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THE MIRRORNewspaperof the InternationalDzogchen Community January/February 1998IssueNo.43
Namgyalgar
UndertheCoralTreeNamgyalgarRetreat
Christmas 1997
byTonyMugg
The afternoon o f New Year 's
Daywas also a celebration of a
beautiful retreat as participants
relaxed in the shade of the Coral
tree.T he Coral tree is a lone and
ancient warrior adorned with
prayer flagsthatgrows on the sad
dle below Rinpoche's house at
Namgyalgar.A wind blew up and
tallclouds werebuildingon them
selves over the surrounding
mountains while retreatants
enjoyed a wonderful feast, pre
pared by Grit Fair, under the
beloved tree.
A Gakyi l meeting prior to the
retreatha d finalized plans, but the
discussion was dominated by our
concern with bush fires. Some
weeks of dry weather had made
everything brittle and the air was
now heavy withvolatile eucalyp
tus oil from thetrees of the forest.
Wehad studied the history of fires
in the district and considered how
best to protect the lives of every
one at theretreat; how to evacuate
one hundred and seventy people
and where.
Water storage, fire pumps and
hoses, notices, warning sirens,
fire buckets, the formation of fire
fighting teams to stay on the land
during a fire so that Rinpoche's
house and the Gonpa could be
saved after a fire front passed
through, were subjects all thor
oughly covered. Throughout the
day, the smell of dryness justified
our fear and care. The thought of
local rain showers before the
retreat was no comfort as a dry
northwest wind can rise so quicklyand mockinglyerase thatgentle
gesture.
As Christmas approached the
weather moderated. It was still
dry. but not so hot. Workers
arrived to help.Alan Gilbert with
the preparations. Brian Snowden
from Melbou rne. Sean from New
Zealand and from the U SA , the
Connecticut Cowboy. Jim Smith.
Al so our gekod Federica and
assistant gekod Bob returned from
their travels with Rinpoche in
India.Their work went well in the
milder conditions and Namgyal
gar looked safe andwelcoming.
Rinpoche arrived from Sydney
happily showing his tiger spirit;
robust, lively and very much at
ease.He looked so wel l .His journey through Tibet and India and
his time in Singapore obviously
enlivenedhim.
With hot weather forecast, the
Gak y i l submitted the concerns we
had about the safety of everyone
inthe event of a fire and gave Rin
poche an outline of our precau
tions. Rinpoche was not too wor
ried, but said our preparations
were important and it was neces
sary to consider everyone's safety.
Rinpoche then observed thatas so
many people were camping at
Namgyalgar,rainwouldbe incon
venient for them, so maybe it
would be betterif the rain came at
the end of the retreat.Through theweek of the retreat, the days were
warm and the air still . One day
was even hot enough for Rin
poche toswim in the ocean.
On New Year's Day the
remains of lunch were being
packed away and the towering
clouds continued to form. Light
ningand thunder surrounded us at
a respectable distance; then rain.
Big, soft, warm drop s of rain. We
al l stood beneath the canopy of
the Coral tree and watched as it
became steadier and heavier.
Two nights later, the air still
moist with rain and as thunder
rolledover the hills,theGak y i l sat
on the verandah of Rinpoche andRosa's house. In a relaxed and
jovia l spirit Rinpoche talked
about the development of Nam
gyalgar and gave us guidelines for
the progress thatwould take place
over the next two years. Rinpoche
was alsoexplicit about the Gakyi l
arranging a series of strong prac
tice retreats to be held at Nam
gyalgar throughout this time. He
looked forward with hope to the
next teaching retreat at Namgyal
gar at the end of 1999.
TheRetreatwithTsokNyiRinpocheatMerigar
bySergio Quaranta
Thisyear I came to the Christmas
retreat at Merigar with the finn
intention to follow the entireretreat.
There was no precise reason for my
decision, since I only knew Tsok
Ny iRinpoche from his photo on the
brochure announcing theretreat.To
meet him in person was a very
pleasant and precious surprise.
From the very beginning, Rin
poche directed his teaching to a very
concrete leveldescribing how we, in
general, continuously focus our
attention externally, becoming
slaves to objects, distancing our
selves more and more from ournat
ural condition and ending up
becoming strangers to ourselves.
Losing contact with that which we
really are is the source of sadness,
anger and depression, in other
words,suffering.
Why do we fall into this trap?
The cause lies in perceivingvision
inthe wrong way. We attribute con
crete substance tothatwhichhas no
absolute existence; we strongly
believe that objects are solid and
real and as a consequence we
believein the realityofour"I".
Here the Master explained that
our mind, "the knower". has two
ways ofworking:one way is grasp
ing,the other is being free from any
action which can produce karma.
Respectively, these ways are noth
ingother than the expression of the
superficial aspect (which we could
call relative) of the mind, and the
profound or essential aspect of the
minditself,whichare not in opposi
tionbut naturally inseparable.
Since we fall into this confu
sion, istherea way to come out of
it? Of course there is. Rinpoche
explained the essential method of
Dzogchenof applying 'non-medi
tation non-distraction'. This
apparent contradiction makes us
understand how distraction itself
is the source of all our problems.
On the other hand, maintaining
presence during any type of
action, whether sitting for formal
practice or any type of activity in
daily life,is the keywhich unlocks
the door of liberation. Rinpoche
put into perspective the concept
we often have, andwhichis only a
concept, of seeing the 'practice' as
something very elevated as
opposed to mundane daily life
which is something to reject. In
Dzogchenit is not
likethat,on the
contrary we cannot reallycall our
selves 'dzogpachenpos' as long as
this separation exists.
The Master spoke at length on
the base, the path, the fruit and the
way of seeing, meditation and
behavior, as well as what ismeant
by awareness with and without
effort. He then gave a complete
explanation on the three ways to
liberate that which arises and
which manifests as reflections
withinour minds.
Tsok Ny iRinpoche asked us to
be simple people, even if we are
complicatedexternally, in thesense
ofdo ing everythingwhichwe have
to do in normal life, but capable of
maintaininga mindwhichis simple
and pure. The Master compared this
simplicity to a wise old man who
lives happily with the little that he
has, without complaining when it
rains or when it is sunny, but enjoy
ingall typeso fconditions.
During the teachings Tsok Ny i
Rinpocheoften stopped to ask us all
questions to be sure that we had
understood the crucial points. Dis
satisfied withvague andphilosophi
cal-type answers, he always showed
us how to precisely recognize any
possible problem or obstacle and
then punctually gave the solution,
the way to overcome it. The numer
ous examples the Master gave to
illustrate various situations were
very amusing, such as the story
about the young man who learns to
drive. At the beginning he is timid
and insecure,withall hissensesalen
withthe tension. But then he gradu
allystarts to feel more secure and is
able to drive in the traffic even while
he is listening to music and hugging
the girl seated next to him.Telling
these stories withhis humorous and
effective gestures the Master indi
cated how we could deal with the
practice and gradually gain confi
dence in it.
The days started at nine in the
morning for many people who met
inthe Gonp a for an hour before the
teaching for a session of contempla
tion. After the afternoon teachings.
Rinpoche's assistant. Lama Tashi.
led a collective practice with
moments of contemplation alternat
edwiththe practice of Vajrasattva.
During these periods Rinpoche
received those who wished to see
himin private to ask personal ques
tions or simply to communicate
their appreciation.
More than once Tsok NyiRin
poche personally led the afternoon
collectivepractice and on one occa
sion asked us to get up and walk
around the Gonpa to experience and
test our capacity to maintain our
presence and remain in the stateof
rigpa integrated with movement.
Everything went very well. The
Master.LamaTashi and the transla-
continuedonpage5
SPECIAL NEW YEAR
PILGRIMAGE ISSUE
C O N T E N T S
2 IMPORTANCEOKTHE DZOGCHEN
COMMINITI
ChgyalNamkhaiSorbii
2 1998 SCHEDILEOF
CHGYAL NAMKHAIN'ORBI
3 ORIGINOF TIBETAN LANGUAGE .AND
CULTORE
AtalkbyChgyalNamkhai Norbii
4 THENATURE AND MEANINGOF
S.ANTl MAHA SANGHA
AdrianoClemente
5 INTERVIEWWITH TSOK NYI RINPOCHE
7 MASTER BIOGRAPH-:":YESHEDO
JimYalby
7 BOOK REVIEWS
9 TASHI DELEC.
WoodyPapara::o
10 APILGRIMAGE TOTHE MIDDLE LAND
Li: Gratiner
12 PILGRIMSINTIBET
MichaelKai:
13 COMMUNITY NEWSITO PG 16)
19 REFLECTIONS:HOW 1MET THE
TEACHINGS
20 PASSTHE PARCEL
JohnShane
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ChgyalNamkhaiNorbu
TheImportance
of the
DzogchenCommunity
There are many newer and older studentsi ntheDzogchen
Community who do nothavea clear idea orunderstanding
about what theDzogchen Community i s,and why it is so
important. SinceIhavecreated the Dzogchen Community,it
is my duty toclarifywhy it is so important.
