The following is an excerpt from a public talk given by His Holiness Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok:
“Not recognizing what causes the disease” refers to those of us who are still wandering in the three realms of cyclic existence. We are suffering in samsara, which is considered to be like the great welling up of spontaneous suffering that occurs because we simply don’t recognize our condition. What we must do is recognize that as long as we stay in this state of lack of awareness, we will never be able to experience even a needle tip’s worth of happiness. If you still wonder why it is that sentient beings are suffering, what is this condition that we call the suffering of the three realms of cyclic existence, just think about it. Physical illness, incurable disease, mental suffering, mental illness, anxiety, inability to acquire the wealth and the objects of one’s desire, inability to become famous, or acquiring wealth and fame, and losing it, all of these different complications and ins and outs of daily life situations are what we are referring to in terms of the suffering of cyclic existence. This is easy to understand if you just simply take a look at it. This is called the suffering of suffering.
That which we think brings us happiness, that which we pursue with the hope to get happiness—fame, wealth, gain, possessions and so forth—are actually the causes of suffering, because if you are finally able to acquire what you are working so hard to acquire, once you have one thing, then you will want a second and a third and a fourth. In other words, you can’t be satisfied by these material objects because they will only lead to more desire for yet more material objects. Even if you are the ruler of an entire country, you will want to rule a second and a third country because it is the nature of desire that it simply cannot be satisfied. This is why desire itself is a source of suffering, and with this kind of endless or unceasing desire for material gain, happiness can never be found.
We suffer then because we can’t obtain what we want in terms of material wealth and glory. And then if we do obtain it, we suffer fearing that we will lose it. We actually have enemies that we are threatened by because we have these possessions. So then we have to hire more people to protect our possessions and on and on and on like this. One situation leads to a second situation which leads to more and more suffering. This is why I am saying that it is very unlikely that any true happiness can be derived from this suffering. It would be better to be able to be satisfied by thinking. “As long as I have some delicious and satisfying food to eat, and comfortable and ample clothing, and a comfortable bed to sleep on at night, then it is not necessary to own all these other possessions because they will only be the causes for more suffering. I can be satisfied by just simply having that which makes me comfortable so that I can survive.”
Especially when it comes time for our death, no one in this world can take any of their possessions with them at that time. All of the things that we spend our short lifetime trying to accumulate and pursue, thinking that these things will bring us happiness, are totally useless when the time of our death arrives. Not only that, none of our friends can come along. We must go alone when we pass from this life. Even the greatest rulers and the most powerful people of this world are alone in the hour of their death. Therefore it becomes more obvious that it is kind of futile to spend one’s time and one’s short lifetime pursuing the accumulation of material objects which bring suffering during one’s life and are useless at the time of death.
The following is respectfully quoted from “Reborn in the West” by Vicki Mackenzie:
Before receiving her bodhisattva vows she had told Penor Rinpoche of her own vow that she was teaching to her students: ‘I dedicate myself to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings. I offer my body, speech and mind in order to accomplish the purpose of all sentient beings. I will return in whatever form necessary, under extraordinary circumstances, to end suffering. Let me born in times unpredictable, in places unknown, until all sentient beings are liberated from the cycle of death and rebirth.
Taking no thought for my comfort or safety, precious Buddha make me a pure and perfect instrument by which the end of suffering and death in all forms might be realized. Let me achieve perfect enlightenment for the sake of all beings. And then, by my hand and heart alone, may all beings achieve full enlightenment and perfect liberation.’
Penor Rinpoche had rocked to and fro in unbridled mirth, slapping his thigh in amusement. She had replicated, almost exactly the same prayers that Tibetan lamas spoke. It was another proof of her identity.
He handed her another certificate, authorizing her to teach. ‘This is important,’ he said. ‘People will say you haven’t been studying the dharma, that they have never heard of you. They will not understand. With this paper no one will doubt that you are capable of teaching the dharma.’
Penor Rinpoche went on to tell Jetsunma a little about her famous ‘predecessor’. The first Ahkön Lhamo was the direct student of Tertön Migyur Dorje, a famous revealer of secret teachings, he said. She was a great dakini and spent decades in retreat, only coming down from her cave to help her brother with his monastery. Otherwise people would go to her to receive healing and teaching.
I asked Jetsunma if she were curious to find out more about Ahkön Lhamo or had any memories of the yogini who had lived in Tibet in 1665 and had inspired a religious order that had survived to this present day.
‘I discovered she was pretty wild,’ she replied. ‘She stayed up in her cave and looked pretty wretched, with her hair sticking out all over the place,’ she said, picking up her own unruly locks. ‘She was a crazy yogini type. Some things never change! There was no water in her cave, of course, and she never bathed. Her clothes were rotting on her. But people said whenever they went to her cave it would smell like perfume. Penor Rinpoche told me that people would give her turquoise, gold and coral, but she would refuse it. She was probably holding out for gifts she could accept, like hair-driers! She was probably waiting for electricity to be put into her cave and she could have central heating!’ she joked.
