Canadian Tibetan Dharma History - St. Catharines (excerpt 2)
The following is an excerpt from a paper I’ve written about Tibetan Buddhist History in St. Catharines, ON, which covers the period 1971-2000. I’m currently looking for a “home” for the paper where it can readily be found by scholars researching Buddhism in Canada. Please comment below if you have suggestions.
The 16th Karmapa and the Black Crown Ceremony in St. Catharines 1977
The Karmapas are the heads of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism1. They are popularly known by some as the “Black Hats” because of the Black Crown Ceremony. I came to Buddhism too late to meet the 16th Karmapa who died in the U.S. in 1981, and listened with awe to the stories of those who had been in his remarkably powerful presence. (See this account of the 16th Karmapa.2) So how did the 16th Karmapa come to St. Catharines in 1977? Here are John Mayer’s own words, with minor edits from the recording transcription3:
Mrs. Raff told me that the Karmapa is coming to the United States on a tour. I was the Chair of the Philosophy Department and not all that knowledgeable about things. So I wrote him a letter inviting him to come to St. Catharines and speak at the university to my students about Buddhism... I didn't quite realize how important a person he was…But then I was told first of all that the Karmapa cannot speak in any of the pits that are the lecture halls at Brock University because the seats are up there and the speaker, the professor, lectures from below…The Karmapa has certain requirements that he has to speak from a higher place to a lower audience. So Brock University is not an adequate venue for him to speak. Well, I then explored and discovered that at St. Paul's United Church4, which is a big church, he could be up high and speak there. I didn't realize that he would be performing his Black Hat Ceremony, which is not so much speaking but performing, and those who witness it get certain benefits in terms of overcoming difficulties…Well, in addition to that, he also informed me that he is traveling with 22 monks and a couple of translators and a collection of birds…and he also told me that he will come for four days…but to put up 22 monks…was well beyond the sort of budget that the university did…Fortunately I had four children and we lived in a big house on the River Rd. [Queenston, ON on the Niagara River], an essentially unfinished but habitable attic, so…I rented folding beds and fixed up my attic for the lesser monks and told my family, my four kids and my wife and myself, that we should clear out of the house and visit the neighbors…and so they arrived, all 22 of them and cages of birds and what we did not expect at that point was that the camp followers also arrived, fortunately many of them had trailers, and many of them had tents, and my house has a fairly large piece of property where all the trailers and all the tents could be pitched. The monks reported to the rented beds in the attic. His Holiness was put into our bedroom on the fresh linen, and the other Higher Llamas had the other bedrooms of our five bedroom house.
We had a very nice living room which with the help of Mrs. Raff, who was all this time friend and helper, set it up as a Buddhist shrine with rice and water and fruit. In the living room we covered up what we thought might be inappropriate paintings. And the group arrived, and unlike everywhere else where they had been, they were not put into an institution or a hotel. They were welcomed into a home. They were given the kitchen to cook whatever they wanted and they had a cook with them…The living room was set up as a shrine and they brought long horns and had pujas there. We were permitted to come and watch some of the things, but we were living with friends in the neighborhood. The 22 monks and His Holiness had a wonderful time and enjoyed the atmosphere…And of course, although I was still an active Unitarian, I was privileged to take refuge with him, and he told me to come and visit him in Sikkim at Rumtek.
Well, so the ceremony took place. A lot of people came. A lot of my students went into St. Paul's United Church and this was a wonderful event in my life. But I followed it up because I went to India during my next sabbatical, and while I did other things as well because I spent a year in India learning about Eastern philosophies, I spent a month in Rumtek monastery where His Holiness was staying and I was given the privilege of teaching young Tibetans monks in English with a translator.
Karma Buddhist College
Information on the college is difficult to find which in part is presumably due to the fact that the college, as noted above, was not officially part of Brock University. The Philosophy Department has no records, and the John A. Mayer fonds has the newspaper article previously quoted and the photo below [ above in this Substack, note below]. It seems to have been formed in 1979 as a result of John Mayer’s association with the 16th Karmapa.
Rick Rochon attended the Buddhist College and remembers Tibetan language classes and informal seminars held at the heritage building known then as Symphony House on the university grounds5. He remembers Bonni Ross and Chorpel Dolma [aka Beatrice Raff] teaching at Namgyal House in downtown St. Catharines. John Mayer mentioned taking students to Karma Triyana Dharmachakra (KTD)6 where the 16th Karmapa was establishing the North American seat and one student leaving university to study there. Rick Rochon remembers going to KTD for Losar in 1980 and returning in July for the dedication by the Karmapa of the new building. Rick took refuge in 1979 with Lama Ganga, who appears to have been the Karmapa’s first appointment to Canada, before he was subsequently sent to San Diego. I can find no information about Lama Ganga online. The college was, “Not a stunning success, for reasons that were no fault of John’s.”7
https://kagyuoffice.org/
https://kagyu.org/teachers/main_16thKarmapa
This recording is first noted in an earlier part of the paper. Transcription from the recording by the author. The recording was made by Tim Sturman on July 10, 2011 at the home of the late Anya Humphries in the village of Campden, Municipality of Lincoln in Region of Niagara. I was present. Thank you to Kim Fiocca, Laurie Boese and Sue Philp for accessing the recording for me.
https://www.silverspire.ca/
https://brocku.ca/social-sciences/geography/wp-content/uploads/sites/152/The-Theal-House-at-Brock-University.pdf
https://kagyu.org/
Email to the author from Bonni Ross, 27 June 2023.
A note on the photograph: 16th Karmapa and Dr. John Mayer, John Mayer fonds. Library Special Collections, Brock University Archives. nd. I received no reply from Torstarto my 14 March 2023 request to use this image from the St. Catharines Standard.