On avariety ofoccasions, Ihave tried to explain how
important our Dzogchen Communityis for Dzogchen practi
tioners. Itseemsmany people don'tcarevery much;theythink
thatNamkhai Norbu is givin g importance to the organization
of the Dzogchen Community becauseit ishis own Dharma
Center. Some people say, "I liketo come tofollowyourteach
ing andretreats, but I don't like theorganization of the
Dzogchen Community."With these kinds ofmisunderstand ings, recently some
Dzogchen Ati followers ofmy teaching - notonlystudents
who have been following myteachings occasionally,but
those who have been following all my teachings for many
years such asDzogchen Semde, Longde and Upadesha, as
wellas followingmy SM STrainings - are in a lot ofconfusion
about the way theyview the Dzogchen C ommunity. They are
going more and more inopposition to theprincipleof the
Dzogchen Community and creating their own Dharma Cen
terstohavepersonal positions. Thesepeople justify itsaying
thatthey need more freedom forthemselvesfrom the organi
zation of the Dzogchen Community.
Iunderstandverywellwhatitmeanstohavemore freedom
for oneself. Some people don't feel free inthemselvesi nthe
Dzogchen Community because they feel there is a strong
bureaucraticor control system. If this is so, we shouldnotethat
the Dzogchen Community is notfunctioning in the correct
way, andrememberwellwhatthepurposeisofhaving Gakyilsin the Dzogchen Community. We should correct the errorsof
the people who are taking on the responsibilities of the Gaky
ils. Thisis ourresponsibility. O f course, thepeople of the
Gakyilshould do theirbestto organize the Dzogchen Comm u
nity,but it is not only the duty of the people of the Gakyils.It is
also your duty. Insteado fcriticizing theorganizationof the
Dzogchen Community, you should also try tocorrect things
when you feel thereis something that really does not corre
spond to the principleofthe Gakyil.
It is very possible thata person who has beenfollowing the
teaching of Dzogchen for manyyearsmay be involved invari
ous kinds of activities. Through thatprinciple, one couldneed
such freedom and thereforedevelop their own Dharmacenter.
A ll this is very natural.I am not sayingatallthat people who
follow myteachings cannot open Dharma Centers. Of course,
they can open new Dharma Centers and have their freedom.
What I am saying isthattheyshould not do it whilefalling into
the wrong or opposing direction.
What doesit mean, thewrong oropposing direction?If
someone is following myteaching andtransmission, they
must recognize thatthe Dzogchen Community is theMain
Boat. Even if you are creating someof your ownboats,you
must always beintheMain Boat. That meansnever falling
into an opposing position to the
Dzogchen Community and criticiz
ing it, but feeling truly that the
Dzogchen Community is your own
boat andtaking careof it inthat
way. One should not feel afraidto
createaGakyi l in your own center
because itwould infringe onyour
personal position and power. In this
case,even if your Dharma Center is
not really the Dzogchen Communi
ty, itshould somehow relate to it,
just like other boats can-travel
togethercooperat ing with the Main
Boat. We cancall it: A Dharma
Center Affiliated with the
Dzogchen Community.
When you act as mystudent,asa
member of the Dzogchen Commu
nity, and do Santi Mah a Sangha
Trainings regularly, then you must
understandthatthe Dzogchen Com
munity islike being in aBi g Boat
thatcarries all mystudentsto whom
I have transmitted all my transmis-
G.DALLORTO
sions of DzogchenA ti Yoga,andtakesthem to the finalgoal of
its realization soonerorlater.That means that the Dzogchen
Community isaguaranteeto all mystudents thatthey will get
to the final goal sooner or later wi th mytransmissions of
DzogchenA ti Yoga.
Whenwe areinthesameBig Boatofthe Dzogch en Ati
YogaTransmission, which is called the Dzogchen Communi
ty,theredoesnot exist very much of a need to open a personal
Dharma Center or toabandonour Big Boat. Naturally, some
timesthere can exist specialcasesorreasonswhythere needs
to be other forms ofDharma Centers affiliated withthe
Dzogchen Community;likehaving smallboatsdue to circum
stancesorotherboatscooperating and travelingtogether to the
samegoal. In developing thesekinds of Dharma Centers, we
mustunderstandthat thesecentersmusthot develop in opposi
tion to the Dzogchen Community while using both my teaching transmissions and the Dzogchen Commu nity for their own
interests,like increasing personal position and power.
Icanunderstandverywellthatsomeonecanhave problems
with theorganization ofthe Dzogchen Community, because
we are living in time and circumstances. There can alwaysbe
problems; we do notworry about having problems because
having problems is the natural manifestation of our samsaric
condition. The real problem isneitherhaving nor not having
problems, but havingawarenesswhile inside the problems.
When wehave problems with the Dzogchen Community,
thosetroubles are usually related with people who are taking
responsibility asmembers of theGakyi l of the Dzogchen
Community. The fault is with the individ uals in theGakyi l ,not
of theDzogchen Com munity. When you find these kind of
faults, you also haveaduty tocorrect them. Th ismeansthat
you are also being responsible for the Dzogchen Community;
not only in a general way, butalso for theGakyi l of the
Dzogchen Community. It is not difficult to communicate to theGakyi l ; you can personally contactthepeople ofthe Gakyil
directly or by mail.Today wehaveall kinds of possibilities of
communication:letter,telephone,fax andE-mail.
The Dzogchen Community is for all Dzogchen At i practi
tioners. Itdoesn'tbelong only to the people of theGakyi l .That
N ' A M K H A I N O R B U R I N P O C H E ' S S C H E D U L E 1998
SINGAPORE POLAND MERIGAR, ITALY(continued)
Feb. 27-1 Mar. TeachinginSingapore May22-24 Polish Retreat August14-24 Chgyal
TAIWAN 26-29 VisitPaldanling land Namkhai Norbu
March6-8 TeachinginTaiwan** GERMANY GeneralRetreat
JAPAN(seeps 13) June5-7 GermanRetreat* August28-30 SMS IIILevel Exam
March14-15 ' Tokyo Teaching AUSTRIA September314 SMS IVLevel Training
March20-22 IslandRetreat (Japan) June10 LucidDream FRANCE
ITALY Conference* November20-22 Paris Teaching*
April9-14 MerigarRetreat June12-14 AustrianRetreat Novmber27-29 Karmaling Teaching
RUSSIA MERIGAR,ITALY PORTUGAL
April20-22 Santi MahaSangha June25 HisHoliness December4-6 PortugalRetreat*
BaseLevelExam, SakyaTrizin BRAZIL
Moscow ZhenpaZhidral December12 PublicTalk,SanPaolo
April23-27 SMS 1stLevel training T e a c h i n g December18-20 SITIORetreat*
May1-5 Moscow retreat June26-28 HisHoliness ARGENTINA
May8-10 SMS 1stLevelExam SakyaTrizin Dec.28-4Jan.1999 TashigarRetreat
May 11-15 SMSnLevel Training VajraKilayaTeaching
July24-28 Chgyal
Namkhai Norbu
GeneralRetreat
Venuesto be announced.Use International ContactsListfordetails(seeThe Mirrorissue #42).
**To beconfirmed
meansthatall Dzogchen practitioners are in thesameboatand
they should take careofthe Dzogchen Community just like
their own home. That is how our Dzogchen Community mem
bersmustbe in our Dzogchen Community.
Even so,why aresome ofmy older students opening
their own Dharma Centers? Nowadays in India, Nepal and
many places of the Western world , many new Dharma cen
tersormonasteries are manifesting suddenly and easily like
mushrooms flourishing in therainy days of summer. It
seems like something wonderful for the diffusion ofDhar
ma. Itcouldbe sorelatively,but thereal condition isvery
different from that. So, it isbetter weunderstand alittle
moreclearlyabout the real condition.
For example, when a Lama who ismainly interestedin
receiving money and power, etc., arrives in the Western world
or inaSoutheastAsian country, he can say he shouldcreatea
Dharma Center for the diffusion of the Buddha's teaching. The
Lama can saythathe needsto build a Dharma Center or a
monasteryforagroup o f monks to livein . Of course, forthat
purpose, hecan get some generous donors, orcan receive
directly sumsof money. This allsoundsvery nice,doesn't it?
But in the real sense,mosto fthesekinds of activities arejust
worldlyDharmabusinesses.Theyhavenothing to do with the
Buddha Dharma.
I am not saying that all Lamas traveling in the West and
SoutheastAsiancountries are doing this-we know very welltherearemany good and serious Lamas - but at thesame
time, therearealso some Lamas whoaremostly concerned
with.doing akindof Dharma business. I am referring tothose
kinds of Lamas.
Ifwetakeas an example the kindof Lama whowantsto be
an important worl dly Lama , the first thing thathe does is use
sometechniquethatencouragesmany people to pay respectto
him.Ho wdoeshe do it? Hetriestobuilda smallmonasteryor
a center under his own name and then hetriesto getsome
donors forthat project. Ofcourse, hecan't saythat he is
preparing for his position or worldly power. What heneedsto
say isthat he is working for the benefit o f the diffusion of the
Dharma or for the service of a small community of monks or
nuns.Yes,of course, relativelythereare always some benefits,
such asdiffusing theteaching orhaving benefit for asmall
Sangha, etc. But itsnegativeside for the life of real Dharma is
incomparable.
When he succeedstobui ldhis ownseat,thenhebecomesa venerable Lama. Hehasmorepossibilitieso fdeveloping
still moreo fthese kinds of activities for supporting his own
position. This Lama's seat carries more andmore of a
wealthy position and he has moreandmorepower overthose
dependentpeople. Thus hebecomesamoreandmore impor
tantLama orafamous teacher and has the title of Rinpoche
and so on. This is the realreasonfor creating so many monas
teriesorDharma centersi none'so wnname.Of course, this
technique can be used not only by Tibetan Lamas, but also by
Westernersas well.
