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Drove with three friends to see Tenzin Palmo last weekend, 235 km away. She’s touring South Africa. Tenzin is a Tibetan Buddhist nun, an Englishwoman born in London’s East End in 1943.

Tenzin is unique in that she’s taken a vow to reach Enlightenment in female form. That means being a female Buddha.

For twelve years (age 33-45) Tenzin meditated alone in a cave in the Himalayas, snowed under for most of the year. She trained herself to do without sleep — thought of by Buddhists as a state of unconsciousness — not me! I think we should get as much sleep as we can! Tenzin spent every night sitting upright in a 3-foot square meditation box.

She ate once a day at midday, a cooked meal of rice, dhal (lentils) and vegetables, plus sour dough bread and tsampa — a Tibetan staple food of roasted barley flour and tea, rolled into a ball. She also grew turnips and potatoes.

Tenzin says of turnips: “they are the most nutritious of all vegetables greens and absolutely delicious, especially when young. The bulb is also good. Both can be dried so that right through the winter you’ve got these wonderful vegetables.” (from her biography Cave In The Snow, a Western Woman’s Quest for Enlightenment by Vicki Mackenzie, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 1998).

If you’d like to dry fruit and vegetables, these two dehydrators are excellent in my experience.

One reason Tenzin went up there is because she hit the spiritual glass ceiling — how many female Dalai Lamas have you seen? Finally she got sick of the prejudice and put-downs, and being denied access to the teachings that the monks received. She hit out on her own, encouraged by her lama (guru).

“Bliss is the fuel of retreat.” Tenzin told her biographer. “The joy and enthusiasm is what carries you along. The Buddha named Joy as the main factor on the path.”

“Bliss in itself is useless,” she continued. “It’s only useful for understanding Emptiness. The blissful mind looking at Emptiness is very different from the gross mind looking at emptiness.”

Emptiness is the ultimate Knowing that nothing is really existing. It’s a state of consciousness where there’s no duality. Easy to define, but it takes incredible focus to experience. In that moment you truly see that everything in this world is illusion, including your “I”.

Tenzin’s schedule was: 3-6am meditate, 6am tea + tsampa, 8-11am meditate, 11am meal + break, 3-6pm meditate, 6pm tea, 7-10pm meditate. Twelve hours meditation a day for 12 years! Now that’s dedication to the inner journey, the world that contains “the vastness and wonder of the entire universe” (Cave In The Snow).

I must say I’m far calmer in meditation since I began reaching for raw foods. Sugar makes your mind jittery!

An easy way to eat fresh young greens daily (including turnip!) is to have a GoGreen Automatic Sprouter in your home. Also the Green Smoothie recipe is helpful in going vegan — living your compassion for all sentient beings

I find Maharaji’s techniques helpful in focusing within. Many Buddhists use them, as do Hindus, Christians, Jews, Muslims and even atheists. They’ve spread to more than 120 countries in his lifetime.

The Tenzin Palmo evening ended with this Buddhist prayer:

“May all beings enjoy happiness and the causes of happiness.

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.”