A Spiritual Journey in the Service of Buddhism in France
(1929–1974)
[This text is a summary, based on the autobiography that Jean-Pierre Schnetzler wrote in 2008.]Formation of a Conscience (1929–1946)
Born on August 9, 1929 in Nice, into a middle-class Catholic family, Jean-Pierre Schnetzler grew up between the sea and nature. The 1929 economic crisis upended this life: the family left Nice for Paris in 1935, then settled in the Lot region in 1937, where his father became a tax collector. Jean-Pierre received a dual upbringing, shaped by both republican values and the Catholic faith.
A student at the Prytanée Militaire in La Flèche from 1939, he experienced the collapse of June 1940 firsthand: bombings, the mass exodus, and the fragility of human life. A bout of pneumonia in 1943 sent him to recover in Noirmoutier, then occupied and fortified, while his father’s name appeared on a list of hostages to be executed. These hardships shaped his critical mind and gave him a clear-eyed view of human nature.In 1944, deep questions arose in him about action versus monastic life. He chose medicine, a middle path between commitment and service. During his philosophy class in Nantes, he began to question Catholic dogma, in particular the idea that « Outside the Church, there is no salvation. » After reading the Bible from beginning to end, he inwardly left the Church, while still holding on to the teachings of Christ.Discovering Buddhism (1946–1958)
In 1946, reading Schopenhauer opened Jean-Pierre’s eyes to Hindu and Buddhist texts. Oldenberg’s book caused a real « earthquake » in him: not simply intellectual agreement, but the overwhelming certainty of rediscovering a truth he already knew. He became convinced that he had been a Buddhist in a past life.This certainty condemned him to silence for ten years (1946–1956). It was impossible to reveal this to his Catholic family or within the medical world. He waited until he was solidly established as a psychiatrist in Morlaix, a specialty he chose precisely because it deals with mental suffering, a core concept in Buddhism.During this decade, he felt painfully alone, torn between his French roots and his « Eastern half. » His solitary attempts at meditation failed. It was the discovery of René Guénon, around 1956, that finally pushed him to act: Guénon revealed to him the transcendent unity of religions and made him understand that he had to become a Buddhist in practice, not just in thought. He then began exploring Paris and discovered the Société des Amis du Bouddhisme (Society of the Friends of Buddhism).In 1958, he contacted the venerable Walpola Rahula, a Cambodian monk staying at the Cité Universitaire, and asked straight away to take refuge. The monk was surprised — it was the first time a Frenchman had asked him this. In January 1958, Jean-Pierre officially became a Buddhist at the premises of the Société des Amis du Bouddhisme, a first in Paris. He took on the rules of a lay follower and learned meditation from René Joly in Gretz.His sense of purpose grew clearer: to help establish Buddhism in France. These encounters confirmed to him that Westerners could open themselves to the Dharma, and revealed his mission: to help establish Buddhism in France. He fully wove Buddhism into his work as a psychiatrist, cultivating a complementarity between Western knowledge (psychoanalysis, waking dream therapy) and Eastern knowledge (meditation, compassion). His conviction: « What has been separated must be brought back together. »
Jean-Pierre in the 1960s
Grenoble and the Great Vehicle (1960–1972)
Meeting Master Deshimaru (1967)
In 1967, Jean-Pierre happened to welcome Master Deshimaru, who had arrived from Japan via the Trans-Siberian Railway. Invited by a macrobiotic group, the Zen master ended up staying with a friend of Jean-Pierre’s, who put him up in a caravan. They organized his first two lectures in France before sending him on to Paris. This is how Jean-Pierre came into contact with the Great Vehicle (Mahayana), began practicing zazen, and eventually took the bodhisattva vows. Once settled in Paris, Deshimaru’s tireless energy allowed the Soto Zen school to grow in France in a way no one could have imagined. His example — a meditation master settling in France — marked a major turning point for them. Jean-Pierre adopted zazen for its effectiveness, without giving up his complementary practice of concentration. More importantly, the active ideal of compassion led him to take the bodhisattva vows and to feel himself a practitioner of the Great Vehicle, though without experiencing this as an exclusive allegiance.
