A teenage Buddhist lama recently blessed thousands at a monastery in the Himalayan foothills.
Just six months earlier and half a world away, he was pulling all-nighters to play Madden NFL on his Xbox at his home in a Minneapolis suburb.
Both are home to Jalue Dorje.
Dorje grew up a typical American teen, loving rap music, video games and football. He’s also an aspiring spiritual leader — recognized from an early age by the Dalai Lama as a reincarnated
lama.
The Associated Press began following his story several years ago when he was 14.
Now he’s 19. He graduated from high school last year and moved to northern India to join the Mindrolling Monastery, about 7,200 miles (11,500 kilometers) from his home in Columbia Heights.
Recently, he came to Nepal to meet his parents, who flew from Minneapolis, and attend sacred rituals and teachings conducted by the abbot of Shechen Monastery. Located near the 1,500-year-old Boudhanath stupa, it is one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most sacred sites.
He no longer wore his usual hoodies and sweatpants — only maroon and golden monastic robes. But beneath his robes, he wore white Crocs decorated with Jibbitz charms of “The Simpsons.”
Each morning, he’d awake at dawn. After prayers, he walked from his hotel through crowded Kathmandu streets near the soaring white dome and spire of Boudhanath — with its colorful Tibetan prayer flags and the painted, ever-watching eyes of the Buddha.
Since the Dalai Lama recognized him at age 2, Dorje had spent much of his life training to become a monk. He memorized sacred scriptures, practiced calligraphy and learned the teachings of the Buddha.
The process of identifying a lama is based on spiritual signs and visions.
Dorje was 4 months old when he was identified by Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche, a venerated master of Tibetan Buddhism. He was later confirmed by several lamas as the eighth Terchen Taksham Rinpoche — the first was born in 1655.
Dorje’s parents took him to meet the Dalai Lama in 2010 when Tibetan Buddhism’s spiritual leader visited Wisconsin. The Dalai Lama cut a lock of Dorje’s hair in a ceremony. He advised the parents to let their son stay in the U.S. to perfect his English and then send him to a monastery.
As a child, he often wondered why he couldn’t sleep later on weekends and watch cartoons like other kids. His dad would tell him that one day it would pay off, “like planting a seed that one day would sprout.”
Fluent in English and Tibetan, Dorje excelled in public school. Although he was enthroned as a lama in a 2019 ceremony in India, his parents let him stay in the U.S. until graduation.
Growing up, he kept a photo of the Dalai Lama in his room above DVD collections of “The Simpsons,” “South Park,” and “Family Guy,” next to the manga graphic novel series ″Buddha.”
He had a deal with his father, who would give him Pokémon cards in return for memorizing Buddhist scriptures. He collected hundreds, sometimes sneaking them in his robes at ceremonies.
Every morning he awoke to recite sacred texts. Then school, followed by football practice. He returned home for tutoring on Tibetan history and Buddhism. At night, he practiced calligraphy or listened to rappers. When he got his license, he drove around listening to Taylor Swift.
An avid sports fan, he roots for the Atlanta Hawks in basketball, Real Madrid in soccer, and the Atlanta Falcons in football.
On the football field, his teammates praised his positivity; he reminded them to have fun and keep losses in perspective. But in the final game of his senior season, he shed tears, realizing it would likely be his last game ever.
He also loves writing and journalism. In high school, he wrote an award-winning story about Tibet for the student newspaper.
He often helped with events representing the local Tibetan community.
For his 18th birthday, the AP was there when more than 1,000 people gathered at the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota for the last party before he joined the monastery in India.
He packed light for his new life: headphones, laptop, a Fantasy Football magazine, and a book on the Indian Buddhist master who brought Tantric Buddhism to Tibet.
His parents flew with him to New Delhi and then drove north to Dehradun, near the Himalayan foothills, in the equivalent of college drop-off. They bought him a larger bed, more apt for a football player than a monk. They painted his monastic room and erected a shrine where he could pray.
He took lessons on Buddhist philosophy, and practiced his calligraphy and chanting in India, while his friends attended history, science and literature classes in U.S. colleges.
Despite the 10-hour time difference, he kept in contact with friends back home through texts and WhatsApp.
On time off from chanting and prayers, he built Legos, walked to an arcade to play the FIFA soccer video game, and watched Marvel superhero films and NBA and NFL games on his laptop. He was especially psyched about the halftime Super Bowl show and praised what he called an incredible performance by Bad Bunny.
It was his first time experiencing a life of asceticism. He ate a daily ration of rice and lentils and washed his own clothes — by hand.
But he adjusted, easily getting along with monks from all over Asia, discussing spirituality, popular culture and sports.
Following several years of contemplation and asceticism, Dorje hopes to return to America to teach in Minnesota’s Buddhist community.
His goal is to become “a leader of peace,” following the examples of Nelson Mandela, Gandhi and the Dalai Lama. It’s a long path that began soon after his birth. But he feels ready, saying that this, “is just the beginning.”
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