‘As for any memories, I don’t like to make any fuss about the inner experience I have. I can tell you I have some awareness of it, but it’s pretty “Swiss cheesy”. I am curious. I want to go back to Tibet, to see the cave where she practiced. Gyaltrul Rinpoche, the reincarnation of Kunzang Sherab who is now in Oregon, said that when he went back to Tibet he remembered a lot. It’s as though the airways are clearer there.’
There is at least one concrete link between this latter-day bodhisattva, the girl from Brooklyn, and the seventeenth century Tibetan yogini who had helped found a Buddhist lineage. Ahkön Lhamo’s skull, or part of it, is still in existence. It bears an unmistakable hallmark of sanctity. On its top is etched the holy sanskrit syllable ‘Ah’.
The story goes like this. When the first Ahkön Lhamo passed away, they prepared a pyre to cremate her and duly put the body on it. When the last vestige of flesh was burnt away, the skull rose up in the air in front of hundreds of people and flew about a mile before landing at the Palyul monastery, at the foot of her brother Kunzang Sherab’s throne. This was considered the final ultimate display of Ahkön Lhamo’s power and spiritual accomplishments. The great dakini, who was already known for the many miracles she performed, had revealed her true greatness.
The skull became a most treasured relic and was used as a kapala, and instrument used in ritual ceremonies for holding nectar. It remained intact until in the mid-twentieth century the invading Chinese hacked to pieces everything of spiritual significance, including the precious kapala at the Palyul monastery. A lay person saw a piece of the skull among the rubble and, hiding it in his clothes, took it to safety. It was some years before Penor Rinpoche got word that at least part of the holy relic had survived.
The was a vast gap in time between 1660 and 1949, when the present Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo was born. I asked her the same question I had asked Tenzin Sherab. What lives did she think she had been living in between?
‘I think there were other incarnations, but as Penor Rinpoche told me, they don’t keep track of women. It wasn’t because they were prejudiced against women’s wisdom. In fact, dakinis are the primordial wisdom beings and are held in very high regard. Generally, though, dakinis were not the lineage holders. They spent their lives in solitude, doing spiritual practices. Penor Rinpoche says, and I feel, that there have been many incarnations.
But this present one, as the American woman doing it ‘her way’ as undoubtedly she always had, was the life that was to capture widespread attention. Jetsunma left the United States as a married woman, mother of two and teacher of New Age metaphysics with a bent for worldwide caring, and returned a recognized tulku, a reincarnate lama. For her students this took some adjustment. While they had been happily following the teachings of a woman whom they treated as their equal, they now had to contend not only with a ‘Buddhist’ but also with someone whose rank placed her on an entirely different footing. There was protocol to observe, a new language to learn for the same concepts they had learnt, and the mantle of an old and established ‘religion’ from the East to adopt. Some disciples fell out, but most survived the transition.
Whatever misgivings they might have had about the authenticity of their teacher’s new lofty reincarnate status, however, were completely dispelled when Penor Rinpoche came to see them for the second time in 1988. “He arrived at Poolesville with twelve monks in attendance and conferred the Rinchen Terzod, the revealed teachings of the great Padma Sambhava to all member of KPC. It was the first time he had ever performed the task in his lifetime, and the first time in North America”.
He then conducted an official enthronement of Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo. News of the thirty-nine-year-old woman who had been recognized as the reincarnation of a famous Tibetan yogini reached the media. Newspaper reporters and television crews descended on KPC. ‘Meet Ahkön Norbu Lhamo, Tibetan Saint,’ blazed the front-page headline of the International Herald Tribune. ‘The Unexpected Incarnation’ cried the Washington Post. She appeared in the popular People magazine. Leading Japanese and German magazines ran articles on her. This was when my own journalist’s antennae, primed for good stories, must have picked up the importance of the event and stored it away for later use.
The following is an excerpt from a public talk given by His Holiness Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok:
Recognizing suffering for what it is, understanding the causes that produce suffering, we are then able to engage on the path of true freedom and bliss which culminates in the experience of enlightenment or full awakening, the status of Buddhahood. When the status of Buddhahood is realized we will know permanent happiness. To be able to cessate all types of suffering in this way so that permanent happiness is achieved is totally dependent upon the spiritual path, the practice itself. Therefore we must understand how to practice the pure path.
The goal of liberating all beings from suffering is predominant in all vehicles, but in addition to that one would consider the thought of never harming others and of somehow being of benefit to others. Anything that is harmful, in any way at all, is absolutely abandoned. To practice on that level, of maintaining refuge and never harming others intentionally is the essence of the Hinayana pursuit. In this world of ours these days the Hinayana vehicle of Buddhism is primarily practiced as the sole pursuit in countries such as Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries.