You may ask: "Didn't youcreateyour Dzogchen Commu
nity inthatway?" WhenIwas 3yearsold , and thenagainat 5
yearsold,Ihad already received recognitionas avery impor
tant high LamaorTeacher reincarnation, therefore Idid not
needto construct it. Even though Ihad been recognizedas
such, since the beginning Ihaven'thad anydesiretobecomea
Buddhist teacherin general, or a Dzogchen Teacher in particu
lar. So how couldI havetheidea of preparing tobecomeanimportant Lam a or a famousteacher?
You may know this already, but after many yearsof living
in the West, in Italy, many Italians asked me toteach the Dhar
ma. TheGyalwaKarmapa particularly had asked merepeated
lytoteachDharma to Italian Dharma followers. But I had hesi
tatedforsome years reflecting on it,
becauseI knewthat to give teaching
meant working with the transmis
sion and sinceIwas also still on the
path,Idid not want to play with the
very important transmissions Ihad
received from myteachers.
Finally, when Idecided to pay
respect to the order of Gyalwa
Karmapa, andmake those people
happy who were interested to
receive Dharma teachings, Istarted
to teach principally theDzogchen
Teachings, and at thesame timeI
tookapromise of 27 commitments
for my teachings that they not
become something related toper
sonal interests, etc. Since then I
have always transmitted all my
Dharma teachings ingeneral,and
the Dzogchen A ti Teachings inpar
ticular, while maintaining these27
commitments.
I created the Dzogchen Com-
continuedonpage4
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TheOriginofTibetanLanguage
and CultureAtalkgivenattheTibetanInstituteof PeiformingArtsinDharamsala
byNamkhai'NorbuRinpoche
November1.1997
Today I am very happy to behereat the Tibetan Insti
tute of Performing Arts and wish to express my
appreciationfor the study and preservation of an impor
tantand ancient aspect of Tibetan culture done hereat
the Institute. I consider this work very important.
As you know, the activity you do is related to our
culture.In Tibet we have a different ways ofclassifying
fields of knowledge. For example, we speak about the
ten minor fields and the five principal fields of knowl
edge. Artfalls into one of the five principal fields ofknowledgeunder the nameo fsowa rig pa, whichmeans
artsor handicrafts.
The work of art is related to our threeexistences of
body,speech andmindand when we practice the Dhar-
ma,the foundation of the practice are the threedoors of
body,speech andmind.When we are complete inthat,
we are considered to be sentient beings. Therefore
whenwe practice the teaching we have to rely on the
three doors. They are called the three doors because
whenwe practice the Dharma we obtain liberation in
relationtothese threedoors, sotheseare the doorsthat
leadus toliberation.
Inart, for example, we use our body to express vari
ous moods in a physical way.Even with regard to pro
ducing works of art such as paintings or statues, this
workis done through the doorofthe body.
But thatis not the onlyway of expressing art with
the body. We can express ourselves when we are underthe influence of strong emotions such as attachment o r
hatred and so on. These emotions manifest in our body,
in the expression of our face, the movement of our
hands, etc., and become the object of theatrical repre
sentation. When yo u look at Indian dances, especially
the ancient ones, you can see thatthey are very skillful
in expressing different mental states by means of the
movement of the hands, the eyes, and the body. There
fore, this manifestation of expression through visible
physicalaspectsis very important.
Thenin art we use the door of speech when we are
chantingor singing. As for the way of using the door
of the mind, that is the door that underlies those of
speech and physical activity. These verbal and physi
cal doors through which our innerstates manifest are
veryimportant, especially in the first of the five sci
ences oTSOwa rigpa.
InTibet when we explain or teach about the five sciences, scholars usually saythatthey originated in India.
Forexample, when you speak aboutdra rigpa, literally
meaning "grammar", immediately you think about the
Sanskritgrammar the grammar ofKalapa.theChan-
drapa grammar, thePaninigrammar andSQon. Scholars
usuallyexplain il in this way and itseemsthat besides
this Sanskrit grammar,thereis no other science ofgram
mar or language which is peculiar to Tibet. But this is
not the case. Mere, when we talk about dra rigpa in
Tibetan, we are referring to the ability to use speech.
Dra rigpa refers to the science of using the language:
knowledgeof the words, the grammar, the syntax and
all these aspects of the language.
For Tibetans this mainly refers to
their use of Tibetan language, notonly to Sanskrit grammar. For
example, in our Tibetan language
there are many words that have no
root in Sanskrit, so when we want to
identify this science of dra rigpa,
we have to saythatit refers mainly
to the language and letters of the
writtenTibetan language. The basis
for the spoken Tibetan language is
the letters.
There is some misunderstanding
about Tibetan language which I
found out about through my own
experience. When I first went to
Italy on the invitation of Professor
TuccL I worked with him for two
years.After this I went to teach on
my own at the University. While I.was teaching there, I noticed that
the course of study for Tibetan lan
guage was two years, while for the
other languages it was four years.
At the beginning I was new and
inexperienced, but later I ques
tioned why there were only two
years for the study ofTibetanlanguage required, when
it was four for the study of other languages. The
answer was not clear, so I made an investigation. At
first I thought it was because Imyselfdidn't have any
kind of Western diploma,only an Indian one. Then I
discovered another reason.
Generally Tibetan scholars teach that the Tibetan
language originated at the time of Songtsen Gampo.
around the 8th century.PriortothatnoTibetan language
existed.Scholars used to say thatthe Tibetan language
was created byThonmi Sambhota, the minister of theKingwho wassentto India in order tocreatea written
language forTibet.PriortothatTibet did not have any
writtenlanguage and was presented as "a land of igno
rance" or "a land ofobscurity".Inthatcountry of dark
ness due to the kindness of the Dharma kingof Tibet
who was a manifestation of the Buddhas and Bod-
hisattvas, the sun and the moon finally shone overTibet
and dispelled the darkness. Then the various fields of
knowledgeappeared and developed atthattime.
Western scholars who were studying under the
Tibetans were obviously exposed to that view and
accepted it as being true; the language, the various dif
ferent sciences such as astrology, medicine and so on
were thought to have been introducedexclusively from
neighboring countries such as India and China.There
fore when one holds such aview,naturally, Tibetancul
ture and language become a branch of the other two
major languages and do nof have an original statusoftheir own. A nd Tibet remained like a man without his
own limbs.So atthattime I understoodthatthe two year
course of study was due to this fact.
Then I thought that this cannot be the case, there
must be an originfor Tibetan language and culture in
the country itselfand I started to inquire. Usually we
haven't done thiskindo finquiry in Tibet in thepast.I
had many kinds of texts and scriptures at my disposi
tion so I started to look at them to see ifthere was
some proof to say thatTibetan culture originated in
Tibetitself.
I looked at the Bonpo texts because they indicated
that prior to Songtsen Gampo there was a language
used and it was the language of Shang Shung which
was used in Shang Shung.inTibet.But thatwas a prob
lem because i f the language prior to Songtsen Gampo
was the language of Shang Shung. then it was not the
language of Tibet , but of a different race of people toTibetans.Ifthatwas the case, the problem of the origin
of Tibetan language and culture was still there. So I
started to study the history of the ancient kingd om of
ShangShung.
Now we must remember that there were six clans
which were antecedent to the formation of the king
doms of Shang Shung and Tibet. These six families are
usuallyknown as the sixoriginalTibetan clans. One of
them was known asDraorKhyungand it wasfrom this
clan that the Kingdom o Shang Shung descended.
Therefore because we speak of theoriginalsix clans of
Tibet, from one ofwhich came about the ki ngdom of
VIKRAMAS1LA FOUNDATION
HisHoliness
SakyaTrizinwillgive teachingson
theZhenpaZhidral
(BeyondtheFour
Attachments)
andthe Initiation of
VajraKilaya
June25-28,1998at
Merigar
H. H. SakyaTrizinwas born in
Tsedong, Southern Tibet in 1945.
Heis descended fromtheKhonroy
al family, one of the most ancient
Tibetan spiritualfamilies,and is'the
forty-first in an unbroken lineage of
lamas that stretches back to 1073
AD . He is the head of the Sakya tra
dition, and the title 'Sakya Trizin'
means 'Hol der of the Throne of
Sakya'. He became the head of the
Sakya at the age of seven upon the
death of his father, and has received
an intensive training in
the study and practices
of the Sakya tradition.
Whilst still a child, he
completed a seven-
monthretreat.
Amongst his main
teacherswere: Jamyang
Khyentse Chokyi
Lodro,NgawangLodro
Shenpen Nyingpo.
Chogye Trichen Rin
poche, and Khenpo
AppeyRinpoche.
In 1959, at the age
offourteen, he left Tibet
duringthe Chinesemili
tary takeover and went to India. He
then studied with H. E. Chogye
Trichen Rinpoche, who instructed
him on the Rime collections, the
'Gyude Kundu' (Collection of
Tantras), and the 'Lamdre'.As well
asholdingthethreemain Sakyalin
eagesof Sakya, Tsar andNgor.H .
H. SakyaTrizinholds the complete
teachings of both the Iron Bridge
and Great Perfection lineages of
Nyingma,given by Drupchen Rin
poche and Jamyang Khyentse Rin
poche respectively. He is alsohold
er of the Lamdre teachings, which
cover the Hinayana.Mahayana andMantrayanapaths. He has founded
numerous monasteries throughout
India and East Asia, and estab
lished his seat in exile at Rajpur.
