Ratna Lingpa

The following is an excerpt from a teaching offered by Tulku Dawa Gyalpo at Kunzang Palyul Choling in Maryland. Future posts will continue with the teaching on the Life of Migyur Dorje.

Maybe you have no idea what I am talking about here. If I talked about New York and Washington, D.C., then all the locations would pop up in your mind. In my mind, this location is also very blurry. Probably most of us know the Kham region, close to China, in eastern Tibet. That location we can imagine easily. Actually it’s in the praise or the invocation in Tulku Migyur Dorje’s stanza.

They’re describing about why it’s named Nhom. They describe so many different meanings. When they praise their own land, they say it’s named Nhom because there is very fertile land there. Actually, Nhom is show, you know? Show off. Yes, Nhom is show off. The meaning of the name is like that. When they describe why it’s named show off, then they will say, “Oh, there’s a fertile field there, and there’s a great person which we can show off to other regions; and we have very good land that we can show off to others.” They give so many reasons, but this is not necessary. This is not important. Just let it be. Maybe it is not appropriate for me to say that because my region is the U-Tsang, which is poorer. He was born in Nhom.

Guru Rinpoche prophesized, that Tulku Migyur Dorje’s previous lama, who’s named Wangchuk Jatso, was a monk in Kathog monastery. He spent most of his lifetime in retreat. When Wangchuk Jatso was about to pass away, then he himself prophesized his next life. Wangchuk  Jatso said that his reincarnation would be born into the land between Karma and Riwoche. The old tradition also mentions this in the writings. That shows that Tertön Migyur Dorje is the reincarnation of Wangchuk Jatso.

Karma Chagme also mentioned that it wass said that Wangchuk Jatso’s reincarnation would be born bordering Riwoche and Chamdo, exactly where Tulku Migyur was born. Karma Chagme checked, analyzed, whether this was the exact person he was looking for or not. He checked all these things. Normally this is one way that we recognize the tulku. This shows how we recognize a tulku. Also I think that this is Karma Chagme’s own master. That master, whose name is Rigdzin Dudul Dorje, is also very much related with Tertön Migyur Dorje. It seems like he’s from the center of Tibet, not from Kham. However, it seems that Karma Chagme, himself respects that person very much when we look to the history later. Rigdzin Dudul Dorje was also a tertӧn. Before Tulku Migyur Dorje was born, he prophesized is the Lama called Shupal Palgyi Senge… Who is Shupal Palgyi Senge? Shupal Palgyi Senge is the one great disciples of Guru Padmasambhava, one of the 25 great mahasiddhas. Shupal Palgyi Senge, Lochen Berotsana, Longdrol Konchok Chonyi, these three are related with Tulku Migyur Dorje, especially Shupal Palgyi Senge.

Lama [Lama’s mother?] had been [blessed?] by the mandala of the Precious Jewels, which means kind of like Tulku Migyur Dorje went in their womb. Tulku Migyur Dorje who is called the precious mandala of Dharma got into the womb of the mother and received the empowerment of the Rigpe Tsalwang. He also has been empowered through the yidam deities practice or experience or empowerment through this phak. He can experience or receive the teachings from the yidam deities either through actual experience or through dreams. He was actually named by Tertӧn Rigdzin Dudul Dorje. His secret name was Pema Totrentsal. The common name was Migyur Dorje in the future in the place close to Riwoche in the Dokham area. His name will be the name of Dorje. To represent the spontaneous achievement of the three kayas, his body was marked with a blue mole. In order to represent that he had achieved the three kayas, he had a mole on his body. In some texts, like Pema Khatang, it says that in order to be an authentic tertӧn, these moles will be in certain spots like at the forehead, the throat, the navel and heart, those special spots. That’s why at the beginning, Karma Chagme is saying I know how to check the treasure revealers. Whoever he teaches or sees his face will be free from birth in lower realms.

He prophesized that kind of person is coming in the future. Also Ratna Lingpa’s treasure, that Ratna Lingpa’s treasure is very clear that Chöying Dorje was also one person’s name and Migyur Dorje was his name. He said Chöying Dorje was another great master’s name during that time. Karma Chagme was saying that when Tulku Migyur Dorje was born, Chöying Dorje was 42 years, but Ratna Lingpa had already prophesized Tulku Migyur Dorje’s birth before that. Ratna Lingpa had already passed away long before. He prophesized the future and he prophesized that Tulku Migyur Dorje would come during the time when a great master named Chöying Dorje was on this earth. Karma Chagme put together all these prophesies from the different treasure revealers and masters. He did this to show that he analyzed all of this to see if it matched with Tulku Migyur Dorje exactly or not.

Actually, Migyur Dorje was not his name when he was born. Migyur Dorje was not born. Somebody had to name him that later. This was prophesized before Tulku Migyur Dorje was born in Nhom region. Migyur Dorje was conceived in the womb of his mother during the first month of the wood female rooster. Karma Chagme heard from his mother that when that baby was conceived in her womb, she had a dream.  She saw a very beautiful pond or a lake, full of blue water, very clear water. In that water, there was one golden turtle, shining. Everybody, all of us [in her dream] were just looking at it. How beautiful it was! Everybody lost themselves just looking at it and enjoying it. Suddenly, one strong man showed up and grabbed that gold turtle and gave it to her. That was the sign or dream that Karma Chagme heard from Tulku Migyur Dorje’s mother.

The Life Story of Migyur Dorje will continue in future posts.