The Mahayana pursuit, or the greater spiritual pursuit, more than focusing upon one’s own purpose one focuses upon the purpose and welfare of others. One is always thinking how to be of benefit to others. In fact, it becomes one’s sole concern to not only think about being of benefit to others, but to engage in activities which bring direct benefit to all other sentient beings impartially to the point where one is ultimately able to establish all other sentient beings in the status of Buddhahood. That is done based on one’s altruistic attitude of love and compassion for all other beings. So that type of motivation and practical application qualifies one as a practitioner of Mahayana. The essence of the Hinayana is already incorporated into that because, if you’ll recall, in Hinayana the main focus is not to harm others, but as a Mahayanist, not only are you not harming others, but you are only doing that which benefits others. So it is taken a step further. In this word, those countries where the Mahayana doctrine is predominant include China and Japan and some others.
In the context of Mahayana, as an inner division we find the vehicle of secret mantra, Vajrayana. What sets the secret mantra Vajrayana path apart from the others is that it is called the resultant vehicle. This is because it produces results in a very short period of time. It does not take a long time of practice to receive the results because method and wisdom are combined in such a way that in one short lifetime enlightenment can be realized. The secret mantra path of Vajrayana combines the two yogic stages of generation stage — which is the practice of generating visualizations of self-nature as the deity — and the completion stage — which is the practice of dissolving visualizations and other types of elaborations into the fundamental nature of emptiness. These two yogic stages are combined in such a way that the result is achieved in a very short period of time.
This vehicle of secret mantra Vajrayana is the principal vehicle of Buddhism that is practiced in Tibet, and now we find it spreading throughout America and other countries. There are many Dharma centers that have been established in America, primarily by Tibetan lamas who are upholders of the Vajrayana tradition. This means that many of the American disciples are now becoming practitioners and upholders of this tradition. In fact, throughout this world, Vajrayana Buddhism is already firmly established in some 32 countries.
Within the secret mantra vehicle, the ultimate, absolute pinnacle, the enlightened mind of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas condensed into one essence, the heart blood of all the dakinis, is the quintessential path known as the Clear Light Great Perfection, or Ati Yoga. This Doctrine of the Great Perfection is dependent upon the receiving of what is termed pointing out instructions or pith essential instructions which can be passed from teacher to disciple in the form of just a word or two. In fact, if everything is auspicious according to the way that the Clear Light Great Perfection is actually transmitted, it is taught that if those essential instructions are given in the evening, by sunrise one will be enlightened. If they are given at sunrise, by evening one will be enlightened. So this is considered to be the most expedient path to liberation.
To meet with the Clear Light Great Perfection is something that is so precious and rare that it is taught that just to hear the words of the dzogchen teaching, the teachings on the level of Ati Yoga, closes the door to rebirth in the three lower realms and puts one safely and directly on the path to liberation as a Buddha. So it is a Dharma that has the power to liberate just by contact, just by sight, just by recollection. Even to recall the words of the dzogchen teachings is something that is so precious and profound that it is likened to having a wish-fulfilling jewel in the palms of your hands. It is not a Dharma that is filled with elaborations and complexities that takes a lot of time to accomplish or establish. It is a Dharma that, if it meets with the right individual or the perfect aspirant, is something that is easy to practice and that can be applied to every aspect of life in a very simple way producing very direct results. However, this Dharma, this Doctrine, must only fall into the hands of those disciples who have the karmic affinity for it which is something that must be established due to karmic connections. Otherwise it is a Dharma that is meant to be kept secret or to be guarded from any other type of situation.
The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
I am racking my brain to think of more ways to fund raise. It feels like crying in the darkness. His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche tells me KPC is absolutely necessary, as did His Holiness Penor Rinpoche. Palyul needs us to be strong for the sake of all beings and for western Dharma.
We are not on time, we are lagging. Please wake up and march forward with me and make the world a better, kinder place.
The following is an excerpt from a teaching offering by Kyabje His Holiness Pema Norbu Rinpoche at Palyul Ling in New York:
First examine your mind and try to get rid of any afflictive emotions or negative thoughts. Try to give rise to devotion, faith, inclination, and in that way, carry through the Guru Yoga prayers with a very sincere mind. From the core of one’s heart do the supplication prayers.
All the practices that we are doing during the retreat were revealed by Treasure Revealer, Tulku Migyur Dorje. The history or story of Tulku Migyur Dorje starts before the time of Shakyamuni Buddha. There was a king called Akara. When he was the son of the king, he went to collect some jewels from the ocean and wandered. As he was wandering he carried with him a cloth net called Zarapa, which is why he is also referred to as Arapa. For a while he had been looking for the guru named Apara. Apara was a great mahasidda who wandered, so Akara had not been able to find him. One day the guru master, Apara, knew that the King’s son was coming, so he waited in a certain place. When the King’s son, Arapa met the master Apara, he didn’t know who he was, and asked, “Do you know where Apara is?”
