Fearless in Tibet: The Life of the Mystic Terton Sogyal (27 page)

Then the protectress spoke in a foreboding tone. Predicting dire ends for the Tibetan people, who had nearly exhausted their storehouse of positive karma, she said:

A month after Tertön Sogyal’s vision, the Dalai Lama arrived back in Lhasa. He had been in exile in Mongolia and China for five years. Butcher Zhao, after putting down resistance in Derge, continued west through pockets of the Tibetan army to Chamdo. The Nechung Oracle insisted that the Dalai Lama leave the capital again. With political allegiances altered, the Oracle advised the Dalai Lama to seek political refuge to the south in British India.

By early February, 2,000 troops approached Lhasa. Butcher Zhao remained with his battalion six days’ ride from the capital. The night before the planned siege of Lhasa, the Dalai Lama and a small entourage left the Potala undetected and escaped. The Qing army realized only the next day that the Tibetan leader had fled and they were late in pursuit. While the Tibetan militiamen stalled the army, the Dalai Lama was able to cross the border into Darjeeling where the British offered protection. Still, thousands of Chinese soldiers invaded Lhasa, and at least two Tibetan policemen and a Tibetan woman were killed. The Dalai Lama immediately petitioned the British and the Russians to support Tibet in the international political arena, though both governments refused in the face of possible backlash from Peking. Butcher Zhao turned back to eastern Tibet to resume his subjugation of the region, with the hopes of taking control of Nyarong, which had still eluded him.

Tertön Sogyal had received news of the Dalai Lama’s safe arrival in Lhasa but did not know he had to immediately flee again in exile to India. The tertön asked Palden Lhamo, “In the Wood Dragon year [1904], outsiders invaded Tibet and His Holiness had to leave his seat. Will His Holiness have to depart Lhasa again?”

“The Iron Dog [1910] is a black year for His Holiness.”

Tertön Sogyal knew the Dalai Lama was in danger again.

“How can these demonic people harm Tibet? Is it really possible that His Holiness the Dalai Lama will have to leave Tibet again? If there is something that can be done in advance to avert him from leaving Tibet, what should that be?”

“If a drop of poison falls in the lake, near and far and everywhere is threatened. The golden garuda has already reached the golden mountain.”

Tertön Sogyal understood the Dalai Lama had arrived safely in India and so asked, “What can be done in order to bring His Holiness back to Lhasa? Please reply to me with clarity!”

Palden Lhamo advised prayers to Padmasambhava and to conduct the terma rituals Tertön Sogyal had already discovered, “Then His Holiness might soon come back in good form.

“Although Padmasambhava has been so compassionate as to offer prophetic advice for you Tibetans, as well as to conceal innumerable termas,” the protectress said, “only a few Tibetans strive to carry them out. I myself have given you, as a mother would to her son, so much counsel and prophecies, but why has there been so little benefit? It is because of the beings’ negative attitude. The community has used up all of their positive karma. Now it is important that you keep yourself safe—living long is important.”

Padmasambhava had told Tertön Sogyal some years before that at the end of the Iron Dog year he should strive one-pointedly in the practice of
The Most Secret Wrathful Vajrakilaya
and of the Lion-Faced Dakini, and Khandro Pumo should constantly be nearby. In particular, he should practice Vajrakilaya’s averting rituals by loading tormas with fierce mantras and throwing the missile in the direction of the obstacles to repel them—continuing until he received clear indications that it was successful. As Tertön Sogyal was conducting the rituals against Butcher Zhao, the Chinese army gained control of Lhasa, which marked the first time in Tibet’s long history that a Chinese army directly controlled the Tibetan capital. But the Qing’s stay in Lhasa was short-lived. Shortly after the Dalai Lama arrived in India, revolution broke out across China. By November 1911, with the Republican Revolution in full force, Sun Yat-sen rose to lead the Nationalist Party. The Qing dynasty dissolution was rapid, their troops in central and eastern Tibet mutinied, and Butcher Zhao retreated to Chengdu.

