Articles
Celebrating the Centennial of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche,
Welcoming Yangsi Rinpoche to the West
During a glorious sun-drenched weekend in late August, about 400 people gathered in the Long House on the campus of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver to commemorate the life and activities of one of the greatest and most beloved Tibetan spiritual masters of the 20th century. There they also met for the first time his young reincarnation who is just starting his own international dharma activities. It was a weekend, you could say, a hundred years in the making.
The occasion was the Century of Blessings Celebration, organized to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910-1991), and at the same time to introduce to the world 17-year-old Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche, recognized by the Dalai Lama as Dilgo Khyentse’s reincarnation. The centennial celebrations started in Nepal in February 2010, and continued in Bhutan, France, Portugal, Croatia, New York City, Vermont, and Colorado, before landing in Vancouver.
Organized by Lotus Speech Canada, which is headed by Changling Rinpoche, himself a student of Dilgo Khyentse, and with help from the Shambhala, Siddhartha’s Intent, and Nalandabodhi sanghas in British Columbia, the Vancouver weekend kicked off with an exhibit of sacred relics and a Friday night screening of the film Brilliant Moon, recalling the life of Khyentse Rinpoche.
Audience members came from London and Los Angeles, Nepal and Seattle. Some had met and studied with Dilgo Khyentse years before, others were newer to the Dharma, yet all had some kind of connection to His Holiness—a most genuine spiritual master if there ever was one. It was highly fortunate for all gathered that some of Rinpoche’s students, Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche (Khyentse Rinpoche’s grandson and dharma heir, and primary teacher to Yangsi Rinpoche), Matthieu Ricard and Changling Rinpoche, could regale us with stories of the great master through the course of the weekend.
To hear his students tell it, Khyentse Rinpoche was simply tireless in teaching the Dharma. He often instructed his beleaguered attendants never to stop anyone who wanted to see him. “Whoever comes to see me comes in hope of seeking some comfort, so don’t stop them from seeing me,” Rinpoche said. In fact, Rinpoche once gave teachings in a hot spring to some students, and another time even from a (closed) toilet seat in the King of Bhutan’s office because someone had requested it and Rinpoche did not want to waste any time! Rabjam Rinpoche noted that he never heard his grandfather complain or say he was tired even after ten or twenty hours of teaching.
And yet, as Rabjam Rinpoche pointed out, even more than just teaching, a genuine spiritual master models a life that is one with the Dharma. Ricard and Rabjam Rinpoche both marveled that Khyentse Rinpoche was completely free from the eight worldly preoccupations said to be the cause of much suffering, carrying no hope or fear of pleasure and pain, loss and gain, praise and blame, or fame and disgrace. He didn’t worry about having more or fewer students, whether he ate good food or bad, and he treated with the same respect and equanimity all those who sought him out, from the King of Bhutan to ordinary monks and nuns, and commoners with but a few rupees to their name. "I see, I see" was his reaction to everything, good or bad. In short, Khyentse Rinpoche didn’t just teach the Dharma, he lived it.
When Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche, young reincarnation of the beloved teacher, entered the main hall on Saturday morning, everyone had their heads bowed, waiting, wondering how reality was going to live up to such vast expectation. The next moment, without warning, there he was, all five feet of him, if that. There was no fanfare, no preparation, just…oh, that’s him. A flash of something. Recognition perhaps.
Just by walking into that room, being himself, Yangsi Rinpoche, shy though he appeared, was announcing to us that any attempt on our part to hang on to or to replicate some nostalgic past was, like samsara itself, going to end badly.
With humility and a dry humor, Yangsi Rinpoche deftly began to disarm his audience, acknowledging that though he was recognized as Khyentse Rinpoche’s reincarnation, he didn’t have any of his predecessor’s qualities. “I’m not just saying this to impress you guys,” Rinpoche added. Whereas many people were taken by Khyentse Rinpoche’s tall and imposing form, Yangsi Rinpoche called himself “really quite short.” He went on, “And as for good looks, you can just forget about it….[The] inner quality, you can just forget about it because I don’t really have any inner quality.”
