Tales With My Lama: What Does Rinpoche Like About Liz Taylor?
Pastor David has been a student of His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche for over 15 years and within the ‘Tales With My Lama’ series of articles, he explores his spiritual relationship with Rinpoche, sharing anecdotes, stories, observations and little Dharma nuggets. It is all told to inspire others for their own spiritual relationship with their teachers.
What does Rinpoche like about Liz Taylor?
The following account was adapted from a blog post I composed many years ago. On one fateful night, I met with Tsem Rinpoche at a neighbourhood Italian restaurant for dinner with Pastor Seng Piow along with several other students. Midway through dinner, Rinpoche was fiddling with his new Samsung Tab and was sort of showing it off to me. This was just the sort of thing Rinpoche would often do to ‘highlight’ my attachment to gadgets or what not. Amidst the blaring cartoon on a nearby TV screen, Rinpoche started playing the BBC Tribute to Elizabeth Taylor on his Tab.
We saw pretty images of Liz Taylor splashed on the screen while Rinpoche started talking about her. He said that he was in the midst of reading a biography of hers and was quite inspired by her story. Then, he started asking the boys what they thought about Liz Taylor and what they thought that he liked about Liz Taylor. Everyone started to cringe their foreheads and were basically dumbfounded. I thought about it and broke the profound silence by saying, “I think Rinpoche resonated with Liz Taylor because she had great on-screen presence and charisma. I noticed Rinpoche tends to like stars with such a powerful presence on camera…” Suddenly, there was a cacophony of agreement and variations of what I said. Well, it wasn’t exactly what Rinpoche was thinking but he liked what I said. Then, he went on to tell us the 3 reasons why he likes Liz Taylor…
1. He could have been a star just like Liz Taylor
A picture of Rinpoche taken when he was in Hollywood. Click on image to enlarge.
Rinpoche always wanted to be a movie star since his teenage days living in Hollywood, Los Angeles. He always felt he could make it because he was determined and would not let anything stop him. Humbly, he felt he might not be as popular as Liz Taylor but he knew that he would be something big if he pursued it. Naturally, he gave all that up because Rinpoche promised his Guru, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche to become a monk. There was no hint of regret in his voice but he seemed sure that if he had become a big star and the money came rolling in, he would have sponsored Gaden Monastery. He asked me a pick game choice, “To be gorgeous and sexy with no money and no future or be a rich, fat, lonely and unhappy person?” Naturally, I chose to be gorgeous but Rinpoche chose to be fat and unhappy because that would mean that he could sponsor Gaden Monastery and he didn’t mind the misery for a good cause.
Rinpoche is also amazed and inspired by people who have something in them that could be so sought after. Liz Taylor obviously had a powerful presence and was a talented actress, which she used to make millions. In her iconic film Cleopatra, she asked for a million dollars and this was when the top Hollywood stars were paid a 100 to 150 thousand dollars. Even when her stardom waned years later, she was still able to make millions for a line of perfume bearing her name!
2. Liz Taylor was insecure and unhappy despite public appearance
Rinpoche could relate to her insecurity and weight issues. Who would have thought that Liz Taylor with all the men and diamonds in the world could be so insecure and unhappy? Her unhappiness was publicly seen with her constant battle with her weight but she still had to still keep up with appearances. The pressure of public expectation can be overwhelming and for Rinpoche, it is a daily struggle filled with doubts, problems, difficult students, broken promises and still he teaches and guides others. Rinpoche didn’t elaborate on his unhappiness but I knew what he was talking about. Some people may even be shocked that a high lama like Rinpoche can be unhappy. Well, if you ask me, I would say that there’s a big difference between our unhappiness and Rinpoche’s. Ours is all about ourselves, our problems, our expectations and our failures while Rinpoche’s is all about others and helping others. That’s not a textbook statement but a conclusion based on years of observing Rinpoche.
