I have heard of
this holiest dharma king of the Nyingma (the
oldest of the 4 major schools in Tibetan Buddhism) lineage since my childhood
but never had a chance to offer my prayers to his audience. Those
moments when my friends shared their impressions of seeing him, I used to sit
idly and shed the sweat of feeling LESS fortunate.
But surprisingly,
today, I had the privilege to have an audience with the living Guru Rinpoche (The precious master).
His Holiness Kyabje Dodrupchen Rinpoche Thubten Trinle Pal Zangpo,
the head of the Longchen Nyingthig tradition is believed to be the incarnation
of Guru Rinpoche, a Buddhist saint who was born from the lotus blossom floating
in Lake Dhanakosha in present-day Swat Valley of Pakistan.
 |
| His Holiness Dodrupchen Rinpoche |
His
birth as prophesied by the 5th Dzogchen Rinpoche Thubten Chokyi
Dorje, His Holiness Dodrupchen Rinpoche IV was born in the Golok province of
Dokham in Eastern Tibet in 1927. At the very young age of 4, His Holiness was
enthroned at the Dodrupchen monastery. He is a religious master who has
received the full empowerment and transmission of the Nyingtik Yabshyi and Longchen Nyingtik by Khenpo
Kunpal and has received teachings from many other religious personalities. His
Holiness has fled to Sikkim in India after incessant political unrest in
Tibet in the year 1957.
His
Holiness has visited Bhutan on an invitation of His Majesty the 4th
King in the early 1980s. Since then, His Holiness has restored and revived so
many Nyingma monasteries in eastern parts of Bhutan.
Youngla Goenpa (his main
seat) and Tsebar Thonphu Goenpa which is located in my district Pema Gatshel, are
considered enormously sacred because it was where His Holiness spent most of
his time. The people of Chongshing (my village) are so blessed that His
Holiness has personally visited to establish and consecrate the cremation
ground for the funeral rites to be held thereafter. In Buddhism, it is esteemed
with the highest value and believe that somebody cremated in such places is
always blessed and will have less samsaric sufferings. I feel blessed because
I belong to that village.
 |
| Me, Tshering Tshomo, and Jigme Dorji |
However,
today, the feeling of being blessed is beyond measure. There would not be any legitimate
device to gauge the fathomless sea of happiness in which I swam today. At this
time, when I was into deep psychological debt due to the horrific academic and
social pressure, granting an audience with His Holiness has healed all those
pains and further gave me a spiritual boost to move forward. The bone marrows
of feeling alone and quarantined were completely gunned down with a new
spiritual medication and made me realize that I was walking on cloud 9.
After I arrived home, I sat idly and shed the
sweat of feeling MORE fortunate. The whole equation of my happiness has augmented. Thanks to His Holiness Factor.
Thank you Jigme Dorji, Tshewang Namgyel, and Tshering Tshomo for passing me the baton of information immediately. The sacred and timely toss has enabled me to race and meet the rarest holy figure living on this earth. The kindness you have shown is sincerely noted.
“The task of religion is not to turn
us into proper believers; it is to deepen the personal within us, to embrace
the power of life, to expand our consciousness, in order that we might see
things that eyes do not normally see” -– John Shelby Spong
