Fearless in Tibet: The Life of the Mystic Terton Sogyal (26 page)

In the third month of the Wood Snake year (1905), Tertön Sogyal was performing a ritual when his normal perception ceased and he found himself in an unfamiliar place near a large rock in an open meadow while many people milled around him. A man approached and said, “The secret guidebook to Pemakö is hidden in that boulder.” A month later, Tertön Sogyal had a similar vision where he was in the same meadow in a tent with his teacher Lama Sonam Thaye.

“Where is the hidden land?” he asked.

“I will give you the secret instructions in a fortnight,” Lama Thaye responded in the vision.

Two weeks later, Tertön Sogyal encountered Jamgön Kongtrul in a dream. Kongtrul transformed into Padmasambhava and said, “All who desire to go to Pemakö should not postpone departure. As for those who do not wish to go, do not urge them. To find the passageway, you must perform the rituals perfectly in order to create the auspicious conditions.”

Padmasambhava then enumerated a wide-ranging list of rituals for Tertön Sogyal and others to perform, and advised what behaviors the populace ought to adopt, such as reciting particular prayers, abandoning hunting, and not speaking ill of others. Tertön Sogyal was told to make medicinal pills from crushed gems and herbs, to empower the pills with mantras, and to distribute them to the public as spiritual protection. Additionally, the guru advised Tertön Sogyal to build a large stupa in central Tibet, underneath which to place piles of spears, arrows, and guns in order to ritually banish the current quarrels that plagued Tibet, and to construct temples dedicated to Padmasambhava, Tara, Milarepa, and Tsongkhapa. Padmasambhava advised additional prescriptive measures to purify past negative karma, protect Tibetans in the present situation, and remind them in the future of the correct course of action.

“As for you, Tertön, for the time being do not go to the hidden lands but be diligent in performing these rituals,” Padmasambhava said. “Because these rituals are needed in order to protect the Dharma, even if they are only performed once, they will bring benefit, produce immeasurable virtue, and restore peace to Tibet.”

“How can I really accomplish all of this?” Tertön Sogyal questioned.

Padmasambhava encouraged him to strive to enact the treasure prophecies he had already been given, and to propitiate specific Dharma protectors. Then Padmasambhava transformed into Khyentse Wangpo and said, “I will tell you how to get to Pemakö, and you must write it down.”

Tertön Sogyal could not find paper to write on, so Khyentse handed him a scroll and said, “There has never been a reason for anyone to hesitate to accept the guru’s instructions. But still, so many Tibetans in prominent positions and commoners have not done what Padmasambhava has told them. Why do they continue to disobey his commands?”

“So, what can we do now?” Tertön Sogyal asked.

“Nearly everyone is being deceived by the demons,” Khyentse said in a severe tone as he took back the scroll that he had handed Tertön Sogyal.

He continued. “The Karmapa, Sakya Trizin, and Kongtrul have already done the prescribed prayers. Now you and Trime should perform the host of meritorious deeds; this will surely bring benefit. And whatever Jamgön Kongtrul has told you, go and personally inform His Holiness the Dalai Lama of what should be done. Because the populace did not practice the teachings nor enact Padmasambhava’s prophecies in a timely manner,” Khyentse said. “I myself am losing interest in termas, and Jamgön Kongtrul has also been saddened by those who are possessed by the samaya-breaking demon. So Kongtrul won’t retrieve any more termas. As for you, be careful about mingling with negative people who abandon their samaya commitments; this will lessen your ability to accomplish fully your mission.

“Regarding the guidebook to Pemakö the extensive instructions are hidden at the holy site of Vajravarahi; you can obtain that if you perform offerings to the dakinis. And reciting the
Dispelling Flaws in Interdependence
liturgy is of particular importance.”

Khyentse described the pure land of Pemakö, and how the pilgrim must abandon all attachment to any place and any wealth. “See them as mere illusion. Completely abandon, without any hesitation, all hopes and fears. And in an unelaborate manner, with fervent regard, fearlessly place your mind in the heart of the guru. Strive on with diligence!”

