“Even if the whole world is full of thorns, a lover’s heart will still be a bed of roses.”–Rumi
“In this way, the six-syllable mantra, king of all secret mantras, is the quintessence of the force and might of the immeasurable enlightened activity that extricates the beings of the six families from the very depths of samsara. Therefore, it should be recited as much as possible during the main part of a practice session.”–15th Karmapa in Continual Rainfall for Benefit of Beings
“It would be possible to calculate the weight of Mount Meru, the King of Mountains, on a scale, but it is impossible to measure the merit resulting from a single recitation of the six-syllable mantra. It would be possible to wear away a diamond boulder by sliding a soft cloth of Benares muslin over it once every hundred years, but it is impossible to measure the merit resulting from a single recitation of the six-syllable mantra.” —Lotus Lattice Root Tantra quote on the six-syllable mantra
“What is the unmistaken main goal of identifying tulkus? It is to benefit and be helpful for the sake of the teachings and beings. Considering only this, one must recognize tulkus who will be beneficial and helpful. In this situation, when recognizing the reincarnation of the precious Bokar Rinpoche, it was done with that kind of intention/motivation and without any deception.” –17th Karmapa on the enthronement of 3rd Bokar Rinpoche (November 2024)
Introduction
On 3rd February in the afternoon of the pre-Kagyu Monlam teachings, HE 3rd Bokar Chogtrul Rinpoche, a Karma Kagyu and Shangpa Kagyu lineage holder, who gave his first public teaching for the Kagyu Monlam to a ‘packed house’ on a short practice text on Avalokiteshvara called For the Benefit of Beings Pervading Space : Visualization and Mantra Recitation of the Great Compassionate One (ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོའི་བསྒོམ་བཟླས་འགྲོ་དོན་མཁའ་ཁྱབ་མ་བཞུགས་སོ། །). composed by the Tibetan Buddhist master and inventor, Thangtong Gyalpo, to hundreds of Karma Kagyu monastics and lay followers from India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Tibet, SE Asia, Europe and North America (a translation of this text (with Tibetan and phonetics) can be read here).
The 3rd Bokar Rinpoche, whose Tibetan was lovely to hear and clear to understand, began the teaching saying that he had been requested to teach the short text the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa:
“So to make a bit of a Dharma connection with you, with the practice of noble Avalokiteshvara, for two sessions I will be following this command of the Gyalwang Karmapa. So although I do not have any great pride or ability, I will do this via the text composed by the great mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo, and will do my best to offer this to you all. So please give rise to the mind of awakening and listen to the teachings.”
Below is my brief report and overview of the teaching in the morning (on the author and text) and the afternoon, (a practice session). As an Appendix after the endnotes, I have included some brief information about the 2nd and 3rd Bokar Rinpoche and his recognition by the 17th Karmapa.
It is not easy for a young man that age to instruct such a lot of monastics and laypeople on a high throne and guide and hold them in meditation. Nonetheless, he was able to do so with a humble confidence with gentleness and love, not an easy feat to pull off. Thus on that note, it was a sweet, simple and humble entry into the Kagyu Monlam history by the 3rd Bokar Rinpoche.
As I walked back to my guesthouse that evening amidst the honking horns of chaotic Bodh Gaya, and fiery pink sunset hues, as it turned dark, fireworks of green, red, white and gold were set off near the Bodhi temple, while children were sleeping on the ground in blankets next to street dogs. A timely reminder of the beauty and crown jewel in Bodh Gaya the sacred place of Buddha’s awakening, but also of the gross and endless suffering in samsara too caused by human excess greed and desire.
Music? Avalokiteshvara mantra in Sanskrit, I Wish You Roses by Kali Uchis, Kiss from a Rose by Seal, Where is the Love? by Black-Eyed Peas.
Dedicated with love and gratitude to the root guru, yidam deity, protectors and to the activities of Bokar Rinpoche and Karma Kagyu and to all beings. May they all experience genuine and lasting love, wisdom, peace, passion, beauty and joy. For other original research and translations on Avalokiteshvara, see here.
Compiled and transcribed by Adele Tomlin, 5th January 2025.
