This homemade audiobook version of chapters from Big Love: The Life and Teachings of Lama Yeshe is read by people who were there as the story unfolded. It is comprised of narrations recorded by a group of friends of the late Åge Delbanco (Babaji), who was one of Lama Yeshe’s earliest students.
Åge was in his 90s when Big Love was published and was having trouble with his eyesight, so his kind friends decided to record it for him, but he passed away before it could be finished. With those same friends, we are now completing our recording of Lama's biography and gradually bringing you this informal oral transmission of Big Love in his honor.
Click on the chapter links below or select a reading from the Big Love YouTube playlist.
Forewords by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Narrated by Jonathan Landaw.
Prelude. Narrated by Jonathan Landaw, this brief prelude describes the situation in Tibet when Lama Yeshe was born.
Introduction. Written and narrated by Jonathan Landaw, the Introduction gives an overview of the life of the Buddha, traces the spread of the teachings to Tibet, and concludes with the meeting of East and West.
Chapter 1. 1935–40: Beginnings. Narrated by Janet Brooke, this chapter recounts the birth and early home life of the child who would grow up to become Lama Thubten Yeshe.
Chapter 2. 1941-1958: Living a Monastic Life. Narrated by Elaine Jackson, chapter 2 describes life at Sera Monastery in Lhasa, where Lama became ordained and engaged in intensive study and debate, despite the increasing unrest across Tibet due to the Chinese occupation.
Chapter 3. 1959: Flight to India. Narrated by Keith Emmons, chapter 3 describes how His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Yeshe and many Tibetans fled from the brutal and violent conquest of Tibet by the Communist Chinese government, the harrowing difficulties of their escape and the many challenges they faced upon arrival in India.
Chapter 4. 1959-66: Refugee Life in India. Read by Shasta Wallace, chapter 4 describes life in the Indian refugee camps, the challenges for the Tibetan monastic community in exile, and the story of how Lama Yeshe first met and became the teacher of Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Chapter 5. 1967: Thubten Yeshe Meets a Russian Princess. Narrated by Shasta Wallace, this chapter describes the life of Zina Rachevsky, the story of how she first met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and what happened after she became the Lamas' first Western student.
Chapter 6. 1968: Zina Is Ordained. Narrated by Lara Brooke, chapter 6 describes Zina Rachevsky's decision to become ordained, how Lama Yeshe guided her to ordination in Nepal, and the fortuitous reunion of Zina and "Mummy" Max Mathews.
Chapter 7. 1969: Kopan's Beginning. Narrated by Lara Brooke, chapter 7 describes the Lamas' first trek to Lawudo, how a precious statue inspired the idea of Kopan, and how the land and community of Kopan began to assemble.
Chapter 8. 1970: The First Group Ordination. Narrated by Chana Brooke, chapter 8 describes how early seekers were drawn to the Lamas, who skillfully drew them to the Dharma, and how this resulted in the first group ordination.
Chapter 9. 1971: The First Kopan Meditation Course. Narrated by Arwen Brooke, chapter 9 describes how the Lamas began to teach in English, how Lama Yeshe began to acquire land to build Kopan, and how Westerners started to gather at Kopan and devote themselves to the Lamas.
Chapter 10. 1972: The Unsurpassed Dharma Land of Enlightenment. Narrated by Don Broderson, this chapter describes construction of the Kopan gompa and other structures by devoted students, how Zina left Kopan for retreat in the mountains and the second and third Kopan meditation courses, with related teachings by the Lamas.
Chapter 11. 1973: First Steps, First Students. Narrated by Janet Brooke, chapter 11 includes the arrival of Lama Pasang and Lama Lhundrup to Kopan, the travels of Lama Yeshe to Lawudo and Dharamsala, and the events of the fourth and fifth Kopan meditation courses.
Chapter 12. 1974: Introducing Vajrasattva. Narrated by George Galt, chapter 12 includes the ordination and training of the Western Sangha, activities of the sixth and seventh Kopan meditation courses, the blessings of the Kalachakra and Vajrasattva initiations, and stories of the Lamas' first teaching tour to the West.