After weeks of Vajrakilaya practice, Tertön Sogyal received signs that the Chinese soldiers had been forced to leave Tibet and that Butcher Zhao ceased his campaign of terror. When the revolution reached Chengdu, Butcher Zhao put up a determined resistance but within three months surrendered and received the same treatment that he had inflicted upon so many across the Tibetan Plateau—execution by beheading in Chengdu. Though Zhao experienced a gruesome death, Tertön Sogyal told Lama Trime that he had liberated Butcher Zhao’s consciousness into a pure realm where he could meet the Dharma.

With the Qing military command in disarray, central Tibet became free of Manchu troops, and the Dalai Lama left India in the Water Rat year (1912) and arrived in Lhasa early the next year. The Dalai Lama wrote during this period a declaration of independence, which in part read:

Cutting off all diplomatic ties with China that had existed for centuries, the Dalai Lama declared Tibet’s sovereignty, concluding: “Now, the Chinese intention of colonizing Tibet under the patron-lama relationship has faded like a rainbow in the sky.” The Dalai Lama was free from an immediate external threat, but the internal demon remained.

CHAPTER 18

CAPTURING
the
LIFE-FORCE

G
OLOK
, E
ASTERN
T
IBET

Year of the Iron Dog, 1910

The Dalai Lama had declared Tibet’s independence from China. Upon his return to Lhasa after two and a half years in India, he quickly exerted unprecedented political authority not seen since the Fifth Dalai Lama. But, there were orthodox factions within his government that boycotted his attempts to modernize Tibet’s education system and open the country to the outside world. These factions, which included the likes of Phabongka and his Dogyal cult, saw modernization as a threat to the Gelug hegemony. The pernicious sectarianism of Phabongka was strong. Never before had the worship of a cult spread so quickly in Tibet; it had infiltrated all levels of the Tibetan government and monasteries.

Before the Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa, Tertön Sogyal, with his wife and son and attendants, had crossed the Yellow River watershed and entered Golok. This gigantic landscape swallows travelers in dust storms and wind that can knock a sturdy Tibetan horse flat to the ground. Tertön Sogyal relied upon the treasure guardians to show the route. They steered the reins past the southern turnoff toward Kandze and ventured due east across the highland ranges with its rolling golden grasslands that extended as far as the eye could see. As they entered the sparsely populated region of southern Golok, the number of flat-roofed, stone-stacked houses in any village was no more than a dozen. Corn and barley sheaves hung among drying chilies from the three-story houses with the ubiquitous Tibetan mastiffs guarding the perimeter from sand foxes and wolves. Above the riverbanks where the barley terraces were planted, nomad children and women ran after Tertön Sogyal seeking his blessing, their devotion inspired by his tantric attire and nest of hair. In the high mountain meadows and pastures of rhododendron shrubs, and along the river basins, Tertön Sogyal’s caravan passed herds of yaks numbering in the thousands, tended by nomads.

This was the first time Tertön Sogyal had come to Golok, a region that rivaled Nyarong in its reputation of rugged nomads and roaming bandits. When locals camped for the night in Golok, horses were picketed under strong guard and men slept with their boots laced and their weapons at hand. Outsiders, including the few British and Russian explorers or Christian missionaries who tried to move through Golok in the late 1800s, were told to turn around or quickly fell to the swords of the Golok warriors or roaming bandits. The warriors of Golok, clad in fox pelt and felt hats with thick yak-hide coats, were legendary in their warring prowess on horseback. Even the monasteries needed protection by the various ruling tribal chiefs. When frontier scouts, with their long rifles slung over their backs, approached Tertön Sogyal’s party to question his entourage, the tertön quietly recited pacifying mantras.