The teaching on Thanthong Gyalpo’s life-story and his text
“So generally, Thangtong Gyalpo was well-known as a great Mahasiddha and practitioner, his mind was inseparable from the great Chenrezig. He was a great Bodhisattva. So I myself regularly practice this text by Thangtong Gyalpo.
His main lineage was Sakya, but he also was a great practitioner of the Nyingma lineage and Shangpa Kagyu practices as well. How long did the Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo live? There are two differing explanations about this. Some say he lived to the age of 125 years, others say he lived to the age of 128. So we can say that he lived more than 120 years [1].
During that lifetime, in this world, he brought forth many emanations, and those emanations spread throughout the world giving benefit to beings. In Tibet, and Bhutan especially one of his activities was building these bridges of iron chains. So he also has the name the Mahasiddha of the bridge. [2]”
The 15th Karmapa, Kakhyab Dorje’s commentary
The 3rd Bokar Rinpoche then gave a brief teaching on the six main points contained in a commentary on the Thangtong Gyalpo text, composed by the 15th Karmapa, Khakyab Dorje, called Continual Rainfall for the Benefit of Beings (སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ཀྱི་བསྒོམ་བཟླས་འགྲོ་དོན་མཁའ་ཁྱབ་མའི་ཟིན་བྲིས་ཉུང་བསྡུས་འགྲོ་དོན་ཆར་རྒྱུན་) [3]. [An English translation of this short commentary can be read here, and is certainly worth reading in full]. The six points are
- Preliminaries: Refuge and bodhicitta
- Main practice: meditating on deity
- Recitation of the mantra
- Concluding advice for carrying the practice
- Dedicating the virtue
- Benefits of the practice
For those who want to listen to Bokar Rinpoche’s teachings on these points, see the video here. Here are some brief excerpts from the text/teaching below.
The colophon of this commentary by 15th Karmapa (which Bokar Rinpoche did not speak about), says:
“The noble one, Dharma practitioner Kelzang Drolkar and her mother, Tseten Dolkar repeatedly urged me to compose this, saying “Compose it like this.” A long time passed, and they persistently continued to request it. Again and again they pressed me. As a response to their insistence, I, the one who considers himself a simple-minded elderly householder named Mu Tob Lodro Ziji, or by another name, Khakyab Dorje, the one who calls out, the old man with many illnesses, wrote this down. He claims the name of a bodhisattva for this degenerate age. He pretends to be a practitioner of Dharma, but is actually a fool.”
Visualisation of the deity
The text reads: “Upon a white lotus and moon above my head and crowning each sentient being throughout space, isHRI from which Noble, Supreme Chenrezig appears, gleaming white and radiating five-colored lively and smiling, he gazes with eyes of compassion. The first two of his four hands are held palms together; the lower two hold a crystal rosary and white lotus. Adorned with silk and jewel ornaments, his upper body is clothed with a deerskin. His head is crowned with Buddha Amitabha, and he is seated in the vajra posture with an immaculate full moon as his backrest. In essence he is the essence of all sources of refuge.”
Then one recites the mantra while visualising:
“As the result of this perfectly focused invocation, light radiates from the body of the Noble One clearing away impure karmic experience and misconceptions. The outer universe manifests as Dewachen, the Realm of Joy, and the body, speech and mind of the beings that live there are the enlightened body, speech and mind of Lord Chenrezig. Appearance, sound and awareness are inseparable from emptiness. Having clearly visualized the points explained above, we recite the mantra Om Mani Padmé Hum as the main part of the practice session.”
Benefits of Practice
The sixth and last part of the text is mainly quotes, which Rinpoche said were quite easy to understand, but he recited two of these quotes:
“The full benefit of practicing the meditation-recitation of Noble Chenrezig as described is inestimable. The substance of the benefit of contemplating the body of the deity and doing his meditation is expressed in a few words in the Lotus Lattice root tantra:
“All Buddhas are included in the practice of just one mandala of enlightened body: that of the body of Chenrezig, the Protector.” Doing his practice and bearing him in mind purify even the most negative acts of direct consequence.