U. P. India, near to which he
founded Sakya College, the
school of higher philosophical
studies where training is given in
logic,philosophy and psychology.
He is fluent inEnglish, and since
1974 he has made several world
tours teaching in Eur ope, the USA
and Southeast Asia.
R E T R E A T S
vu /1 h
N A M K H A I N O R B U R I N P O C H E
At Merigar
E AS T E R RE T RE ATATM E R I G A R , ITALY
April9t h- 14th, 1998
RinpochewillgiveDzogchenTeachings in distinct sessions for the
new and older practitioners.
Theretreatbegins atThursday,Apr il9th 1998 at 5 pm.
Thecosts are 250.000lire(or 50.000lireper day)withthe usual
reductions for members.
FIRST S U M M E R R E T R E A TAT ME RI GAR, ITALY
July 24th-28th, 1998
TheretreatbeginsFriday July24th, 1998 at5pm.
Thecosts are 200.000lire(or 50.000lireper day)withthe usual
reductions for members.
SEC ONDS UMM E R RE T RE AT AT ME RI GA R, ITALY
August14th-21st, 1998
TheretreatbeginsFriday,August14th, 1998 at 5 pm.
Thecosts are 350.000lire(or 50.000lireper day)withthe usual
reductions for members.
ShangShung, we can basically say that the language of Shang Shung is a
Tibetanlanguage.
Sothe written language of Shang Shung existedfromthe very beginning
of thediffusion of the Bnpoteaching. TheBnposaythatthe writtenlan
guage of Shang Shung was created by Shenrab Miwoche. the founder of
Bnpo.So at thattime I really started to look into many scriptures of the
Bnpo.
After I read many Bnpo texts, the history of Shang Shung started to
unfold before me. Prior to the advent of the Tibetan kings and kingdom,
therewere many generations, at least 18.of the kings of Shang Shung.When
Imade a roughcalculationof the yearscoveringthe history of Shang Shung.
1found outthatit started about 4 000 years ago. Whe n I made thiscalculation
itbecame clear to methatthe history of Shang Shung is almost as old as the
historyofChinaand India.
Later,when we held meetings or conferences at the Uni\ersity to discuss
variousaspectsof Tibetan culture since atthattime1was teaching sub
jects such as astrology, medi cine, etc.1would assertwitha certain arro
gance thisview thatTibetan medicine, culture and otheraspectsol the cul
ture thatwent back much before Songtsen Gampo, and we can findthe proof
of this in the Bnpo texts. Atthat time variousaspectsof the culture were
transmittedwiththe use of the written language ofShangShung.
continuedonpage6
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NotToo TightandT
'sok Nyi Rinpoche is the son of
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, the
great Dzogchen and Mahamudra
masterwho recently passed away.
He is the third reincarnation of
Drubwang TsokNyi, anoutstand-
ingyogiand Drukpa Kargyumas-
ter and is connected withboththe
Drukpa Kargyu and Nyingma lin-
eages. He usually lives in Nepal
where he is responsible for his
monastery and a nunnery. He isalso the spiritual leader of Gechak
Gompa, a retreat centerfor one
thousand yoginis ineastern Tibet.
He recently gave several daysof
teaching at Merigar and kindly
consented to give this interview
for The Mirror.
Th e M i r r o r :Our first question
has two parts. Firstly you grew up
withyour father who was also one
ofyour gurus and wewould liket o
ask you about this experience. And
then in regard to the West where
there are lot ofdifficulties in rela
tionships between children and
parents, do you have any advice for
parents and children about this
relationship.
Tsok Nyi Rinpoche: Firstly
until 1 was about thir teen I spent
most ofmytimewithTulku Urgyen
RinpocheinNepal. AfterthatI went
to India and I stayedwith Khamtrul
Rinpoche in Tashi Jong. An d the
reason for that is thatpreviously
both the first and the second Tsok
Nyi Rinpoches had very close rela
tionships with the Khamtrul Rin-
poches sometimes Khamtrul
Rinpoche was TsokNyi Rinpoche's
guruand sometimes Tsok Nyi Rin-
poche was Khamtrul Rinpoche's
guru.They had a guru/disciple rela
tionship that changed backwards
and forwards. I went to India from
the time that I was about thirteen
and I stayed there basically for
twelveyears, butwithinthattwelve
years I frequently came back to
Kathmandu and in the presence of
myfather, Tulku UrgyenRinpoche
I requested further instructions and
received oraladv ice and soTorth.
Somy first guru, when we con
sider the Nyingma tradition and
the Dzogchen tradition in particu
lar, is Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche.
After that I met with His Holiness
the previous Dilgo Khyentse Rin-
poche and requested many oral
instructions and initiations, and
having received those he also
became one ofmyroot gurus.Stillas far asTulku Urgyen Rin-
poche is concerned, some sort of
special feeling, some kindof happi
ness and source of confidence,
came about through
being withh im. Not
only through being
with him, but even
now I have some
kind of joyful feel
ing in myheart and
that is only through
the kindness of
Tulku Urgyen Rin-
poche. It's some
thingI gotfromhim.When he was
alive he was really
like a bodhisattva.
He never closed his door to
anyone. He gave teaching to
whoever came from any
where the world. And I
thinkthat thatkindof bless
ingstayswithme. B ut I can
not do that from time to
time I have to close my
doors. But even when he
was reallysickanddying he
stillcontinued to see people.
The doctors tried to close
his doors, but he secretly
continued to give teachings
and advice.
In my relationship with
him I always consider him
to be agreatbodhisattva and
Dzogchen practitioner. I
cannot do as he did, but in
my mind I think that his
activities and way of life
were veryhelpfulto me. Of course
he was my father but I did not have
a real worldly relationship with
him.When I was young our rela
tionshipcame through the teaching
and I realizedthathe was not only
for me but for everyone. I didn't
really mind I didn't need him as
a personal father. So when he
passed away I had thiskindof sad
ness, not as if my personal father
had passed away.
Iwaswithhim at the time of his
death and I saw the process of his
passing away and after that I felt
that a great teacher had passed
away, not my person al father. It's
very funny. We have an equal
responsibility I and all his stu
dentshave a responsibility towards
him as students. It's not as if I and
my father were alone for all our
lives.So when he passed away I felt
very sad, but in another manner
because he was also my teacher.
Whatever teaching I got was mostly
from him,especially the meditation
part of the teaching.
An dto answer the second part of
the question. The relationship
between parents and children is
becoming more and more difficult
NotTooLooseThe Middle Path
AnInterviewwith TsokNyiRinpoche
MerigarJanuary1998
byAndy LukianowiczandLi zGranger, translation by TonyDuff
and somehow I think it is a problem
of freedom. At eighteen years of
age, young people are considered to
be "free" soparentsthinkthatthey
don't have any more responsibility
for them and their children think
they are fully authorized as
grownups. But most of them are not
grownup at that time; their minds
have not grown and they still need
care anddirection. Thisis a modem
kindofproblem.
So my advice is for parents to
consider their children individually
instead of following the system.
The culture has set up a system
which has become solidified into
certain ages and so everybody is
going ahead according to the sys
tem instead offollowing their own
wisdom. What I'm suggesting is
thatinstead of people just following
the cultural system, the cultural
norms that have come into being,
thattheparentson the one hand take
more of a part in givingadvice and
guidingtheirchildren, regardless of
whether they are eighteen or twen
ty-one, whatever the age might be.
At the same time, the children be
trained somehow sothat they don't
have such a strong idea of, "Oh,
nowI've reached this age, I can do
SantiMaha Sangha
continuedfromprevious page
tualSangha.
So the aim of the Santi Maha
Sangha training is to learn how to
integrate the Dzogchen teaching in
our concrete existence according to
the methods of Semde. Longd e and
Mennagcle. And the capacity of
knowledge and integration must be
reflected in the behavior of individ-
uals in order to contribute to the
spiritualgrowth o f the Sangha.This
means thatthis period in the lifeof
the Community is the most impor
tant wc ever had. because it
depends entirely on us whether the
Dzogchen teaching Rinpoche is
transmittingwill be keptalivein its
pure form or not. Now is the time
we should alljoin our strength and
energy for the benefit of the Santi
MahaSangha,thatis the Dzogchen
Community, and especially those
whofollowthis training should not
forget what is its aim and purpose.
The Dzog chen Community has
been devised as a non-authoritarian
gakyil-based structure, in which
thereis place for everybody to par
ticipate and contribute for the bene
fit of all beings. The 'gars' are the
main places where the Dzogchen
teaching is going to be kept and
preserved for the future, and the
Santi Maha Sangha training takes
placethereand willcontinue to do
so in the future. Qualified practi
tioners, therefore, sho uld collab o
ratein the growth of theCommuni
ty because collaboration is one of
the most important samayas we
have. Otherwise we may have
many 'SantiMaha Pudgala' teach
ers and students, but without the
bodhicittamotivation of the Sang
ha, will the teaching have any life
at all in the future?
Retreat withTsok
Nyi RinpochecontinuedfrompageI
tor,TonyDuff,expressed their grati
tudefor the greathospitality and in
particular for thedeliciousfood pre
pared by Silvia and her helpers.
