Fearless in Tibet: The Life of the Mystic Terton Sogyal (23 page)

Tertön Rangrik was preparing to return to his monastery in Nyarong and was not keen on becoming embroiled in an esoteric battle with the spirit in Lhasa—a duel that could go on for many months and would take a considerable toll on his physical constitution. Still, he went to Lhasa to attend an emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers. The Dalai Lama presided over the gathering of his council and the two tertöns in the Potala Palace. The dire situation was fully explained to the tertöns; both remained as austere as anyone had ever seen. The Dalai Lama commanded Tertön Sogyal and Tertön Rangrik to subjugate Nyagtrül’s spirit. Though the Dalai Lama directed the tantric adepts to carry out rituals, the elderly Nyarong lama was having none of it. Frustrated that he had been dragged into the tumultuous political situation, Tertön Rangrik stood to end the meeting on his own terms. He bowed to the Dalai Lama and then turned to Tertön Sogyal.

“You brought him here,” Tertön Rangrik said, referring to Nyagtrül. “You put him in the ground.”

Immediately, Tertön Sogyal began trying to stop Nyagtrül’s spirit from inflicting any more harm. During elaborate ceremonies with Namgyal Monastery monks, and in solitary retreat, images of Nyagtrül’s spirit were fashioned from barley dough and summoned to enter the effigy. Tertön Sogyal stabbed and sliced the spirit with his ritual phurba dagger in an attempt to liberate the spirit from his harmful obsessions. Other lamas became involved; one of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s tutors died of exhaustion from his own ritual efforts. It was not until early in 1902, after Tertön Sogyal had returned to eastern Tibet, nearly three years after Nyagtrül’s spirit had roamed, that signs indicated that the subjugation of Nyagtrül was complete. However, this was only the beginning of the Dalai Lama’s troubles and battle for survival.

CHAPTER 14

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

K
ALZANG
T
EMPLE
, N
YARONG
, E
ASTERN
T
IBET

Year of the Earth Pig to the Iron Rat, 1899–1900

Tertön Sogyal returned to eastern Tibet at the end of 1899. His prominence as a religious figure stretched from Lhasa to Dartsedo and indeed into China. Not only was Tertön Sogyal the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s teacher, but it was now widely known that he had saved the life of the Tibetan ruler. Tibetan government officials escorted Tertön Sogyal to his homeland of Nyarong from Lhasa with specific instructions to assist the tertön in the construction of the geomantic chapels at Kalzang, as the
Luminous Garland of Sunlight
prophecy had indicated.

Tertön Sogyal’s wife, Khandro Pumo, and son, Rigdzin Namgyal, could see from their perch at Kalzang Temple the procession of horses and government cavalrymen approaching. Rigdzin Namgyal would follow in the tradition of his father as a lay tantric practitioner and later became known for his long meditation retreats, often while completely naked in his one-room cabin on the mountainside. Attendants would bring tea in the morning and, upon returning in the afternoon, find that the tea had not been consumed nor had Rigdzin Namgyal even moved from his meditation posture. Later in his life, it was said that dust would collect on Rigdzin Namgyal’s shoulders and thighs while he sat in meditation for days on end.

Construction commenced on the border-protecting temple below Kalzang, the place where Tertön Sogyal had first met Nyala Pema Dündul. The Dalai Lama gave the name to the new temple—Glorious Palace of Joy and Total Victory Blazing Like Dzi Onyx—which was a small temple with four surrounding protector chapels, including one honoring the Nechung Oracle. Most of the statues housed in the new temple were offered by the Tibetan government, which had seized them from Tengyeling Monastery after the demise of ex-regent Demo. Concurrent with the construction, a 25-foot-high stupa, named Tamer of Demons and Subjugator of Haughty Spirits, was built at the confluence of two rivers at Deer Horn Junction. Tertön Sogyal told those at Kalzang, “Such strategically placed temples and stupas repel the kinds of demons who are inciting conflict, stirring up hatred, arrogance, and jealousy in people’s minds.”

After the new foundation was laid for the temple, Tertön Sogyal traveled with his wife and son to seek out Nyoshul Lungtok and Dza Choktrul in Thromthar for teachings and empowerments. Though Tertön Sogyal was in full command of the highest Dzogchen teachings and teacher to none other than the Dalai Lama himself, he still bowed before his own teachers and requested pith instructions for meditation and ritual activity. Tertön Sogyal’s own teachers in turn would ask him to bestow upon them his many treasure revelations.

Nyoshul Lungtok was ill when Tertön Sogyal arrived, and he was asked to perform a ransoming ritual to extend the life of the elder master. An effigy of Nyoshul Lungtok made of barley dough was placed below a ten-foot-high intricate web of colorful threads that served as a temporary abode for the spirits. The effigy and structure were offered to local spirits, who were causing the ill health. At this time, Tertön Sogyal had a dream of a dakini with glowing fair skin who warned him that if he did not bring auspicious conditions into line, then whatever he tried to do in the future would be in vain; yet he was not told the precise ritual activity to perform, so he became slightly frustrated. In the evening after the last day of rituals on behalf of Nyoshul Lungtok, Tertön Sogyal had a vision of Padmasambhava in the space before him, and then the Great Guru dissolved into a house in Lhasa. Tertön Sogyal awoke thinking it was a bad omen indicating Nyoshul Lungtok would soon pass away and that his reincarnation would be reborn in Lhasa. Then a voice came and said, “That is not it. Yet more will be clear soon.”

