Intense and yet gentle and giving. I can imagine that’s how anyone who has ever had the privilege to speak to Kelv feels. By the time he was finishing the answer to question four, Are you Gender Specific, I somehow understood the depth of his one-word answer. He’s trying to separate the ego identity of gender naming. I recall the story of Tara when she was criticizing the monks for not allowing a female into the Arhant group. The chief monk said to her, there could never be a female monk. Tara understood right then and there that she labeled herself to be excluded from the ranks by her own label. Kelv said all that in his one-word answer. Please enjoy this interview with Kelv.

  1. Who is your favorite band?
    Music is a different source of mental stimuli. It both arouses a sense of comfort, and at the same time, you can become highly energetic. For me, I like to listen to keep me moving toward a boom. That’s what I call the accomplishment of repeating a mantra 125,000 times. Buedi Siebert composed an album, Om Mani Padme Hum. I used to listen to the songs, but I haven’t listened to music over the last seven years.
  2. What’s your name?
    I’m Kelv. It is customary in our civilization to introduce ourselves with our family number. The number represents the order the Cyborgs used to recruit the forty-four scientists they chose for their serum experiment. Each number represents the law from the Buddha’s laws for community living. Anyway, my family is twelve. Our law is, we will be of right intention here. The twelfth family is also the last family for the royal caste.
  3. How old are you?
    In this form, 23. 
     
  4. Are you gender-specific?
    No. 
  5. Are you related to anyone in the story?
    No. I suppose if things had been different. That is, if I hadn’t taken the Bodhisattva vow, I would have married Vallena. But, intention is everything, so I guess I’m her husband; she’s my wife in a karmic sense. I’ll make sure to tell her when we land in the Buddha Fields. 
  6. Where does your accent come from?
    I don’t have an accent. That’s an off-the-charts question, Mark. What made you ask that one? Do you ask these same questions of everyone?
  7. If you were to define one or two of the most crucial problems facing you, what are they and why?
    First, the experiment is doomed to fail. Human suffering requires all five senses and the reaction to the senses are Karma. To transcend the trapping of Samsara all the karmic energy has to be used up. Without anger, we can’t burn up the karma of anger. Just because we can sense or be aware of anger doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. The serum deforms the DNA and handicaps the senses. It’s a crime. But what the Buddha told us is that Dharma doesn’t know karma, and if we can ascend to dharma living, all karma is dissolved. It’s a paradox within the paradigm.
  8. What would a perfect world look like to you?
    It looks like this, chibusa! Everyone gathered in one place, chanting the lotus, emptied minds. Like I said, chibusa!
  9. What needs to happen to get from the problems to the perfect world you defined?
    The King has no clue how to motivate the people to the river’s edge. Much the less how to get us all across the river. If Mahá was the King, and I trust one day, he will be. There would be a chance. The first thing I think we need is a sutra to guide us across to the other shore. That’s what I’m searching for out there. I’m making myself available to divine guidance. Sounds mental, I get that. But I couldn’t think of anything more important to do with my life.
  10. If you weren’t a character in this story who would you be in real life?
    Sarvashura, maybe Bhaiṣajyaguru, or Manjushri.
  11. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change?
    I would have the supernatural powers of the Arhant and the Buddhas so that I would know how to take the people out of Samsara and back to the source.
  12. What would you like to say to the reader?
    Thank you for taking the time to open your heart to our struggle. I pray that you will be free from all your suffering and the causes of your suffering.
Interview with the celbrity
Kelv Celebrity Interview