Karseng Rinpoche on Kyere Monastery and
Trungpa Rinpoche...cont'd

The Vidyadhara Meets Mahakala
Karma Senge Rinpoche offered one story about the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s discovering of terma (“treasure teachings”). In 1959, during the first Tibetan month, Trungpa Rinpoche went to Kyere Monastery. From the first to the fifteenth day of the second month he was in retreat at Kyere Shelkar ( Kyere White-Face Mountain), in a cave behind Kyere Monastery. At the beginning of the third month, in the spring, a messenger came from Surmang Dütsi Tel (Trungpa Rinpoche’s monastery). He said that Trungpa Rinpoche was needed because there was a drupchen (“great practice,” elaborate group practice) that had to be performed. Two drupchens were performed at Dütsi Tel each year, the Gongpa Kündü (Embodiment of Realization), from the terma of Choggyur Lingpa, and Rölpe Dorje’s terma Drekpa Kündü, which is a Vajrapani practice.

At that time, the present Rölpe Dorje had passed away, and Trungpa Rinpoche had to go back to lead the drupchen. If there was not a tülku present, the practice could not be done. So Trungpa Rinpoche began to make plans to go back to Dütsi Tel, but he was concerned that he might fall under Chinese control. He didn’t know what to do, so he did a mirror divination and saw that there would be an obstacle if he went back to Dütsi Tel. So he didn’t go; he sent Tülku Drubgyü as his representative instead.

When Tülku Drubgyü (the tenth Trungpa Rinpoche’s regent or representative at Kyere) got there, he found that all the Dütsi Tel monks had gathered to make torma and prepare for the practice. When everything was ready, they said Trungpa Rinpoche was needed. So Tülku Drubgyü told the monks, “If Trungpa Rinpoche comes to Dütsi Tel, he might get caught by the Chinese. He has done mirror divinations, and the divinations don’t look good, so Trungpa Rinpoche is not coming. Now, what should we do?”

But Kargyen was there—the person responsible for the monastery at that time. Also the monastery’s master of discipline, the umdze, and the chöpön were there. All the people with responsibilities were there, and they all said, “There are no Chinese at Dütsi Tel. Trungpa Rinpoche absolutely must come and perform the drupchen.”

So Tülku Drubgyü came back to Kyere. He arrived on the fifteenth day of the third month. At that time, Trungpa Rinpoche gave many prophecies. He said that in the future things would not go well for the whole of Surmang. All the buildings would be destroyed. There would be no monks, and there would be grass growing over the foundations. And then he said, "At that time, I will be in India, and eventually I will arrive in America." Although he said that, they didn’t believe him. They said, "That’s impossible. It would never happen, and if you say things like that, it will be inauspicious."

Rinpoche was supposed to leave for Dütsi Tel on the sixteenth. But before he left, he had a vision of Four-Armed Mahakala. There’s a high pass called Yul La that you have to cross to get from Kyere to Dütsi Tel. Trungpa Rinpoche saw Four-Armed Mahakala standing on the pass looking in the direction of Kyere, and Four-Armed Mahakala said, "Don’t go to Dütsi Tel."

Painting of Four-Armed Mahakala by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Courtesy of Diana J. Mukpo (reproductions available at www.shambhalashop.com)

Trungpa Rinpoche told Tülku Drubgyü about what he saw. But Tülku Drubgyü said that the saddle was on the horse, the baggage was on the mules, and all the preparations for their departure were complete. So Trungpa Rinpoche said that they should just take it a bit slow, and it may just turn out that they wouldn’t need to go to Dütsi Tel.

So they just took their time that day. Then a messenger arrived. He said that the Chinese had fallen on Surmang. There were seven Chinese officials there who said, “Where is Trungpa Rinpoche? He must come with us. We are having a meeting at Jekundo and Trungpa Rinpoche must come. If Trungpa Rinpoche comes to Jekundo, he will have a high rank at this meeting.” The Chinese waited for Trungpa Rinpoche for about seven days.

Well, this matched Trungpa Rinpoche’s prophecy, so the people at Dütsi Tel sent a message saying, “Don’t come. Don’t come. The Chinese have come to the monastery. We will start the practice without you. Don’t come.”

So he stayed at the retreat cave at Kyere, and he revealed many yellow scrolls and the Tsasum Gongdü (Embodied Realization of the Three Roots) termas. Ugyen Tendzin, Ge Lama, Tülku Drubgyü, Sönam Tseten, and a monk from Dzogdze monastery were all there at that time. From the practice of Padmakara and Yeshe Tsogyal in union came a terma casket, inside of which was a list of termas and an account of the sacred places of Kyere Shelkar, a hair of Yeshe Tsogyal, and a kila of Padmakara.

[Karma Senge Rinpoche told us that he hopes to write down all the stories he has heard about the Vidyadhara, but it will be a lot of work and some expense. He thought it might take 3-4 months or more. Because of his responsibilities at Kyere Monastery, it is difficult for him to find any time to accomplish this, let alone raise the money needed, and so forth.]

Before the Vidyadhara left for India, he was staying at Tsawa Gang, where Lady Könchok is from. One day he sent two monks named Tsado and Sönam Tseten to Surmang with a message for his family: they should move to Kyere, which they did. There were five family members: Trungpa Rinpoche’s mother Tungtso Drölma, his sister Kalsang Drölma (who is Karseng Rinpoche’s mother), his younger brother Damchö Tenphel Rinpoche, and his younger sister Tri-me Palmo. There was also a nun named Ani Palmo who came and lived with them at Kyere. She was related to both Trungpa Rinpoche’s father and mother.

It wasn’t particularly dangerous for them there because all of the Lha-thok people had such great faith in Trungpa Rinpoche, and they protected Trungpa Rinpoche’s family very well. However, all the buildings at Kyere Monastery were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and because he was a lama, Damchö Rinpoche was marked as a criminal by the Chinese, but the rest of the family was not. He was never harmed because of Tülku Drubgyü. The tenth Trungpa had installed him as his regent there. Tülku Drubgyü took all the blame himself and spent twenty-two years in prison. So then there was no blame against Damchö Rinpoche.

Rinpoche’s mother did not have to hide her identity. Everyone, including the Chinese, knew that she was Trungpa Rinpoche’s mother. The people in the community said that even though the Chinese knew that she was Trungpa Rinpoche’s mother, she hadn’t committed any crime, so she was not to blame. She was innocent. She was a practitioner and a student of Khenpo Gangshar. There were no retreats during that time, since reciting anything was against the Chinese law. They could only practice in secret, without anyone seeing anything. All of the possessions of the monastery—ritual objects, statues, and so on—were distributed by the Chinese to the Lha-thok families, maybe given to the poor families.

Karseng Rinpoche on Kyere Monastery and Trungpa Rinpoche...cont'd