The Impact of a Smile: A Guest Post by David Guterson
This is the story of where life can take you when you are not looking— an exhilarating tale about a woman striving for greatness. Read on for an exclusive essay from author David Guterson on writing Evelyn in Transit.
Hardcover $29.99
Evelyn in Transit: A Novel
Evelyn in Transit: A Novel
In Stock Online
Hardcover $29.99
A crystalline short novel about defying expectations, hitting the road, and seeking the right way to live.
A crystalline short novel about defying expectations, hitting the road, and seeking the right way to live.
As a child I had an accidental proximity to Tibetan Buddhism. This came about because of a friendship I shared with a Tibetan boy of about my age who lived in my neighborhood.
His name was Ani Sakya. He and his family had fled Tibet for India in the late 1950s, and from there had made their way to
Seattle, where Ani’s father, uncle, and great-uncle were employed by the University of Washington to assist in research. Ani’s great-uncle was Dezhung Rinpoche III, a highly respected scholar and also a tulku, meaning the reincarnation of a prominent lama. The
extended family included Dezhung Rinpoche’s sister Ane Chime, a nun. Both Ane Chime and Dezhung Rinpoche wore robes. I was in their house a lot. There were 5 Sakya sons, and we shared common interests. Sometimes when I showed up, Dezhung Rinpoche would be seated on the floor in the corner, looking out a window while saying mantras and fiddling with prayer beads. My approach to this circumstance was to creep as quietly as I could along a far wall so as to get out of the room without disturbing him. It never worked. Dezhung Rinpoche always turned and smiled at me.
It’s hard to explain how penetrating his smile was. This is going to sound wu-wu, but a few years ago I started seeing him, in my mind’s eye, smiling at me from his corner by the window. Call that what you will, but Evelyn in Transit started with it. I think it’s appropriate that there’s ambiguity as to whether there’s something mystical in that, or whether it’s just the result of a penetrating smile, and worth asking how much difference there is between those two things–which is a question Evelyn in Transit asks too, if more expansively.
Neither Dezhung Rinpoche or Ane Chime learned much English, but both made themselves clear in their conduct and manner. I was a child who knew little and was therefore incapable of romanticizing Tibetans in the way they’ve often been romanticized in the West. I had no idea who these people in robes were. I only knew that in their conduct and manner was an openness, kindness, generosity and love that impressed itself on
me. Those two monastics set me on the path to writing Evelyn in Transit simply by being who they were.