Like his predecessor, Yangsi Rinpoche was too humble to reveal any of his own inner experiences and attainments. Luckily for us though, he did impart some wisdom and showed great accomplishment that afternoon when he taught for an hour, in English (his fourth language), on the “Lineage of a Good Heart”. All 84,000 different teachings of the Buddha, Rinpoche pointed out, could be distilled to a simple instruction: to have a good heart, which means not just to be a good human being, but to wish and work to free all human beings from samsara.
With all the expectations placed on Yangsi Rinpoche to be a supreme teacher like his predecessor, it was sometimes easy to forget that the master before us was, at 17, still a young man facing some of the same challenges that any teenager living in the world today might face. That he might sometimes miss the company of those closer in age to himself became more apparent in the Children and Young People’s Blessing that Rinpoche conducted on Saturday afternoon. There, in the presence of crying babies and guileless, genuine, not-yet-self-conscious children, he seemed more relaxed and at ease than in the earlier formal talks.
On Sunday, when Yangsi Rinpoche gave the empowerment of the Rangjung Yeshe Nyingtik (“Spontaneously Arisen Heart Essence of Padma”), a terma text discovered by his predecessor, he was once again the solemn accomplished master. Later, at the end of tsok (feast) and the weekend program, when rousing anthems and songs had been sung and thanks given for all who helped make the weekend possible, when supplications had been made for Rinpoche’s longevity and quick return to Vancouver, and the audience had clapped and cheered loudly in appreciation, Yangsi Rinpoche buried his head in his left hand and looked away, almost as if embarrassed, not wanting any credit or attention.
He had told us after all that he did not want to make a big deal of his teaching in the West, that his aspiration for this visit was simply to see the West and try to understand its needs and what kind of help it might require. Raised in a traditional way, he wanted to be able to fuse for himself the traditional with the modern, so that he can be of benefit in this world at this time.We are blessed that we were able not only to experience the presence of a genuine spiritual master, but also to be a part of his journey of becoming a master, before our eyes. Much training still lies ahead for Rinpoche, as it does for us (much more for us, alas). But we can perhaps help ourselves by looking to the inspiration and the examples of our own teachers, who every one of them faced human emotions, struggles, and not a little resistance to get to where they are.
Source: NorthWest Dharma News, Contributor: Sharon Owyang
When I first came into the buddhadharma, I met a kind spiritual friend who became someone I could go to whenever I had questions or needed clarification about all the new things I was learning in the dharma. She once loaned me her video of The Life of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He had inspired her when she spent some time with him in India. I was very attracted to him and inspired, wistfully regretting that I had not had the chance to meet him. So it was with happy anticipation that I came to see Dilgo Khyenstse Yangsi Rinpoche during his first visit to Vancouver, BC on August 20 - 22, 2010.
On Friday night, a film was shown, about the life of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Mattieu Ricard told anecdotes and recollections about Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, that brought to life who this very extraordinary person was.
On Saturday, a local sangha member recounted the history of Buddhism in Vancouver, and the current conditions that seem to offer fertile ground for the growth of Buddhism. And although Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche had been invited and wanted to come to Vancouver, he never made it. So it was especially appreciated that Yangsi Rinpoche came to Vancouver on his first visit to North America.
Changling Rinpoche introduced Yangsi Rinpoche by including one of his quotes, “If you could put all 84,000 teachings of the Buddha Shakyamuni into one word, it would be ‘good-heart’ (cultivate it).” Then Rabjam Rinpoche, the grandson who was raised by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (and was one of his teachers in a previous life) shared observations of some of the extraordinary subtle signs displayed by Yangsi Rinpoche, to those who were close to Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, of behaviors shared by both incarnations. He brought to life what it was like to be with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and beautiful photographs, taken by Mattieu Ricard, were interspersed throughout his talk.