Instantly Apara flew in the air and landed on a rock where he left a footprint, and stayed there. Instantly Zarapa developed tremendous devotion. He went there and started receiving teachings. He received all the teachings and based on his practice, he had accomplishment. Then Zarapa also had many disciples.
He was reborn as three masters who had great miraculous activities. And then he was reborn several times in India. He was reborn as Kungol during the time when Shakyamuni Buddha was just attaining enlightenment in India. Kungol attended all the Buddha’s teachings and maintained the Buddha’s teachings.
During the time when Guru Padmasambhava came to Tibet, he was born as a great yogi known as Shupu Palge Senge. He helped Guru Padmasambhava’s activity by translating all the teachings from Sanskrit to Tibetan and then also by bringing tantric texts and teachings to Tibet.
Tulku Migyur Dorje had about 500 different lives. For a long time he had been manifesting in the six realms and benefiting all sentient beings, especially beings in hell. Lots of hell beings were liberated. When he was in the hell realm, of course, he didn’t experience the suffering of hell because of his power and realization. He just benefited and liberated all those hell beings. He emptied many areas of hell. Sometimes the karma of some hell beings was so strong that he couldn’t help them, so he drew mantras on the sand and then threw them in the fire, which extinguished the fire, and benefited those beings.
Also he manifested in the animal realm just as very tiny animals like insects, and then huge animals, and birds and so forth. And then according to their own family, they started giving teachings and that way lots and lots of animal beings were benefited and liberated.
Later in Tibet he was born in a place called Ngam. When he was just three years old, he started giving teachings. His parents wouldn’t allow him saying, “What kind of ghost language you are speaking?” When he was 11 years old, his master, Chagmed Rinpoche, knew he was a special being and invited him to his place. Chagmed Rinpoche had a relative who was a very negative guy. The relative saw that Migyur Dorje was staying there for awhile and somehow obscured his mind a bit. So Chagmed Rinpoche gave Migyur Dorje lots of purification nectar, and with that the obscurations were purified. Later he had clear visions of many deities. That is how all the Namchö teachings were revealed.
Then Chagmed Rinpoche started teaching Migyur Dorje all the scripts. And Migyur Dorje told him, “I know all those scripts.” Then he asked Chagmed Rinpoche about the scripts from many different countries, and said, “Do you know these?” And Chagmed Rinpoche said, “I don’t know them.”
In the beginning Chagmed Rinpoche was Tulku Migyur Dorje’s master. Then later when Tulku Migyur Dorje started revealing the Namchö cycle of teachings, Chagmed Rinpoche took Tulku Migyur Dorje as his master. The whole complete revelation of the Namchö cycle of teachings were revealed in that way.
This Namchö is the exact Dharma teaching appropriate for this time. It is very condensed and profound, and has a great deal of blessings. In that way Tulku Migyur Dorje brought a lot of benefit. Then somewhere in another Buddhafield, a Buddha was going to pass into Nirvana, and so Migyur Dorje needed to go there then as a kind of representative and to attain enlightenment. He lived only about 19 years on this earth.
The complete revelation of this Namchö passed from Chagmed Rinpoche to Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab until our present day lineage holders. Many countless beings have become great mahasiddhas. It has been explained that there would be like 100 million masters who are honored with that banner. All the lamas who have the rank of Vajra Acharya, have great signs when they pass away. You are also following this tradition and practice. If you think properly and do the practice, then the same blessings are also there for you.
H.E. Ven. Yangthang Tulku is a highly revered Lama in the Nyingmapa Lineage of Tantrayana Buddhism. He is known to be the embodiment of Vimalamitra, a Dzogchen Master regarded as the chief propagator of Buddhism in Sikkim. In his past life he was also the great terton Lhatsen Namkha Jigmed from Sikkim whose treasures are included in the Rinchen Terzod. But he is perhaps most well known as the reincarnation of Dorje Dechen Lingpa, the Tertön from Dhomang, who has successfully retrieved many Terma Buddhist scriptures which were secretly concealed by Padmasambhava. Only the truly accomplished Dharma practitioner prophesied by Padmasambhava, can reveal these sacred treasures.
At the very moment that Dhomang Terchen’s incarnation was born (1923) in Sikkim, all directions in the sky in Sikkim resounded in thunder, “I am here!” He was discovered exactly as described, born into the Yangthang family. This is why Rinpoche is known now as Yangthang Rinpoche. A second emanation was born in Sikkim and was brought up together with his older counterpart. When Yangthang Rinpoche was invited back to his monastery in Tibet, the younger emanation also insisted upon joining him. The two young boys departed with their party, playing and performing many miracles along the journey.
