A Conversation With Kim Richards
February 17, 2025
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Ashokan Meditation Center
Kim: I'm really good. It's snowing like crazy and it feels magical.
Sam: Where are you?
Kim: Catskill Mountains, at a place called Beaver Lake. It's like a Disney movie, deer just hang around outside. I cut up apples for them.
There are cool things, chipmunks, squirrels, owls. And not-so-cool things, frozen pipes, no water. But I lived in Thailand, so I know how to improvise. I bathed and washed dishes with bucketed water. No big deal.
Most would think, I gotta go home, but I have a job here. It's unpaid, but I'm helping build something meaningful.
Sam: What exactly are you doing?
Kim: Setting up a nonprofit, lots of meetings with attorneys, lots of waiting.
Sam: Will you head back to Thailand?
Kim: I knew this would take a while so I'm not sure when. My visa was expiring, but they asked me to come here. I agreed because I want them to teach here. You've met them.
Sam: Oh yeah, that's powerful.
Kim: This whole area has a history. Woodstock happened 20 minutes from here, it's a hippie town. I was drawn to go last week.
First stop, a gluten-free bakery that had no bread! Not my place. So I wandered into town, parked, and passed a tie-dye shop. I didn't need anything, but something made me hesitate.
After getting bread elsewhere, I found myself in front of that shop again. I went in.
Sam: You had the feeling.
Kim: Exactly. A guy in his 30s started talking, said he was into yoga and meditation. I told him about the meditation center.
He pulled out his phone and showed me a text he sent his mom two hours earlier: I need to find a Buddhist meditation center to practice at.
That happens when you're paying attention. People think it's coincidence, but when you're aware, it's undeniable.
Sam: How do you describe that?
Kim: Change your thoughts, change your life. We're taught we have no control, but we do, our reaction is our power.
Sam: How do you adjust your reactions?
Kim: Speak truth to yourself. We have constant inner conversations, if they aren't true, they lead us astray. Truth shapes a better path.
Sam: For sure. And what does a "good" life mean to you?
Kim: Peace. Enjoying life. We think we'll reach a point where everything's smooth, but growth comes from challenges. I'm 60, and I still learn from everyone I meet.
Mother & Daughter Story
Kim: Whatever you need, it's there for you. This is true in my life.
I had a friend and her name was Emily. She was a different bird and didn't go by anyones rules. Emily did her own thing and I loved her for that.
Eleven years ago, she suddenly passed away in her sleep.
Her daughter, Dulcey, told me about it and we've kept in touch.
I was in Thailand last year, I got a PayPal notification, Dulcey sent me $125. In Thailand that's a lot of money! I texted her and asked, Dulcey what are you doing? . She said, I just felt like my mom was telling me you needed help.
She sent that every month I was there.
I returned on September 18th. She sent $125 one last time. The next day, she passed in her sleep, just like her mother.
We're all going to leave this world, there's no getting out. You know, we're all leaving. Hey, what's a better way to go, right? You fall asleep, no pain, just like her mother. That's beautiful.
I said to my brother, I think maybe they reached Nirvana because they were giving so much of themselves.
Buddha/India Side Quest
Kim: Yeah, it's a pretty wild story. First, I didn't even know why I was going to India. I had planned to go to Thailand when Ajahn Amphon, a Thai monk, invited me. A week before my trip, he called and said, Get your visa for India, we're going there too.
This was after Master Boomni had already told me I'd be going to India and Thailand. I told him I wasn't. And then suddenly, I was.
I landed in Thailand, and the next day, we flew to India. Looking out the plane window, I thought I saw fog, but when I stepped outside, I realized it was thick dust. That's why they wear scarves over their faces.
We took a bus down roads a bus does not look like it will fit, but somehow, 2 buses happened to fit. The trip lasted 10 or 11 days, and I didn't realize at first, but we were retracing the Buddha's path, from birth to enlightenment.
When I met Ajahn Amphon, he gave me a gift: a Bali-to-English dictionary. Who gives that as a gift? But at the time, my life was already shifting. I had closed my energy shop, still taught people, and with just $2,500 to my name, I left for what was supposed to be a two-week trip. I stayed for nine months.
Near the end of the trip, I was exhausted and decided to stay in. My roommate, Pat, who barely spoke English, knocked on my door with a monk. They insisted I attend a Dhamma talk with Ajahn Amora, Dhamma meaning teaching. I resisted, but then the monk pulled out a pizza. I hadn't had American food in forever. That small kindness got me out the door.
Thousands of people had gathered under the Bodhi tree, chanting in unison. It was powerful. As the Dhamma talk started, a woman on a loudspeaker instructed all devotees or non-monks to move left. I ended up right in front of Ajahn Amora.
I sat meditation-style, listening. At some point, I began to see things and felt things. With my eyes closed, I could still see Ajahn Amora, and sitting beside him was the Buddha. It wasn't a figure, just glowing light in meditation form.
I could hear them, taking in everything like a sponge. When I opened my eyes, Pat and the nun sitting beside her were bowing at me. I asked why.
They said, We saw it.
I was skeptical, but they described exactly what I had seen. How did you see that? All they said was, We saw it.
My sister later told me, You were on a pilgrimage. I had never thought of it that way. I was just following where life led me. But looking back, it was about more than just travel.
For most of my life, I didn't like myself. I didn't care for myself at all, until I learned this is all just teaching. There's no judgment, except the judgment we put on ourselves.
Who cares what anyone else thinks? Just don't harm yourself or others. Beautiful things happen when you recognize the love inside you. When you're in tune with yourself, you start seeing the teaching in everything.