Second, the Benefit of Reciting the Six Syllables, the King of All Secret Mantras was explained by the victorious one, the flawless voice of the Buddha Shakyamuni. The illustrious master Guru Rinpoche, Maha Guru Padmasambhava, in the form of a testament to the people of Tibet. His Treasure teaching revealed by the undisputed master of the great revealer of treasures who manifested as Vidyadhara Jatson Nyingpo:
“OM MANI PADMÉ HUM. This six-syllable mantra is the unique quintessence of the wisdom mind of all Buddhas. It is the unique quintessence of the eighty-four thousand root teachings of the Dharma. It is the very heart of the Buddhas of the five families and the Lords of Secrets. Essential pith instructions are concentrated in each of the six syllables. The mantra is the source of all good fortune and qualities. It is the root of accomplishment of all benefit and happiness. It is the great path to the fortunate realms and to liberation.
Through hearing even once the supreme expression of the six syllables, essence of all of the teachings of the Dharma, one attains the level of no return (An extremely stable level of realization from which regression is impossible) and becomes a guide who leads beings to liberation.
Any animal, even an ant, which hears it when dying will be reborn in Dewachen once it has passed on. Simply recalling the six-syllable mantra is like the sun shining on snow; all of the negative deeds and obscurations born of the accumulation of negative actions perpetrated during all existences within samsara since beginningless time are purified and one is reborn in Dewachen, the Realm of Joy.
Moreover, touching it is like receiving empowerments from countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Contemplating it only once is like hearing, reflecting and meditating: everything that appears arises as Dharmakaya. It is an open treasure-hold of enlightened activity that benefits beings.”
The six syllable mantra meaning
The 15th Karmapa’s commentary explains the meaning of the six-syllable Om Mani Padme Hum mantra in detail, but Bokar Rinpoche said that he would give a brief explanation, even though he joked his notes were very brief!
“OM is the first syllable, it is said that OM contains the wisdom of the five kayas. MANI means Norbu/ jewel. PADME means lotus flower, the E at the end signifies it is the one holding the flower. So literally it means the one who is holding the jewel in the lotus. HUM the last syllable, means having the ability of awakened activity to protect beings of the six realms.”
Then Rinpoche gave another explanation of the mantra and visualisations while reciting it in the teaching, based on the detailed version in the 15th Karmapa’s commentary:
“OM is white. It purifies the emotion of pride as cause, as well as its general karmic results. More specifically, it purifies the suffering of the gods: the transition and fall from the god realms.
“MA is green. It purifies the emotion of jealousy as cause, as well as its general karmic results.
More specifically, it purifies the suffering of the demigods: quarrels and conflict.
NI is yellow. It is adamantine wisdom, the union of enlightened body, speech, mind, qualities and activity. It purifies the taint of ignorance—dualistic clinging—as cause, as well as its general karmic results. More specifically, it purifies the four great rivers of human suffering that are birth, aging, sickness and death
PAD is clear blue. It purifies the emotion of ignorance as cause, as well as its general karmic results. More specifically, it purifies the suffering associated with the animal realm: dullness, speechlessness and servitude
MÉ is red. It purifies desire-attachment, greed and stinginess as cause, as well as their general karmic results. More specifically, it purifies the suffering of the hungry spirits: hunger and thirst.
HUM is black. It purifies dualistic anger-aversion as cause, as well as its general karmic results. More specifically, it purifies the suffering endured by those in the hell realms: extreme heat and cold.”
Afternoon Meditation Practice: White and Red Avalokiteshvara
In the afternoon, 3rd Bokar Rinpoche gave a reading transmission and guided mediation practice on the text in the main Kagyu Monlam tent.
As before with the morning teaching of 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche, this time while meditating on the single figure of white Avalokiteshvara, on the secret level, a red rose was produced from my heart and held as an offering. Then, on the secret level, the deity turned red with his rose-red lips, and went into a union with secret consort. Again, masses of red roses rained down, on everyone in the tent and the young Rinpoche/deity holding with a union with wisdom, with joy, love, compassion, innocence, and playfulness. The meditation then entered into the bliss-empty state of formlessness, and wisdom descended into the space. A mind to mind connection transformed the whole expanse into a bliss realm of ‘first love’ butterfly, youthful feelings of laughter, falling in love, tenderness, care and compassion. An eternal embrace to die in, literally.
