Extract from Chapter 8 of "Fearless in Tibet"
OFFICIAL SUMMONS FROM THE DALAI LAMA
Drikok Encampment, Eastern Tibet
Year of the Earth Rat to the Earth Ox, 1888–1889
Accounts of Tertön Sogyal’s spiritual power spread throughout eastern Tibet to the marketplace and teahouses of Lhasa. Devout pilgrims arriving in central Tibet from Kham told of the emerging treasure revealer from Nyarong who was pulling termas out of granite and appearing in different villages at the same time. Traders brought stories of Tertön Sogyal’s blessed talismans that safeguarded them from the dangers of robbers and the punishing hailstorms. Even the monks and teachers in Lhasa at the great monastic universities of Sera, Drepung, and Ganden began hearing about Tertön Sogyal.
At the beginning of the Earth Rat year (1888), a messenger on horseback was dispatched from the Dalai Lama’s Potala Palace in Lhasa to eastern Tibet with a message for Tertön Sogyal. The horseman found Tertön Sogyal at Drikok encampment where he was staying with Nyoshul Lungtok.
“You must come immediately,” Tertön Sogyal read from the communiqué from the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. “Without delay! He showed the letter to Nyoshul Lungtok and Khandro Pumo. Soon thereafter, Tertön Sogyal received another summons from the Dalai Lama saying that his presence in Lhasa would benefit Tibet and the Buddhist teachings in general, and, specifically, that he needed to meet with the Tibetan leader. Khandro Pumo began arranging Tertön Sogyal’s belongings for the five-week overland journey to Lhasa, and she told others in their encampment to prepare the saddles and tack.
Tertön Sogyal was being called to Lhasa to perform tantric rituals capable of turning back the British army that was deploying on Tibet’s southern border. Mantras recited by Tertön Sogyal were believed to provide protection from the threat of foreign invasion. The State Oracle had told the young Dalai Lama that Tertön Sogyal must serve the nation. This was Tertön Sogyal’s effective appointment as chaplain to the Dalai Lama. Becoming Tibet’s tantric defense minister, Tertön Sogyal was charged with the special responsibility of using his mastery of the Vajrayana for the protection of the Dalai Lama and Tibet. Within the short arc of Tertön Sogyal’s life, he had gone from being a yak herder to a bandit to a mountain yogi, and was soon to become the teacher to the Dalai Lama and defender of the realm.
Tertön Sogyal’s meeting with the Dalai Lama would reenact the spiritual dynamism between the Great Guru Padmasambhava and the imperial kings, a period in history thought of as a golden age of Tibet. The Dalai Lamas are the embodiment of the Buddha’s compassion, and just like previous kings, they were responsible for maintaining the political and spiritual vitality of the nation-state. And Tertön Sogyal, as Padmasambhava’s emissary, was charged with protecting Tibet, repulsing threats to the nation so that its Dharma practitioners would find there the most conducive conditions for the spiritual path. This was the time for Padmasambhava’s concealed treasure teachings that specified exact rituals for Tibet in times of crisis. Extremely fierce practices were vital, such as phurba dagger rites and other rituals, and the erecting of strategically placed temples and stupas that can ward off or even destroy invaders.
When Tertön Sogyal arrived in Lhasa to meet the Dalai Lama, it appeared to some as though this was their first encounter. But both the tertön and the Dalai Lama knew that this was but a continuation of the bodhisattva promise they had made together many lifetimes ago.
OFFICIAL SUMMONS FROM THE DALAI LAMA
Drikok Encampment, Eastern Tibet
Year of the Earth Rat to the Earth Ox, 1888–1889
Accounts of Tertön Sogyal’s spiritual power spread throughout eastern Tibet to the marketplace and teahouses of Lhasa. Devout pilgrims arriving in central Tibet from Kham told of the emerging treasure revealer from Nyarong who was pulling termas out of granite and appearing in different villages at the same time. Traders brought stories of Tertön Sogyal’s blessed talismans that safeguarded them from the dangers of robbers and the punishing hailstorms. Even the monks and teachers in Lhasa at the great monastic universities of Sera, Drepung, and Ganden began hearing about Tertön Sogyal.
At the beginning of the Earth Rat year (1888), a messenger on horseback was dispatched from the Dalai Lama’s Potala Palace in Lhasa to eastern Tibet with a message for Tertön Sogyal. The horseman found Tertön Sogyal at Drikok encampment where he was staying with Nyoshul Lungtok.
“You must come immediately,” Tertön Sogyal read from the communiqué from the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. “Without delay! He showed the letter to Nyoshul Lungtok and Khandro Pumo. Soon thereafter, Tertön Sogyal received another summons from the Dalai Lama saying that his presence in Lhasa would benefit Tibet and the Buddhist teachings in general, and, specifically, that he needed to meet with the Tibetan leader. Khandro Pumo began arranging Tertön Sogyal’s belongings for the five-week overland journey to Lhasa, and she told others in their encampment to prepare the saddles and tack.
Tertön Sogyal was being called to Lhasa to perform tantric rituals capable of turning back the British army that was deploying on Tibet’s southern border. Mantras recited by Tertön Sogyal were believed to provide protection from the threat of foreign invasion. The State Oracle had told the young Dalai Lama that Tertön Sogyal must serve the nation. This was Tertön Sogyal’s effective appointment as chaplain to the Dalai Lama. Becoming Tibet’s tantric defense minister, Tertön Sogyal was charged with the special responsibility of using his mastery of the Vajrayana for the protection of the Dalai Lama and Tibet. Within the short arc of Tertön Sogyal’s life, he had gone from being a yak herder to a bandit to a mountain yogi, and was soon to become the teacher to the Dalai Lama and defender of the realm.
Tertön Sogyal’s meeting with the Dalai Lama would reenact the spiritual dynamism between the Great Guru Padmasambhava and the imperial kings, a period in history thought of as a golden age of Tibet. The Dalai Lamas are the embodiment of the Buddha’s compassion, and just like previous kings, they were responsible for maintaining the political and spiritual vitality of the nation-state. And Tertön Sogyal, as Padmasambhava’s emissary, was charged with protecting Tibet, repulsing threats to the nation so that its Dharma practitioners would find there the most conducive conditions for the spiritual path. This was the time for Padmasambhava’s concealed treasure teachings that specified exact rituals for Tibet in times of crisis. Extremely fierce practices were vital, such as phurba dagger rites and other rituals, and the erecting of strategically placed temples and stupas that can ward off or even destroy invaders.
When Tertön Sogyal arrived in Lhasa to meet the Dalai Lama, it appeared to some as though this was their first encounter. But both the tertön and the Dalai Lama knew that this was but a continuation of the bodhisattva promise they had made together many lifetimes ago.