Upon returning to Dhomang Monastery both tulkus were put in the hands of Sogtrul Rinpoche and many other lamas at Dhomang. They were given the finest and best education with Khenpo Pema from the Palyul Mother Monastery as their personal instructor. Thus, both tulkus were able to fully complete all their studies. In addition to mastering the extensive training in practices of his lineage, Yangthang Rinpoche was completely trained in the Kangyur and Tangyur, and in the works of Longchenpa.
In Tibet, before the Cultural Revolution, Yangthang Rinpoche gave the entire Kangyur transmission and many other great empowerments. He became the head of Dhomang Monastery and carried out all the administrative duties personally.
After remaining in retreat for more than 20 years under harsh conditions, Ven. Yangthang Rinpoche moved to Pelling, West Sikkim in 1958. That same year, the Communist Chinese captured and killed Sogtrul Rinpoche and the younger tulku. In 1959, Yangthang Rinpoche fled Dhomang. He was later captured by the Chinese, and imprisoned for 22 years. While imprisoned, he helped many fellow prisoners who could not bear the hardship to die peacefully by performing P’howa, transferring their consciousness to Pure Lands. Though he witnessed and experienced much torture, he bears no resentment to his captors, only compassion. In fact, he became a spiritual advisor to some of the guards. When people express sympathy about his imprisonment, Rinpoche says that because of Dharma, his mind was freer in prison than worldly people experience in the best of circumstances.
Following the death of Mao Tse Tung he was released. He returned to Dhomang to find his monastery completely dismantled. He then obtained permission to go to Sikkim. As a simple yogi he traveled back and forth to Nepal and Bhutan, receiving transmissions and empowerments from His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and His Holiness Dodrubchen Rinpoche.
In 1985, while circumambulating the Great Stupa in Bodhanath, Yangthang Rinpoche met with Gyaltrul Rinpoche, who at that time was leading a group of his American students on pilgrimage to the sacred shrines of the Dharma. These two lamas had not seen each other in 26 years. Fleeing from the invading Communist Chinese, they had initially left Dhomang together but parted company at a fork in the road. One fork led Gyaltrul Rinpoche to freedom in India, the other led Yangthang Rinpoche to imprisonment. At the request of Gyaltrul Rinpoche, Yangthang Rinpoche first came to the U.S. in 1990. He gave many profound teachings and transmissions, and was enthusiastically welcomed wherever he taught. Yangthang Rinpoche returned to the U.S. for a second tour of teaching and transmission in 1997, and for a third tour in 2002. In between his travels to the United States, Europe and Asia, Rinpoche has gone back to his root temple, Dhomang Temple in Sichuan, China to rebuild and refurbish the dismantled temple.
Among the Tertons, exceptional manifestations have been given the title ‘Lingpa’ in acknowledgment of their remarkable qualities. Like Ratna Lingpa, Karma Lingpa, Chogyur Lingpa and others, Dorje Dechen Lingpa revealed many volumes of treasures and was an undisputed realized master, a manifestation of the wisdom and compassion of all the Buddhas. Moreover, Yangthang Tulku is of course also an emanation of Vimalamitra, just as Kyabje Penor Rinpoche was. Vimalamitra’s wisdom is inseparable from Guru Rinpoche’s, the source of the blessings of all the revealed treasures. Yanthang Rinpoche is known as a compassionate, humble, no-nonsense Dzogchen master and one of the principle lineage holders of the Nyingmapa Lineage. He is widely recognized for the quality and depth of his realization, the power of his attainment, and the purity of his transmissions.
Kyabje Pema Norbu Rinpoche, the 11th throne holder of Palyul Lineage, has pronounced that “There is no difference between myself and Yangthang Rinpoche.” Gyaltrul Rinpoche has stated that “Yangthang Rinpoche is the great achiever of Dharma, an extremely precious gem in this modern age.” Venerable Yangthang Rinpoche currently resides in West Sikkim.
I dream of the day my Guru will be reborn and found. I long for it. This Precious Incarnation is sorely missed–every day.
I have my Palyul Lineage and all our AMAZING throneholders. But HHPenor Rinpoche is my root Guru, enthroned upon the Lotus in my heart.
HHPR is present always! Through my humanness I long to see His Precious Face- hear His voice, the fragrance of His holy breath! Ah, tears…
I must satisfy my heart with His many teachings, prayers, and mixing my mind with His. Like milk with water, inseparable! The way…
I have never seen such compassion in anyone else but HHPR. He was a living Buddha, peerless. He made Palyul what it is today!
His Holiness Penor Rinpoche
To His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, Tsawei Lama I pray– O great treasure of Love and Blessing, Supreme Wisdom Holder! Return for the sake of all sentient beings!
Come, lead us out of confusion into Pristine Awareness as only a true Buddha can! I await the Bliss of Your return!
Show us the way to attain Supreme Enlightenment as you have always done! Return to us! There is such suffering!
Show us how to awaken from this deep, narcotic trance- to the Pristine Primordial Nature, free of contrivance! E MA HO!