As the meditation continued still held in Avalokiteshvara’s sweet and smiling embrace, White Tāra appeared from within the ‘most secret’ depths bright and glistening, the bitter-sweet yet lovely tear on the cheek of great compassion.
Then, as the grand finale of the ‘secret’ meditation, during the dedication prayers, Kālacakra arrived.
It had been a long time since I had visualised or recited Kālacakra, but instantly the visual attributes and mantra of the deity entered the mind-stream, as if a memory had been awakened, not just recently but from many years ago. The former 2nd Bokar Rinpoche’s face appeared alternating on the face of Kālacakra, his personal yidam deity. Then I knew that the Kālacakra deity blessings were present at the gathering and in 3rd Bokar Rinpoche’s mindstream, as sign of his authenticity and lineage.
Endnotes
[1] Thangtong Gyalpo was born in Tibet in 1385. Some sources claim he instantly became 60 years old as soon as he was born. Yet other sources note that he achieved the secret of longevity through prayer and lived till the ripe old age of 125.
[2] “Due to his madman-ness, a ferryman denied him a ride when he wished to cross a river to a holy site. From that incident, he envisioned an iron-chain suspension bridge for pilgrims to travel on. To achieve his vision, he studied metallurgy, learning to create durable links. He learned engineering to build structures that could span rivers and gorges.
To create the chain links, he developed his own method of smelting iron. He became the first to construct suspension bridges with iron chains. He went on to build a total of 58 bridges in Tibet and Bhutan, including the Chakzam Bridge across Yarlung Tsangpo. The bridge is 150 yards (approximately 140 metres) long, the longest unsupported bridge in the world at that time.” (from this online biography here).”
[3] Karma pa 15 mkhaʼ khyab rdo rje. “sPyan ras gzigs kyi bsgom bzlas ʼgro don mkhaʼ khyab maʼi zin bris nyung bsdus ʼgro don char rgyun.” Karma pa sku phreng rim byon gyi gsung ʼbum phyogs bsgrigs, vol. 98, dPal brtsegs bod yig dpe rnying zhib ʼjug khang, 2013, pp. 274–95. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW3PD1288_9CF406.
The 2nd and 3rd Bokar Rinpoche and the golden Kālacakra stupa at Bokar Monastery, Mirik
For some biographical information about the recognition of the 3rd Bokar Rinpoche yangsi, please read the recent speech of the 17th Karmapa at his recent enthronement ceremony in November 2024, A speech in which the 17th Karmapa spoke about why tulkus should not be recognised for political reasons. He was picked by the 17th Karmapa in 2014, with the assistance of the close attendant (for fifty years) of the former Bokar Rinpoche, and scholar Khenpo Lodro Thonyer Rinpoche.
The 2nd Bokar Rinpoche (see video of him teaching here), was a great Karma Kagyu and Shangpa Kagyu lineage holder, whose particular yidam deity was Kālacakra. For more about my visit to Bokar Monastery, Mirik in 2018 and the magnificent Kālacakra stupa and shrine room where Bokar Rinpoches relics are kept, see here. While at Bokar Monastery, I also attended some public teachings and empowerments from HE 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche), as well as translated (with the assistance of Ziche Leethong, Gyaltsab Rinpoche’s translator) the Karma Chagme sadhana of Lion-Faced Dakini, see here. In addition, Khenpo Donyo Rinpoche (the current attendant/close friend of 3rd Bokar Rinpoche) has written a book on the Kalacakra, its practice and lineage (as I wrote about here).
Hey ho, most fortunate ruby rogue/rouge
Rosy Redness,❤️ prancing dancer,
Such a great ‘play by play’ unfolding
of the yidam and protectors
Truly, near better than being there.
As someone who sorely lacks imagination
I am really inspired.
Your courage and kindness to spell it all out
is truly
Fantastic and heartwarming.
Tug Je Chay.
And a Maha V- day in B.G.😍💋
🎶keep on Rockin in the free world🎵🎶
N.Young
Thanks for sharing your gratitude here! Happy to hear you find valuable and inspiring 🎵🎶:-)