Trungpa Rinpoche makes a cameo appearance in the latest Rambo movie

Via The Worst Horse


Huh? Chogyam Trungpa in Rambo? Well, yes and no. Here’s the story.

Just over a year ago, I became aware of Jake La Botz, a very interesting cat. He’s a seriously talented songwriter and musician, and a fellow meditator and tattoo enthusiast as well. We corresponded a little, and I asked him to contribute a photo and a short write-up about one of his tattoos, a beautifully-rendered portrait of , the late Tibetan Buddhist teacher and pioneer Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. You can see it here, in our second collection of “Body Vows” (which collect readers’ Dharma tattoos and their reasons for getting them).

Jake and I talked about him writing a piece for The Worst Horse, but then an email came through with some surprising news: seems he’d be out of touch for a while, heading to Northern Thailand to play a role in Sylvester Stallone’s then-yet-to-be-shot Rambo. I sure hadn’t seen that coming. But the fact is that Jake has actually done a bunch of acting, appearing in Ghost World, a couple of Steve Buscemi pictures, and a few other things. I was disappointed that the piece wasn’t gonna happen, but, what an opportunity for him!

So, now it’s a year later and I go to see Rambo on opening day. And there’s Jake’s name, early in the credits. And there he is, too — in a really good performance in the not-insignificant role of Reese, one of Rambo’s mercenary co-horts. What I hadn’t counted on (or even considered) was seeing Trungpa’s face. Sure enough, Jake was in short sleeves, and there was Trungpa Rinpoche, on his arm. (You can see the whole pic here.)

…Trungpa in Rambo. Who’da thunk it? And he gets some good screen-time, too.