H.H. Khenpo Jigme Phuntsho: A Tribute and a Translation

Karma Phuntsho*

With the dem ise of Khenpo Jigm e P hun tsho Jungnye on the evening of 6 J a n u a ry 2004, the B uddh is t world lost one of its greatest lum inaries and Tibet one of he r forem ost leaders. Aged 70, Khenpo J ig p h u n had been adm itted to the 363 Military Hospital in Chengdu, the capital of C h ina’s S ichuan province with h ea rt problem s on 29 Decem ber 2003. He has been suffering from ill health for a n u m b er of years and also from the p ressu re of Chinese restriction on his m ovem ents and religious activities.

Most of u s who have come across Khenpo J ig p h u n m ay rem em ber him as the formidable lam a who h u n g his rosa iy on his ears and held his puppy a t his chest even w hen he m et the Dalai Lama. B ut to the th o u sa n d s of T ibetan B uddhists , whose life he has shaped and whose h ea rts his m essage touched, Khenpo was a m odern day M anjushri walking in h u m a n flesh. A scholar, m onk and gter ston , Khenpo J ig p h u n was a cham pion of B uddh is t revival in Tibet following the liberalization of religious practice in 1980.

Khenpo J ig p h u n was born in 1932, the th ird day of the first m on th of W ater Bird year in the Golok S ertar region of Kham, where the open expanse of g rass lands bestrew n with yaks and nom adic ten ts render a landscape th a t is both stupefying and enlightening. His biographers have it th a t he came ou t of his m o ther’s womb in a m editation postu re and recited as soon as he was born the m an tra of M ajushri, Om ah ra pa tsa na dhi, the m an tra which he was to ch an t over 13 billion tim es th roughou t his life. He adopted M ajushri as his personal deity and he is said to have had visions of him several tim es including one in 1987 w hen he visited W utaishan , the holy m oun ta in abode of M ajushri in China. Like m ost of his visionary experiences, th is event unfolded

* Cambridge University

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with an extem poraneous hym n of celebration. Such acts of extem porary composition or revelation of religious teachings, dgong gter or Mind T reasure m arked his entire life m aking him the forem ost gter ston of m odern times.

He was recognized in 1937 as the re incarnate of Terton Sogyal alias Lerab Lingpa (1856-1926), the Nyingma gu ru of the 13th Dalai Lam a T hubten Gyatsho and becam e a m onk a t N ubzur Gonpa, a b ran ch of the Palyul m onastery in Sertar. However, he received his formal religious tra in ing a t C hangm a Rithro in D zachukha u n d e r Thubga Rinpoche undergoing m uch hardsh ip . Finishing his education, he becam e the abbot of N ubzur a t the age of twenty-four b u t his religious career was soon in te rrup ted by the Chinese invasion of Tibet. Following the occupation, m any of Khenpo’s people succum bed to the severe famine th a t resu lted from M ao’s policy of G reat Leap Forward. By 1959, the revolutionary spirit of the Red arm y escalated into the m adness of the C ultural Revolution, a tragedy th a t wiped ou t alm ost the entire cu ltu ra l heritage and religious civilization of Tibet. Com pulsory lessons on C om m unist ideology replaced religious training, political denuncia tion sessions took place instead of religious gatherings and com m unal farm ing supp lan ted the trad itional way of life.

Khenpo however succeeded in eluding the Chinese au thorities th roughou t the tu m u ltu o u s period herding a sm all flock of goats and sheep in rem ote m oun ta ins, engaging in m editation and teaching B uddhism to a sm all circle during the nights. Despite all their efforts, the C om m unist officials could not bring Khenpo to a denuncia tion s ta n d to publicly renounce his religious faith and accept the party lines. According to a story, w hen the Chinese caught Khenpo, his face m iraculously swelled, which the Chinese au thorities feared to have been caused by some infectious d isease and th u s let Khenpo re tu rn to the rem ote m ounta ins. A nother story reports K henpo’s power to m ake him self invisible whenever the Chinese soldiers came in search of him.