Beloved Guru, may I always, in every future time be reborn in Your Entourage and serve you and all beings with body, speech and mind.
The following is respectfully quoted from “How to Follow a Spiritual Master” as translated by the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute:
H. H. Pema Norbu Rinpoche, an emanation of Pundit Vimalamitra, was born in the twelfth Tibetan month of Water Monkey Year 1932 at Powo in Kham, Eastern Tibet. His father’s name was Sonam Gyurme and his mother Zom Kyid. At the time of his birth, sweet scented flowers miraculously bloomed in his village where no flowers usually appear in the cold and dry winter month. He was recognized as the Third Drubwang Penor Rinpoche through the prophecy of the Thupten Choekyi Dorje, the fifth Dzogchen Rinpoche.
In the upper region of sacred Powo,
At the foot of a majestic hill,
Surrounded by beautiful trees and lakes,
With large rivers flowing from the south,
To a couple bearing names, Sonam and Kyid,
A noble child will be born in the Water Monkey Year,
Possessing great qualities, he will benefit the doctrine and beings.
I the fifth Dzogchen prophesy this.
Khenpo Ngagchung, a prominent Dzogchen adept of the time, foreseeing the exceptional destiny of the new incarnation, gave him the refuge vow and empowerment of Manjushri, a sacred statue and composed a long life prayer used by thousands of his followers around the globe today. Penor Rinpoche was brought when he was five to the Palyul Monastery, the seat of his previous incarnations and was enthroned by Thupten Choekyi Dawa and Karma Thegchog Nyingpo as the incarnation of the Second Drubwang Penor Rinpoche and was the eleventh throne holder of the Palyul tradition.
Palyul Namgyal Jangchub Choeling, one of the six great Nyingma Monasteries, was established under the patronage of Lachen Jampa Phuntsog, the King of Dege and Trichen Sangye Tenpa in 1665.
Rigzin Kunsang Sherab, a prominent Dzogchen master and Terton prophesied by Guru Rinpoche became the first head of the monastery. He was a close disciple of Mahasiddha Karma Chagme and Terton Migyur Dorje, who discovered the Namcho Cycle. Both through the influence of his masters and his own inspiration, the monastery grew rapidly into one of the largest in Tibet. In the following centuries, Palyul often referred to as “the Glorious Palyul of the East”, became the famous center of ardent learning and practice under the guidance of successive throne holders. Hundreds and thousands of monks attained the rainbow body or other spiritual accomplishments from there. Penor Rinpoche was to oversee this large monastery comprising more than four hundred branch monasteries and over three hundred thousand monks and nuns.
Penor Rinpoche spent his early youth in Palyul and Dago, studying and receiving teachings from many masters including Karma Thegchog Nyingpo (the Tenth Throne holder) who prepared him to become the eleventh throne holder. When, as a small child, he was playing with a precious Vajra, he accidentally dropped it, breaking it into pieces. Fearing that his teacher would reprimand him, he quickly glued it back together with his own saliva, making the Vajra stronger than ever. On another occasion, he accidentally dropped a fragile ritual bell on the stone floor. Everybody present assumed that the bell had broken, and yet when Rinpoche picked it up, the bell was as whole and the ring more melodious.
One day when Rinpoche was a small boy, and old man who insisted that Rinpoche practice phowa on him approached him. Rinpoche innocently complied with the old man’s request. To his dismay, he realized that he had actually killed the old man. He immediately practiced again to revive the corpse that lay before him. To Rinpoche’s utter relief, the old man came back to life and said, “For heaven’s sake, why did you call me back? I was already in the pure land of Lord Amitabha.”
Another incident illustrating Rinpoche’s extraordinary power at a tender age occurred when he left his footprints permanently etched in a stone. This incident among others testifies to the karmic continuity of Rinpoche’s former practices. Penor Rinpoche also used to make intricately woven knots in a blessing cord using only his tongue.
Among his numerous masters, Penor Rinpoche benefited immensely from a very warm and close relationship he enjoyed with his master Thupten Choekyi Dawa. At the age of thirteen, he received novice ordination from him, at twenty-one full ordinations and a vast number of teachings including essential instructions and empowerments from the Nyingma tradition. Despite his old age and poor eyesight, his master said, “If I am not able to give the entire teachings, instructions and empowerments to Penor Rinpoche, then I would not have lived my life.”
Penor Rinpoche then underwent a long-term retreat with Thupten Choekyi Dawa at Darthang. Beginning from preliminary practices to the most profound esoteric teachings of Dzogchen, he stressed every practice until naked truth was revealed to him. His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse once said,
“Penor Rinpoche is a saint who has transcended the boundary of samayas”.
Khenpo Jigme Phuntsog repeatedly applauded him as an enlightened Buddha in flesh and blood.
