The following is a personal
appreciation of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, by Ken Holmes,
from his book "Karmapa", published by Altea
Saving the Lineage
After the initial turmoil of flight, a new reality was starting
to take shape for Tibetans in India and the Himalayan kingdoms,
living in refugee camps such as the one at Baxa. Some of the
first contacts were made with sympathetic westerners, such as
the now famous Freda Bedi, and an understanding of the world
at large, into which they had been projected, began to form.
The main task in the Karmapa's hands were to ensure the continuity
of his lineage through the education of the young tulkus in
his charge and the transmission to them of the many teachings
and techniques of the Kagyu tradition, and
to establish the temples and retreat centres needed for Kagyu
Buddhism to continue. Yet, in another way, he simply continued
to do what Karmapas have always done. The Sixteenth Karmapa
sometimes shocked his followers, who saw him as a living Buddha
and one of the most important people in Asia, by declaring in
total sincerity, "I am simply a monk". Unattached to any country,
any people or any thing—a friend and example for everyone—it
was his duty as a monk to give teachings and nurture the dharma
wherever he might be. This also explains the example he set
by supervising the construction work at Tsurphu, right up to
the imminent arrival of the Chinese. He doubtless knew what
was to come and some may wonder, "why bother?". He was pointing
to the sacred duty of doing all one can, every day, in a positive
way. Thus his followers had made the good karma of building
temples for absolutely as long as it was possible so to do and,
from a Buddhist perspective, that good karma would be their
best companion in times and lives to come.
In 1964, following a successful petition for reinstatement made
to HH the Dalai Lama by the unofficial Shamar incarnation, the
latter was enthroned by HH the Gyalwa Karmapa as the Eleventh
Sharmapa. His reincarnation had also been born into the A-toop
family and the young boy had been at Tsurphu and fled Tibet
with the Karmapa but official recognition had been impossible
in Tibet itself as Shamarpa incarnations had been banned by
edict of the central Tibetan government from the late eighteenth
century onwards, following accusations of war-mongering.
A new seat
By 1966 the construction of the new Rumtek was completed and
the relics brought out from Tsurphu were installed. On Tibetan
New Year's day (losar) HH the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa officially
opened his new seat called, "The Dharmachakra Centre, a place
of erudition and spiritual accomplishment, the seat of the glorious
Karmapa". This was to be the hub from which Kagyu dharma spread
throughout the world and, step by step, the traditional monastic
calendar of special prayers, lama dances, summer rains retreat
and so forth was reinstated in that centre-point to ensure the
correct spiritual dynamic for the years ahead. Rumtek, the mandala
with the Karmapa at its centre, became a very special place,
described by many as "the monastery wreathed in a thousand rays
of rainbow light".
In Sikkim itself the foundations of Kagyu dharma were established.
Traditional texts were, studied, ordinations performed, tulkus
found and enthroned, retreat centres built and texts carved
onto wooden blocks for xylographic printing. The kindness of
the Bhutanese royal family gave hospitality to his tradition
in Bhutan also, with the gift of a palace and a large piece
of land, upon which to establish a major monastery. Gradually,
contacts were made in India and Nepal. At one point, His Holiness
had a vision that the construction of many temples and monasteries
close to the great stupa at Bodhnath in Nepal (which at the
time had little except for the stupa, a temple and a few shops)
would greatly help the spread of pure buddhadharma throughout
the world. Mainly due to the Karmapa's inspiration, many teachers
have established monasteries and temples there and it has become
an important focus of Tibetan Buddhism.
Reaching out to the world
In 1967, the first Western Tibetan Buddhist centre, named "Samye
Ling" after Samye, the first great monastery of Tibet, was established
by Trugpa Tulku and Akong Tulku in Scotland, under the Karmapa's
auspices. Through the early seventies several other centres
emerged in the West and in 1974 the Karmapa set out on his first
world tour. I had the pleasure of meeting him at that time and
of preparing his arrival in Scotland and France. The way had
already been prepared by the visits of the Very Venerable Kalu
Rinpoche, whose monks first blew the earth-shaking long horns
(ra-dong) and oboes (ja-ling) of Tibet in Europe. His Holiness'
visit set the seal on the beginnings which had taken place.
Accompanied by tulkus, a full entourage of monks and Freda Bedi,
who was now the Buddhist nun Sister Kechog Palmo, "mummy" to
the Tibetans, he performed the Vajra Crown ceremony in Western
lands for the first time and gave empowerments and dharma advice.
In hindsight, that first visit was the milestone which marked
the true arrival of the Kagyu tradition in the world at large.
