Gunabhadri ... I realised that I could stay in touch with Dhardo Rimpoche by practising and passing on what he had taught.
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-KhantilokaPUBLISHERS
Meeting
Dhardo Rimpoche
Gunabhadri Meeting
Dhardo Rimpoche -Khantiloka-
This material was previously published as part of the Dutch version of ‘The Return JOURNEY’ (by the author). Dhardo Rimpoche (1917-1990) teacher of Urgyen Sangharakshita (1925)/founder of Triratna Buddhist Order. ~ Gunabhadri (1957) - member of Triratna Buddhist Order.
Copyright © 2014 Khantiloka/Gunabhadri All rights reserved. ~ No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by print, microfilm or any other means without written permission by the author. 2
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Meeting Dhardo Rimpoche The difference in temperature between the provinces we came from and the Northeast, where Kalimpong was situated, was big. It was much colder in the North and as a result, when Sanghadevi and I arrived in Kalimpong, I had a terrible cold. We found a hotel where we deposited our luggage and set off almost immediately to the school which Dhardo Rimpoche had founded and where he lived. From then on we spent the largest part of our time in the company of Dhardo Rimpoche. During the months preceding my journey to India there had already been a brief exchange of letters between Dhardo Rimpoche and myself. I had written to him and requested to visit him and I had also asked something about the Tara and Vajrasattva meditation practice. In the same period of time that I received a reply from him a Padmasambhava festival was celebrated at the London Buddhist Centre1. Part of this festival 5
consisted of a ritual dance, performed by people dressed in costumes and with masks of the eight manifestations of Padmasambhava. This whole occasion had been magical for me and the atmosphere during the ritual had been electrically charged. That same week a reply was on its way. I felt so well, inspired and full of love. This was not usual and it felt like it came not only from me. It was as if I felt the letter coming. Dhardo Rimpoche told me in the letter that Sanghadevi and I were welcome and encouraged me to do the Vajrasattva-practice as well as to continue to do the Tara-practice2. Dhardo Rimpoche was a very small man physically. It was only when our meeting drew to a close and Dhardo Rimpoche turned around that I noticed how stooped his back was and how old and frail he looked. My experience of him had not been like this at all. He seemed young and his spirit was one of unfailing kindliness. His actions, his every gesture exuded mindfulness pervaded by a strong sense of metta and compassion. He shone light. Golden light. He was light. This is what I saw. I had decided in advance to do three prostrations and I did this with fervour when we 1
London Buddhist Centre - in Bethnal Green.
2
See appendix for practice.
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entered his room for the first time. He seemed concerned that I had not hurt myself by throwing myself on the ground so hard and immediately I understood he did not hold to ceremony. We talked with him, we drank tea and ate with him. We were present when a young couple came by with the request to find the best date for their marriage. A visit to a special temple was arranged for us and of course we were shown round the school. I asked him to bless a small image of Tara which I had bought in Darjeeling and he agreed to do this in the context of a Tsongkhapa3 puja he would be performing that very night (though he gave us much of his time, it was obvious he was very busy, making long hours until late in the night). When I handed him the Tara image he looked at her, examined her, paying attention to every detail and looking at her with an expression of kindliness, full of metta. The strange thing is that, while he was so occupied, I started to feel like Tara. I felt completely seen and accepted on a very deep level. That is the only way I can describe it. And I was very happy. Sanghadevi and I asked many questions. We asked, Jampel Khalden4 translated, Dhardo 3
Tsongkhapa - (1357-1419) - important teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and founder of the Gelugpa school.
