Part 2 of SORCERER’S ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON THE DALAI LAMA from 'Fearless in Tibet'
When the Dalai Lama was 24 years old, he began having recurring ominous dreams. He consulted Tertön Sogyal, who interpreted the dreams as life threatening and suggested antidotes and rituals to drive away the source of the aggression. The Nechung Oracle began to warn of similar dangers to the Dalai Lama’s life. A new menace had emerged. While the Oracle often gave cryptic allegories in his counsel, on this occasion he stated plainly that measures needed to be taken to protect the Dalai Lama.
The Nechung Oracle most often delivered his prophecies and advice to the Dalai Lama and government ministers in formal ceremonies. With the Dalai Lama presiding on a throne and the officials arranged by rank, the Oracle’s medium would enter the temple in a meditative state, waiting to become possessed. As the assembly chanted invocation verses, the medium’s ritual brocade robes and circular chest plate, weighing more than 100 pounds, were securely fastened. When Nechung entered the medium’s body, the monk stomped and jerked in wrathful dances as a massive helmet-crown that weighed more than 30 pounds was tied to his head. As he hissed and jumped, bowed and twirled, attendants scrambled to listen to the Oracle’s prophecies uttered through the medium. Helpful attendants supported the possessed monk and hoped his limbs and neck would not snap from the weight.
Before the Great Prayer Festival in 1899, although the Nechung Oracle strongly warned of threats to the Dalai Lama and cautioned him against being in any public space, the ruler still took part in ceremonies at the Jokhang Temple with Lhasa residents. Days after the ceremonies were complete, the Dalai Lama suffered from dizziness and nausea. Potala Palace doctors were summoned to assess the Dalai Lama’s weakened condition. That evening, the Medium of the Nechung Oracle went into a trance at his small temple on the outskirts of Lhasa. The medium’s attending monks knew something was very serious because Nechung rarely entered the medium when not summoned during a formal ceremony. But the message was indecipherable. The puzzling message mentioned death, the Dalai Lama, and a pair of boots.
A messenger was immediately dispatched on horseback to the Potala with the dire warning in writing for the Dalai Lama. As soon as Nechung had departed the monk’s body, the exhausted medium put on his monk’s habit and dashed to the Potala. A separate runner was sent in the dead of night to fetch Tertön Sogyal, for the Oracle had also said, “Ask the one with the title of Tertön.”
By the time Tertön Sogyal arrived at the Potala, the Dalai Lama’s attendants and advisors were trying to decipher the meaning of the Nechung Oracle’s enigmatic warning, which spoke of perilous spells, ill will, jealousy, and footwear. The group made no headway in deciphering the Oracle’s message. As they spoke in hushed voices, confused by the inclusion of footwear in the warning, a disturbed and tired Dalai Lama walked into the room. All present bowed their heads and bent at the waist.
“What then is this about?” the Dalai Lama questioned bluntly.
“Sogyal, tell me!”
Tertön Sogyal asked the chamber attendants if a pair of boots had recently been gifted to the Dalai Lama. One of the attendants nodded affirmatively, grabbed a torch to illuminate the dark hallways, and ran to retrieve the footwear.
Some weeks before, Tertön Sogyal had visited Demo at Tengyeling Monastery. While there, Norbu Tsering had asked Tertön Sogyal to put on a pair of boots that, he was told, had recently been delivered from an expert boot maker. Tertön Sogyal did not know that Norbu Tsering had sewn the black magic diagram into the heel of one of the boots. Norbu Tsering wanted Tertön Sogyal to wear the boots because if a powerful tantric practitioner like Tertön Sogyal stomps on such a heinous diagram, the curse is kick-started. As soon as Tertön Sogyal pulled on the knee-high boots, however, blood dripped from his nose. He took this as an extremely inauspicious sign and removed the boots immediately and departed from Tengyeling. Failing to get Tertön Sogyal to wear the boots, Norbu Tsering decided to try to have the Dalai Lama effect the spell himself by wearing the boots. Norbu Tsering arranged for the cursed boots to be offered to the Dalai Lama by Tengyeling Monastery during an offering ceremony that took place during the Great Prayer Festival two weeks before the Dalai Lama fell ill—precisely when the Oracle had warned of dangers.
The Dalai Lama looked on sternly at his most trusted attendants, the medium, and his teacher Tertön Sogyal, as they waited for the attendant to return with the boots. The echo of the scurrying steps of the chamber attendant grew louder in the hallway. Two separate pairs of boots had been given to the Dalai Lama during the offering ceremony, and the attendant held both pairs. Tertön Sogyal recognized the pair he had tried on a fortnight earlier. Upon seeing the boots, the Dalai Lama almost vomited, while the Medium of the Nechung Oracle began to sway back and forth as if he were going to be possessed.