A great wave of inspiration followed in its wake and His Holiness
returned again for a fuller visit in 1977, this time with many
more, new centres to visit. This was a very extensive world
tour. He visited centres in four continents and met heads of
state, heads of religion, elders of many traditions and people
from the world of arts. Sometimes in dharma centres, sometimes
in huge public spaces holding crowds of many thousands, he performed
the Vajra Crown ceremony, gave empowerments, ordinations, bodhisattva
vow and refuge and many blessings to people of all faiths. On
looking through hundreds of photographs of these visits, the
striking feature is the contagious joy and happiness of His
Holiness wherever he went. One of the few English words he knew
was "Happy?": a question he posed gleefully after giving Refuge
or Bodhisattva vow. His joyful, yet nevertheless powerful and
authoritative, presence gave many people new to vajrayana the
first real chance to meet a perfect guru, free to show the blissfull
liberation of his enlightenment.
During this tour, my wife and I had the honour of accompanying
him for six months, I as a visa-seeking cum centre-preparing
cum chauffeur factotum for the European stage of his tour, organised
by Akong Tulku Rinpoche, and Katia as promoter of a major new
monastery and dharma centre, to be built on land in France's
Dordogne, donated by the inventor Bernard Benson. In travelling
at his side during that time, through many different countries,
I saw him time after time awaken the fundamental goodness and
spiritual potential in people. It was like being with the morning
sun as it passes over the earth, warming the ground, nourishing
life everywhere and opening millions of flowers. Never had any
of us met anyone who radiated so much fundamental goodness and
joy, who spoke with such natural authority and fearlessness
and whose every gesture was the living demonstration of mindfulness,
compassionate care for everyone and lucidity. All paled next
to the shimmering natural intelligence that he embodied and
that seemd to permeate every place in which he stayed.
We had the particular pleasure of helping him buy and look after
the birds of which he was so fond. I saw breeders amazed as
their normally fearful and hard-to-catch birds went peacefully
to the Karmapa. But especially we saw the birds which died stay
erect for days in a peaceful glow of meditation on their perches,
instead of dropping to the cage floor, as is normal. Some said
these birds were reincarnations of former disciples, who through
some bad karma had this lesser body but who through their devotion
were born into his presence.
Enlightened activity
Under the Karmapa's overall guidance, the tulkus and rinpoches
of the Kagyu tradition developed the interest shown by Americans,
Europeans and people in South-East Asia in the centres which
they had been invited to establish. His Holiness dedicated himself
to preparing what would be essential for the proper future growth
of this interest, ensuring the education of the younger reincarnated
lamas he had recognised, nurturing the growth of the sangha,
and sponsoring the printing, collection and translation of the
main scriptures and prayers. During his life he ordained many
thousands of monks and recognised more than a hundred tulkus.
In particular, he sponsored and distributed to many centres
a complete reprint of all the Buddha's teachings (tripitaka)
and the main classical commentaries on them; some 300 volumes
of scripture in all.
At one point early in his life, while still in Tibet, His Holiness
had written a very telling poem, predicting his leaving Tibet.
In it, he uses the analogy of the cuckoo which, in Tibetan folk
culture, is known as the king of birds; a welcome bird whose
call heralds the warmer weather. It is the bird that grows up
in another bird's nest and the Karmapa, referring to himself
as the cuckoo, obviously foresaw his own going to India. During
the latter part of the Sixteenth Karmapa's life, people were
already impressed by the accuracy of this prediction. Now it
is seen to have had a double meaning, as the subsequent Karmapa
goes to yet another nest and, significantly, a cuckoo landed
on the tent, in which the Seventeenth Karmapa was being born,
and sang its song.
Miracles
A great guru is the mirror not only reflecting his individual
disciples' needs but the general status of things in the world.
When their bodies take sick, it can be viewed as being their
purification of the sufferings in the world and in their disciples.
They also set the example of how to relate to sickness. However,
there is no one interpretation of such things, as they are the
emanation of cosmic purity within our lives, showing anything
that can help us to learn. However, this type of "interpretation"
could all be seen as just wishful-thinking, were it not for
the miraculous power over the body shown by the Karmapas.
The Sixteenth Karmapa left footprints in rocks on many occasions
and in many countries. One day poisonous snakes swarmed from
a rock and covered him whilst he was bathing in the Tarzi hot
springs, yet he danced joyfully, unharmed. He once tied a heavy
sword blade into knots. In his presence, normally antagonistic
animals got on well with each other. When photographed with
a single plate camera at Rumtek, during an empowerment, he appeared
almost transparent. Thorough checking of the negative and a
giant print made from it showed that double exposure or any
other normal explanation was impossible. At other times the
Karmapa had made rain for the Hopi Indians and had stopped droughts,
once by bathing on a chosen spot, whence a spring burst forth.
