Karma brought music and mentors into senior’s life
by Kathleen Spring
Involved in music, dedicated to Buddhism, and influenced by great mentors, Sapan Rinpoche (known locally as Kunga) is satisfied with the way his life has progressed over the years. He has been named this month’s Golden Gang Senior of the Month. Congratulations!
A few years back, Sapan Rinpoche, 72, wrote a poem “Lyons, Jewel of the Front Range,” to show his pride and love of this small town. He has shared this with the Lyons Golden Gang. A member since 2005, he has cultivated their garden, and is currently performing interactive musical programs once a month. He also was a member of the aging council L.A.A.C.A. for a year.
Further integrating himself into the community, he became deeply involved in the Transition group, including Permaculture classes. He also joined the library board, and has written some articles for both local newspapers, and formed the Lyons Itinerant Poetry Society poetry group.
His heart belongs to his kids, Laura, Sasha and Colby, and “heart daughter” Ann Marie; plus six grandchildren.
His father was a minister before World War II, and a chaplain in the Navy. This may have influenced his religious devotion. He would go on to be ordained as a Buddhist Gelong or Monk, receiving the name Ven. Ngawang Kunga Thupten Gyaltsen while living in Seattle, in 1988, and would retire from his computer scientist job in 2000. (He did retain his birth name of Storrs Barrett Booch-Williams to use as his composer name.) He and 35 other people opened up the International Buddhist Academy in Kathmandu, and he was given the first certificate. He has lived in monasteries for a month or two for each of the past 20 years. He’s been to Thailand and India, but mostly Nepal.
“I was teaching the Dharma,” said Sapan Rinpoche. “It has a principle not to teach under the wings of your master. So, I moved to Colorado in 2002. My son lived here, and there was a Buddhist community. The Dharma breaks down into the Buddha or teacher, the Dharma or the teachings, and Sangha or the practitioners.”
He says it was karma that drew him to Buddhism. And, a year ago, he added a membership in the local Mormon church. He feels he is a religious person and he was raised as a Christian, so it came naturally to him.
Prior to the shift to a monk’s life, he had been in the music and computer world. His first important mentor as a young man was Nobel Prize winner Chandrasekhar. His then single mother moved the family to Wisconsin to live in the 1895 house of his grandfather, who had helped establish the University of Chicago Yerkes Observatory. He had been named after his grandfather, whose house was 100 yards from the Observatory. Chandrasekhar, who had a NASA x-ray space telescope named after him, became a father figure and mentor.
“I worked at the observatory during my teens and when I was in my 20s, and they were some of the happiest years of my life,” said Sapan Rinpoche.
After studying at four different universities, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in philosophy of science and a minor in music. His first professional job was with the record industry. He created “environments” with lights, lasers and sounds at the DeAnza College planetarium, which ended up with seven shows in Las Vegas. He was proud to be a lecturer in their astronomy department.
His mentor over the years in the music business was well-known composer John Cage. They met in 1964. He worked on the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Project, developing computer music, as part of their first workshop.
Approaching 30, his career began to take off. In 1984, he was president and CEO of a Macrosoft Corporation, which did computer-consulting work. Today he uses that knowledge on his 17 web sites.
His life was changed when he was named a Lama, which means “Dharma teacher.” And he was recognized as a reincarnation of a deceased Tibetan master, which is where he got his current name. He initially lived at Sakya Monastery in Seattle for three and a half years, often going abroad to study. He is currently writing several books, with the main one being about the teachings of Jesus, which he believes will be an important book in theology.
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