By Peter Calder
The thumping in the next room sounds very much like a youngster leaping off furniture. But the two men in flowing robes don't seem to notice as they solemnly explain what is happening here.
A seven-year-old New Zealand boy has been recognised as the incarnation of a high Tibetan
lama who died in the 1950s. He is not just any New Zealand boy, of course, but the son of Tibetan parents living at Karma Choeling Buddhist Monastery at Kaukapakapa - and he is the first Tibetan lama to have been born in the Southern Hemisphere.
The boy, who turns eight in December, now rejoices in the name Venerable Pong Re Sung Rap Tulku Rinpoche - even if he still has a soft spot for leaping off furniture.
Tibetan Buddhists believe spiritually advanced beings, called bodhisattvas, choose the circumstances of their birth so they will be best placed to help others on the path to enlightenment. Such high lamas - the Dalai Lama is one - are rare.
Rinpoche's father, Lama Shedrup, is a lama or holy teacher, one of two at the monastery north of Auckland which is the New Zealand headquarters of the Karma Kagyu lineage of the religion.
And while he beams with obvious delight at the news, he shakes his head at the suggestion he might feel some paternal pride.
"We don't feel pride," he says. "We feel great joy."
It was not until Rinpoche and his parents visited the headquarters of the lineage in northern India in early winter that they were told the news by their spiritual leader, the Gwalyang Karmapa - the Kagyu equivalent of the Dalai Lama.
Lama Shedrup's colleague, Lama Samten, smiles when asked how one might "know" that Rinpoche is what he is said to be.
"Enlightened beings," he says slowly, "never say 'I am enlightened or I know'.
"Every sentient being has an equal right to be enlightened. What is special about Rinpoche is that he will be able to pick it up very fast."
The young boy faces intensive study in India until he is at least 21, but right now he would rather play with his remote-control cars.
Prayer-flags flutter in the trees of the bush-clad property as we walk. He struggles to raise a golf-umbrella which will protect his shaven head from the strong sun. I lean to help and as it clicks open he flings it over his shoulder, spiking me in the forehead, and strides off, robes billowing.
Lama Samten, following close behind, smiles.
"He's very bossy," he says. "He has to have a strong character."
By Peter Calder
The thumping in the next room sounds very much like a youngster leaping off furniture. But the two men in flowing robes don't seem to notice as they solemnly explain what is happening here.
A seven-year-old New Zealand boy has been recognised as the incarnation of a high Tibetan
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