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Rimpoche answered and Jampel Khalden translated again. When I asked a question about Tara a lot of information passed back and forth at great speed between us. A very intense discussion took place on what mattered most to me. Dhardo Rimpoche explained an extended version of the Tara-practice5 _ and while he was explaining it was as if he was in the presence of what he was describing. He saw the Buddha and Bodhisattva figures he was talking about in front of him. The effect Dhardo Rimpoche’s reply to my questions had on me was that it turned around my whole way of seeing. It was a recognition: ‘Oh, it is like that!’ And I felt incredibly affirmed. It was like ‘I’ was worthy of being given to. This connects with a very strong impression I had of Dhardo Rimpoche: that he treated everything, from the highest to the lowest, as if it was divine. Everything was worthy of his attention, his metta, his generosity. Although in spiritual stature very big, he was so humble, so ordinary, but to such a degree that it was extraordinary. He had so much to say and there was so much more he wanted to pass on, but the time we had was short. Though he assured Sanghadevi and me 4
Jampel Khalden - secretary and assistant to Dhardo Rimpoche. Now director of the school and grandfather of the tulku who has been recognised as the reincarnation of Dhardo Rimpoche.
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Tara-practice - see next chapter for a complete description.
that we would meet again, it was difficult to say goodbye. Transport was arranged for us and, accompanied by the two sons of Jampel Khalden we travelled back to Siliguri by jeep. From there Sanghadevi and I travelled together a little more. We visited Bodhgaya6, Sarnath7 and Nalanda8 and then I made my way on my own in the direction of Nepal where I would stay for another two weeks. In my hotel room in Kathmandu I had two important experiences. The first was a dream in which I met Dhardo Rimpoche again. The second was a kind of vision of death, while I was lying sick in bed after a Nepalese dish with spinach that had gone off. When I had recuperated I visited various places in and around Kathmandu. Two weeks later I had to return to India because I had agreed to participate in a retreat in the vicinity of Wardha. But I did not really want to leave. It was as if something still needed to happen and I connected this with Dhardo Rimpoche.
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Bodhgaya - the place where the Buddha became Enlightened underneath the Bodhi tree. 7
Sarnath - the place where the Buddha taught the Dharma for the first time to the five men with whom he had practised asceticism. They became his first pupils.
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Nalanda - place where a large monastery used to be situated, where Buddhists from various schools studied and practised the Dharma.
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In the plane back to India I had an intense feeling that I was going against something that was really important. Through the speakers the song of Chicago9 with the words: “If you leave me now, you take away the biggest part of me . . . please don’t go . . .” was playing. It turned out, when we were flying above Varanasi, that as a result of the bad weather the plane was unable to land. We returned to Kathmandu. Once again the majestic and beautiful panorama of the Himalayan Mountains. A night in a luxury hotel and the next day I left Nepal a second time. Dhardo Rimpoche had told us that he would go on a pilgrimage in Nepal and I had had the quiet hope that coincidence would bring us together again. But apart from in a dream in which he looked at me with his third eye open I never saw Dhardo Rimpoche again. While I was visiting the stupas in Boudnath and Swayambunath10 in Nepal and was on a short solitary retreat in a monastery in Dulikthel11, Dhardo Rimpoche was walking around in Nepal. To every beggar who 9
Chicago - American rock group. ‘If you leave me now’ was one of their hits. 10
Boudnath and Swayambunath - two important stupas in Kathmandu.
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Dulikthel - this monastery marks the place where according to the Jataka Tales the Buddha in a previous existence gave his body to a hungry tigress that was looking for food for her cubs.
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asked he gave a coin. He was on his last pilgrimage. Six weeks later - I was back in England on a solitary retreat - I was walking outside around a field and reciting mantras when I began to hear and feel I was in the presence of lots of Tibetan monks doing the same. That same evening I received a message from a friend saying that Dhardo Rimpoche had died. Did I see snowdrops falling or was it blossom from the trees? That is what usually happens according to Tibetan tradition when a great monk dies. When I reflected that I would not meet Dhardo Rimpoche anymore, I looked at the Tara image that was on my shrine, which was vibrating with light and his presence. I realised that I could stay in touch with Dhardo Rimpoche by practising and passing on what he had taught12.
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Tara-practice - see next chapter for a complete description.
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Dhardo Rimpoche in his room ↑ ↓ Visiting Dhardo Rimpoche together with Sanghadevi
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↑ View from the road to the school ← ↓ The Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Cultural Institute School ↓
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