Something Old, Something New
The Collected Tibetan Works of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Sakyong Mipahm Rinpoche receives the Collected Tibetan Works of his father,
the Vidyadhara, from Karma Senge Rinpoche while visiting
Dorje Khyung Dzong in Surmang, Tibet. Photo by Diana Church

On his historic first visit to Tibet in 2001, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche made a lengthy visit to the Surmang monasteries of the Trungpa tülkus. In addition to the many photographs, videos, and stories the Sakyong and his traveling companions brought back, they brought a very precious and unique treasury of teachings. During the visit, Trungpa Rinpoche's nephew, Karma Senge Rinpoche, revealed that although he had never met Trungpa Rinpoche, for the past fifteen years he had been inspired to thoroughly search out and compile the writings and terma that Trungpa Rinpoche had composed or received before his escape from Tibet. In a spontaneous and emotional ceremony in the Dorje Khyung Dzong retreat at Surmang, Karma Senge (or "Karseng") Rinpoche presented the Sakyong with a copy of the collected works (sung-bum) of the Vidyadhara compiled thus far. Upon the Sakyong's return, this collection was entrusted to the Nalanda Translation Committee. As many of you know, this precious collection has become a major area of focus for us over the last several years.

Karma Senge and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoches enjoy
the view together. Photo by Diana Church

The collection's twenty-eight sections range in length from one to seventy-five Tibetan pages, totaling about 400 pages. Previously, at the request of Karseng Rinpoche, the late Ugyen Tendzin, a close dharma brother of the Vidyadhara, wrote an introduction and table of contents to this. The list of section titles (see below) included in this is an intriguing glimpse into the variety and depth of the collection's contents. What's amazing is how much is hidden beneath this list of titles-each section contains anywhere from one to a couple dozen separate texts. Some are earth or mind termas (sater, gongter) discovered by the Vidyadhara. Some, like the Light Rays of the Sun and Moon, published in 2001, are moving accounts of the Vidyadhara's experiences with his own gurus. Others are sadhanas and liturgies meant to be practiced, while still others contain songs, practice advice, and summaries of the path.

Discovering these early teachings has certainly been an exciting event for our community. It has been equally exciting to be involved in the preservation and translation of these precious documents. Some of the texts had actually been buried in the ground to protect them from being destroyed by the Chinese. Some of the current reproductions we are working with are photocopies of the only known copies in existence. Funding is still needed to preserve these original copies, some of which are in Trungpa Rinpoche's own handwriting or bear his thumbprint. The Translation Committee has provided some assistance, and more is needed, so that Karma Senge Rinpoche can continue his vital work of searching for more texts, seeking out and comparing various editions, resolving textual discrepancies, and of course, making duplicates of the original texts. Karseng Rinpoche thought it very likely that the number of texts and pages of the collection would increase through his continued gathering and editing of texts into a final collection of the sung-bum. To aid him in this process we have begun to input all of the sung-bum into a computerized Tibetan format. This will be useful for comparing different editions, as well as eventually providing for a very good, final, authoritative Tibetan edition.

Making these texts available to a wider audience in English is a complex process. Each of the many rough drafts we have compiled needs to be reviewed with a lama. This year (2005) we were able to catch up with some of our backlog of work as we had a wealth of visiting teachers to work with in Halifax. In the summer, the Translation Committee cosponsored Karseng Rinpoche’s visit to North America. During his month-long stay in Halifax, we were able to review a number of the translations of the Vidyadhara’s compositions that we had been working on over the past year. To date we have completed drafts of the Introduction and Contents, and the texts in sections KA, DA, NA, TSHA, DZA, WA, ZA, YA, RA, LA, and parts of sections SHA and KHA. There are also a number of additional texts by the Vidyadhara given to us by Karseng Rinpoche during his visit in 2003, as these were not included in the original collection. In addition to these, with Karseng Rinpoche's help this summer, we were able to receive from Akong Rinpoche a number of other texts composed by the Vidyadhara in Tibet.

Last year we included an excerpt from section SHA, an ati-style devotional poem, entitled The Yearning of Recollection: Spontaneous Song of Calling to the Guru, which is published here in its entirety. Through Karseng Rinpoche teaching this text this summer (2005), we were able to refine our translation, and we learned that this is to be used in conjunction with practicing The Profound Guru Yoga. In the near future we will publish these two texts together for your use. These texts demonstrate the depth and eloquence that is characteristic of so many of the Vidyadhara's early works. These works evoke a special poignancy—a means of seeing the inner life of our teacher so long ago while simultaneously encountering teachings that are so applicable to our life right now.

Our goal is still to have a knowledgeable Tibetan lama in residence in Halifax, who would greatly facilitate the process of making these texts and many others available for publication. We also hope that Karma Senge Rinpoche will be able to return to the West many times to teach and to continue to provide his indispensable assistance, not only through his elucidation of the texts' meaning, but also by providing details of Trungpa Rinpoche's early life in Tibet.

This summer's visit allowed Karseng Rinpoche to be interviewed by Walter Fordham (the interview is quite remarkable), thus furthering work on “The Chronicles of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.” To read the entire interview, visit the Chronicle Project website. Based on this interview, in our annual newsletter we published a story of the Vidyadhara meeting the Four-Armed Mahakala! Here is the unabridged article and story: "Karma Senge Rinpoche on Kyere Monastery and Trungpa Rinpoche."

Karma Senge Rinpoche with the Translation Committee. Photo by Marvin Moore

We are looking forward to further visits in this coming year from Karseng Rinpoche, and Khenpo Tsering Gyurme from Surmang. In the meantime we continue to translate and explore these important additions to the treasury of Shambhala Buddhist teachings, and we thank you for the vital support you give to this.

The Precious Garland: The Table of Contents for the Collected Tibetan Works of Chökyi Gyatso, Trungpa Rinpoche