Khyentse then spoke about the ultimate meaning of the hidden lands. “Without any trace of hopes or fears, you should walk in the direction of Kongpo. Enemies and thieves will come upon you first, and then, after walking upon glaciers and through snow, you will meet angry animals and snakes in jungle gorges and on steep precipices. But, whatever appears, do not hold any attachment or aversion. Stamp out your attachments! Remain true to your commitment. Whatever experiences you might have that are seemingly good or bad, do not tell others; just let the experiences come and allow them to release themselves. Do not hold on to elation or painful experiences; with the practice of equal taste, the yogi should be fearless like a lion. Have no doubts about this! Do as I have stated, fortunate son. Samaya.”

The last thing Khyentse did was to indicate how the ultimate hidden land is beyond geographical coordinates. “Be ever mindful! If the proliferations of desire and attachment cannot be cut off, then there will not be a moment when the deluded mind is at peace. If you want to search for the inner pilgrimage site, practice repeatedly the yoga of blazing and dripping. If you want to discover the secret pilgrimage site, gaze at the face of ultimate reality. If you want to find the innermost pilgrimage site, remain uncontrived in the union of space and luminous awareness. To say more is such a distraction. This is my heart advice, my heart-son. Samaya.”

Khyentse Wangpo then vanished into the light.

CHAPTER 17

CHALLENGING
the
DEMONS

N
YARONG AND
D
ZOGCHEN
, E
ASTERN
T
IBET

Year of the Wood Snake to the Water Rat, 1905–1912

Late in the Wood Snake year (1905), while Tertön Sogyal continued to reside in Nyarong, monks and farmers in Litang rose in armed rebellion against Butcher Zhao’s armies. Though the Tibetans were initially successful in their fight, by the summer, additional Qing reinforcements from Chengdu arrived with German-made bolt-action Mauser rifles and transportable cannons, and crushed the Tibetan resistance, razing one of the largest monasteries in Batang and killing hundreds. Additional forces moved into Gyalthang farther to the south, and many defenseless monasteries were destroyed. Butcher Zhao was soon promoted to viceroy of Sichuan Province. The brutal accounts of destruction and beheadings continued to reach Tertön Sogyal from those fleeing the fighting. Tertön Sogyal remained at his hermitage conducting rituals.

Despite a bitterly fierce winter, Butcher Zhao’s armies began cutting a bloody swath from Litang toward Chamdo, killing and burning along the way. It was feared they might move north into Nyarong. Atrin and Khandro Pumo came into Tertön Sogyal’s retreat cabin; they had prepared the horses to leave. They told Tertön Sogyal they had to flee, and though Tertön Sogyal knew the hidden lands of Pemakö were to the southwest, they were forced to flee north. To disguise Tertön Sogyal as a pilgrim, Khandro Pumo presented a knitted hat to cover her husband’s nest of hair and suggested that he don a tattered cloak. This would get them through Upper Nyarong. She did not want even the locals to know that their spiritual father was departing the region, for if Butcher Zhao caught wind that the Dalai Lama’s teacher was within reach, certainly his army would pursue them. They zigzagged through northern-facing slopes where the forest was dense until they arrived on the Tromthar Plateau, where Tertön Sogyal had once run with the group of bandits. On mountain passes by the rock cairns and stacked yak skulls, they burned juniper branches and roasted barley flour as an offering to the local protectors, requesting safe passage through their domain. They stopped only briefly for tea and to let the horses rest, until they knew they were well beyond Butcher Zhao’s army. Tertön Sogyal told his family and Atrin to continue north to Dzogchen Monastery while he went in search of the Vajravarahi dakini cave in Marong, toward the headwaters of the Drichu River, where he’d been told the guidebooks to Pemakö were hidden.