His Holiness also left a footprint in the waters of a Tibetan
lake, which can still be seen, as a constant footprint depression
in the water, summer and winter. The stories of the physical
wonders of the Sixteenth Karmapa, witnessed by Buddhists, are
many but perhaps the most striking events were those which took
place around his death, for these were witnessed by amazed non-Buddhist
physicians in an Illinois hospital.
Passing
During the 1970s, the Karmapa started to show signs of cancer.
At one point, this became life-threatening and he was operated
upon. After a remission, there was a gradual recurrence, complicated
by the fact that his symptoms came and went, totally disappeared
or manifested as something completely different in a way which
confounded regular analysis. He was undoubtedly unwell yet is
was as though his body were joking with the machines. His illness
was to end in death at the American International Clinic in
Zion, near Chicago, Illinois.
Many inexplicable things happened during that Chicago time.
A medical record of them was kept by the Indian army physician,
Dr Kotwal, who had accompanied His Holiness medically for many
years. When the immortal enlightened mind of the Sixteenth Karmapa
left its physical shell, his body remained in gentle meditation
for three days, during which time the heart centre remained
very warm and the skin supple. This was attested to by the doctors
despite all the other clinical symptoms of death. Amazed, some
of the medical staff visited the holy place of his room, to
witness the impossible. Only after three such days did the usual
manifestations of death appear. His Holiness body was flown
back to India and cremated in grand ceremony at Rumtek. During
the cremation ceremony, each of the four main rinpoches made
a mandala offering. When it was the Tai Situpa's turn, he approached
the northern gate of the cremation urn to offer the tsampaka
flour mandala and saw something fall from the blazing body onto
the base of the inner pyre, near the gate. Unsure what to do
for the best, the Tai Situpa quickly sent a monk to ask advice
from the Very Venerable Kalu Rinpoche, who was most experienced
in such things.
Some five minutes later, the monk came back through the crowd
with a message from Kalu Rinpoche that it was something very
sacred and should be removed and kept as a relic. It was His
Holiness' heart, now partially charred. This was enshrined in
a golden stupa at Rumtek and has become a Kagyu lineage relic;
an object of deep veneration. Some of the bones found among
the ashes had self-formed images of the buddhas on them and
there were many small crystal-relics, known as rin.sel. Such
occurrences—the heart, the self-formed images and rinsel—were
also witnessed at the passing of the very first Karmapa, Dusum
Chenpa. Some days after the cremation, Jamgön Kongtrul Rinpoche
noticed a baby's footprint in the northern quarter of one of
the mandala arranged for the cremation. Perhaps the Sixteenth
Karmapa was already leaving signs of the direction of his next
emanation.
One duty of a great spiritual teachers is to discourage disciples
from taking their presence for granted. Lord Buddha's passing
into nirvana was a formidable teaching given to remind his followers
of their own responsibility, to themselves and others, to practice
and not to be always carried on the wave of another's spirituality.
Lord Buddha's parting words were, "All composite things are
impermanent; strive with earnestness" . In the passing away
and reincarnation of the Karmapa, it is very important for each
disciple to learn about impermanence and to pray sincerely and
whole-heartedly for the master to reincarnate. Those deep prayers
help shake them from the mental lethargy which is a meditator's
enemy; the expectation of having everything "handed to one on
a plate", the feeling that someone else will do the necessary.
It is important for each person to participate in the calling
out for that pure mind to grace the world again. Death is, and
will always be, a Buddhist's greatest teacher and it was a painful
lesson for many people, including westerners, when the Sixteenth
Karmapa, and indeed their other beloved teachers, died.
Reincarnation
The years of uncertainty, longing, praying, reflection before
the reincarnation is found bring much maturity to the mind,
helping one to appreciate more fully each moment to be spent
with fine gurus in the future. Meeting remarkable teachers is
a result from excellent past good karma, and it is vital to
keep generating the karma in the present in order to make such
meetings happen again and again in the future. In this process,
motivation and heartfelt prayer play a central role.
Marpa the Translator brought the Kagyu dharma to Tibet. His
Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa brought it to the world, turning
the wheel of dharma on all its levels and immaculately establishing
the right conduct, meditation and wisdom which are the three
mainstays of the Buddha's teachings.
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