Rabjam Rinpoche then took questions from the audience.
Q: Why do we cling to samsara and fear enlightment?
A: Rabjam Rinpoche gave a metaphor of the experience of going to an Indian restaurant, seeing the food and salivating for it; then seeing flies in the bathroom next to the kitchen and imagining how they go back and forth from bathroom to the kitchen and noticing that the cook’s sweat has dripped onto the chapatti. When you see what’s going on in the kitchen, the food is not that desirable. Dilgo Khyentse was free from negative emotions. When we see samsara and its opposite, the choice is easy.
Q: How do we find and recognize the real root teacher?
A: Rabjam Rinpoche said the good fortune of having been born in the circle of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche is like the French cartoon character who accidentally fell into the pot of magic potion. The root guru teaches and practices dharma himself. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche didn’t need to, but did, as an example to his students. He advised that we should read about the qualities of the spiritual master in texts, examine him and choose the guru, until Buddhahood is attained. He emphasized that this is not a short-term relationship. The root guru is to whom you feel connected. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche had fifty teachers.
Q: How can we best make use of our teacher?
A: By seeing the enlightened qualities of the teacher. There are many levels of devotion. Some have devotion just by seeing. Practice guru yoga. This is the best way to connect to the guru. It is like a personal email address.
Soft-spoken Yangsi Rinpoche saluted the lineage of the good heart, which started at the time of Buddha Shakyamuni’s enlightenment. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, “walking in the footprints he left”, and celebrating his many accomplishments. He pointed out that Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche’s “heart sons” are here, and although he has passed, it is the same as his being here. To have a good heart means to be a good human being, and have the wish to free all beings from samsara. It’s not about good manners, or caring only for those close to us. We do this by training our mind. He compared the mind to cello-tape. If you roll it around, it picks up a lot of unwanted stuff. Or like a computer chip that collects all information without filtering anything out. So we need to repeatedly check that our mind is taking in good information and not bad. As the Tibetans say, if your mind and motivation are pure, your path will be pure. If it is polluted, so will your path be polluted. Even if we try to apply the positive, when we pollute it, our success is reduced. It sounds easy to do but it is very difficult to do. We need someone who is enlightened to guide us. The Buddha’s teachings are like an anti-virus.
He noted that Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was not interested in any worldly concerns, gave equal time to all who sought his attention, and did not respond emotionally to any phenomena. As Yangsi Rinpoche celebrated the centennial in a world-wide tour this year that included stops in Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Croatia, and America, under the guidance of Rabjam Rinpoche, one thing inspired him the most: all whose lives were touched by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche had love and devotion for him. Yangsi Rinpoche could see that they were touched in their deepest heart, by the way they expressed themselves – it was not just lip-service. He said that, if you disregard his great scholarship, he was an extraordinary person – not ordinary. He gave teachings and guidance but left people to do things their own way, their heart’s changed like roses that blossom, each in its own way.
Yangsi Rinpoche talked of the four noble truths, eight points to make a good heart, and the indispensability of bodhichitta in the attainment of enlightenment.
Someone from the audience asked Yangsi Rinpoche what was the first thing he noticed in North America. He noticed strong potential and interest in the dharma. Someone else asked Yangsi Rinpoche what were his aspirations for teaching in the West. Yangsi Rinpoche said he does not want to make a big thing of it. He would like to learn how the culture works and how people think. He wants to understand this culture and to help in whatever way the people require. While, for himself, he wants to combine the modern ways with the traditional ways from which he comes.
On Sunday, August 22, attendees received empowerment from Yangsi Rinpoche, for “Rangjung Pema Nyingthik” (“Spontaneously Occurring Heart Essence of Padma”), a terma treasure. A beautiful and bountiful tsok offering ended a warm and uplifting weekend, with aspirations of more to come when Yangsi Rinpoche returns in the future.
Contributor: Therese Gorman-Steward
