Message #17486

[Bianca]

LOBSANG RAMPA'S CHARACTER



Lobsang Rampa was a unique individual with many extraordinary attributes. In some ways he was a man of contradictions. He was a celibate monk who had a devoted wife, an intensely private man who wrote extensively about his life, a self-professed Tibetan who had no contact with the Tibetan community, and a Buddhist who practised many Western occult arts.

Rampa was cursed by ill health. He suffered from coronary thrombosis, diabetes, arthritis and paraplegia inherited from his host. His hearing was progressively failing as a result of war injuries, and his eyesight became poorer with age. Although he often came across as grumpy in his later years, he never lost his wicked sense of humour and keen wit.

Rampa was a generous man who had little interest in material possessions. Over the years he gave a colour television away to a stranger, a wheelchair to an injured policeman and a house full of furniture to newlyweds. Friends and acquaintances often received expensive gifts which they were unable to return without insulting him. During his lifetime, he personally answered many thousands of letters from his admirers, usually bearing the cost of postage himself. He had a sincere desire to help people.

On the other hand, Rampa had a quick temper and often showed impatience towards selfish and shallow people. He was not one to suffer fools gladly. Over the years, he managed to antagonise feminists, teenagers, Catholics, Western doctors, communists and the Tibetan government in exile. However, his greatest venom was reserved for journalists and literary critics, whom he despised.

Undoubtedly, Lobsang Rampa was a gifted psychic and clairvoyant. He was able to see auras with ease, predict the future and judge a person's character with great accuracy. He could use a crystal ball, cast horoscopes, read palms and project his consciousness beyond his body. His knowledge of Western and Eastern occultism was astonishing. Rampa also had the uncanny ability to communicate with his cats telepathically, as his French-language publisher Alain Stanké testified.

Rampa possessed many other talents, apart from his writing and psychic abilities. He was a keen photographer who produced many splendid photos. Machines of all descriptions purred in his presence, and he was able to fix almost any mechanical problem. Despite his failing eyesight and arthritic hands, he was a master craftsman who created miniature ships, trains and cars. He was also very interested in amateur radio, including short wave.

Lobsang Rampa was a friendly but reserved man who had been forced into seclusion by ill health, public curiosity and media harassment. Wheelchair bound in his later years, Rampa rarely ventured out in public, as the curiosity and enthusiasm of the crowds became unbearable for him. He never attended groups or gave lectures, believing that people progressed spiritually when they studied and meditated in solitude.

Rampa shied away from the media, accusing them of misquoting and harassing him. During his writing career, he allowed only three journalists to interview him or his wife. The first occurred in 1958 while he was bedridden with thrombosis, and the resulting article was so libellous that he was forced to issue a taped rebuttal from his sick bed. After being savaged by a Canadian journalist in 1965, he vowed never to speak again to the press. However, he did allow his friend, agent and publisher Alain Stanké, to interview and film him in Montreal, although he safeguarded himself by recording the whole interview in his book Candlelight (1974). Unfortunately, his refusal to cooperate with the media merely fanned the flames of press and public curiosity. They often followed him relentlessly, spied on him, manufactured interviews and called him a liar and a fake.

Rampa was a devoted and loyal husband to his wife Sarah, who unquestionably believed him to be a true Master. He was a loving and kind father to his adopted daughter Sheelagh Rouse (who joined them as a young, recently separated family friend) as well as his beloved Siamese cats. He paid tribute to his friends Hy Mendelsohn, John Bigras, John Henderson, Valeria Sorock, Mrs O'Grady, Pat Loftus and others in several of his books. Rampa devoted many books to the questions from his loyal readers and continued to promote the Tibetan cause, even though he received no acknowledgement from the Tibetan community.

Fortunately, Rampa never lost his focus. He believed that he had been sent to the West in order to develop an aura camera and a diagnostic device to eradicate disease. His secondary mission was to reveal Tibet's esoteric heritage to the West so that the Western nations would want to rescue his beleaguered country. Even though he did not accomplish his mission, Rampa did enlighten the world with his teachings, which deserve to be re-examined in the new millennium.

This book is dedicated to examining his legacy and promoting the work of a man who believed implicitly that he was a Tibetan lama who transmigrated into the body of an Englishman to fulfil his destiny.