Divination

<--- continues from  Recognition of the 17th Karmapa: Shamar Rinpoche's dreams

The spontaneously arisen image of Tara

Shamarpa:" At the time a senior Lama, Lama Tsultrim Dawa, was one of my advisors. He had been with me for many years. He was a person for whom I have much respect on account of his spiritual capacity.

This Lama lived at the Swayambhu Monastery in Kathmandu. Back in Nepal I asked him to go to Parphing, which is situated outside Kathmandu. At Parphing there is a spontaneously arisen image of Tara that serves as a place of worship.

In Tibetan Buddhism, a person seeking indications of a reincarnation or guidance in other matters will traditionally write down different possibilities, then roll the pieces of paper into balls of dough and put them in a vessel. He then goes to a holy spot and prays that the piece of paper with the correct indication will fall out of the vessel when he rotates it.

Two different possibilities were written down on two pieces of paper. One piece of paper contained the possibility that Mipham Rinpoche's son, Tendzin Khyentse (which was Thaye Dorje's name at the time), is the reincarnation of the late Karmapa Rangjung Rigpei Dorje; the other piece said that he was not the reincarnation. These two pieces of paper were rolled into two pieces of dough and put inside a vessel.

When Lama Tsültrim Dawa rotated the vessel, one of them fell out. It was the one which said that Mipham Rinpoche's son, Tendzin Khyentse, is the reincarnation of the Karmapa. 

The same procedure was repeated the next day in the Dulikhel district of Kathmandu, where there is a sacred Mahakala image. Again the same piece of paper fell out of the vessel.

Then Lama Tsültrim Dawa, on his own initiative, went to yet another of Kathmandu's sacred places, called the World's Noble White Buddha. On this occasion also, the piece of paper saying that Mipham Rinpoche's son, Tendzin Khyentse, is the reincarnation of H. H. the Karmapa Rangjung Rigpei Dorje fell out of the vessel.  This further convinced me that Tendzin Khyentse is the authentic reincarnation of the Karmapa.

(source: www.karma-kagyu.org )

Shamar Rinpoche's dreams

<--- continues from Recognition of the 17th Karmapa: The young child exhibited an exceptional  perception

Shamar Rinpoche

Shamarpa: "To be able to arrive at a decision about who the young child was, I decided to do a meditation retreat, to obtain indications through meditation.

This is a method traditionally used by Lamas to verify their choice of a reincarnation. To ascertain the whereabouts of a reincarnation, it is not enough simply to think up some sort of a mission and then just forge ahead. This was thus the appropriate method because the late Karmapa - for reasons unknown to us - had not left instructions behind that could be revealed at the time. 

The only way reliable indications can be obtained in such circumstances is through meditation, and it was my concern that the authentic reincarnation be found.

In the early morning of the seventh day of the retreat, the late Karmapa appeared to me in a dream. He was sitting on a seat performing a ritual carried out on behalf of deceased persons, to free them from the suffering of the world. This practice is also performed for the gravely ill. In the dream His Holiness told me "I've liberated those I set out to liberate. Now I can come to wherever you want me to be".

The next day I spent praying to my Yidam (a manifestation of the enlightened state). I had now become almost certain that the young child in Lhasa was the authentic reincarnation because of the information and the indications that I had obtained. But I also wanted to obtain evidence that he would serve the Buddha-Dharma to an extent consonant with this status.

In answer to my prayers for indications I had another dream on the following day.

I dreamt that a golden Buddha statue of enormous proportions appeared. In front of the statue were rows of offering bowls filled with scented water. In the dream I was in the process of consecrating the statue. As most of you probably know, it is customary during such ceremonies for the Lama to throw grains of rice towards the object that is to be consecrated. The rice grains that I scattered in the dream multiplied and turned into a rain falling on the Buddha statue. Behind the statue there were innumerable other Buddha statues. In their midst there was a very large butter lamp filled to the brim. In the centre of the butter lamp, where the flame should have been, there was a luminous ball from which light radiated. 

Of course, since this was just a dream nobody can possibly confirm it. However, I felt strongly it was an indication that the young child in Lhasa was the authentic reincarnation. I became very excited and decided to go to Lhasa, travelling incognito.

I had planned to appear as an ordinary businessman, to do the rounds in the vicinity of the temple in the Bakhor district as is customary, and then to enter the family's house on the pretext of requesting advice but actually in order to observe the young child.

As I'd never been to Lhasa before, I'd imagined that the Bakhor district was very large. But it turned out to be quite a small area filled with people, much like the precincts of a small monastery. It became evident that I couldn't mingle with the crowd unnoticed. There were also many Tibetan traders from India and Nepal who could easily recognise me. To enter the family's house to observe the young child might have undesirable consequences. I had learned that the authorities knew that I was in the country and that they were probably watching my movements. I had also wanted to go to an area of Tibet called Tsari, to a place called the White Lake, to do a seven day retreat there.

This lake is important in the history of the Karma Kagyu lineage, because it's customary to do a retreat there to obtain indications when trying to decide about a possible candidate. However, in view of the circumstances I had to change my plans. I had travelled to Tibet via Hong Kong and Chengdu only to discover that I couldn't remain incognito despite my guise as an ordinary businessman. In order to divert the authorities' attention from my real purpose, I went off to the northern part of the country, to a tourist area called Namtso. When I was back in Lhasa, I took the next flight to Kathmandu."

(source: www.karma-kagyu.org )     --->next

The young child exhibited an exceptional perception

<--- continues from Recognition of the 17th Karmapa: The prediction of the 2nd Mipham Rinpoche

H.H. 17th Karmapa 1994 Photo: Thule G. Jug

Shamarpa: "In order to obtain further details I sent yet another person to Tibet. He came back with virtually the same information. During this time I continued my investigations concerning this child.

I sent a third person to Lhasa to seek out the family. The father, a well-known Lama, was frequently asked to assist people with advice in various matters, as he is regarded as a spiritual master. Many Lamas live in the same area of Lhasa in which the family lived. All of them keep their homes open to people. Anyone can just drop in to ask for advice or a blessing. It's not like here where you have to make an appointment. I instructed the person I sent to Lhasa to contact the family casually on the pretext that he was seeking advice. He was to visit the family frequently on this pretext with a view to observing the young child.

When he arrived in the Bakhor district, he circumambulated the temples there. Then he went to the house of the family where, he told me, he met a young child with a very fair complexion, who immediately said: "You've come to look for me." The person in question didn't reply but asked to see the father. The young child led him into the house where he asked for guidance in some business matter.

This person stayed in Lhasa only for a short time. He then returned with information very similar to that which I had previously received. That the young child told this person he knew he had come to look for him indicates that he isn't an ordinary child. 


Only reincarnates of high spiritual capacity have this kind of ability: a heightened perception on the basis of which they are able to know about, for example, a person's purpose. The fact that the young child exhibited this quality is an event frequently encountered in the historical records of previous reincarnations. It's an exceptional quality that someone of high spiritual capacity possesses."


(source: www.karma-kagyu.org )      --->next

The prediction of the 2nd Mipham Rinpoche.

Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche

<--- continues from Recognition of the 17th Karmapa: the encounter with Chobgye Trichen Rinpoche

Shamarpa: " Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche went to Lhasa on behalf of the Nepal Buddhist Association in early 1987; I asked him to find out the details of the young child without telling anyone that I had asked him to do so.

At that time the young child was living in the Bakhor district of Lhasa with his parents. His father is the well-known Nyingma Master Mipham Rinpoche. He has two sons. Both sons were regarded as exceptional by the people in the neighbourhood. 

I asked Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche to meet the family but to ensure that nobody realised his purpose. He returned with information such as the parents' names, the birthplaces of their two sons, when they were born and so on.

Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche also discovered that the father possesses religious objects and letters formerly belonging to the previous Mipham Rinpoche, a very well-known Nyingma master who was closely connected to the Karma Kagyu lineage. 

Among these, there is a letter which says that in his next reincarnation a son, Rigpei Yeshe Dorje, will be born to him. The Rigpei Dorje portion of the name refers to the late Karmapa's name, Rangjung Rigpei Dorje. 

As the father would not part with the letter, Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche contacted another Lama, who is a close friend of the father, to obtain permission to make a copy of it. This friend persuaded Mipham Rinpoche to have a hand-written copy made. 

This copy is now in my possession. When I asked Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche to conduct these investigations, I did not make the request on an official basis. I approached him because he is a trustworthy person and because he was travelling to Lhasa. When he returned to tell me what he had discovered, I took care not to betray any reaction." 

(source: www.karma-kagyu.org )       --->next

Shamarpa and the encounter with Chobgye Trichen Rinpoche

Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche Mipham Chokyi Lodro

<--- continues from Recognition of the 17th Karmapa

 Shamarpa: "I would like to elucidate the endeavours which led me to reach the decision that Thaye Dorje is the authentic reincarnation of His Holiness the late Karmapa.

In 1986 I stayed in New Delhi for some time to supervise the construction of the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute, as I am responsible for this project. At the time I received a visit from the great Sakya Lama Chobgye Trichen Rinpoche. I hold him in very high esteem as a highly qualified spiritual master. A great many people in the different schools of Tibetan Buddhism think of him as a saint. His Holiness the Dalai Lama also holds him in high regard, as did the late Karmapa. I feel great respect and devotion for Chobgye Trichen Rinpoche, and he himself has shown me great affection. 

  

Having cut short his visit to a Sakya monastery in Mussourie, he came to Delhi in order to meet me. I was told that he urgently wanted to see me. At our meeting he said the following: "Shortly before the late Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpei Dorje, passed away, I had a dream early one morning. His Holiness the Karmapa was wearing the Dharma robes while circumambulating the stupa at Boudhanath. He appeared to be sad. In my dream I too felt sad and shed tears. A very short time after my dream the Karmapa passed away." 

Chobgye Rinpoche had come to tell me of another dream that he had had just a few days before coming to Delhi :  " This time His Holiness was clad in the yellow Dharma robe while again walking around a stupa. The colour of his robe was clear and radiant. He also wore the Gampopa hat, and his mood was cheerful. "

At noon the very same day, Chobgye Trichen Rinpoche had a relative from Lhasa who came to visit him. He brought a photograph of a young child who was well known in the area that this relative came from. People there knew that the child himself had on several occasions said that he was the Karmapa. When he heard this, Chobgye Tri Rinpoche felt he must communicate it to me. He felt the matter was so urgent that he cut short his visit to the Sakya Monastery he was on his way to.

Chobgye Tri Rinpoche continued: " You must not make a decision on the basis of what I have told you. Your judgement must be based on the instructions left behind by the late Karmapa as well as on the visions and experiences of qualified spiritual masters in the lineage. Since you're the Shamar reincarnation, I wanted to convey to you what I've just told you. Historically, in the Karma Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism the Shamarpa Lamas and the Karmapa Lamas are regarded as inseparable"

The young child about whom Rinpoche had told me seemed very young on the photograph I was shown.
I would guess he was just three years old. At the time I didn't tell anyone about what had occurred."

(source: www.karma-kagyu.org )       --->next

Recognition of the 17th Karmapa

HH 17th Karmapa with Shamar Rinpoche - Photo: Thule G. Jug

The Gyalwa Karmapa is an enlightened being, the holder of the teachings of the transmission of the Kagyu lineage.
The teachings of this lineage originate from the Buddha and have been preserved in a pure and authentic form up to the present day through transmission from master to disciple.
The Gyalwa Karmapa is the recipient of these teachings and the entire blessing that they confer.
The teachings cannot be confined merely to texts. They are living and experienced by great adepts of whom Gyalwa Karmapa is an example.

Reincarnation & Recognition of the 17th Karmapa
Here are some extracts of a speech given by Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche on the occasion of the meeting of all the Karma Kagyu centres in the the world which recognise the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje. On this occasion Shamar Rinpoche outlined the events and circumstances which enabled him to identify and recognise with certainty the seventeenth incarnation of the Gyalwa Karmapa.

 

The instructions left by the Lama

Up to the present day there have been seventeen official Karmapas who have acted as Heads of Monastic Institutions. They have been found, identified, brought back to the monastery and enthroned. Thus there have been seventeen incarnations of the Gyalwa Karmapa.

Almost fifteen years have passed since the sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpei Dorje, passed away. The late Karmapa didn't leave the instructions that indicate his reincarnation with any of us. No one has these instructions. It's important to understand that this type of instruction is not analogous with, say, a will that parents leave to regulate the distribution of their property among their heirs. Instructions left by high spiritual masters such as the Karmapa are very different.

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas don't think in terms of just one person and one short life; they have the constant good of each and every sentient being in mind. They take the past, the present and the future into consideration.

The circumstances of their reincarnation are related to specific purposes. Moreover, the process of identifying a reincarnation is a spiritual practice. This process is not comparable with the way in which, for instance, a King leaves instructions for his country's Crown Prince.

In the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, this process is based on the essence of its teachings. To identify a reincarnate is an activity beyond the scope of ordinary people. It is not consonant with the way ordinary people think and act. An ordinary person practising the Buddha-Dharma doesn't have the ability to identify a reincarnate. This is the domain of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who either have attained or are close to attaining Buddha, the enlightened state. Only those who have attained high levels of realisation have this capacity. That person can perceive both the past, the present and the future; he's able to communicate with a Yidam (the different forms in which enlightened individuals manifest) in order to seek the Yidam's advice and assistance. He must also have faith in his Lama and in the teachings.

(source: www.karma-kagyu.org )       --->next

H.H: 16th Karmapa with Rinpoches

H.H: 16th Karmapa with Rinpoches