It was as if, without saying a word, Lama Tsering invited me into a different state of being. Lowering my gaze, I tried to meditate the way I had been shown by Geshe-la in recent months, focusing on being simply here and now, in the present moment. I felt my mind settle, to an extent that had eluded me in the past. Instead of constant thoughts and distracting chatter I felt myself slip into an awareness that was peaceful and benevolent. I had experienced some enjoyable meditation sessions in the past, but the sense of profound wellbeing I felt even that first time in Lama Tsering’s presence was so absorbing, so oceanic that I didn’t want it to end.

Eventually I sensed a movement and, looking up, I met his eyes.

‘I am very happy to see you,’ he folded his hands together at his heart and bowed towards me.

Unsure what to do, I reciprocated. Then feeling awkward in the unfamiliar stillness, I felt compelled to tell him how I’d met Geshe-la, and the sequence of events which had led to my coming here, as well as my eagerness to undertake the specific purpose for which I was visiting.

After I finished speaking, the silence that followed seemed to underline how unnecessary it had been. ‘Before starting on our important work,’ his expression was warm with compassion. ‘It is necessary to cultivate some meditative concentration.’

‘Yes, Lama.’

‘Knowledge is very good. But experience is better. A little practice and then we will be ready.’

I had guessed, from the way he said it, that his definition of ‘a little’ practice went beyond a couple of sessions.

I found myself engaged in an intensive study and meditation program that had started out at weeks, then stretched into months. More and more as I understood the magnitude of the truths I was being trained to reveal, my sense of purpose only grew stronger. Months had turned to years.

Lama Tsering had personally supervised my preparation, the culmination being the three-month solitary retreat which I had just completed.

“Return on the full moon in May. Then it will be time.” Time to pass on the very special knowledge of which he’d been custodian for the previous half-century but which, he had once told me, was much older than that. It had been kept secret for over a millennium, in exactly what form I could only guess, but secured in a hidden repository in the Himalayas for the time of its revelation—a time when it would be of maximum benefit to the world.

And I was the person chosen to reveal it.