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