When he found the Vajravarahi cave, Tertön Sogyal entered into retreat to fulfill the practices that would allow him to find the concealed key and treasure maps. No sooner had he started the prescribed rituals than Padmasambhava appeared to him and told of the Dalai Lama’s impending death seven years hence, in the Water Rat year (1912). Yet Tertön Sogyal was told he could remove the threat to the Dalai Lama’s life by finding a prophesied companion who resided in the area and together discover a number of treasure statues and sacred plants. Tertön Sogyal immediately turned his attention away from the discovery of the Pemakö guidebook to saving the Tibetan leader’s life. He quickly found the prophesied dakini and together they discovered the treasure and arranged for seven hand-size statues of Padmasambhava to be sent to Lhasa to protect the Dalai Lama. Tertön Sogyal placed another seven treasure statues in nearby temples as a defensive barrier. Before the prophesied companion departed, she gave Tertön Sogyal a protective ring with a coral stone and told him to blow mantras on it to increase its strength of magnetism.

Returning to the dakini cave and the search for the Pemakö guidebooks, Tertön Sogyal discovered a stone casket with esoteric maps to the hidden lands. As he started to decipher the cryptic maps, one evening, he had a series of eight visions. In each vision, he met a different dakini who empowered him and told of future treasure revelations that would protect his own life and prolong the longevity of the Buddha’s teachings in Tibet. Each dakini dissolved into his heart after they offered their predictions. In the final vision, Tertön Sogyal understood that his two guides to the hidden lands would be Jamgön Kongtrul and Khyentse Wangpo. He was also told that during Kongtrul’s and Khyentse’s lifetimes, Tibet would not be conquered.

Tertön Sogyal was having many kinds of visions and meditative experiences at this time, with complex lists of rituals to practice, temples and stupas to erect, people to meet based upon astrological calculations and birthmarks, and long prophetic indications of how to transform the troubled times into peace. Some prophecies seemed to contradict others. Although Palden Lhamo had told Tertön Sogyal only to follow Padmasambhava’s prophecies, he still listened intently and copied out every vision and prophecy, trying to understand its import. It was as Khyentse Wangpo had once said, “Prophecies are the tertön’s downfall,” because once a tertön hears of a prophecy, he or she is bound to the work of bringing its auspicious conditions together.

Although Tertön Sogyal now had the maps to the hidden lands of Pemakö, he was unable to move south because Butcher Zhao’s troops occupied the region. And, as yet, Padmasambhava had not told him to do so. Tertön Sogyal traveled east from Marong through the spruce and fir forests, over the Trola Mountain pass, broke camp early each day before sunrise, and within a few days reunited with his family in Dzogchen. He met the throne holders of Dzogchen, from whom he requested one of the most elaborate series of tantric empowerments and transmissions, which he received along with Khandro Pumo, his son, and many monks. While the abbots were bestowing esoteric initiations in the great hall of Dzogchen Monastery with hundreds of monks sitting in rows, Tertön Sogyal’s visionary experiences continued unabated. At one moment, Tertön Sogyal would see the tantric mandala scroll paintings hanging in the hall, and the next he would enter that very same mandala in a vision, finding himself escorted into massive celestial palaces, meeting Vajrakilaya in the flesh, and encountering playful dakinis who teased and fooled him. As he flowed in and out of these dream-like experiences and visions, the empowerments lasted for more than three months.

While Tertön Sogyal remained in and around Dzogchen Monastery, in the summer of the Earth Monkey year (1908), the Dalai Lama left Mongolia for Peking. He wanted to negotiate directly with the Qing emperor to have Butcher Zhao’s armies desist from their attacks on monasteries in eastern Tibet and to halt their advance on Lhasa. Although the Tibetan leader was received with ceremony and respect by the emperor and empress of China, and performed Buddhist rituals on the Imperial Court’s behalf, there were no significant political developments. While the Dalai Lama was staying at the Yellow Palace in Peking, both the emperor and empress died unexpectedly. The Dalai Lama was asked to perform the funerary rites for both. Knowing little could be accomplished now in Peking after their deaths, the Dalai Lama decided to return to Lhasa. Just as the Tibetan leader was returning home through northeastern Tibet, a force of 2,000 troops left Chengdu by the southern route to march on the Tibetan capital.

On the 29th day of the tenth month of the Earth Bird year (1909), Tertön Sogyal had a visionary conversation with the protectress Palden Lhamo. The tertön asked urgently what was in store for the Dalai Lama and how to protect the Tibetan ruler’s life. The protectress gave an ominous forecast: