Today, the nunnery of Osel Karma Thegchog Ling nunnery, in Boudhanath, Nepal announced the passing away of a great Karma Kagyu yogi and teacher, the 90 year old Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche (1935-2024, four days prior on 22nd June 2024.
The announcement (given in official letters in Tibetan, English and Chinese) read that the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa was informed immediately of his passing away on 22nd June at 6.10pm and gave the command that:
“His physical remains must be left in solitude without any disturbances and obstacles that could be caused by the stirrings of others, until his state of thugdam had been dissolved.”
This was the reason they did not announce it until today. This is the sacred tradition of thugdam (which I have written about before here in my Tricycle Buddhist Review of a recent documentary film about the practice) when meditators go into a deep state of meditation on dying such that the very subtle nature of mind stays in the heart region. Even though the physical body and brain has died in clinical terms, the body does not decay or smell during that time.
Close and sacred connection with 17th Karmapa
Khenpo Tsultrim not only had a close vajra bond and connection with the 16th Karmapa, Rigpe Dorje in Tibet and in exile (see below), but also to the current official 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje He attended the Kagyu Monlam, Bodh Gaya and other events in India at which the 17th Karmapa presided over and received a long-life empowerment in Bodh Gaya from him.
A few weeks ago, the 17th Karmapa composed and published a long-life aspiration for Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche’s 90th birthday.
This is why the nuns at his main nunnery Osel Thegchog Ling sought and adhered to the 17th Karmapa’s advice only when he passed away.
Great Tibetan yogi and teacher from Gomde Nanchen, Tibet
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche was born in 1935 (the Tibetan female wood pig year of the sixteenth element cycle) in an area of Tibet famously known as Gomde Nangchen. The region was given this name because, during the time of Tishrī Repa Karpo and others, the teachings of the practice lineage flourished incredibly, and male and female householders also devoted themselves to meditation and received profound meditation instructions.
Tsultrim Gyamtso embraced the life of a yogi-ascetic, wandering throughout East and Central Tibet, undertaking solitary retreats in caves to realize directly the teachings he had received. He often lived in charnel grounds in order to practice and master chod. Subsequently he took up retreat in the caves above Tsurphu, the seat of the Karmapas, where he received instructions on the six yogas of Naropa, the Hevajra Tantra, and other profound teachings from Dilyak Tenzin Drupon Rinpoche and other masters. He spent many years in Bhutan as a wandering yogin, meditating in caves and hermitages.
Meditation at Tsurphu Monastery of the glorious Karmapas in Tibet
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso travelled to Tsurphu Monastery, the main seat of the Karmapas from the time of Dusum Khyenpa, the first Karmapa and spent time meditating there. In praise of this place, he sang this vajra song:
NAMO
Three jewels, three roots, and infinite deities,
I hold you as supreme refuges from now until enlightenment.
I will now praise just a part of the qualities
Of this place of Akaniṣhṭa, a sacred site of mind.
From the lord Düsum Khyenpa
To Rigpe Dorje, the undeceiving refuge,
This supreme, glorious site of enlightened mind,
Akaniṣhṭa, has been blessed by sixteen successive Karmapas.
The rocks here may appear to be solid matter,
But they are merely the figments of dualistic thoughts:
In reality, they are appearance-emptiness, a maṇḍala of deities.
When certainty in this becomes stable,
All who practice here
Will effortlessly perfect without exception
The excellent qualities of the grounds and paths
Of the great secret, the Vajrayāna—
In this I have gained certainty.
All the future Karmapas as well
Will surely turn the dharma wheel in this place.
Therefore, may the ravines between the rocks
Fill up with disciples of the Karmapa’s teachings!
Like bees to a flower garden,
May the faithful men and women of the world
Wander among these secluded retreats.
May their fame fill the world,
And may faithful hearts blaze brightly!”
At Tsurphu, along with a gathering of many faithful, Rinpoche witnessed the 16th Karmapa performing the ceremony of the precious Vajra Black Crown, which liberates upon seeing. His autobiography says:
“Even at that time, I possessed a firm conviction that it is not the hat that I had confidence that the true ‘hat’ of the Karmapa’s wisdom always abides inseparably with the Karmapa’s successive manifestations, and I have appreciated my good fortune in being able to have this confidence. I have always felt that this exemplary hat is something that the Karmapa displays for those disciples who cannot see the Karmapa’s naturally appearing wisdom hat, and that the Karmapa himself, no matter which incarnation, is capable of making a hat of this exemplary nature.”
Later, Rinpoche proceeded to the great charnel ground of Tsurphu, where he practiced, in forward and reverse order, meditation on the twelve links of interdependence. He then visited and meditated in the practice cave of the Ninth Karmapa, Kyimo Cave, the practice cave of the lord Repa Chenpo, and other sites. He also had a strong connection and did meditation retreat in Tārā’s Cave, where the 1st Karmapa saw Tārā’s face.
Scholar and Khenpo at Rumtek Monastery, Sikkim with 16th Karmapa’s ‘mental’ oral transmission
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso’s connection with the Karmapas does not end in Tibet though, he was not only a yogi but also a great scholar. In 1975 he was asked by the sixteenth Karmapa, head of the Kagyu tradition, to be abbot of the main Kagyu centre in France. However he asked instead to be allowed to travel and help people everywhere. He was also appointed as a Khenpo teacher by the 16th Karmapa, Rigpe Dorje at Rumtek monastery, Sikkim, India for several years.
An interesting anecdote I discovered in a 2019 MA thesis by Mriti Gyana Restoring a Lost Lineage: Re-Inventing the Karma Kagyu scholastic tradition of Tibetan Buddhism in Exile post 1959, explains how the 16th Karmapa (who was keen to revitalise the Karma Kagyu scholastic tradition that was almost wiped out by the Mongolian/Gelugpa invasion of Tibet in the 17th Century) called him into a room and gave them a mental transmission of the texts he wanted the Khenpos to teach there [see footnote 1 for detail). Khenpo Tsultrim realised the ultimate view andwas a Shentongpa (an Empty of Other proponents), and taught about why it was the ultimate view on the nature of mind and emptiness. He also gave a commentary on the famous Buddha Nature text, Mahāyānottaratantra Śāstra (Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཆོས་, Gyu Lama). For a list of his books and publications, see here.
Personal memories and meetings
From my own side, although I did not follow him personally, I first met Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso briefly at the Thrangu Rinpoche Vajra Vidya Institute shedra in Varanasi, when he was present there with the 17th Karmapa before the Kagyu Monlam around 2006 (shortly after I had taken private refuge vows for the first time with the 17th Karmapa in Gyuto, Dharamsala). At that time, Rinpoche seemed fit and healthy. I remember seeing him on the roof of the Institute talking with the Karmapa and I watched them both with devotion as they both briefly looked down towards me.
After that, Rinpoche’s health deteriorated significantly such that when I next met him at the very simple and humble Thegchog Ling nunnery in Nepal, where Rinpoche stayed in a small and simple room, he could hardly stand or walk well, and was unable to speak much either other than some grunting sounds. I had no idea what had happened to him but felt honoured to meet him nonetheless.
One of the things I remember fondly about his followers and community, some of whom I met while studying for one month at the Rigpe Dorje programme at Pullahari Monastery, Nepal (including his long-time translator, Jim Scott) was his use of songs and dance to enlighten people, typical yogi-style.
Thus, it is with that memory I (and am sure many others) remember him, laughing, singing and dancing with his stunning yogi-smile of ‘crazy wisdom and bliss’ that would brighten up anyone’s day. I am sure he is smiling and laughing in the bliss realm space surrounded by dakinis and the three roots, guru, yidam and protectors!
May there be a swift re-birth of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso for our sakes and may the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa’s activities flourish and prosper!
Music? Songs of Realisation by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche and for the yogi’s relaxed and wise ha ha, hee hee, Don’t Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin, Three Little Birds by Bob Marley, for the dancing and singing Happy by Pharrell, and for the bittersweet memories, The Way We Were by Barbara Streisand….”but it’s the laughter we remember, the way we were”.
Links to articles and translations on Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche and other online sources
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche official website
New Translations in Remembrance of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche; Shentong yogi-scholar
The Shentong View of Emptiness; A Short Introduction and Reader
On the meaning and translation of ‘Shentong’: a modern debate or dismissal of a woman’s voice?
Written and compiled by Adele Tomlin, 26th June 2024.
Endnotes
[1] The Nalandakirti Journal describes that in the vision Vimalamitra told the Sixteenth Karmapa: “Establish an institute where the teachings will be properly transmitted and studied, and I will emanate as teachers and students throughout thirteen lifetimes” (Goshir Gyaltsab 1989, 84). The prophecy serves as a ritualistic imperative for the Sixteenth Karmapa to revitalize the Karma Kagyu scholastic tradition. This prophecy also serves to legitimize the Sixteenth
Karmapa himself as the person authorized to initiate the academic project.
Other significant rituals that the Sixteenth Karmapa often performed were textual
transmissions, which play a significant role across the whole of Tibetan Buddhism in authenticating lineage teachings. The transmission here is usually called “oral transmission” (lung), which is a normal part of the larger Tibetan Buddhist framework. The procedure for oral transmission is to read the religious text out loudly so that it is heard by the people who are receiving the transmission. Likewise pass it down to the next generation so as believed that the transmission is carried forward uninterruptedly. Through these rituals, the Sixteenth Karmapa was able to repair the broken transmission of the Karma Kagyu scholastic tradition. He was probably sure that the senior Khenpos at Rumtek Shédra carried the textual transmissions either of Sakya and Nyingma School because they were trained at those shédra or by Sakya or Nyingma Khenpos in Tibet. Khenpo Chodrak Tenphel (ARF), a senior Rumtek Shédra’s instructor, taught the manner in which the Sixteenth Karmapa gave textual transmissions. He explained that on one occasion, the Sixteenth Karmapa invited Khenpo Tsutlrim Gyatso, another senior instructor of Rumtek Shédra, and himself to the Karmapa’ s audience room. The Sixteenth Karmapa then told them
that he was going to give a “textual empowerment” (dpe dbang) in order to restore the disrupted transmission in the Karma Kagyu scholastic tradition. The actual ritual consisted of stacking a number of philosophical texts on a table before them and then the Sixteenth Karmapa remaining in a meditative state for some time. After the meditation, he gave a traditional blessing by
touching the texts to the heads of the two instructors. Khenpo Chodrak further shared that the Karmapa instructed: “Now onwards, you have the religious authority to preach these philosophical texts, but always should remember me and supplicate to me while explaining those philosophical books.” Gyana (2019:17-18)
Dakini Translations and Publications མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་ལོ་ཙཱ་བའི་འགྱུར་དང་འགྲེམས་སྤེལ། 