Our Connection to the Rinchen Terdzö

Donors to the Rinchen Terdzö

On behalf of Their Majesties, a heartfelt appreciation to all sponsors - Shambhala Centers and individuals alike.
On behalf of Sharon and James Hoagland, a special thanks to individuals who have made a donation since January 7th when their $35,000 matching grant was announced.

We would also like to thank the following people for their contributions:
James Lowrey, Mary Fugiel, Oscar Garcia, Margo McCarter, Leal Abbott, Collette Frix, Christopher Szendroi, Coleman Zeigen, David Ellerton, Greg Smith, Hans-Peter Hullinger, Jeffrey Sussna, Jesse Thompson, John Rockwell, Karen Spern, Kathrin McCarthy, Lauryn Boston, Leila Bruno, Maggie Colby, Michael Brandt, Michael Mallett, Miles Carpenter, Paul Belserene, Phyllis Ohm, Robert Wallace, Roland Cohen, Sarah Stephenson, Scott Duncan, Sophie See, Terry Rudderham, William Shean, Jessie Friedman, Garrick Hoops, William Haas, Peter Seidler, Brian Callahan, Ann Shaftel, Jim Norton, Zaida Belendez, Warner Keeley, Francine Fiesel, Nigel Henley-Welch, Diane Metzger, Lauchlan Learned, Jesse Luckett, Alexander Wright, Jessica Vaughan, Charlene Leung, Chien Ni, Jan Jercinovic, Julie Heegaard, Nancy Hessey, George Ramsey, Janet Solyntjes, Ella Reznikova, Connie Brock, Victoria Hagens, Elizabeth Hook, Jennifer Holder, Elizabeth Selandia, Charlotte Linde, Nina Jones, Lesa Ricci, Toni & Regula Imfeld, Catherine Yates, Gordon Kidd, Gial Whitacre, Lisa Moore, Ed Hanczaryk, Johanna Lunn, Stephen Mathiasen, Eve Rosenthal, Basia Solarz, Robert Henn, Linda Catling, Stephane Bedard, Zeb Zuckerberg, Bill & Selena Scheffer, Robyn Traill, John Higham, Scott Forbes, Catherine Paul, Joan Cawsey, Pamela Rodger, Nancy Gillis, Hans Baldursson, Dana Marshall, Nick Wright, Barry Buchy, Liliane Busby, Lauchlan Learned, Catherine Fink, Keith Ela, Bill & Selena Scheffer, Charles Spearin, Natalie Dawson, Nancy Nuschke, JD West, Rina Otero, Torgny Vigerstad, Jai Crapella, Vicki Giella, Anne Marie DiGiacomo, LT Koo, Tal Varon, Patton Hyman, S. Post, Dawn Davies, Rosa Ubeda, Alexandra Milsom, Tomasz Plucinski, Carol & Alex Halpern, Jane & Steve Vosper, Reese McKay, Gregory Bundy, Tom Curlin, Helen Effron, Lisa Moore, Bill Douglas, Lisa Johnston, Trime Persinger, Michael Weiss, Georgina Arechiga, Marian Broadus, Faith Killough, Susan Jenkins, Joseph Fiala, Arnold Norman, Jana Gurtis, JTM Pollmann, Mr. Ross P. Chambers, Cathy Pressman, Estelle Van de Pavert, Nicki Dayley, Susan Ross, Ulrike & Sol Halpern, Mary Sweet, Aja Duniven, Lea & Ralph Basch, Dan Hessey, Tamara Sell, Tsultrim Datso, Dawn Boiani, Betsy Perks, The Emery Family, Varja Deutsch, William Black, Samten Kobelt, Darryl Houghton, David Harding, Mark Nowakowski, Brigitta Karelis, Sean Scullion, Olive Colon, A T Hart, Jean Westby, Barbara Moffat, James Northcote, Christine Behrens, Jeff Rubin, Deborah Cerar, Preston McWhorter, Catherine Yates, Jim Lowrey, Joachim Sternheimer, Barbara Badessi, Fred Schwieg, Leeza Kronick, Champion, Brian McMahon, Molly McCue, Kathleen Howell, Louis Braun, Anne Saitzyk, Silas Rosenblatt, Charles Green, Bruce Oglesby, Danielle Blouin, Siobhan Pathe, Nelly Charbon, Desiree Mitchell, Benjamin Medrano, Leann Ticknor, Carlos Pirrongelli, Eric Laufe, Constance Moffit and many anonymous donors;
and the Shambhala Centers/Groups in St. Margaret's Bay, Edmonton, Kailua, South Shore, Dallas, Albequerque, Durham, Fredricton, Sonoma, and Houston.

Treasure Trove of Precious Jewels

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche received the Rinchen Terdzo at age thirteen. In “Born in Tibet” he describes the Rinchen Terdzo as “of the utmost importance, for it contains all the most profound doctrines received from the 10th Trungpa Tulku.” At the end of the six months of empowerments, his root guru, Jamgön Kongtrul of Sechen, gave him “the authority to carry on his guru’s teachings.” Trungpa Rinpoche wrote, “I was enthroned, and he put his own robes on me. I felt very shy, as there were many lamas there of much greater learning than I.” At fourteen, after some thought, Trungpa Rinpoche gave the Rinchen Terdzo empowerments at the monastery of Drolma Lhakang.