3. Liz Taylor is fiercely loyal to her friends and was very kind
Rinpoche obviously loved this part of Liz Taylor and he went on and on about how loyal and kind she was. Loyalty is a virtue that Rinpoche truly cherishes in others. He loved the fact that when she made a friend, she remained a friend throughout her life. It was also something that was repeatedly mentioned by many of her friends who remember her throughout the BBC tribute. Throughout her life, she forged many friendships with some of the most popular actors of her time. She was deeply disturbed by the death of her dear friend, Rock Hudson who died of AIDS and that spurred her to initiate fundraising for AIDS research at a time when such an act would be ‘career suicide’ as the disease had a huge stigma attached to it. She just didn’t care and at that time, she realized her immense popularity could be useful to further this cause. Today, millions of AIDS patients receive treatment that was developed with the funds that were raised through the years of campaigning that she did.
I was certainly enraptured by Rinpoche’s opinion of this famous actress. As I was writing this, I realized that what Rinpoche explained told me more about Rinpoche than about Liz Taylor herself. That is why I feel this little exchange I had many years ago should be shared, so more people get a glimpse of Rinpoche’s multi-faceted personality.
For more interesting information:
- Tales with My Lama: Daily Practice
- Tales With My Lama : Laugh Away Your Ego
- Tales With My Lama: Why Rinpoche Has To Suffer
- Tales With My Lama : Larger than Life
- Tales with my Lama – Manjushri
- Tales With My Lama : Audience With Tsem Rinpoche
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Elisabeth Taylor was such a beautiful woman, a great star with so many movies. It is hard to believe that she could be unhappy but the side we see in the movies is not the truth. And as it is shared she had many friends and used her influence to raise awareness and she helped the AIDS cause.
It is very enriching to see Elisabeth Taylors life from this angle. Rinpoche encourages us to see the good and the bigger picture.
I agree that Rinpoche would have made it in Hollywood and would have become a star if he wanted to. Luckily for us Rinpoche spend his years studying the Dharma and following his teachers wish.
Elizabeth Taylor was one of Old Hollywood’s brightest, most alluring stars in the 1950s. I am not a fan of her’s anyway but saw one of her famous film Cleopatra many years back. What caught me to remember her was her eight marriages and her devotion to raising money for research to fight acquired immune deficiency syndrome. She had travelled all over the world to educate people about these deadly disease. Although she passed away the impact she had on the world is still reverberating. She led a fascinating life marked by hardship and strategy. Interesting read of what Rinpoche like about Liz Taylor is lesson learned .
Thank you Pastor David for this wonderful sharing for us to understand better of Rinpoche’s multi-faceted personality.
Thank you Pastor David for sharing your experience with Rinpoche. Every moment shared with Rinpoche is a Dharmic experience to be learnt and you always make yours so interesting and insightful. There are many super stars who make tons of dollars and yet, are very unhappy due to the pretense that they needed to keep up with. They needed to live up to their fan’s expectations of them and should they fail, these stars will lose their ratings which translate into income loss. On one hand, its exciting and interesting in this fast paced industry but on the other, many are unhappy with high suicide rate. I think Rinpoche would have made it big in Hollywood and at the same time helped many others with his Dharma teachings. Look forward to your other sharings.
Yesterday I read about Su Shi; The Song Dynasty poet written by Pastor Adeline and this resonate well with what Pastor David has summarised above;
“Master Foyin saw that you looked like a Buddha because there is Buddha in his heart, and thus everything looks like Buddha to him. When you said Master Foyin looked like cow dung, imagine what was in your heart!”
Actually throughout her career, Liz Taylor’s personal life was the subject of constant media attention, criticism and has caused controversy too. However, Rinpoche only see the good qualities of others and thus He has a Buddha’s heart. I, too will pick the gorgeous and sexy but not the rich, fat and unhappy person. Yet, it does not serve the purpose of bringing Dharma to others at all!
Thank you Pastor David.