Because of the atmosphere o fmerri
ment and collaboration, when the
Master said good-bye I was not the
onlyone to feel a bit moved, but the
sadnesswas lightened by the aware
nessthat somewhere, sometime, in
the space withoutlimitsof the Dhar-
makaya, wewillmeet again.
Onceagain thank you Tsok Nyi
Rinpoche and many thanks to our
Master who made all this possible
through his work and his infinite
kindness.
whatever I want,"
but they, too, accept
parental direction
and advice for a
. longer period. So
individual care
needs to be devel
opedmore.
Th e Mir ror :
You are part of a
young generation
of lamas most ofwhom were bom
outside Tibet in
India.Manyof you
have studied English and
are able to communicate
with Westerners. Do you
feel a greater facility in
teaching Westerners
through this being able to
communicate directly?
Tsok Ny i Rinpoche:
You know I don't really
think about it that way;.
Dharmaflourishingor not
flourishing doesn't really
depend on those type of
things. To know English
and to know other peo
ple's cultures is not, I
think, important. The
most important thing is to
have a good understand
ingof Dhar ma and to prac
tice yourself. There are a
lot of Masters who don't
speak any English and they don't
know anything about Western cul-
ture, still they do very well in the
West. And if they don't want to do
anything in the West, they are doing
verywellin Tibet,India.Nepaletc.
The main activity comes from
the Dharm a itself. Of course if they
know some English it's easier to
relate, but the main thing is under
standing the teaching itself. If they
have a very good understanding of
the teaching and maybe some good
realization,even if they don't know
the culture of any other country or
any English still they will do very
welland be able to help very much
just like Khyentse Rinpoche or
Dudjom Rinpoche.Ijust know alit-
tle bit ofEnglish and Western cul-
ture, but this does not mean that I
canreach as many people or give as
many great blessings as Masters
suchas them.
Of course thebestthing is to be
avery gTeat master withgreatreal
ization as well as knowing about
other cultures and languages.The M i r r o r : During the teach
ingyo u spoke about integrating and
thatyou have to have something to
integrate in order to integrate itwith
everydaylife.Ho wcan we be aware
when we are integrating, when we
have something to integrate and
when we've lost it and are just lost
in everyday life? An d could you
give some advice on how to bring
this kind of rigpa or awareness into
everyday lifeand into our everyday
thinkingprocess.
Tsok Nyi Rinpoche: Actually
to really discuss this properly we
have to talk about mind and mind's
essence which means that we have
to talk about rigpa and the liveli-nessof rigpa. buttheseare not suit
able things for discussing in a
newspaper. Nevertheless, what it
comes down to is that what one
needsto be able to do isthat within
the state of the view whatever
afflictions arise one needs to be
able to liberate them. Or putting it
backwards you need to be able to
liberate whatever afflictions arise
and you need to be able to stay in
thestateof the view to dothat. It's
notthatyou're going together with
afflictions. It's notlikethis.
Forexample if athiefcomes, in
order to integrate it means you need
to liberate the thief. It's wrong if
you join the thief thinkingthatyou
are integrating with him because
you are not going against him. In
this way you are not liberating the
thief, you are just going together
withhim and doing what he wants
todo.That is not integration.
Isee a lot of people likethis allthe time. They have desire and they
follow it, doing whatever desire
wants them to do consideringthat
this is integration. That is not inte
gration. That is making desire
stronger and joining with it. Inte
grating means that whatever of the
afflictions come, whether it is
anger, passion, aggression, whatev
er, you know and you are not car
ried away by it . You are also not
fighting it. Somehow you see the
reality of the afflictions so they are
just released by themselves. If you
can do that then you are not afraid
ofanything and you become likea
hero. Because wherever you go
appearance is there, so you are notreally rejecting appearance, you are
dealing withit. So you can explain
itinthatkindofway.
Thisis one ofthesetwo kinds of
Buddhawisd om because you know
the key point of the affliction so
even if it comes it doesn't matter for
youbecause you knowthatthe root
of affliction has no real solid exis
tence. But at the same time you are
expert in how to deal with the cir-
cumstances.
So as I said before, to explain
thiskindo fthingwe need to use the
terminology of mind and mind's
essence and so forth, but in my tra
ditionand my way of doing things
until someone has stayed with me
for say, 8 or 9 days in retreat and
heard the whole explanation from
top to bottom, then it's not appropri
ate for them to hear about these
things at all.
The M i r r o r : Rinpoche, this is
your first time inMerigar.How did
you likeit?Apart fromthe food.
Tsok N yi Rinpoche: Actually
I've been to Europe a few times
even though I've not come here
before. Coming here what I see,
having been to Europe and other
places, is that people are quite
relaxedhere, their minds are quite
easy and because it's like that I
really like it here. If you don'tknow well you think people don't
understand because Italian people
don't show so much expression on
their faces, at least in terms of
what we've seen, but when you
ask a question they understand
perfectly.So because ofthatI also
learned about a different culture
and at the same time the openness
made me happy.
Thenwh en I heard about Norbu
Rinpoche'sactivities especially in
Tibet, that made me very happy.
I've heard a lot about Namkhai
NorbuRinpoche buthereI came to
his seat at Merigar and met the
director of ASIA and heard how
he's he lping childre n in Tibetbuilding hospitals and schools in
remote areas where they need it.
not just in the main tow n. It's not a
political thing, it's just helping in
Tibet. When I heard about this 1
was very happy.
Sothewhole thing has made me
relaxed but not in a stupid way.
So especially for people here,
take care very well not too tight
and not too loose, middle path.
The M i r r o r : Thank you very
much.Rinpoche.
THE MIRROR JANUAR Y/FEBRUARY 1998 5
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OriginofTibetanLanguagecontinuedfrompage3
Nowadays in Tibet we use twodifferent forms of the written language. We can say that the formwith the big letters was created byThonmi Sambhota. Prior to theKing Songtsen Gampo since itseems that there was no language
specificto Tjbet, we must have beenusingthe language of Shang Shung.Of the two forms thatwere used inShang Shung,maryigwas thewritten language of Shang Shung usedinTibet prior to Songtsen Gampo.
No w in Tibetan language wehave two written forms, lichen,with the big letters and umedwhich is a formof cursive writingto write quickly. Cursive writingdefinitely had its origin in themaryigscript of Shang Shung.
GenerallyI have agreatconsideration for the books of GedunChoepel. but concerning the language I am in disagreement with
him. He says that the umed, thesmall letter script, came about as aresult of writing the big lettersquickly. I cannot agree with this.For example, the Bhutanese use aquick form of the big letters, buteven though it is a quickform, theyalwaysremain big letters. Howev erquicklywe write theuchen(big letters), theywil lnever becomeumed(small letters) of the other scriptthat we use in Tibetan. With theuchen, we usually start from theright and go to the left but with theumedwe mai nly write the lettersfromleft to right. So it is akindof acontradiction to say that if youwrite the big letters quickly they
can transform into small letters. Atthat time I asserted at my conferences that the small letter camefrom the maryig, the letters of themar script of the Bnpo, even if Ididn't haveal l the proof.
There were many other professors and I was junior to them andthey started to say,"Oh, he's ajuniorprofessor, he's also young and he'sspeaking with such an insistenceand arrogance of hisviewthatdoesnot agree with the view of manygreatTibetan scholars.A l lthegreatTibetanscholars of thepastsaidthatat the time of Songtsen Gampo,ThonmiSambhota went to India andbrought back the scriptthat became
the Tibetan script " Many peoplestarted todislikeme but since I am aTibetan and I had in mind to preserve my own culture, I asserted myview withthat aim.
In any case because.I had thatin mind. I definitely made up mymind to pursue my investigationuntil the end.
I continued to pursue my studies and the very first outcome of myresearch was the book I wrotecalled. The Necklace of Jewels. Inthis book I quoted many sourcesfrom the Bnpo texts on the originofTibetanculture and language.
After I had written the book Iwas reluctant to send it to apublisher because I heard some criticismfrom some of the people who hadread the book: the monasteries andso on who were accusing me ofmakingpropaganda for the Bnpos.Although I had written it. I withheldits publication thinking that itwould be the source of agreatdealof criticismfor me.
ThenI thought that actuallythatis not the way to do it because i f Idon't put forward my view on theorigin of Tibetan culture nobodywill, and we Tibetans will be damaged by this. I thought thatmaybe itwould bebetterto present this book
to His Holiness the Dalai Lamafirst, although I was still a littleafraidbecause in some way itcouldbe interpreted as acriticismtowardthe Buddhist teaching.
AfterI senthim the book I got ananswer immediately from him. Inhis letter he told me, "You areTibetanand thisviewabout Tibetan
culture comes from a Tibetan. Weneed this type of view in modemtimes and I appreciate it very much.If you wish. I will have this bookpublished."Then I was quite happybecause if the Dalai Lama himselfwas in favor of thepublicationof thebook other people would not havemuch chance to criticize me. So itwas decided that the Library ofTibetanWorks andArchives wouldpublishit.
For some reason the book wasnot read by many people, I thinkbecause I wrote it in scholasticlanguage, the language of the collegewhere they study dialectics anddebating inTibet.I didthat becauseI thought it would appeal more toTibetan scholars, but this did notfavor the common people so I
decidedto write a shorter formo f itso I wroteThe Necklace of Zi.
Fromthatpoint on I enlarged myanalysisofTibetanhistory. Gradually I came to find many reasons andmuchpro of for my assertion.Nowadays to find reason for the assertionis quite important. I found a sourcefor the proof of the existence of theShang Shung language.
