The Collected Tibetan Works of the Vidyadhara
(2003)

The breadth and depth of what Trungpa Rinpoche accomplished in his nineteen years in Tibet is simply amazing. In addition to receiving training in all aspects of his tradition and obviously attaining accomplishment in this, he somehow found time to write hundreds of pages. A surprising number of these were terma ("treasure" texts), and most of those miraculously extracted from a sacred mountain as earth terma. Unfortunately, several very large volumes remain lost, including two volumes on Shambhala and a thousand-page text on mahamudra. Fortunately, Karma Senge Rinpoche was inspired to dedicate his life to collecting, preserving, and propagating the teachings that remained accessible.

Karma Senge Rinpoche Photo by Marvin Moore

When asked whether he had received any teachings or commentaries on any of the works of Trungpa Rinpoche, Karseng Rinpoche explained that in the eleven years he spent collecting these texts, traveling throughout Kham (East Tibet) and even to parts of Central Tibet, he received each one from direct disciples of the Vidyadhara, and they gave him whatever lungs or transmissions they held and explained whatever Trungpa Rinpoche had told them. If Karma Senge Rinpoche had any doubts or uncertainty, he asked the students to explain further. He said that there were ninety-two (or ninety-three!) students of Rinpoche during those days, many of whom are now departed.

In the case of some of these writings, many students made their own copies, and each one differs to some extent from the others, whether through scribal error or faulty previous editions. In order to establish an accurate edition of such texts, many editions need to be collected and studied. As well, during the Cultural Revolution and other very difficult times, many dharmas texts and implements were buried. When times improved, they were unearthed. When things got bad again, they went back into the ground. So many of the originals are in an extremely fragile state by now. In many cases, the original texts were so highly treasured that the students refused to part with them, so Karma Senge Rinpoche made his own copies. There were even some termas that Rinpoche was not yet able to see, so protective were some of the guardians of these.

We discussed in detail what remained to be done in order to complete this work. Rinpoche explained that he needed to collect the remaining texts and editions, there being at least a few important locations that he has not yet visited. Then all the writings need to be edited, during which time Rinpoche would establish the best possible reading. He explained that he would need four assistants, and they should be able to accomplish this work in ten days. He would have to pay these helpers, and there would be travel expenses and costs involved in rewriting all the texts. He also hoped to be able to enter all the data into a machine-readable format. Finally, the texts would need to be published so that they could be made available to others.

In assessing the projected costs involved, we discovered that the initial first phase was quite reasonable and within our reach to help, with the more costly publishing phase coming later. We made a commitment to fund this work in its entirety. We offered Karma Senge Rinpoche sufficient funds to continue the project until the next phase and promised to do whatever was necessary to complete this incredible project. We wanted him to go home with sufficient resources in hand, not just a well-intentioned commitment. He said several times during our discussion, "I can do this work."

And so we now ask you to help us fulfill this promise.

Trungpa Rinpoche's Early Days As a Tertön