I met a mad man
Venerable Thubten Konchog 
Dharma Poetry 
Mar 23, 2025 
This is the third of four poems Venerable Thubten Konchog of Sravasti Abbey wrote to mark his 40th birthday.
I quit my job and grabbed my backpack,
Set my compass on the East,
I was looking for something,
I was thirsty for meaning.
There on top of a hill,
On the collar of the Himalaya,
I met a mad man.
They called him “Rinpoche.”
There was something about him,
I couldn’t put my finger on it.
He was laughing all the time,
They said he never sleeps!
One day Rinpoche talked about this crazy idea,
Completely unheard of where I came from,
They even had a name for it:
Bodhicitta.
He said,
“For those of you who are looking for what is truly meaningful […]”
[Now you have my attention!]
“The most meaningful thing you can do with your life is to develop bodhicitta […]”
[What is this bodhicitta?]
The mind that seeks to attain your highest potential,
So that you can truly benefit all sentient beings.”
I jumped on my seat as he then shouted,
“AAAAAAALL sentient beings,
AAAAAAAAAAAAALL of them!
I will free aaaaall sentient beings from their suffering by myself ALONE!”
Now if you don’t think that this is madness,
You haven’t really thought about it.
Surely this man was mad…
…He was madly in love with sentient beings.
I thought to myself,
“I left madness only to find even more madness!”
And now I was getting mad too,
Because deep down I felt,
Although clueless of how one could ever do that,
That this was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard…
For years I have wanted to go back and pay homage,
To the one who planted these seeds of virtuous madness in my mind.
But Rinpoche you have left this body already,
Nonetheless in my heart I will be forever grateful.
More poems in this series:
Venerable Thubten Konchog
Ven. Thubten Konchog moved to Sravasti Abbey in June 2022. In August, at the end of Exploring Monastic Life, he was ordained as an Anagarika (under the name of Donyo). By the end of 2022 he followed and assisted Venerable Chodron for 6 weeks during her teaching tour in Singapore and was very moved to see the incredible positive impact his teacher had on people. The tour ended in Bodh Gaya where they attended His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings. He made his request to be ordained to Venerable Thubten Chodron at the Mahabodhi temple in January 2023. On May 20th 2023, he was ordained as a novice monk (Sramanera). Venerable Master Jian Hu was his preceptor on this most joyful occasion. In his “previous life” before going forth, Ven. Konchog was a musician and worked as a soundman and lighting technician for theaters, music bands, and circuses. He’s now happy to use his expertise to help spread the Dharma. At the Abbey, he finds a lot of joy in balancing his time between his practice and caring for the 375 acres of the Abbey’s forest (another of his passions), producing videos, and using technology to help in whatever way he can.
