.
From my mouth will come
The ambrosia of Dharma....

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Discography

• Invocation, 1992, ISBN 9-991-33545-5
• Revolution of Compassion, 2007, ISBN 9-991-55428-9
• Delog, 2007, ISBN 9-991-55430-0
• Ellinwood Ranch Blues, 2008, ASIN B0018BA2TO

Related organizations

Current

• Palyul Productions - records Jetsunma's teachings with the intent to preserve and disseminate Palyul teachings.

• Buddhist Relief - a disaster relief organization established in response to the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans. The organization is currently focused on supporting the efforts in Burma as a result of military action against monastics.

• Tara's Babies - an animal sanctuary founded in 2005 to rescue animals abandoned during the Hurricane Katrina evacuation. Initially caring for 130 dogs, the sanctuary is set in 148 acres (0.60 km) of former ranch land nestled in the three-million acre Tonto National Forest near Payson, Arizona.

• Garuda Aviary - rescues macaws and many other neglected and abused parrots, based in Poolesville, Maryland

• Blinded By View - produces Jetsunma's music

Defunct

• Ladyworks - A hair care product line sold in The Sharper Image with Jetsunma as the sole shareholder. In 1996 Ladyworks created a million-dollar infomercial for the products featuring Jetsunma. The company stopped all operations in 1997, $650,000 in debt.

• Skydancer - Jetsunma sang the lead vocal in Skydancer, a New Age rock group founded by Jetsunma's former husband and musician. The temple produced an expensive CD which did not sell well.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

• Chocolate Passion - A dessert company formed in 1992 also in hopes to financially support KPC's monks and nuns. After some initial good press the company was abandoned.

• Ani's Ink - A small typesetting business predicted to be a "sure thing" by Jetsunma left behind a crippling debt.

See also

• Esoteric transmission
• Ngagma
• Rinpoche
• Tantra techniques (Vajrayana)
• Vajrayogini
• Yidam

Footnotes

1. ^ Stevens, William K. (1988-10-26). "U.S. Woman Is Named Reborn Buddhist Saint". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. Kunzang Palyul Chöling
3. Tibet in Australia
4. Sherrill, Martha. The Buddha From Brooklyn, Random House 2000, pg 122
5. Sherrill, Martha. The Buddha From Brooklyn, Random House 2000, pg 352
6. ^ Blythe, Will. Bad Karma, Mirabella Magazine, pg 113 Cite error: The named reference "Blythe113" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
7. Blythe, pg 110
8. Oldenburg, Dan (1988-09-26). "The Unexpected Incarnation In Poolesville, Buddhists Exalt Catherine Burroughs". The Washington Post. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
9. Sherrill, Martha. "Women of the Year," Ms Magazine, January/February 1989 Vol. XVII Nos. 7 & 8.
10. Milestones: Time Magazine, October 10, 1988 Vol. 132 No. 15
11. Sherrill, Martha. "Where the Lamas Let Their Hair Down Peace, Love & Squirting Cameras At a Joyful Buddhist Barbecue," Washington Post, Jun 5, 1995
12. Pico Iyer, "The Price of Faith," Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Summer 200, pg 86
13. Sherrill, pg 375
14. Tom O'Neill, "Hollywood Goes Tibet," Us Magazine, January 1998, pg 77
15. Will Blythe, "Mr. Popular," Outside Magazine, November 1997, pg 118
16. Nancy Griffin, "The Buddha from Another Planet," Esquire, October 1997, pg 60
17. Sherrill, Martha. "The Buddha from Poolesville," Washington Post, Apr 16, 2000
18. Johnson, Allie. "Trouble in Shangri-La," Kansas City - News, Apr 22, 2004
19. Sherrill, pg 313
20. Sherrill, pg 38-40
21. Sherrill, Martha. The Buddha From Brooklyn, Random House (c)2000, pg 44
22. ^ Blythe, Will. "Bad Karma," Mirabella Magazine 1998, pg 111 Cite error: The named reference "Blythe111" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
23. Sherrill, pg 49
24. ^ Sherrill, pg 54
25. Sherrill, pg 91
26. Pico Iyer, "The Price of Faith," Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Summer 200, pg 81
27. ^ Sherrill, pg 55
28. ^ Rasicot, Julie (2005-09-08). "For 20 Years, an Unbroken Chain of Prayer". Washington Post. p. GZ05. Retrieved 2008-07-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
29. What is Enlightenment magazine, Fall-Winter 1999
30. Sherrill, pg 58
31. Crystals at Jetsunma's center in Maryland
32. Nyingma.com. Kunzang Palyul Chöling, Feb 16, 2007
33. Sherrill, pg 146
34. Iyer, pg 84
35. Sherrill, Martha. "Tough Town, Sad Times. So Why Are These People Smiling?" The Washington Post, May 17, 1995
36. Iyer, pg 80
37. Sherrill, pg 344
38. Sherrill, The Buddha From Brooklyn, p 239
39. Sherrill, pg 229
40. ^ Blythe, Will. "Bad Karma," Mirabella Magazine January 1998, pg 112 Cite error: The named reference "Blythe112" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
41. Sherrill, pg 241
42. Sherrill, pg 236
43. Sherrill, pg 241
44. Sherrill, pg 242
45. Sherrill, pg 352
46. Sherrill, pg 308
47. Sherrill, pg 79
48. Sherrill, pg 260
49. Sherrill, pg 263
50. Iyer, pg 80, 84
51. Sherrill, pg 244
52. Iyer, pg 80, 84
53. Sherrill, pg 211
54. Sherrill, pg 228
55. Sherrill, pg 239
56. Sherrill, pg 277
57. Sherrill, pg 297
58. Sherrill, pg 317
59. Iyer, pg 79, 83
60. Sherrill, The Buddha From Brooklyn, Random House, 2000. pp 294-297.
61. Arizona Republic, October 5, 2005
62. Montgomery Gazette, November 28, 2007
63. Sherrill, pg 182
64. Sherrill, pg 375
65. Brace, Eric. "Limelight," Washington Post, Feb 23, 1992
66. Sherrill, pg 78
67. Sugarman, Carole. "The Chocolate Passion Of Poolesville's Buddhists," Washington Post, Oct 21, 1992
68. Sherrill, pg 79

• 1949 births
• Living people
• Nyingma
• American Lamas
• Ngagpa
• Tibetan Buddhists from the United States