A Little Help from Our Friends
When you’re trying to raise $2.9 million to rebuild a dharma center destroyed by fire, you need all the help you can get. One of the Most Valuable Players in Columbus KTC’s fundraising efforts is none other than Dzambhala, the bodhisattva of wealth.
Folks who visited our KTC Center noticed a little more than a year ago that a gold-plated statue of Dzambhala (also known as Namse in Tibetan) had been placed on the second highest shelf on our shrine, among the statues of other gurus and bodhisattvas. The statue has an interesting history.
When His Holiness Karmapa visited our “home” monastery of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in 2015, he blessed dozens of gold-plated statues for sponsorship by individual dharma students. At that time, Columbus KTC member Marcus Casey sponsored a Dzambhala statue and brought it back to his home and displayed it on his shrine.
A few years later, after Columbus KTC was destroyed in an arson fire, Marcus and his family heard about His Holiness Karmapa’s gift of a small new Buddha statue to the KTC as a “seed” for a new KTC shrine and building in the future. Right then, the family decided that Columbus KTC needed their Dzambhala statue more than they did. So they brought the golden statue – along with its golden carrying box – to the KTC’s temporary quarters at Congregation Tifereth Israel and presented it to shrine keeper Julane Goodrich, who installed it on the KTC shrine in the Lower Social Hall of TI.
Within a few weeks, the Dzambhala was already at work; piles of $1 coins began to pile up around the golden carrying case upon which the statue sat. No one saw where the coins came from; they just appeared around the statue every few weeks.
Where were they coming from? Who was Dzambhala’s secret helper?
Turns out our helpers were none other than Robin and Sharon, two longtime KTC friends who took to the road a couple of years ago to become long-distance truck drivers. They went to school and learned how to pilot the Big Rigs – 18-wheel tractor trailers – and have been touring the entire United States since then, hauling freight and taking in America’s scenic beauty. The coins come as change from toll booths – and fit nicely around Dzambhala’s seat.
With the KTC shut down during the COVID-19 emergency, Dzambhala might not be “collecting” dollar coins at the moment, but we know he is working behind the scenes to help us raise the funds we need to rebuild. We’ll make it yet – with a little help from ALL our friends!