“Give me those,” Tertön Sogyal said as he seized a single boot with both hands.
Tertön Sogyal’s body surged with wrath. He tore at the boot’s leather and brocade and slammed the sole to the floor until the dense insulation in the heel broke open. The cursed talisman was ejected from the boot’s heel and fell to the cold stone floor. The medium reached forward to grab it, but Tertön Sogyal pushed him away. Dark shadows slid around the room as wind pushed at the flames of the torches set in the walls. Holding the sorcerer’s black magic diagram in the air, Tertön Sogyal did not dare voice what he read inscribed.
“Show it to me,” the Dalai Lama commanded.
Tertön Sogyal dutifully walked toward the ruler and held the diagram in the torchlight.
SUPPRESS THUBTEN GYATSO,
BORN IN THE FIRE RAT YEAR
Dizzy and nauseated, the Dalai Lama squinted in anger, now realizing the gravity of the Oracle’s pronouncement.
“There may be more than one person in Lhasa with the name Thubten Gyatso,” the Dalai Lama said. “But only one Thubten Gyatso was born in the Fire Rat year. Find out who is trying to kill me.”
The Dalai Lama’s orders to find his would-be assassins were completed swiftly. Tibetan government documents show that ministers oversaw a brief investigation and judicial proceeding. Tengyeling was immediately suspected. As the former regent was ultimately responsible for the activities of Tengyeling Monastery, Demo was implicated in the assassination plot. He was summoned to the Potala on the pretext of an important ceremony. Upon his arrival, he was placed in shackles and thrown into the Shol prison below the Potala Palace. His nephew, Norbu Tsering, was also tricked into coming to the Potala on the fake summons that he was to be honored for his exemplary service to the Tibetan government.
Nyagtrül was taken from the Barkhor neighborhood and dragged into a prison cell. The black magician Nyagtrül was identified as the sorcerer assassin, and Norbu Tsering admitted being the ringleader of the plot, not only because of the deadly spell in the boot, but he had also buried four ceramic vases around the Potala Palace, empowered with different black magic substances. Demo and other family members at Tengyeling were not spared. More than two dozen individuals at Tengyeling sat in the dungeon below the Potala Palace within a week. News spread quickly around Lhasa of the assassination attempt on the Dalai Lama.
When the Dalai Lama was 24 years old, he began having recurring ominous dreams. He consulted Tertön Sogyal, who interpreted the dreams as life threatening and suggested antidotes and rituals to drive away the source of the aggression. The Nechung Oracle began to warn of similar dangers to the Dalai Lama’s life. A new menace had emerged. While the Oracle often gave cryptic allegories in his counsel, on this occasion he stated plainly that measures needed to be taken to protect the Dalai Lama.
The Nechung Oracle most often delivered his prophecies and advice to the Dalai Lama and government ministers in formal ceremonies. With the Dalai Lama presiding on a throne and the officials arranged by rank, the Oracle’s medium would enter the temple in a meditative state, waiting to become possessed. As the assembly chanted invocation verses, the medium’s ritual brocade robes and circular chest plate, weighing more than 100 pounds, were securely fastened. When Nechung entered the medium’s body, the monk stomped and jerked in wrathful dances as a massive helmet-crown that weighed more than 30 pounds was tied to his head. As he hissed and jumped, bowed and twirled, attendants scrambled to listen to the Oracle’s prophecies uttered through the medium. Helpful attendants supported the possessed monk and hoped his limbs and neck would not snap from the weight.
Before the Great Prayer Festival in 1899, although the Nechung Oracle strongly warned of threats to the Dalai Lama and cautioned him against being in any public space, the ruler still took part in ceremonies at the Jokhang Temple with Lhasa residents. Days after the ceremonies were complete, the Dalai Lama suffered from dizziness and nausea. Potala Palace doctors were summoned to assess the Dalai Lama’s weakened condition. That evening, the Medium of the Nechung Oracle went into a trance at his small temple on the outskirts of Lhasa. The medium’s attending monks knew something was very serious because Nechung rarely entered the medium when not summoned during a formal ceremony. But the message was indecipherable. The puzzling message mentioned death, the Dalai Lama, and a pair of boots.
A messenger was immediately dispatched on horseback to the Potala with the dire warning in writing for the Dalai Lama. As soon as Nechung had departed the monk’s body, the exhausted medium put on his monk’s habit and dashed to the Potala. A separate runner was sent in the dead of night to fetch Tertön Sogyal, for the Oracle had also said, “Ask the one with the title of Tertön.”
