“We have a letter from Thomas to his family, written in 1989, about his hearing Rinpoche’s teachings in India and meeting Erik and about Erik’s wish that Rinpoche could come to Denmark during the summer and teach in Samsø, a place where Erik had happy memories from childhood. On July 4 1994, Rinpoche arrived in Denmark and was picked up in a limousine at Tirstrup on a beautiful summer day. Already that afternoon he had several newspaper interviews and was filmed for television. The next day a radio journalist interviewed him. There was a big lunch in our house where more and more people kept coming and more and more chairs were found.
Among the guests was a woman named Ellen, who had once lived at a place she called Tornbjerggaard that had been a “collective” which she described as her favorite place in the world. Sadly, the “collective” broke up on economic grounds, and Ellen had to leave. They often took care of sick animals the farmers had brought to them. Tornbjerggaard was known then as a shelter for such animals and as an alternative to slaughtering them. Once in the real hard wintertime, they even invited the cow in to share the room with them (there was only one big room then!). When Ellen left Tornbjerggaard, she made a strong wish to return. At some point in the summer Kirsten asked Ellen if she knew a place that would be good for Rinpoche to build a centre, and she immediately answered, “I have the place!” She knew that Tornbjerggard was up for sale and told Kirsten how to find it.
Sometime after Rinpoche had left Denmark that summer some of us went to see it and René made a video of it to send to Rinpoche.”
RANGJUNG YESHE GOMDE SANGHA DENMARK
