{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/tib/kpsktd.htm","path":"bud/tib/kpsktd.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/kpsktd.htm","text":"Nyingma Transmission, How 'The Cyclone' Came to the West\nWritten by Mardi Junkins\nPublished in The Snow Lion Newsletter\nRepublished on Mount Kailas BBS with permission of Lorraine O'Rourke,\nPadmasambhava Buddhist Center, New York, NY.\nOnce there lived a family in the village of Joephu, in the Palrong\nvalley of the Dhoshul region in Eastern Tibet. There was a father,\nmother, two sisters, and two brothers. Like many Tibetan families\nthey were very devout. The father taught his children and the children\nof the village the Buddhism of Tibet, the Dharma. He taught them to\nread and write and to chant the stories of the Buddha Shakyamuni and\nof Padmasambhava the second Buddha who brought Buddhism to Tibet.\nTeachings of the Dharma and practice were woven into their lives. If\none of the children happened to wake in the night, the father's\ncontinuous chanting could be heard.\nThe valley was a magical place with a high mountain no one had\nyet climbed and a high lake with milky white water and yellow crystal\nsand around its edges, sand that dissolved instantly on the tongue\nwithout a taste. This mountain had extraordinary rocks with footprints\nembedded in them. Tsa Sum Lingpa, the Crazy Wisdom Yogi, made these\nfootprints when he danced on the rocks in an explosion of radiant\nenergy. Not surprisingly, Tsa Sum Lingpa is especially revered in the\nDhoshul region of Tibet.\nThe oldest of the brothers was nicknamed \"The Cyclone\" for his\nenormous energy. He would run up a nearby mountain to explore and play\nfor hours. One day he found a baby goat on the mountainside and was so\ntaken with it that he hid it under his shirt and streaked home. An\nupset mother goat wasn't far behind. His own mother advised him to\nreturn the baby goat, which he did reluctantly. Other times he would\npick wild mushrooms and stuff them in his shirt, but they were so\nplentiful that they kept falling out, a predicament for a five-year-\nold. Many a summer day \"The Cyclone\" would lie down in a field of\nwild flowers--all with names of Tibetan deities--and gaze up into the\nvast blue Tibetan sky.\nDuring his fifth year he went on a journey with his mother to a\nmountain miles away. They were going to visit a well-known monk named\nAhtsok to whom the mother had a special devotion and who lived in\nlifelong retreat. Local people brought him offerings of cheese,\nyogurt, tea or Tsampa and left them a distance away from the cave with\na friendly shout; other times they stayed to visit. The mother and son\nwere visiting on this day and climbed miles up the mountain to\nAhtsok's cave above the timber line. They found the monk wrapped in\nragged woolen clothes with a wool shawl around his head; he never wore\nanimal skins. The little boy was deeply struck by Ahtsok.\nThe children were eager scholars at early ages. They went to the\nvillage monastery for instruction. However, their prime instruction\ncontinued to be with their father at home. The younger brother was\nrecognized as a tulku, but the family decided not to emphasize this\nin his upbringing. When the younger brother was born the family chose\nto move to another village. The baby became gravely ill, and when the\nillness failed to respond to ordinary remedies his parents took him to\nthe monastery for a diagnosis. They were told to move back to the\nvillage of Joephu because the baby was the incarnation of a highly\nrevered lama from the Dhoshul region. The family returned to their old\nvillage and the baby regained his health.\nWhen \"The Cyclone\" was six years old he entered Gochen Monastery\nfor his secular and religious education--a five-year undertaking. The\nfamily visited him at the monastery; the trip involved a days' ride on\nhorseback or yak. In 1953, at eleven years of age, he entered Riwoche\nMonastery and trained to master Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and logic\nand the teachings of the Three Yanas.\nThroughout the 1950s the Chinese were invading Tibet. The father,\nknowing Padmasambhava's predictions, felt that the time had come as\nGuru Rinpoche had said when Tibet would be destroyed and Tibetan lamas\nwould be scattered all over the world turning the wheel of the Dharma.\nThe father would relate these predictions to relatives and friends in\nthe village repeatedly. It was also foretold that the time to leave\nwas in the winter. The others said, \"No, lets wait until the spring\nthaw to go.\" Guru Rinpoche also predicted that if ever Tibetans were\nfleeing Tibet, the safe haven was a land to the south called Pemako,\nwhere the mountains dropped down into tropical jungle. In 1960 the\nfather gathered the family together, called the oldest son, now\neighteen, home from the monastery, and with only what belongings could\nbe carried or packed on the yaks' backs, set out in the depth of win-\nter. They headed for Pemako. The hardships of the journey were\nextraordinary--the Himalayas, the snow and cold, the Chinese taking\ntheir yaks, and having to hide from Chinese machine guns. Somehow,\nthey made it to the safe land. But in Pemako the altitude dropped\nextremely, the water was not safe to drink, they were unaccustomed to\nthe heat and they all became ill. The mother, two sisters, and the\nolder brother were ill for months. The older brother recovered very\nslowly. The mother and sisters died.