"Chasing the Comet's Tail: The Search for Tukten Sherpa"

My last day in China, October 30, 2003, a dear friend and teacher, Katleen, took me to the White Pagoda Temple, the oldest Buddhist shrine in Beijing, built in the 12th century by Nepalese architects. It was a mild Thursday afternooon with hardly any visitors. Inside the pagoda an ani (nun) took notice of me while I stood in front of the glass-cased statues containing many bodhisattvas (saints). The ani asked Katleen who was I? Katleen explained in Mandarin that I was an American, and it was my last day in China, and I just had to see this temple. I had noticed her immediately, she was sitting on the steps of the temple counting wooden beads wrapped around her wrist. She caught me staring at the beads. I inferred she was an ani, although she did not look like one. Instead of maroon and gold robes, she wore black pants and a photographer's khaki field jacket.

Avolikita, the Green Tara, holds special interest for me, and while I could see the previous offerings of yuans inside the case, I couldn't figure out how to place my own in there. The ani came over and lifted the lid a few inches, and I made offerings to all the female bodhisattvas. In front of each I asked only one thing, and I asked outloud: "Can you help me find a man named Tukten Sherpa?"

The ani began rummaging around in secret drawers hidden in the walls of the temple and gave Kat and me lamiated holy cards and pamphlets in Mandarin, gesturing us to hide what she gave us. She then motioned us outside, and around to the right of the pagoda, a robed monk chanted beside a large statue of Sakyamuni (the Buddha). She held up our cards to the statue, placed them on her forehead, showing us to do the same. We took turns in front of this Buddha, and the monk blessed us both. It is my fondest memory of China.

Two years of prior research, mixed with my good intentions to diligently record everything I found out, opened an inormation window that would last exactly three months. Nearly all the biographical information poured in at this time. Peter Matthiessen contacted me by phone during this time. Most of the Gurkha officers, including the Chief of Staff of the British Gurkhas e-mailed me during this time. The Nepalese-built temple opened a window, creating a serendipitous environment where all of this could happen, by my sincerely asking for help in finding Tukten Sherpa, Matthiessen's wily guru and

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