During an accomplishment ceremony (Drubchen), many monks saw a rainbow appear around the mandala and amrita boiled in the skull cup. While conducting the accomplishment ceremony of Magon, the ritual cake of Dakinis was seen shaking vigorously. One day while receiving Kangyur transmissions, Penor Rinpoche had a recollection of Lord Buddha seated at the bank of a river giving profound teachings to him and thousands of others.
According to Khenpo Ngagchung, Penor Rinpoche is also a manifestation of Vajrapani. Rinpoche’s recollection clearly indicates that he had sat at the feet of the Enlightened One in a previous lifetime in the form of Vajrapani.
It was a dream of every Tibetan to make a pilgrimage to Lhasa, especially to see the famous Jowo. In 1956, at the age of twenty-four, Penor Rinpoche with a large entourage began to travel to Central Tibet. There they visited numerous monasteries, ancient temples and sacred places, which revealed the sanctity and glory of Tibet’s past. He also visited His Holiness the Dalai Lama at his winter palace, the Potala and received a long life empowerment. Lhasa Monlam Chenmo was in progress and he offered tea and money to the entire assembly of monks. By then the situation in Lhasa was very tense. With a heavy heart, Penor Rinpoche returned to his monastery in Palyul.
Foreseeing the irreversibility of the Chinese occupation and the threat this would pose to the very existence of the Buddha dharma, Penor Rinpoche and three hundred others fled together to the North Eastern Frontier of India. Only thirty people reached India. Many died at the hands of the Chinese. The journey was a long and a dangerous one. Bullets would fall at Penor Rinpoche’s feet sending clouds of dust. Hand grenades would fall at his feet and when he had moved to a safer distance, they would explode. To survive, people with him would kill animals for food. Penor Rinpoche could not see innocent animals being butchered. Therefore he use to walk ahead and drive away those possible victims. He reached Pema Koe in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh with his group and in 1961, moved to South India in Mysore with approximately six hundred people.
The purpose of Rinpoche’s escape from Tibet was to keep the flame of Buddha dharma alive so that beings would not plunge into the darkness and gloom of ignorance. Keeping this in mind, Penor Rinpoche re-established the great Palyul Monastery, Thegchog Namdrol Shedrup Dargyeling in Bylakuppe, Mysore. Rinpoche had at his disposal only a paltry sum of three hundred rupees to rebuild his entire life and that of his monastery. Rinpoche had, however, insurmountable hidden resources – his enormous courage and determination.
People around him did not see the vision that he had and therefore insisted he reduce the size of his planned monastery. At that time, there were only a handful of monks. When later monks by the hundreds crammed into the monastery and found no place to sit, one can only wonder at the foresight that Penor Rinpoche had three decades ago. Few masters of Penor Rinpoche’s status would have undergone the hardships that he went through. In the hot scorching sun, he would carry bricks and sands and would work the cement, his hand bleeding and full of sores. Lack of water and motor roads made the construction even more difficult. Penor Rinpoche had to fetch water from the river that runs by the side of the monastery.
At times during the working day, he and his monks did not mind mixing dirty river water with tsampa. In the early days of settlement, he lived in a tent making Tibetan tea with cheap cooking oil, as he had no butter, and drinking out of a tin can. Rinpoche even cut his zen to share it with another lama. An old woman found him one day digging sewage alone in a deep trench for one of his monks staying in retreat.
One day a man arrived at the site where Rinpoche was working with the group of monks under the sun, he briskly walked up to Rinpoche and said, “I have come a long way to see Rinpoche. May I see him?” “Oh! Sure, why not?” replied Rinpoche. He then took his visitor to his humble room and asked, “Yes, what can I do for you?” The man was both surprised and embarassed. He never expected Rinpoche to be so earthy and accessible. His idea of Penor Rinpoche was different, a well dressed monk on a high luxurious throne. But Rinpoche appeared as a true gem lying on the common soil upon which he himself toiled.
Year after year, Penor Rinpoche with inexhaustible energy and commitment, trudged steadily along the path of progress, undeterred by the numerous obstacles and hardships. The energy that Penor Rinpoche invested was not spent in vain and has borne him abundant fruits. Today Namdroling monastery in Bylakuppe, with over four thousand monks and nuns can bost of being the largest Nyingma monastery in the world. Penor Rinpoche established the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute in 1978 unable to bear the sight of priceless Nyingma doctrine at stake. The NNI, which is now a renowned center for advanced Buddhist education and research studies, has become a special pride for Penor Rinpoche.
Namdroling monastery also hosts a retreat center where several dozen undergo intensive three-year retreats. Penor Rinpoche personally instructs them on the Dzogchen Longchen Nyingthig cycle and Namcho Cycle of Terton Migyur Dorje. Every three years, a large group of Vajracharyas comes out of the retreat. Each year, Rinpoche also gives instructions on Ngondro, Tsalung, and Dzogchen during a month long retreat undertaken by a large number of monks, nuns and lay people. Studies are always coupled with practice and therefore Penor Rinpoche’s monastery is an ideal place for both intensive study and practice. That was Penor Rinpoche’s dream and that is what he still emphasizes today.