In 1959, Yag Monastery asked the eighteen-year-old 11th Trungpa Rinpoche to confer the Rinchen Terdzo for a second time. Although quite difficult, the 60 volumes were accomplished in three months. It was there that His Eminence Namkha Drimed Rinpoche and Lady Konchok Palden received the Rinchen Terdzo empowerments from the Vidyadhara. How amazing it is to think that His Eminence sat next to the 11th Trungpa as the main recipient. How poignant this must have been, knowing that the10th Trungpa had requested, but was unable to receive, these very same precious teachings from His Eminence’s own ailing father.

Given the political climate, Trungpa Rinpoche had only enough time to help people understand what they had received “by impressing on all the necessity for regular meditation” and by saying, “if there should be no external guru, (you) must develop the teaching within (your)selves.” The very day this Rinchen Terdzo ended, Rinpoche heard the distressing news that Jamgön Kongtrul of Sechen had been captured by the Communists.

The Rinchen Terdzo, with its 660 empowerments, is a condensed traveling library, a powerful way of downloading the Vajrayana in threatening times. At the behest of Padmasambhava, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Namkha Drime Rinpoche held the teachings as they traversed the Himalayas and from there proceeded to different sides of the world.

While Trungpa Rinpoche conquered new lands and established the mandala of Shambhala, a prophecy led Namkha Drime to Orissa, India where he kept as his charge the purity of ritual form. It was only a matter of time before the current Sakyong and the Sakyong Wangmo would inherit this gift. One can only speculate how they will bring the “treasure trove of precious jewels” to our Shambhala culture and into the hands of the next Sakyong.

Wealth is Our Protector

Conferring the Rinchen Terdzo was Trungpa Rinpoche’s last extensive teaching before he left Tibet. The oral transmission of the Rinchen Terdzo now happening in Orissa further binds the Sakyong to his father. We may also bind ourselves to this magical situation through joyful practice and acts of generosity. As his father often contributed the monastery’s share from his own personal funds, the current Sakyong quietly leads with his own generosity.

Over the last month, born purely from a feeling of inspiration and a sense of urgency, Lady Sharon and James Hoagland found the courage to commit their names publicly to match the first $35,000 raised from now until the end of the Rinchen Terdzo. The Hoaglands felt “we just had to do something” to open the link between this potent moment and our community. Their invitation is an opportunity for more of us to connect, or for all of us to connect more. By adding a dollar to each of our dollars, they make our gifts that much larger!

Through the indestructible support of our Shambhala Centers and via a sangha-wide web-surge we are gathering. Your dollars, together with the Hoaglands’ matching dollars, will feed the 300 monks in attendance, provide daily tea and cookies for villagers who visit, and sponsor the final celebratory feasts. Through this challenge and beyond, we will also meet household and travel costs for the royal party. When The Sakyong and the Sakyong Wangmo offer a gift to His Eminence and keynote tulkus, your dollar will provide gifts to the other accomplished practitioners living in primitive conditions: khenpos, loppons, umdzes, choppons, general administrators, and the kitchen staff – all committed to the rare warrior practices we hold dear.

Lady Sharon and James would like to express that their pledge is above and beyond what they themselves might normally feel able to give. Their challenge is not an invitation to cancel dues, to move away from other commitments, or skimp on our Shambhala Day gifts. There is no freshly minted energy in that! Some say, “Give until it hurts.” In Shambhala we are more apt to say, “Give beyond where it hurts until it feels good!” It’s not the amount, but the genuineness itself which is valuable.

I Will Not Regret The Spending

The Jambhala sadhana is the only one of the 660 possible sadhanas of the Rinchen Terdzo that the Druk Sakyong translated. Isn’t that interesting? It is said that Jambhala protected the Buddha from attack. The wound he earned became the wound we heal in order to “bring down the great rain of inexhaustible wealth.” The Druk Sakyong saw, that of drugs, sex, and money, money was quite possibly the most challenging practicality for us to fathom.

The mark of a samaya bound practitioner is uncommon bravery. What this looks like in our leaders may defy ‘common sense’. In 1956, even as the very ground he stood on was being destroyed, Trungpa Rinpoche continued to build:

My bursar and some of the senior lamas, especially the heads of the various departments, objected strongly to our building a seminary largely to benefit monks from a distance and spending capital in this way. So I invited them to a midday meal and said, “Even if the Communists destroy the whole place, the seeds of knowledge in our hearts cannot be destroyed. Even if we build today and our building is torn down tomorrow, I will not regret the spending. It would be a greater regret if we hoarded and what we had hoarded was taken from us without any progress having been made in the spiritual understanding of our people.”

Mrs. Allya Burke
Bursar of the Privy Purse
The Kalapa Court

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Top photos by Josh Green (Lindro Dancers), Maggie Colby (monastery), and Angelika Siaw (stupa).

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