Golok was never directly ruled by the Qing dynasty in Peking or the Tibetan government in Lhasa. The vast plains, upland pastures, and mountains were the domain of three prominent chieftains. Soon after Tertön Sogyal arrived in Golok, he met one of the powerful chieftains, Dorde of Upper Wangchen. There would have been little chance Tertön Sogyal could travel through, much less reside in Golok, without the protection of such a chieftain. It was known that Tertön Sogyal was Khyentse Wangpo’s close disciple, which in Nyingma-strong Golok was as strong a credential for the tertön as being the Dalai Lama’s teacher. Tribal chiefs like Dorde wanted the protection of powerful tantric yogis like Tertön Sogyal.

Tertön Sogyal was shown into Dorde’s large tent. Armed guards stood on either side of the tent’s entrance, long daggers hanging from their waist belts. Unlike the Nyarong warriors, who wind their hair in a single braid around their heads, these Golok warriors had two braids that extended down their backs and were tied together at the end with colorful red or blue silk string. Their faces were as weather worn as a saddlebag. They did not bow in respect when Tertön Sogyal walked past them. Their stoic silence was as fierce as the snarling mastiffs staked out around the tent’s perimeter.

Dorde stood when Tertön Sogyal entered, and welcomed him to sit on the carpeted cushions that had been laid out in his honor. As tea was served, the chief’s daughters offered bowls of thick curd with small wild yams. Dried goat and yak meat still on the bone was brought on a wooden tray with a large bowie knife laid to the side, followed by milky barley beer. Tertön Sogyal offered Dorde a white silken scarf with a blessed statue of Padmasambhava that he had discovered as a treasure en route to Golok, telling the chief to pray to Padmasambhava to avert the same troubles that befell Lhasa, Litang, and Batang. He said he had been guided to Golok by visions and prophecy regarding the need for him to reveal treasures in the region. And he said that the chief would certainly share in the positive merit should he grant refuge in Golok and support his treasure revealer’s activity.

Dorde guaranteed Tertön Sogyal’s security. The chief sent scouts to inform locals that if the tertön or anyone in his party passed through, they should be provided with tents and barley flour, and feed for their horses. Dorde in return requested Tertön Sogyal’s spiritual guidance and protection.

Having secured patronage from the local chieftain, Tertön Sogyal’s next stop was a visit to the scholar and highly realized practitioner, the Third Dodrupchen Rinpoche. Just as Khyentse Wangpo and Jamgön Kongtrul were the spiritual pillars in the Derge region, Dodrupchen was a spiritual giant in Golok. Prophecy indicated that Dodrupchen and Tertön Sogyal would collaborate to enhance each other’s Dharma activities. They had spent time together in their younger years when they studied under many of the same masters, including Khyentse Wangpo, Patrul Rinpoche, Khenpo Pema Vajra, and Ju Mipham Rinpoche. They made a strong connection at that time, but because Tertön Sogyal was traveling to and from central Tibet, their relationship did not develop. The time and conditions now presented themselves to bring the connection with Dodrupchen to full maturity, as well as with some of the hermit’s seven brothers who lived in the region.

Dodrupchen, the son of the famed tantric adept Dudjom Lingpa, was an extremely learned master who lived his monk’s vows purely and maintained a strict schedule of study, contemplation, and meditation in his hermitage. As one of the most highly realized masters on the Tibetan Plateau, he revitalized philosophical study and debate not only in Dodrupchen Monastery, but throughout eastern Tibet. His reputation as a scholar began as a boy when he was studying with the great Patrul Rinpoche. One day, Patrul Rinpoche asked the young Dodrupchen to give a teaching to a large public gathering on
The Way of the Bodhisattva
. After the teaching, Patrul Rinpoche was so inspired by the sermon, he wrote a letter to Khyentse Wangpo, saying, “Concerning the Dharma of learning, Dodrupchen has given teachings on
The Way of the Bodhisattva
at the age of eight. As for the Dharma of realization, Nyala Pema Dündul has just attained the rainbow body. So the doctrine of the Buddha has not yet been diminished.”