Imagine a life without Wi-Fi, books, music or even companions, but just your mind for company. The horror, the horror. Alone without any external stimulation might be torture for most of us, but not so for Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo.
The Tibetan Buddhist nun once lived in a remote Himalayan cave for 12 years, including three in total isolation, in a quest for enlightenment and insight into the mind. Offered now the hypothetical choice between a lifetime of constant companionship or one of solitude, Palmo has no hesitation about what she would pick.
"It's not that I don't like being with people, but the thought that I would never be alone would be much more threatening than the thought of spending the rest of my life in solitary."
During her years spent living in the 3 metre by 2 metre cave, from 1976 to 1988, she was almost buried by snow, nearly starved and never lay down – sleeping upright for three hours a night, seated in a traditional meditation box.
Palmo, 74, will be in Sydney, in July. Her visit includes a public conversation with comedian and writer Magda Szubanzki, titled Steadfast Peace in Unstable Times.
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