At a certain point SongtsenGampohad an illness related to thenerves of the legs. HisBnpo priesttoldh imthatthis was not an illnessthat could be cured with medicinebut was a curse of the Bnpo priestsof Shang Shung (because he had
killed their King, the last king ofShang Shung,Ligmigya).SongtsenGampo invited a Bnpo mastercalled Nangsher Lhodpo fromShang Shung to take away thecurse and when it was taken away,as a reward Songtsen Gampo gavethem a document givingsome landto the Bnpo to continue to preserve their culture. That documentis stillpreserved today inDolanjiinIndia. It is written in the ancient
language of Shang Shung. And sothe Bon culture continued and
among the sacred objects therewasa seal by this King in the ShangShungmaryig scriptwhich today is
in Dolanji.If we lookat the historyofTibet,
there are many texts that state thatprior to Songtsen Gampo Tibetanswere using the language of ShangShung.Ifyou lookat the workwritten by Pawo Tsuglag Trengwacalled The Feast of theSages,youcan clearl y see thatSongtsen Gampo sentThonmiSambhota to Indiabecause Tibet needed its own language and writing. It means thatifhesentThonmiSambhota tocreatea language thatis specific to Tibet,it indirectly proves that Tibetanswere using another language whichwas not their own. The languagethatTibet was using prior to Songt
sen Gampo was the language ofShangShung.
Evenin the biography ofVairo-cana it is clearly mentioned thatThonmi Sambhota modified theTibetanscript.Modifying the scriptmeans that therewas a script to bemodified, because you cannotmodify something that does notexist.In the history books SongtsenGampo himself was called "onewho is learned in the five sciences"buti fTibet,prio r to Songtsen Gampo, was really a land of darkness,how could there be someonelearned in the five sciences? Itmeans that at that time there were
already fields of knowledge such aslanguage and so on.
An d when Songtsen Gampo sentThonmi Sambhota 10 India, if hecamefroma land of ignorancewithout any culture, unable to understand the language, he would haveneeded alongtime to learn Sanskritand study the language in order tobe able to communicate and eventuallybring back a new script. If youlookat history youwillknowthathe
didn't stay thatlongin India. So forthese, and many other reasons, we
will find that this story sayingthatThonmi Sambhota came from aland without language and so on is
not credible.People say that it was possiblebecause Songtsen Gampo andThonmiSambhota were manifestations of bodhisattvas and they d on'tneed such alongtime as us to learnthings; they just learn immediately.I'm not sayingthat they were notbodhisattvas. Who can say? It issaid that Songtsen Gampo was anemanation of the bodhisattvaAval-okiteshvara. We can believe that.But if he was really an emanationof the bodhisattva and had the ability to know everything,there wasno need to sendThonmi Sambhotato India. Thinking this way iscalledreasoning.
Therefore it is clearthatin Tibetpriorto Songtsen Gampo we had aculture and a language. I think it isvery important for us Tibetans toassert this. Therefore I saythatourTibetanculture has its own originsinthekingdomof Shang Shung.
There are many aspects ofTibetan culture which have beenimported from countries surroundingTibet,but the basic source of ourculture comes from Shang Shung.We have many documents of TunHuang,which are very ancient, andprior to the introduction of Buddhism, thatspeak of medical therapies such as moxabustion and so on.
These texts find their origin in theShang Shung script in the ShangShung region. Moreover, inscriptions on metals were found inNorthern India and many scholarstried to find out which languagethey were in thinkingthat it was alanguage in existence in NorthernIndia. When the inscriptions werestudied in the West, scholarsdetermined that this language was thelanguage o f Shang Shung. No w it is
possible to reconstruct the languageof Shang Shung to see how it was
shaped.
Lastyear when Iwas inChina, I hadthe opportunity tospeak with someChinese scholarswho went into theSouthern region ofTibet. They foundinscriptions therethatthey determinedto be in the language
ofShang Shung andwhileI was inChinaI saw a book de scribing theirresearch and findings. They werevery happy because they had finally found evidence to confirm theassertion of the existence of thelandof Shang Shung.
Because ofall theserecent findings showing the existence of thelandof Shang Shung,thereare notmany professors whocriticize me.On the contrary, they are all doingstudy and research on the languageand culture of Shang Shung.Manyscholars and Tibetans requested meto write a book on the history ofTibetand the source of our culturethat would serve the purposes offuture generations of youngTibetans. I've written this book inTibetan, The Light of Kailash, on
Shang Shung and Tibet, which Ihave now given to the AmneMachenInstitute to print.
WhenI was younger I had manyideas to do this andthatfor Tibetanculture and I've done what I can.Now. I've become old and I'm stilldoingwhatever is in mypossibilityto help the preservation of Tibetanculture.An d if this ishelpfulto youIam very glad.
That isallI have to say today.
Translation byElio Guarisco
Transcriptionby Liz Granger
Issue 8 includes:
'The Pathis
under your Feet
David Schneider,
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Emotional Intelligence .
Daniel Goleman
Tea-time reflections
Dzongsar Khyentse
Rinpoche
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so Istarted to look at them to see if there was some proof
to say that Tibetan culture originated in Tibet itself
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Lives oftheGreat Masters
YeshedoorJnanasutra
byJimValby
Thishagiography of Jnanasutrais adapted from Longchenpds
account in his"rdzogs chen snying
thig gi lo rgyus chen mo rin poche". The story of Jnanasutra'sbirth, education, andmeeting withhis Master Shrisingha waspresent-ed inMirror issue#42.
Jnanasutra wept bitterly saying"Oh, oh, alas! If the teacher theflame of the lamp goes out, whowill remove the darkness of theworld?"Shrisinghahimself passeddown his last testament entitled"Seven Nails" into the palm ofJnanasutra's hand saying
"The books on the InnermostEssentialsare in apillarin Tashitri-go's Samle Shrine. Go live in theBhasingCemetery."
The cemetery was quite a dis
tance east of Budhgaya.From theNorth, a river flowed down from ablackmountainwhichlookedlikeasleeping black elephant. From theSouth, the scent of sandalwoodtreesarose from a mountain whichlooked likea standing yellow tiger.Inthe Westtherewere Garudanestson a mountain which lookedlike alion leaping through the air. In theEasttherewere herbs on a mountainwhich lookedlikeBrahma's face.
The Sonam Dzogpa Stupa wassituated in the central area whichpossessed whatever was necessaryand desirable. It was constructedwith copper, iron, and jeweledmaterials. Its main axis contained a
serpent-like sandalwoodtreewhosehighest point Conned a canopy withplentiful lotus leaves. The middlesectiondescribed acircle withoverlaid rings of sky-blue jewels. Thebottom section was sided with tierswhichresembled a closed lotus.
The lowest tier was completelysidedwiththeKingSenghatree.Allthe branches of the treewere intertwined, just like a woven net ofturquoise stones which formed anintricate lattice-work. O n the lowertiers were many animals whichlivedin the cemetery surrounded bymany goddesses. The area above
that was surrounded by manyfemale lay devotees who held fans.Above that there were many fami
liesofmagicalbirds.A shrine gate with crystal
images of worldly divinities wassituated within hearing distancedirectly south of the Stupa. Withinthe gate was Yama of the Bardowho was black with tangled hair,fangs, and a perpendicular eye onhislargebelly.He was surroundedby a thousand wicked worldlyMamospirits.
Above Yama was situated theDivine LordTsundhari who shakesthe world.He rode naked on a redasswithhis bloo dy hair dragging onthe ground. Smoke issuedfrom hiseyes, fire flamed from his mouth,and a trident in his right hand
impaled human corpses. He held aflask in his left hand and was surrounded by 800 groups of demonswhose duty it was to suck bloodfrom the living.A swell thereweresome tormented spirits who hadbrokentheir commitments.
There were some incrediblygreedy corpses on top of a hugepile of new and old corpses. Butsome beings who lived in thecemetery enjoyed the various fruitsofthe treesand did not desire fleshand blood.
In the East, amidst homes ofmoisthumanheadseverywhere, theaccomplished Palgi Lodro wastotally naked and rode a Garuda
traveling throughout the 3 realms.She had 5 dark red faces and a garland of skulls around her twistedplaitofhair.Her5righthandsheld awheel, a lotus, a spear, a babycorpse, and an arrow. Her 5 lefthandsheld a monk, alion,a wolf,adagger, and a bow, She was adornedwith various cemetery paraphernalia and attended by a 1000 Dakinisof peaceful demeanor who livedthere.
Inthe South,yellowSemm a. thequeen of the Dakinis, rode onTsogdag. She had one head, 2hands, and wings of turquoise and
lapislazuli stones. Naked and ferocious, she held a skull filled withsow's beer in her right hand and thesymbols of realization in her left.Her eyes were squinting, her facescarred, and she was surrounded byagroup of 1000Dakinis.
Inthe West, naked Barma Ch en-mo, withher hair tucked-up, held aVajra in her right hand and a longleash in her left. She rode an animaland was attended by 1000 Dakinis
ofapowerful type.IntheNorth,green nakedKuntu
Zangmo with freely-flowing hairheldan owl in her right hand and afalconin her left. She was ridingona wolf and was accompanied by1000Karma Dakinis.
In the Northeast was MekerLoggi Trengwa Zinpa. He wasnaked, green, and had his hairtucked up. He held a string ofswords in his right hand, pointed afingerof his left hand, was riding abuffalo, and was surrounded by 7murderousMamospirits.