By the time Tertön Sogyal arrived at the Potala, the Dalai Lama’s attendants and advisors were trying to decipher the meaning of the Nechung Oracle’s enigmatic warning, which spoke of perilous spells, ill will, jealousy, and footwear. The group made no headway in deciphering the Oracle’s message. As they spoke in hushed voices, confused by the inclusion of footwear in the warning, a disturbed and tired Dalai Lama walked into the room. All present bowed their heads and bent at the waist.
“What then is this about?” the Dalai Lama questioned bluntly.
“Sogyal, tell me!”
Tertön Sogyal asked the chamber attendants if a pair of boots had recently been gifted to the Dalai Lama. One of the attendants nodded affirmatively, grabbed a torch to illuminate the dark hallways, and ran to retrieve the footwear.
Some weeks before, Tertön Sogyal had visited Demo at Tengyeling Monastery. While there, Norbu Tsering had asked Tertön Sogyal to put on a pair of boots that, he was told, had recently been delivered from an expert boot maker. Tertön Sogyal did not know that Norbu Tsering had sewn the black magic diagram into the heel of one of the boots. Norbu Tsering wanted Tertön Sogyal to wear the boots because if a powerful tantric practitioner like Tertön Sogyal stomps on such a heinous diagram, the curse is kick-started. As soon as Tertön Sogyal pulled on the knee-high boots, however, blood dripped from his nose. He took this as an extremely inauspicious sign and removed the boots immediately and departed from Tengyeling. Failing to get Tertön Sogyal to wear the boots, Norbu Tsering decided to try to have the Dalai Lama effect the spell himself by wearing the boots. Norbu Tsering arranged for the cursed boots to be offered to the Dalai Lama by Tengyeling Monastery during an offering ceremony that took place during the Great Prayer Festival two weeks before the Dalai Lama fell ill—precisely when the Oracle had warned of dangers.
The Dalai Lama looked on sternly at his most trusted attendants, the medium, and his teacher Tertön Sogyal, as they waited for the attendant to return with the boots. The echo of the scurrying steps of the chamber attendant grew louder in the hallway. Two separate pairs of boots had been given to the Dalai Lama during the offering ceremony, and the attendant held both pairs. Tertön Sogyal recognized the pair he had tried on a fortnight earlier. Upon seeing the boots, the Dalai Lama almost vomited, while the Medium of the Nechung Oracle began to sway back and forth as if he were going to be possessed.
“Give me those,” Tertön Sogyal said as he seized a single boot with both hands.
Tertön Sogyal’s body surged with wrath. He tore at the boot’s leather and brocade and slammed the sole to the floor until the dense insulation in the heel broke open. The cursed talisman was ejected from the boot’s heel and fell to the cold stone floor. The medium reached forward to grab it, but Tertön Sogyal pushed him away. Dark shadows slid around the room as wind pushed at the flames of the torches set in the walls. Holding the sorcerer’s black magic diagram in the air, Tertön Sogyal did not dare voice what he read inscribed.
“Show it to me,” the Dalai Lama commanded.
Tertön Sogyal dutifully walked toward the ruler and held the diagram in the torchlight.
SUPPRESS THUBTEN GYATSO,
BORN IN THE FIRE RAT YEAR
Dizzy and nauseated, the Dalai Lama squinted in anger, now realizing the gravity of the Oracle’s pronouncement.
“There may be more than one person in Lhasa with the name Thubten Gyatso,” the Dalai Lama said. “But only one Thubten Gyatso was born in the Fire Rat year. Find out who is trying to kill me.”
The Dalai Lama’s orders to find his would-be assassins were completed swiftly. Tibetan government documents show that ministers oversaw a brief investigation and judicial proceeding. Tengyeling was immediately suspected. As the former regent was ultimately responsible for the activities of Tengyeling Monastery, Demo was implicated in the assassination plot. He was summoned to the Potala on the pretext of an important ceremony. Upon his arrival, he was placed in shackles and thrown into the Shol prison below the Potala Palace. His nephew, Norbu Tsering, was also tricked into coming to the Potala on the fake summons that he was to be honored for his exemplary service to the Tibetan government.
Nyagtrül was taken from the Barkhor neighborhood and dragged into a prison cell. The black magician Nyagtrül was identified as the sorcerer assassin, and Norbu Tsering admitted being the ringleader of the plot, not only because of the deadly spell in the boot, but he had also buried four ceramic vases around the Potala Palace, empowered with different black magic substances. Demo and other family members at Tengyeling were not spared. More than two dozen individuals at Tengyeling sat in the dungeon below the Potala Palace within a week. News spread quickly around Lhasa of the assassination attempt on the Dalai Lama.