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With the relaxation of religious restriction a t end of 1970s, Khenpo resum ed his religious activities of teaching and writing. A m ajor educational achievem ent was the founding of Larung G ar B uddh is t Academy in 1978 in S ertar w ith the aim of providing an ecum enical tra in ing in Tibetan B uddhism . The slopes of Larung G ar were soon hosts to a rapidly expanding sh an ty town built by the com m unity of disciples who flocked a round him. Registered as an educational es tab lishm en t ra th e r th a n as a m onastery , Larung Gar becam e a renow ned h u b of B uddh is t scholarship . At its height in the tu rn of th is m illennium , it h ad close to 10,000 m onks and n u n s , and produced h u n d red s of young erudite Khenpos who spread K henpo’s teachings far and wide. The m onastic spraw l sp read over hills with its th ree quartiers for lay disciples, n u n s and m onks each forming a com m unity on its own. Almost two th irds consisted of n u n s and K henpo’s niece, M untsho, who was recognised as a sprul s/cu, headed the n uns .

A very com m itted m onk, Khenpo also undertook in 1980s a project of 'c leansing’ B uddh is t in stitu tions by evicting from his centre all co rrup t m onks and n u n s , and persons who betrayed their teachers during the C ultural Revolution. Sim ultaneously, Khenpo travelled extensively across Tibet and China teaching B uddhism and rediscovering hidden treasu res . In 1989, Khenpo left C hina to visit India a t the invitation of H.H. Penor Rinpoche. D uring his visit to India he tau g h t a t various m onasteries, including the Nyingma Institu te in Mysore. At D haram sala , the Dalai Lam a resum ed the connections they had in their previous lives by receiving teachings from Khenpo for a couple weeks.

It was during th is trip th a t K henpo’s entourage also m ade a brief sojourn to B hu tan . In the m idst of a sgrub chen in Kyichu Lhakhang, conducted by H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and a ttended by His M ajesty and The Royal Q ueen Mother, Khenpo had one of his spon taneous revelations of dgongs gter. The 'rediscovered’ trac t is a d iscourse of seven verses praising B hu tan , he r King and the people in an elegant

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and v ib ran t poetry. It also touches on B h u ta n ’s fu ture prospects in a figurative style th a t is typical of gter ma prophecies. Ever since, Khenpo had been an am bassado r for B h u tan speaking highly of the beautifu l country, the pious people and the rich and thriving B uddh is t culture. Many B hu tanese m onks have become his disciples and one, Lam Nidup of Shingkhar, h as even become a well-known person in K henpo’s centre.

The following year, Khenpo toured Europe and North America a t the invitation of B uddh ist centres there. However, the sophisticated and m aterialistic W est did not appeal to his deeply sp iritua l inclinations. While on the W est Coast, Khenpo is reported to have even b roken down in tears in middle of his serm on, lam enting the comm ercialization of B uddh is t teachings in the West. The act of im parting profound teachings su ch as Dzogchen by selling tickets saddened him beyond all m easure.

On his re tu rn to Tibet, Khenpo came u n d e r co nstan t Chinese governm ent sc ru tiny and surveillance allegedly for the link he had m ade with the Dalai Lam a during his trip to India. Beside, the nu m b er of his H an disciples gradually increased as devotees from m ain land China, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong poured in. Of a lm ost 10,000 followers in 2001, over 1000 were H an Chinese. Although Khenpo was never involved in politics, his soaring influence on bo th Chinese and Tibetan public d istu rbed Beijing, which was then bitterly sm itten by the Falun Gong. In A ugust 2001, the People’s Liberation Army and Public Security B ureau m arched into Larung Gar and dem olished over 2000 cottages and evicted th o u sa n d s of m em bers including all H an disciples on the g rounds of security problem s. A ceiling of 1400 m onks and 500 n u n s a t one time was im posed and S ertar was closed to foreign visitors. Soon after th a t Khenpo was hospitalised in Chengdu for his deteriorating health .