In the Southeast, naked, pale-blue Shabari, with freely-flowinghair, held a large rotting corpse inhis hands, rode a hungry elephant,and was attended by 7 servants whodidthe organplucking.
In the Southwest, Trag Ching-mo,pale-blue,withher knotty hairtied in the back, carried the lionstandard in her hands, screamed" H U M " , rode a corpse in the moonlight, and was attended by 7 flesh-eating female spirits.
In the Northwest, dark brownChagmedmawith a single strand ofhair twisted right to left, one eyewhich saw 3000 worlds simultaneously,one tooth whichchopped offthe root of life for vow-breakers,retained allviciousdiseases at once
in her single hand. Her one breastsimultaneously nourished allbeings, while her one leg encompassed both samsara and nirvana.She was attended by 7 female deathspiritswho desired flesh andblood.
As well,therewere innumerablekindsof quadrupeds and n untoldnumber of magic female spirits presentinthe cemetery.
South of these, in the jeweledcenter, Jnanasutra sat in lotus positionupon tieredstepsof a jumpingtigress. He was offering the sublimemudra under an unfolded parasol ofpeacocks amidst various ensignsand fans. He was teaching the veryexplicit Secret Innermost Essentials
to the Dakinis.At that time Vimalamitra him
self was riding a blue ox in theThachung Cemetery, holding aparasol of fans in hishandswithhisouter robe hanging over his rightshoulder. Once when he was reallyinto his practice, the Dakini PalgiLodroexhortedhimfromthe sky:
"Ohyouluckyone! Ifyoudesirethe profound Innermost EssentialInstructions more than you didbefore, go to the forest of the greatBhasingCemetery."
Withgreateffort.Vimala joyfullyjourneyed to the Bhasing Cemetery and developed an extraordinaryintensified reverence for Jnanasutra
whowas sitting as described above.Despitetheir previous equality andthe fact that Vimala had once beenthe Guru's teacher, Vimala did not
judge who was more important, butprostrated before, and circumambulated Jnanasutra. Offering giftsVimalasaid:
"Indeed you aie a real person!Since you certainly embody teachingswhich are unlike any previousones.1 wish tofollow in your footsteps."
Nodding his head. Jnanasutra
continuedonpage8
BookReviews
T H E M IRROR:
Advice on the PresenceofAwareness
Namkhai Norbu
TranslatedfromTibetanintoItalianandeditedby AdrianoClemente.
TranslatedintoEnglish byAndrewLukianowicz.
1996, StationHillOpeningsBarrytown, N.Y. 99 pp.
Th e Only RealAlternative
THEMIRROR: Advice on the Pres
ence of Awareness by NamkhaiNorbu.Thisbook shou ld be read byanyone interested in making thepresentlifeworthlivingand preparingfor its inevitable end. Itteachesus how to get out of the cage wehave built, and inside which weinsiston existinghow to become,in an ultimate way, a free,autonomous person. In a few pages,
this extraordinary Dzogchen textshows how to regain that freedomof beingwhichis potentiallyavailable to us all. "Freedom" in thiscase means astatei nwhich one isno longer conditioned by dualism,by the passions, and byone'smental habits and beliefs. Instead, oneproceeds from pure presence,uncontaminated clarity, in knowledge of one's own state. ChgyalNamkhai Norbuwrote this book toexplaintheprincipleof such awareness and the practice of continuouspresence, theonlyalternative to therules,models and limitations of thevarious religious attempts to gaintranscendence.
The knowledge Dzogch en transmits is not merely intellectual, norconfinedby the principles of a religious or philosophic position. Itconcerns the reality of our experiencein itsimmediacy.Thoughts andpassions, for example, are not to berejected or transformed but simplyrecognizedas the energy of ourprimordialstate.However, this way of"self-liberation", as the authormakes clear, is not mere distractionor indiscriminate surrender toimpulse.There may be no mies, butthere is self-disciplinethe mostradical kind, based not on controlbut self-observation, not onimposition but onresponsibility. Presenceis the opposite of distraction, andwithout distraction we recognizewhat is, and act from that awareness, without making judgments orhavingtoblockourownactions.
When we live the teachings inour activi ty, they affect us deeply,provokereawakening, and promoteourevolution.A nd this without thecreationof a further cage, for example a monastic or otherwise religious structure to contain and guideus. Compassion, for instance, inthis view develops out of awareness, out of clarity, rather thanbeing instilled by precept and constructedwitheffort. If we know our
ownfeelings andcondition,we willunderstand others. Similarly, practicing awareness, we recognize thecircumstances and situations o f ourrelative condition as they arise.Thus we take positive action, alsotoward ourselves, not because ofmies and punishments, not out ofguiltor the fear of error, but becausewe see and respect limits, opportunities and needs. Dharma is theunderstanding of how things are. ofwhat is the case, and not. as thenineteenth century translatorswouldhave it. "the Law."
Here, awareness is healthily
complete. There is a "felt sense",but also an explicit knowledge ofour nature. Awareness, as describedin thesepages, is not only"experiential" (as in current Americanusage) but equally implies cognition. Since the purpose of awarenessis to live what we are, feelingand sensation are not enough; conceptual understanding (for example, that we exist as body, energyandnind,and all this means) playsacomparably important role.Experience, even of our state,takes usnowhere without understanding,whilewords and ideas without sensory and perceptual experience donot constitute "direct transmission"and real knowledge.
In psychological terms, naturalmind possesses, in seamless unity,both conceptual and organismic,bodily awareness. Modem, neuroticman splits them, in anxious reactionto the chronic emergency, innerand outer, in which he lives. Tocope with an overwhelming situation he tries at least to "feel" whathe does not understand, or to intellectually master what he is unable
to grasp by feeling. ChgyalNamkhai Norbu,and themastersofthe Dzogchen teachings who camebefore him, find underlying unityself-evident and offer many methods Cor the profound relaxationwhichmakes it possible.
With the same boundless simplicity, presence is understood andexplainednotonlyin terms of"hereand now," as in current fashion, butwithopenness toallthreetimes. Forexample, spontaneity must not preclude thinking, prior to action, ofprobable consequences. In thenatural serenity which ChgyalNamkhai Norbuteachesus tocultivate, there is harmony between
past,present and future. By failingto give adequate weight to eachdimension, our contemporary culturerisks destroying the continuityof life.However splendid the marble, a bridge must connect bothbanksofthe river.
Analogously, awarenessembraces thespiritualand the material, and meditation itself, inDzogchen. accepts and integratesthe external world. There is notonlysitting, but alsoaction.Practicingwithout distraction, the space ofmeditationexpandsuntilthereis nodistinction between meditation anddaily life. The master warns, inthesepages, against the fantasy andconfusion which sometimesembroil practitioners. We can saythat everything is illusion, like adream. But even a dream is real,while we sleep. "As long as wehave a body, we must respect all ofitslimitsand its needs."
Inhis transcribed oral commentary, publishedherewith the original written text.Chgyal NamkhaiNorbuexplains why it isdifficult tofind material about the vitallyimportant principle of awareness:"...in all the Buddhist teachings,from the sutras to the tan tras, the
continualonpageS
THE MIRROR JANUARY/FERRUARY 199 8
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Inthe Presence of the MasterAbriefaccountofChgyalNamkhaiNorbus
recenttravelsinHimachalPradeshandtheretreatinDelhi
by Li zGranger
After giving teachings in Kathmandu atthe beginning of September, ChgyalNamkhai Norbu spent several weeks visiting
various pilgrimage sites in India sacred to
BuddhaSakyamuni.During the month of October, he passed
many days at Tso Pema ("Lotus Lake" in
Tibetan or Rewalsar) in Himachal Pradesh, a
pilgrimage place sacred to Padmasambhava.
Located an hour's bus ride away from the
main town of Mandi which marks the place
where the Kangr a andKul luValleysmeet,the
small lake is set like a jewel amongst the
foothillsof the mountains. The area consists
ofa tiny villa ge and market andthreeTibetan
monasteries, aswellas a largeSikhtemple, all
set around the shores of-the lake and is popu
lated by local H indus, Tibetan monks and
nuns and a continuous flow of pilgrims. A
well-paved path encircles the lake where
from sunrise to late evening pilgrims can be
seen passing, fingering their malas or spin
ningtheir shining prayer wheels. O n one sideof the lake is a wide paved area where people
can make food offerings to the numerous and
enormous fish who, unafraid, wide-mouthed
and almost flingingthemselves out of the lake
in their eagerness, jostle each other for the
offerings thrown to them by pilgrims . Often
tribes of small brown monkeys crouch wide-
eyed at thesamespot for a forgotten biscuit or
evendareto snatch one from apilgrim'shand
while an occasional cow wanders by to
receive her offering, too.
Scrambling and panting up a longsteep
series of stone steps about an hour's walk
from the lake, one arrives high above the v i l
lage on grassy peaks almost hidden by the
passing clouds wheresheepandgoatswander
with their tinkling bells and hawks swoopdown into the valley below in search of prey.
This lofty and sacred place is where Pad
masambhava meditated withMandarava, and
pilgrims visit their sacred caves where a tow
ering gildedstatueof thegreatMaster can be
seen. The cave adjoining his has a smaller
statueof Mandarava and at different places on
the rocky slopes one can see the signs his
footprint and shoulder print left on the rocks.