The Founding of the Centre d’Études Bouddhiques de Grenoble (1972)
A few lectures and word of mouth brought together people interested in spiritual change and meditation practice. A small group formed and grew, meeting in the evenings at people’s homes. Gradually, some decided to take refuge. In 1972, this commitment took concrete shape with the founding of the Centre d’Études Bouddhiques de Grenoble (Grenoble Center for Buddhist Studies). Its charter stated that it was open to all schools of Buddhism — Jean-Pierre often pointing out that the ideal of the compassionate bodhisattva does not belong exclusively to the Great Vehicle.
The center soon found a large meditation hall at 16 Rue Thiers in Grenoble, an address it still holds today. For weekend retreats, they rented the disused school at Saint-Pierre-de-Chérennes, near Izeron, at the foot of the Vercors massif, where they regularly practiced concentration and insight meditation.
None of this would have been possible without the dedication of a growing number of practitioners who had been won over by the Buddha’s teaching.
The Tantric Vehicle: Meeting Kalu Rinpoche (1971)
The Dream of Dorje Pamo (Early 1971)
In early 1971, Jean-Pierre had a striking dream: he attended the funeral of a Zen master, then saw in the garden a stout Tibetan nun, dressed in a maroon robe, who, he was told, was the reincarnation of the sow-headed goddess, and that it was through her that he would be liberated.
The first part of the dream was clear: disappointed by certain aspects of Master Deshimaru’s behavior, he could no longer give him his full trust. The dream drew its conclusions in its own dramatic way. This disillusionment, however, did not extend to the teachings of Zen, to the Soto style, or to zazen itself, which he continued to practice. He had let go of the man, not of the teachings received through him.
The second part of the dream remained unclear. The nun’s stoutness suggested feminine, earthly qualities that he himself might lack. As for the sow-headed goddess, some research told him her name: Vajravarahi in Sanskrit, Dorje Pamo in Tibetan. He set the dream aside for the time being and continued his zazen practice.
The First Meeting with Kalu Rinpoche (1971)
A few months later, a friend told him that Kalu Rinpoche, a Tibetan lama he had met in Canada, would be coming to Paris for the first time. Jean-Pierre hesitated: he knew little about Tantrism, had no wish to practice its complicated rituals or to learn Tibetan, and was overwhelmed with work. He replied, « What do you want me to do with a Tibetan lama? » His friend insisted, mentioning the chance to ask questions about Vajrayana. Jean-Pierre decided to go, out of intellectual curiosity.
Kalu Rinpoche was sitting on the sofa of a Paris apartment. Jean-Pierre noticed that he reminded him of an old grandmother, and sat down on the floor at his feet, without asking a single question. During the conversation, kept going by his friend, everything he had thought of asking — and, better still, everything he might unconsciously have hoped for — was answered by the spontaneous words of this frail old man. They took their leave without Jean-Pierre having hardly opened his mouth.
He got up with the immediate feeling of standing before a holy man, gifted moreover with clear telepathic abilities, and the certainty, despite his own resistance, that he had found his master, in every sense of the word. He understood that he would have to go through what he did not want to go through, and that it would not be comfortable. He had noticed the intensity of his immediate « grandmotherly » transference, and felt the love radiating from the lama. Fascinating as these aspects were, they did not stop him from already missing, in advance, the comfort of a practice he knew well, which he would have to trade for « Buddha knows what Tibetan complications. » It was then that he thought back to the Tibetan nun from his dream, a symbol and a prediction of a shift in balance that was already on its way. He waited for Rinpoche’s next visit, the following year.
The Dorje Pamo Empowerment (1972)
Jean-Pierre learned that Rinpoche was staying at the château de Béon, not far from Grenoble, and decided to pay him a visit. Arriving unannounced, he was told that Rinpoche had suddenly decided to give the Dorje Pamo empowerment in his room. The empowerment was to begin in five minutes.
He then discovered that Dorje Pamo is the special protector of the Kagyu order, to which Rinpoche belonged — and to which he himself now belonged, as a humble lay practitioner – and that she bears a small protrusion shaped like a sow’s head, symbolizing ignorance overcome. The nun from his dream took on a new significance. Meaningful coincidences kept piling up, not to mention the lama’s mind-reading, always done naturally and with discretion.
Jean-Pierre put forward the idea that this same expanded awareness might be quietly guiding him, helping him avoid the mistakes his natural tendencies pushed him toward. Turning toward a more difficult path could be of benefit to him, as long as he remained open to the signs.
And so he finally found himself drawn into the Tantric Vehicle, having followed the historical path of Buddhist development through its three successive Vehicles.
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