The com m unity a t Larung G ar continued u n d e r the supervision of K henpo’s senior disciples, with frequent

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sk irm ishes betw een m em bers and the PSB who were residing there. In a u tu m n , 2002, Khenpo re tu rned to Larung Gar, still suffering from failing health . Upon his re tu rn , the nom adic people from su rround ing regions flocked again in spite of Chinese restrictions. A lthough the scar left by the Chinese crackdow n on both the landscape and peoples’ m ind was still very fresh and clear, Larung G ar revived to full life. His health very w eak and voice very frail, Khenpo J ig p h u n resum ed teaching an audience of over seven th o u san d people. D issem inating the words of the B uddha was his m ission in life and th is he did un til h is las t b rea th . By doing so, Khenpo h as left an indelible m ark on the history of B uddhism and the Nyingma trad ition in particular.

In a press conference in W ashington, Khenpo was asked the purpose of the long and tiring jou rney he m ade from his rem ote herm itage in Kham to the US. Khenpo plainly replied, “to bring peace and happ iness to the people”. Asked how he was going to achieve this, Khenpo said unpreten tiously , “I ask people to develop a kind and com passionate h e a rt”. To ano ther jo u rna lis t who asked w hat Khenpo would do if he were depressed, Khenpo candidly replied, “W hether I am happy or sad , I p ray to the Three Jew els”. So great a m aste r and so simple a m essage, th o u sa n d s of people the world over pray for his swift reincarnation.

A Song of an Adventitious Traveller: A Discourse to the Religious King of Bhutan

May Padm asam bhava, who is the em bodim ent of the benevolence of all B uddhas and the one singly heroic in destroying the m isfortunes of degenerate age, along with his line of sa in ts , b less Your Majesty.

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The glory of the ruling M onarch is higher th a n the sky. The people live in freedom, peace and righ teousness. Everyone enjoys the beneficence of profound M ahayana. It is very joyous to be in th is B uddh is t kingdom.

The white round snow m oun ta in is indeed magnificent, b u t the b itter-sw eet light of the friend is no t reliable. Should the rays from the w est em brace it for long, it will be reduced to a m ass of water.

If the cloud of blessings is obtained th rough the meditative practice of Padm asam bhava, the essence of Three Jewels, and the suprem e deity Vajrakila, the m ajestic m oun ta in will endure un til the end of the world.

X 5

Due to the force of terrible incidents of the past, should a srog bdag spirit become a th rea t to life, it is ha rd to find in th is world a savoir o ther th a n the gem of m ankind , the hea rt em anation of M ajushri.

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If the golden victory b a n n e r of Kagyu teachings, on the tip of which rests the wish fulfilling jewel of the Nyingma, is held high, the virtues of bo th sp iritual and secu lar endeavours will increase like the waxing moon.

Through the power of the t ru th of the Three Jew els and of my sincere affection, m ay the good increase spon taneously and the ausp ic iousness, which pacifies all adversities, bless th is land.

^^^i'q^i'q^T)'^^i'qqf^| |qq'qq'q^q^'q^'q^'§^^i^'|' u *A'aS*r <\\

ojij, ||These seven verses concurring with the seven jewels of a un iversal m onarch were w ritten ju s t as they appeared in the vision of Ngawang Lodoe Tshungm e, during his m eeting with the King of B h u tan and his retinue a t a yang *dul tem ple of the religious em peror Songtsen Gampo, on the 22nd of 7th m onth , Iron-Horse Year of 17th Rabjung. The scribe was Khenpo Sod Dargay.

’Jigs m ed P hun tshogs ’J u n g gnas (2002), Chos rje dam pa yid bzhin nor bu ’jigs m ed p h u n tshogs T>yung gnas dpal bzang po ’i gsung tu r n , Serta: gSer ljong Bla m a rung INga rigs Nang b s ta n Slob gling, vol. Ill, pp. 111-2

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