Read Online The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume One by Chögyam Trungpa - Free Book Online
Authors: Chögyam Trungpa
Tags: Tibetan Buddhism
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about his great loving-kindness to all our people and the moving message he left with us when he was returning to Lankapuri, an island southwest of Mount Meru. After giving the Tibetans his blessing, he added: “The people may forget me, but I shall not forget them; my eternal compassion is always with them.”
His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama .
Rikpe Dorje, the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa. Chögyam Trungpa at right .
Lacquered pillar with spreading capital .
Tsurphu Monastery .
PHOTO: PAUL POPPER, LTD.
My tutor and the senior lamas found me very enthusiastic and interested in my studies, always asking a lot of questions. They thought that it would be a good time for me to learn the rules for a novice (shramanera), and I began my first instruction in metaphysical doctrines, though at the time it was not known that I was to be ordained.
According to Buddhist scriptures, a boy of eight can be ordained as a novice, and when the news came that the renowned teacher Jamgön Kongtrül of Palpung was going to Tsurphu Monastery to give his disciple the Gyalwa Karmapa some further spiritual instruction, while at the same time visiting his mother at Lhasa, Rölpa Dorje and my secretary decided to ask him to ordain me, since his route would take him near Surmang. Jamgön Kongtrül accepted the suggestion, saying, “Thus I can serve and offer help to the incarnation of my own teacher.”
He was warmly welcomed at Dütsi Tel. I remember him as a small man, neat and precise in all he did, with a dry sense of humor. This was the first time that he had visited Surmang since the death of the tenth Trungpa Tulku, and he told me a great deal about him; when he saw things that had belonged to his beloved guru he was much moved, and because I was his incarnation, he was particularly friendly to me.
My ordination took place at the full moon. Four bhikshus had to take part in the rite; one was Rölpa Dorje Rinpoche and the three others were senior lamas. I had to make profession of the monastic rules for a shramanera of the Sarvastivadin order, to which most northern Buddhists—that is to say, Tibetans, Chinese, and Japanese—belong; whereas southern Buddhists of Ceylon, Burma, and Thailand belong to the Theravada order. After the ceremony, Jamgön Kongtrül preached me a sermon; he said, “From today you enter the community of the sangha,” after which he explained to me the meaning of the life of my predecessor and how he had always kept the rule. He said that my ordination was a very important step in my life, and added that I was the youngest novice that he had ever ordained. After giving me some further teaching and advice, he continued his journey.
I was now much less afraid of Apho Karma, who had become more understanding, and I looked forward to our walks together.
At eight years old a child is very sensitive, and it is the time to inculcate ideas which must last him his lifetime, so at the end of this year I went into retreat for a simple form of meditation. This was upon the nyendrup of Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom: that is to say, I was instructed to visualize him with his various symbolic attributes and to contemplate his transcendental wisdom, to repeat his mantras or sonorous embodiments, and to recite the verses which preceded and followed them. I took a vow that I would live in solitude for three months away from all contacts other than my tutor and my cook attendant; no one might come to see me. My diet was strictly vegetarian, and I was not allowed to go outside the retreat center. This continued until the New Year.
As my story unfolds it will be seen how the whole line of the teaching was carried to me directly from guru to disciple. The great Jamgön Kongtrül taught the tenth Trungpa Tulku, who in turn became the guru of his own incarnations Jamgön Kongtrül of Palpung and Jamgön Kongtrül of Sechen. The latter, as my spiritual father, was my instructor in
His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama .
Rikpe Dorje, the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa. Chögyam Trungpa at right .
Lacquered pillar with spreading capital .
Tsurphu Monastery .
PHOTO: PAUL POPPER, LTD.
My tutor and the senior lamas found me very enthusiastic and interested in my studies, always asking a lot of questions. They thought that it would be a good time for me to learn the rules for a novice (shramanera), and I began my first instruction in metaphysical doctrines, though at the time it was not known that I was to be ordained.
According to Buddhist scriptures, a boy of eight can be ordained as a novice, and when the news came that the renowned teacher Jamgön Kongtrül of Palpung was going to Tsurphu Monastery to give his disciple the Gyalwa Karmapa some further spiritual instruction, while at the same time visiting his mother at Lhasa, Rölpa Dorje and my secretary decided to ask him to ordain me, since his route would take him near Surmang. Jamgön Kongtrül accepted the suggestion, saying, “Thus I can serve and offer help to the incarnation of my own teacher.”
He was warmly welcomed at Dütsi Tel. I remember him as a small man, neat and precise in all he did, with a dry sense of humor. This was the first time that he had visited Surmang since the death of the tenth Trungpa Tulku, and he told me a great deal about him; when he saw things that had belonged to his beloved guru he was much moved, and because I was his incarnation, he was particularly friendly to me.
My ordination took place at the full moon. Four bhikshus had to take part in the rite; one was Rölpa Dorje Rinpoche and the three others were senior lamas. I had to make profession of the monastic rules for a shramanera of the Sarvastivadin order, to which most northern Buddhists—that is to say, Tibetans, Chinese, and Japanese—belong; whereas southern Buddhists of Ceylon, Burma, and Thailand belong to the Theravada order. After the ceremony, Jamgön Kongtrül preached me a sermon; he said, “From today you enter the community of the sangha,” after which he explained to me the meaning of the life of my predecessor and how he had always kept the rule. He said that my ordination was a very important step in my life, and added that I was the youngest novice that he had ever ordained. After giving me some further teaching and advice, he continued his journey.
I was now much less afraid of Apho Karma, who had become more understanding, and I looked forward to our walks together.
At eight years old a child is very sensitive, and it is the time to inculcate ideas which must last him his lifetime, so at the end of this year I went into retreat for a simple form of meditation. This was upon the nyendrup of Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom: that is to say, I was instructed to visualize him with his various symbolic attributes and to contemplate his transcendental wisdom, to repeat his mantras or sonorous embodiments, and to recite the verses which preceded and followed them. I took a vow that I would live in solitude for three months away from all contacts other than my tutor and my cook attendant; no one might come to see me. My diet was strictly vegetarian, and I was not allowed to go outside the retreat center. This continued until the New Year.
As my story unfolds it will be seen how the whole line of the teaching was carried to me directly from guru to disciple. The great Jamgön Kongtrül taught the tenth Trungpa Tulku, who in turn became the guru of his own incarnations Jamgön Kongtrül of Palpung and Jamgön Kongtrül of Sechen. The latter, as my spiritual father, was my instructor in
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