An earth treasure statue of Manjushri revealed
by Tertön Sogyal in Tromthar, eastern Tibet.

Nyoshul Lungtok eventually recovered. Tertön Sogyal continued having many visions, intense dreams, and inconclusive signs, but little indication of the exact course of action to take. With threats to the Dalai Lama’s life, trouble on Tibet’s borders, and his increasing age, Tertön Sogyal was becoming impatient. A haze hovered over his ability to decipher the hidden meanings. When he returned to Kalzang Temple and went to meditate at dusk on the side of the hill named Meto Garuda Eagle, a rainbow appeared. Walking out of the five-colored lights was a man with reddish skin, holding a tiger-skin quiver of arrows, who said, “When the time comes, I will assist you. Not now.” Tertön Sogyal prayed to Padmasambhava to gain clarity, saying:

As he was praying, Tertön Sogyal heard a voice say, “This will be very profound, therefore, the obstacles will be powerful. If you can counter the negative with the positive, then you yourself will be free from the demons.” Still, Tertön Sogyal could not understand specifically what to do. Descending the mountainside, Tertön Sogyal walked back to Kalzang Temple, and that evening, the fair-skinned dakini again appeared to him and advised, “Just act according to the crucial points. And regarding the illusion-like appearances that will arise, be patient toward them.” Then she vanished.

Tertön Sogyal’s inability to understand the import of the visions and dreams was vexing him. Not only was he unclear about the visions, he was not receiving coded maps, or signs about treasure revelations. After one vision when he encountered a huge black snake that stood up straight like a pillar and would not budge, he became very upset. That evening, the fair-skinned dakini appeared and said, “If you allow conceptualization to proliferate in your mind—that is your demon that will usher forth obstacles! There is nowhere else that the obstacle rests apart from one’s own mind’s creation.”

Tertön Sogyal believed that the unfolding of foreboding dreams, which lasted for some months, indicated that black magic was being directed against him. He also suspected that he was being slandered by some individuals with whom he had a personal connection and to whom he had given tantric empowerments—perhaps they were possessed by the damsi demon. He continued his stay at Kalzang Temple, where his wife and close companions became deeply worried. After three months of feeling the malicious intentions, insinuations, and sorcery, Tertön Sogyal completely lost his ability to speak.

One evening, the fair-skinned dakini returned in a vision and said, “There are those who are possessed by the demon; if you can seize their negativity as an array of powerful energy, the benefit can be vast!” Later that evening, Tertön Sogyal dreamed that his mother led him into a white tent. As she sewed the door closed, she said, “At the time of eight, you will be released because of your virtuous behavior.” Tertön Sogyal awoke thinking it was a sign that he would be released from his muteness, but he did not know if it would be in eight days, or in the eighth month, or longer. Lama Trime, who was a fellow tertön and student of Tertön Sogyal, was consulted along with a doctor from Derge, but they were unable to identify the exact time Tertön Sogyal would be released from the spell of muteness. Again, the fair-skinned dakini appeared to Tertön Sogyal in a dream and told him, “Your main concern should be none other than what can be seen right here, right now,” but she did not indicate which rituals to perform. For the next two months, Tertön Sogyal continued to have visionary encounters with Vajrakilaya, Padmasambhava, and Khyentse Wangpo, but no termas arose. It was the first time that Tertön Sogyal’s prolific treasure revelations were blocked, and there was a fear that Tertön Sogyal’s life-force was being sapped. His teachers and close disciples performed rituals to release him from his inability to speak, but nothing worked.

On the tenth day of the seventh month of the Iron Rat year (1900), Padmasambhava appeared to Tertön Sogyal in a dream and said, “You, my son, listen, many beings in these degenerate times will show you devotion, supplicate you, and request teachings from you. Even while praising you, they will be filled with doubts, wrong views, and belittling speech that does not recognize your greatness. Though their disregard will be like an unending wave that you cannot stop, cut your attachment to hope or fear. Confidently maintain the stronghold of your pure awareness. To dispel the negative circumstances, there is a profound and marvelous method that no one else has. It is known as
Tendrel Nyesel
—
Dispelling Flaws in Interdependence
. The guardians of this terma will hand it over to you.”

In the vision, Padmasambhava, surrounded by many dakinis, bestowed upon Tertön Sogyal the complete empowerments and instructions of the teaching
Dispelling Flaws in Interdependence
. Various dakinis took turns delivering their own prophecy to Tertön Sogyal about future treasure teachings, the companions he should have around him, and associated prophecies. When the last dakini spoke, she told Tertön Sogyal of the need to practice the Vajrakilaya rites to avert military incursions by foreign armies, after which the dakini dissolved into his heart. Padmasambhava then told Tertön Sogyal that he needed to paint 1,000 Buddha statues and 1,000 Vajrakilaya images, and, most significantly, that he needed to maintain great secrecy about not only the
Dispelling Flaws
treasure and these prophecies, but all subsequent revelations.

Scroll painting of the terma revelation of
Dispelling Flaws in Interdependence (Tendrel Nyesel)
with Guru Padmasambhava in the center.

“If you diligently apply the act of secrecy, your realization will increase and you will be freed from the demons of conceptualization,” Padmasambhava said. “There will be no hindrance to your accomplishment practices, and the door will be open to benefit beings, and the sickness of your body will stop.”

Tertön Sogyal realized that
Dispelling Flaws in Interdependence
was a critical antidote needed for his own path to enlightenment, as well as a remedy for the Tibetan nation, because it could foster a unified Dharma approach for the religious and political leaders.