“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.
Tulku Migyur Dorje organized many of these great sadhanas, and retreats. He made great sadhanas for doing Vajra Guru mantra, BENZAR GURU PEDMA SIDDHI HUNG mantra and OM MANI PEDME HUNG mantra. He made a 1.3 billion BENZAR GURU mantra retreat.
Whatever money he got from the teachings he gave while traveling, he spent for that purpose. Like now here also Jetsunma is doing. It’s a good thing. We appreciate that. I know this from two years ago, but sometimes appreciation is not coming so openly. That shows that whatever Tulku Migyur Dorje does, he does only for others. Even whatever wealth he received, he spent for others, giving teaching, empowerment, instruction. He didn’t need it. He had already accomplished by doing retreat.
Then he turned twenty-three which was the end of his life. Let me tell it briefly. When he was about to die, he got very bad diseases. Bad diseases. He was very ill. At that time, he wrote a letter to Karma Chagme, and he sent some Dzambhala statues made in Nepal, not from India. India doesn’t make the kind of metal [lima?]that these statues were made from. In Tibet, lima is considered very precious because they don’t have it there. However, when Tulku Migyur Dorje was very ill, he sent a Dzambhala statue made from li, this kind of metal, and also some other things to Karma Chagme. In a letter, he wrote, “I’m really very ill and struggling far away from you. I have nobody taking care of me like you.” He did have somebody taking care of him, but he was saying that when he was with Karma Chagme, he was very comfortable. When he left Karma Chagme, even though he had somebody serving him, it seemed that he didn’t feel so confident as he did when he was with Karma Chagme. He wrote this letter to Karma Chagme that he was very ill and in a difficult situation. Karma Chagme got very sad and from his retreat, he did lots of prayer for him, long life prayer and so forth.
Now I will go to the end. When he was about to pass away, about to change his life, then he became more weak. During the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the lunar calendar, he was feeling very strange. He had someone who was taking care of him at that time. His name was Khyentse, but not Dilgo Khyentse. Khyentse became his very close assistant at that time. Tulku Migyur Dorje asked him to read some prayers so he could meditate even in that very painful situation. He asked Khyentse to read what we are reading right now, the Nam Cho lineage masters invocation. He asked him to read that while he was meditating. While he was meditating, Tulku Migyur Dorje spoke out to him that,… “some kind of white things are coming to me and taking me toward the eastern direction. At the same time, many monks are flying with me, and Khyentse, you are also flying with me.” He said that. Right after, he said, “But don’t worry. Don’t think anything.” He was saying you are not going to die. It seems that you are coming later. He’s saying, “Don’t worry, but don’t worry. Don’t think anything. Just let it be.” The hundred deities mandala appeared. During that very painful time, still that kind of experience happened to him. On the night of the sixteenth day, the last day of his life on this earth, he sat up and crossed his legs in meditation posture. Khyentse and many other lamas surrounded him. All of them expected that he would get better. They requested him to live long, but he just sat in Vajra posture and meditated.
A little bit later, there was a very strong thunderstorm. It felt like the whole earth was shaking. The ground and the mountains were trembling, shaking. Khyentse, his assistant, said that. Karma Chagme wrote in accordance with what Khyentse said. Right before Tulku Migyur Dorje also wrote a letter. It seems that he didn’t give it to anybody, but nobody knows what happened to it. Some people said that he himself hid the letter for the future. Somebody else said that during that time there were so many lamas, maybe someone took the letter from him. Karma Chagme said, “We know that he wrote a letter, but we don’t know right now what happened after that.” This is lost information. At the end this very strong thunder happened. Everybody felt like everything was shaking. Then Tulku Migyur Dorje asked Khyentse to give him two cups of nectar. After consuming the two cups of nectar, he straightened up his body. In his left hand, he was counting with the rosary, but his voice could not be heard. He couldn’t talk anymore. Then he was just silent, totally silent in meditation. At that time, Khyentse and the other lamas asked him to please come back again for them. Khyentse said he shook his head three times then he went.
Everything seems very important in this history, particularly how Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab received all the teachings that we are practicing right now from him; also whether those treasures are authentic or not. We can understand from his history and we can also understand by looking back to our Palyul lineage history too. People like our late Holiness become that kind of person because the teachings are authentic. These teachings are the one idea, the method, that make that kind of person. Likewise if you go all the way back [to the beginning of the] lineage, back, back, back, we are only talking about lineage masters, because obviously these are important persons; but there are so many other great practitioners, whose history we don’t keep because they did not become important persons. Our late Holiness also used to tell us about these histories of the time of Palchen Dupa, before Palchen Dupa, and all of Karma Kuchen’s incarnations, the previous Karma Kuchens, taking care of the Palyul lineage: How Palyul retreat was famous in the Kham region. Even Paltrul Rinpoche came to Palyul retreat center and took the siddhis from the Palyul retreat center. Do you know how he took the siddhis from Palyul retreat center? He took siddhis from the retreat center sewage. He took the siddhis from the sewage. That’s how they showed this retreat was profound. He actually drank the sewage because it came from those practitioners inside. Patrul Rinpoche is considered a very great master, a dzogchen practitioner, and he’s appreciated that retreat. Likewise Mipham Rinpoche praised the Palyul retreat center and the previous Dodrupchen Rinpoche, and the previous Situ Rinpoche. Those great masters also recommended that people go there and practice. So many lamas achieved siddhis from their retreat. Therefore others came and took the siddhis. Otherwise they would not come. They are not fools. They are very wise.
During their own time, those persons, like Paltrul Rinpoche and Mipham Rinpoche, are kind of like one person in Tibet. They are like that. One piece, scholar. These histories also show that what we have right now is authentic and profound. Precious. Our late Holiness said there is a prophesy that through this practice that Tulku Migyur Dorje revealed, there will be ten million great masters. Through these teachings, this practice. Now among the ten million, some have already come. It has been over three hundred years. Still there are many chances. We, I, also could be one of them. There are prophesies. That’s what our late Holiness used to tell us. During Tulku MIgyur Dorje’s short time, what he achieved was so immeasurable. Still today his blessing remains here for us.
The life story of Migyur Dorje will continue in future posts.
If you are inspired by these stories and wish to engage in the profound practices revealed by Tulku Migyur Dorje, there is an opportunity to receive these teachings and empowerments directly from Palyul Masters in New York each summer. To register for Palyul Retreat in New York in July 2017 please click here: http://retreat.palyul.org/registration