Notfar fromthesetwo caves is another which
isreached down a narrowflighto fstone steps
and where Guru Rinpoche also spent time
meditating. Today one can see a claystatueof
the Masterthereas wellas his eight manifes
tations.Manyyogis andyoginisliveand prac
tice up in the numerous caves here and the
area is cared for and maintained by theDrug-
paKagyu monastery at the lakeside presidedover byLamaWangdor.
According to historical sources, during
GuruRinpoch e's travels in Zahor (as this area
was previous ly known), he gave teachings to
the King's daughter, Princess Mandarava.
People started to gossip about them and when
it was reported to the King, became enraged
and impri soned his daughter in a pit of thorns
(a cave shrine in the town ofMandithatisstill
worshipped today by local Hindus) and con
demned Guru Rinpoche to be burned alive.
But the Master transformed the pyre into a
lake at the center ofwhich he appeared on a
lotus. The King named him Padmasambhava
('Bomfrom a Lotus').
In this special place, Chgyal
Namkhai Norbu spent many days
andpartof this time in the company of several of hisstudents who
had followed himthere.He and his
wifeRosa were hosted in an apart
ment at the invitationof the Nying
ma monastery and were frequent
guests of Lama Wangdor at the
nearby Drugpa Kagyu monastery.
He was a familiar figure in the
streetsof the tinyvillageand walk
ingaround the lake.
Rinpoche's students were for
tunateto accompany him on various
occasions, assisting him to hang
strings of five-colored prayer flags around the
lake and sometimeswalking withhim around
the lake. On two occasions we all had dinner
together in one of the few restaurants with
space enough for us all to sit: once on theoccasionofRosa's birthday.
One day we accompanied Rinpoche on
hisvisitto the sacred caves above the lake as
guestsofLamaWangdor and had lunchthere
with them on the roof of the small temple.
After lunch Rinpoche himself guided us
around the rocky terrain and showed us the
different caves as well as the footprint and
shoulder print of Gum Rinpoche. We just
managed to squeeze into the GuruRinpoche
cave where we sat and kneeled around Rin
poche gazing at thegreatgoldenstatueas we
sang the Song of the Vajra. During the walk
ingreatgood humor he paused and pointed to
some marks on a rock and said that when
Padmasambhava went down to the lake to
drink,in order to get up to his cave more easi
ly he manifested as Dorje Drollo riding atiger. The marks were the claw marks of his
tiger on its landing.
Our last stop therewas the Gonpa where
the monks and nuns did a Choed practice
and a Ganapuja.Afterthis most o f us started
the long walk back to the village just before
itgot dark.
FromTso Pema, Rinpoche, accompanied
by Rosa,FabioAndricoand Catherine Braud,
traveled by car to McLeod Ganj, just a few
hours drive from Tso Pema where they
remained for several days. Perched above the
town of Dharamsala and situated at almost
2000metersabove sealevelon the first slopes
of the Western Himalay an range, amongst
towering pines and icy streams, this small ex-
colonialcantonment is home to H is Holiness
the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government
in exile, as well as the Library of Tibetan
Works and Archives, several monasteries
among which Nam gyal monastery and the
BuddhistSchoolo fDialectics.It is also home
to hundreds of Tibetans, both those bom in
India andthosenewly arrived, akindof 'little
Tibet' where one hearsTibetan music being
played, standard restaurant fare is momo and
thugpa (Tibetan soup) and the smell of
incense is carried on thechillmountain air-
The day after his arrival Rinpoche had a
private audience withHis Holiness the Dalai
Lama.Another day the restof us, along with
several hundred other people and after a long
queue to leave our passport details with the
security, were finally admitted into the
grounds of Hi s Holi ness ' residence where,one at a time in single file, we were able to
greetand shakehandswith the small stooped
smiling figure and receive a red protection
cord from one of the attendant monks. A
powerfulblessing in such abrief moment.
During the days that followed Namkhai
NorbuRinp oche gave several talks in Tibetan
at different venues inMcLeodGanj.This was
organized by Tashi Tsering of the Library of
Tibetan Works andArchives.The first day he
save a morning conference at the TIPA
(Tibetan Institute of PerfonningArts) and lat
er in the day a talk on "TheRoleof language,
culture andreligionin a nation's survival" at
the Amne Machen Institute. The following
I Tashit was the Hindu holi
day of Diwali the
festivalof lights, and the
car taking us along the
serpentine roadway
from Mandi to Tso
Pema was suitably dec
orated; a garland of marigolds was draped
around the windshield and small bouquets
by Woody Paparazzo
were affixed wherever they could be. The
flowers,togetherwiththe statueofShiva, tri
dent and incense holder on the dashboard
transformed the car into akindo frollingtem
ple. After so many planes, rickshaws, and
trains, in our long trip halfway around the
world, it was a fitting vehicle in which to
arrive at our destination the Zigar
Monastery.
We pulled into the sandy courtyard at the
monastery late in the afternoon, and soon sev
eral young monks began to appear as we
unloadedbaggage from the car. I glanced up
to catch a glimpse ofTsultrimwhom I imme
diately recognized from the photos he had
sentover the years of our correspondence.
Some eight or nine years ago, Lama
Wangdor Rinpoche came for the first time to
Conway, Massachusetts to give Dzogchen
teachings. Later he asked people to help sup
port his work by sponsoring one of the
monks, nuns or y ogis in his small communityat Tso Pema. MywifeBarb ara and I offered to
do so and thus began our long-distance
friendship with Zigar Tsultrim ayogi l iv
ing then in one of the holy caves of Pad
masambhava near the monastery. Tsultrim
was no longer young when we first contacted
him, and now his short bris tling hair was
entirely white.
My heart fluttered as I hurried to greet
him.Whe n our foreheads touched, it was as if
a currento felectricity flowed between us.
We were shown into the monastery up
thesteepback stairsthatturned back on them
selves several times and were a little tricky
due to the Indian peculiarity ofmixing steps
ofdifferent heights. Throug hcolorfulbanners
which served as a door, we entered the large
room on the upper floorof the monastery that
served as a gathering place for the monks. We
were received by Wangdor Rinpoche, and
enjoyed a simple meal with tea. (Toasted
cheese sandwiches were a delight and a sur-
T" " \ _^I _ prise after a week of rice
L/G1G2 m d vegetables!) WeO shared photographs of
our home, the Commu
nity "schoolhouse" and
the environs ofConway.
Through an interpreter,
we expressed what was quite unnecessary to
say: how happy we were tomeetat last.
Over the years, we had received
many lettersfromTsultrim, but the lan
guage barrier presented l imitatio ns on
our correspondence. His letters, often
written by others, were brief but always
reiterated how he prayed every day for
our happiness and "success at every
step". Even though we asked to know
something of his personal history, he
never revealed much about himself.Lat
er, fromLamaWangdor, we learnedthat
he had livedas an ordinary layman, and
late in his life, after his family obliga
tions had been met, he dedicated himself
to meditation. Eventually, we came to
acceptthat,forTsultrim,the details of his
"story" were of no importance. The essen
tialknot of our relationship was a simple one:
he accepted our helpwithdeepgratitude, and
in return, he did hisbest to send good influ
ences our way through prayer and sincere
wishes for ourwell-being.
Fromthe perspective of our modem West-
em culture, one might think this relationship a
bit superficial. Eventually, I came to under
stand that, in truth, the bond between us was
deepand extraordinary. From opposite poles
culturally and geographically we were
bound by the common thread of our aspira
tions and our respect for one another.
In the days thatfollowed,we took all our
meals together with Tsultrim.Generally, we
didn't bother trying to converse through the
awkwardness of an interpreter. We were con
tentto simply be together.Our time at Zigar
Monastery was filled with many wonderful
experiences including one night of unbound
ed exuberance as we joined inwiththe young
monks led by 14 year-old PalgaTulku and shot off innumerable rockets, firecrack
ers, sparklers, pinwheels, etc., etc., in a rol
lickingcelebrationo fthe festivalof lights.
At the end of ourbriefstay, we celebrated
with a special meal of momo's which the
monks prepared for us. Tsultrim offered us
gifts and glowedwithjoy i n presenting them
to us. It was very sad to leave. The unspoken
understanding wasthatTsultrimwil l likelybe
gone before we can make a return trip. But.
this meeting brought us all such joy. We'll
always cherish the memory.
(Postscript: There are still many monks
at Zigar monastery and meditators in the
holycaveswhoneedsponsors. In particular,
an 18-year old monkfrom Bhutan named
Rinzin hasaskedus tohelphim find aspon
sor. Ifanyoneisinterested,we would behap
py tohelpmakethe connection. Sendames
sage to The Mirror or write us at
woodyp@javanet. com.)
day he spoke to a hall fullo f monks at the K i r -
tiJegpa Dratsan and in the evening vis ited the
Tibetan Children'sVillagewhere he was their
dinnerguest.The third day he gave a talk at
the Amne Mach en Institute on "Th e Status of
Womenin Tibetan Society".
Throughout his stay in McLeod Ganj it
was afamiliar andjoyful sight, especially for
many of hisstudentswho had not been with
him for some time, to see the Master passing
through the streets there dressed in a bright
orange track suit and a big bro wn Tibetan hat,
his long hairheldbacki na ponytail.
A couple of days before the Delhiretreat
of November 7th-9th. which was organized
byTibet House, the CulturalCenter of H. H .
the Dalai Lama.Rinpo che left for the capital.
Theretreatwas held a few ki