\nFather and sons went on to a refugee camp for Tibetans in Northern\nIndia. Refugee schools were begun and the work of translating sacred\ntexts went on. Many lamas had carried out of Tibet whatever sacred\nmanuscripts they could. When each one had contributed\nwhat he had brought, the entire body of sacred teachings was intact.\nAt that time the Indian government made a proposal to the United\nStates that India print seventeen copies of each Tibetan text and the\nUnited States buy them for the Library of Congress. It was agreed;\nIndia received payment, and the U.S. Library of Congress became the\nrepository of the treasury of Tibetan manuscripts.\nThe Venerable Khenpo Palden Sherab Rinpoche, the older brother,\nbecame Abbot at the Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies\nin Sarnath, India, in charge of the Nyingma Department. Khen Rinpoche\nis one of the most highly qualified scholars and meditation masters of\nthe Nyingma tradition, fully versed in Hinayana, Mahayana, and\nVajrayana schools, and a master of Dzogchen, the most developed and\nadvanced tradition of spiritual practice in the Nyingma tradition.\nThe younger brother, the Venerable Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,\ngraduated from Sanskrit University in Sarnath. His Holiness Dudjom\nRinpoche enthroned him as Abbot in Charge at the Nyingmapa Institute\nin Kathmandu where he taught Buddhist philosophy, writing, calligraphy\nand poetry. He was later invested with the authority of Khenpo Abbot\nby His Holiness and presided at Orgyen Chokholing Monastery. Khenpo\nTsewang is a published author, historian, and poet, as well as an\nexpert in the study of ancient Tantric literature. He holds the\ntransmission and all initiations of the Nyingma Kama and Terma\nlineages.\nIn accordance with another of Padmasambhava's predictions, that\nwhen the iron bird flies and the horse goes on wheels Buddhism will go\nto the west, many Tibetan lamas were now teaching in the West. So in\n1980, at the insistent invitation of Dr. Rhoda P. Lecocq, a professor\nfrom California who had taken teachings from Khenpo Palden Sherab\nRinpoche in India, the Khenpos came to the United States for a\nteaching visit to California. His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche later\nenlisted them in assisting with His Holiness' considerable Dharma\nactivities in the United States. After about eight years of working in\nthis liaison the time came to launch their own teaching approach in\nthe West with His Holiness' blessing.\nSince that time their teaching has become more extensive each year.\nSanghas sprout up around them where ever they go. They teach together\nwith a simple and beautiful method: Khen Rinpoche teaches in\npenetrating Tibetan and Khenpo Tsewang translates into English with\ninspired precision and wit. Their sanghas are formally called\nPadmasambhava Buddhist Centers, established to teach and preserve the\ntradition of Nyingmapa Buddhism, especially the mediation technique of\nthe Higher Tantras. The practice of these profound techniques aims at\nremoving the habits of mind obscuring the true, primordial Buddha\nNature and revealing its boundless compassion. These teachings have\nbeen transmitted in an unknown lineage from master to master from that\ntime to the present day.\nThe first center began in New York City, the Khenpos' home base.\nThere are now Padmasambhava Buddhist Centers in West Palm Beach and\nOrlando, Florida; Wilmington, Delaware; Albuquerque, New Mexico;\nCookesville, Tennessee; Santiago; Puerto Rico; Denver, Colorado; San\nFrancisco, California; and in Ellsworth Maine. Close connections and a\nfull teaching schedule are maintained with all these centers. The\nKhenpos visit each center at least three times a year with one visit\nusually being a week's retreat.\nFrom 1980 on, the Khenpos have maintained a strong connection to\nthe Native American practice through the Sunray Meditation Society and\nits leader, the Venerable Dhyani Wahoo. The Khenpos travel to\nSunray's Vermont Peacekeeper Center to give teachings and empowerments\nyearly. Sunray members come to New York for special initiations and\npractice instructions which bears out the Native American prophecy\nthat Buddhism and Native American practice would join their amazing\nforces when the Red Hat lamas came to the west.\nThe Khenpos Rinpoche keep translation at the center of their attention\nThe entire cycle of the \"Seven Treasures of the Great Longchenpa\" is\nin the process of being translated by Khenpo Palden Sherab Rinpoche\nworking in conjunction with Dr. Janet Gyatso of Amherst College and\nDr. Anne Klein of Rice University. The first edition of the\n\"Prajnaparamita\" by Khenpo Palden Sherab Rinpoche, translated by\nKhenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche with Dr. Joan Kaye, has been\nrepublished with the collaboration of Phyllis and Michael Friedman.\nThe Khenpos regularly return to Sarnath India, to oversee the\nconstruction on the Nyingmapa College and Monastery which they\nfounded there. These visits occur on an average of about every other\nyear, allowing the Khenpos to teach and spend time with their father\nwho still lives and practices in retreat in India.","title":"How 'The Cyclone' Came to the West","type":"page"}