The Birth of the Land Centres by Jan Watson

There is a One
For each land centre.
Emerging shining from the cosmic mirror
To guide, protect and energise
The Shambhala Dharma in this earthly realm.

There is a One.
Ekajati for Karma Choling – the mother of all,
For SMC Warrior Magyal Pomra and Lord Denma for DDL.
This is no accident but the natural hierarchy of the cosmos.

Then there is the One Sakyong – at a time,
To appoint directors to the relative reality of administration.
Where one or two in a decade are successful, or popular, neither or both!
This is how our dharma spaces flow and grow – slowly.

But there is a One, and only One
At each Residential Dharma Centre,
Installed by an invisible and secret hand.
Untitled, unpaid, unofficial,
A quiet, un-proclaimed bodhisattva,
Often not a Buddhist, or a Shambhalian,
Who through the ever changing regimes
Consistently and continually,
Knowing what to accept and what to reject,
Holds things together.

We ambitious warrior practitioners
Cannot manage without these men
And their quiet dedication of selfless service.
They are often overlooked and rarely thanked.
We owe them much gratitude
For they are the REAL Warriors of Shambhala creating enlightened society.

At KCl it was Joe Patenaude. At RMDC it was Greg Mason…….At DDL it IS Billy McKay.