Over eight hundred small monks go to the primary school where they are taught basic reading and writing both in Tibetan and English. They also learn basic monastic duties and primary Buddhist teachings. Senior students from the institute teach these young monks. In 1993, Penor Rinpoche also founded Tsogyal Shedrubling Nunnery where over five hundred nuns study and practice and a home for the elderly where thirty people live and practice. These elders can be seen with their prayer wheels and malas, either sitting under the trees or circumambulating the sixteen large stupas that Penor Rinpoche built and dedicated to world peace.
The compassion of Rinpoche also extends to the local Indian people too. He has constructed many roads and bridges to benefit people. The money that he receives in the form of donations is always spent on worthy causes, such as the above named projects. While both in India and Tibet, Penor Rinpoche is also famous for making timely rain when the seasonal rainfall does not fall. The local Indians have nick named him, “The Rain Lama”.
Penor Rinpoche has given the entire Rinchen Terzoed Empowerments six times and the Nyingthig and Namcho Cycles several times more. He was the first Tibetan Master to give Rinchen Terzoed in the West. Rinpoche is looked upon by so many as having an infinite variety of skills and capacities. To his followers, especially to his beloved monks, he is more than a father, doctor, psychiatrist, therapist, healer, and teacher.
Being a peerless full-fledged monk himself, Penor Rinpoche has given ordination to thousands of monks and nuns. Apart from the teachings and empowerments he dispenses, he provides solutions to various human problems. Day in and day out, he selflessly works for the benefit of the living and dying or dead. The marvelous activities of His Holiness are expanding exponentially. During his four return visits to Tibet since 1959, he renovated the mother Palyul Monastery and its numerous branch monasteries. He further established new dharma centers in the Himalayan region as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. There are also centers in the USA and Europe. Rinpoche travels tirelessly throughout India, the Himalayas, South East Asia and the West bestowing teachings and empowerments to his countless disciples.
The representatives of the Nyingma Buddhists around the world unanimously appointed Rinpoche in 1993 during the Nyingma Monlam Chenmo under the Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya. He assumed responsibility and title formerly held by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.
His recent visible achievements are too numerous to list fully, not to mention the full spectrum of his hidden activities for the benefit of beings, may it be his countless disciples or all sentient beings.
The below mentioned are some of his main achievements. He established among other an imposing, beautifully decorated New Temple in Bylakuppe, able to accommodate several thousand monks and nuns. The sheer majesty of this building as well as the enormous size of the three statues of the Lord Buddha, Guru Rinpoche and Buddha Amitayus, covered in gold leaf, the extensive collection of thangkas masterpiece gracing every wall, the ornate wooden carvings have prompted the numerous Indian visitors to name it the Golden Temple. However, Rinpoche insists in saying that he has not build any golden temple yet, a feat he is currently achieving with the new project of building Sando Pari — Guru Rinpoche’s Paradise — on the site of the first temple recently brought down. The current “Golden Temple” was inaugurated amidst sumptuous celebrations and many auspicious ceremonies in the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and thousands of monks, nuns and invited guests on September 23rd 1999.
In New York State, in a beautiful quiet environment of the Catskills, Rinpoche founded the seat of his work in the USA, a retreat center complete with all facilities, a fully decorated Temple with statues and religious paintings where he bestows annually the whole retreat cycle of the Palyul tradition to his disciples coming from America, Europse and other Asian countries. There are rooms and outdoor accommodations for retreatants. There are also numerous students who have now offered centers to Rinpoche throughout the whole of the North American continent as well as Canada, which Rinpoche visits every year and where he bestows Teachings, Empowerments and advice to his rapidly growing number of followers.
In Mysore, he is also currently completing the building of a large hospital equipped with the latest facilities to serve the needs of a rapidly expanding community of monks, nuns, children and local people. Rinpoche finds every year extraordinary resources to provide absolutely all that is needed to accommodate, feed, cloth, educate and guide in the purest spiritual tradition all his followers and buildings are springing forth in a near uninterrupted stream to keep up with the expansion of his activities. Surrounded by over seventy tulkus whom he has recognized and enthroned, he dispenses generously whatever is needed, and well beyond to all his followers, ordained and lay people alike, upholding the purest vinaya tradition as a great unassuming Enlightened Bodhisattva.
The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
Shortly before Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche had His Parinirvana, He watched me watching His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche. His Holiness gave me a deep look and said “He is better than me. ”
It must be true. Tsawei Lama said it. The more I read and pray I know it’s true. I cannot explain the gifts I’ve been given.
His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche is the inheritor, and the two other heart sons are supports. His Eminence MugsangRinpoche is for America.
