The eighth and final day of the 29th Kagyu
Monlam included a long life offering to two of the heart
sons, H.E.Situ Rinpoche and H.E.Gyaltsap Rinpoche. The
celebration of these two great lamas was enriched by the
offering of two stunning texts. Vying with the most
elegant of large format art books, this boxed set
presents in words, paintings, and photographs the life
stories and activities of Tai Situ Pema Dönyö Druppa and
Goshir Gyaltsap Drakpa Mingyur Gocha.
The volume for Situ Rinpoche is covered in pale gold
cloth and begins with a full page spread of the
courtyard at Sherab Ling, his monastery in northern
India. On the upper balcony sits Situ Rinpoche, with
tulkus on either side, while arrayed on the porch and
steps below is a sea of hundreds of his monks and lay
disciples. This photograph is followed by a letter from
the Gyalwang Karmapa, who praises the lineage and
activity of the Situpas, noting that the Eighth Situpa
took the great responsibility of preserving the
Kamtshang teachings when both the Karmapa and Shamar
Rinpoche had died on their way to China. The Eleventh
Situpa published many volumes of the major treatises and
restored the institute for higher studies at Palpung.
The Karmapa describes the present Twelfth Situpa as
radiating a great clear light to others during these
times when the teachings have declined and as spreading
to all corners of the world the traditions of study and
practice and the transmission of scripture and
realization. The Karmapa prays for his long life, asking
him to remain until the end of samsara and care for
disciples.
The next pages show a photograph of the Sixteenth
Karmapa and the Eleventh Tai Situpa, who was his
teacher, and then long life prayers for the present
incarnation, written by the previous Karmapa, one of
them at Palpung Monastery, Situ Rinpoche’s main seat in
Eastern Tibet. A photograph of Palpung spreads across
the next two pages: its huge main building in deep red
commands the top of a mountain of evergreens, set in a
high and vast valley.
The account of Situ Rinpoche’s incarnations begins with
a radiant photo of the bodhisattva Maitreya, who is the
basis for the emanations of the Situpas. Within the
first fifteen of these we find Dombi Heruka, Marpa the
Translator, and Jetsun Taranatha. The next three
emanations are Kagyu and include Drogön Rechen. These
are followed by the twelve incarnations of the Situpas.
At the beginning of the biography for each of these
figures, there is a thumbnail image of a thangka and
then a close up of its central figure, which fills a
whole page, creating an intimate connection with the
lama—one is naturally drawn to gaze upon his face.
The next section tells of the twelve incarnations. It
begins with a full page image of the intricate geometry
in the seal and the seal itself, which was offered to
the First Situpa by the Chinese Emperor, then lost and
returned to the Twelfth Situ Rinpoche during today’s
ceremony. The first eleven incarnations are illustrated
with text and thangkas, and there is a photograph of the
previous Eleventh Tai Situpa taken in 1929. The opening
page of the Twelfth incarnation is faced by a powerful
image of him giving the red crown ceremony. The pages
that ensue detail the life of the present incarnation,
beginning with a black and white photograph of him at
age three, with a smile that would become famous. This
is followed by images of his early years at Rumtek
Monastery in Sikkim where he was trained by the
Sixteenth Karmapa. Afterward, Situ Rinpoche founded
Sherab Ling Monastery and started his travels for world
peace, meeting with world leaders both religious (the
Pope, for example) and political (among many, the
President of India, R. Venkataraman). There are images
of Situ Rinpoche in Tibet as he visits his family and
returns to Palpung Monastery. One page exemplifies his
nonsectarian view, as he wears the different hats from
the four main lineages of Buddhism in Tibet, and other
pages show him with the four leaders of these lineages.
In 1992, Situ Rinpoche and Gyaltsap Rinpoche went to
Tsurphu to meet the present Karmapa, then a young boy of
eight. Photos of the three together on the roof of the
main shrine hall show their delight at being reunited,
and another shows Situ Rinpoche continuing to teach the
Karmapa in India. These are followed by images of Situ
Rinpoche’s travels throughout the world, and finally a
two-page spread of the mountains where Sherab Ling’s
ever-growing complex—shrine halls, monks’ residences,
retreat centers, institute for the study of Buddhist
philosophy, and guest houses for disciples—continues to
develop and serve as a vital center for the practice of
Buddhism. The last pages of the book are devoted to Situ
Rinpoche’s activities as an artist. He draws an immense
image of Guru Rinpoche that is spread out on the ground
covering many meters. There is a traditional thangka of
a female protector, which he offered to Sangye Nyenpa
Rinpoche. Five of his paintings show how he incorporates
classical motifs with a modern abstract style. The book
closes with a photograph of a flower close-up, its
petals dark red in the center and golden on the outside,
Dharma colors radiating in the sun. It is titled,
Brilliant Beauty, Naturally Arisen.
The volume for Gyaltsap Rinpoche is covered in pale
silver cloth and begins with a stunning photograph of
his monastery in Ralang, Sikkim, known as Palchen
Choling. The upper stories of the monastery shine a
soft gold in the early morning light while Gyaltsap
Rinpoche sits alone in front of the shrine room’s double
wooden doors. Retreatants who have just completed a
three-year retreat stand in a semi-circle in front of
him. They are wearing cotton white robes, which have
been soaked in water and dried through the force of body
heat produced through chandali (tummo) practice, which
shows the success of their meditation. In a second
circle behind them are monks of the golden procession,
celebrating this achievement with drums, banners, and
wind instruments.
A later photo will show one of the four retreat centers
that surround Palchen Ling, in each of the four
directions. The top floors are the ornately constructed
mandala palace of Chakrasamvara, inside which Gyaltsap
Rinpoche gives empowerments and reading transmissions.
Beneath the mandala is a shrine room for twenty-seven
retreatants, the capacity to each retreat building.
Illustrated throughout the book, this emphasis on
traditional practice underlies the Dharma activities of
Gyaltsap Rinpoche.
After the initial photograph of Ralang Monastery comes a
calligraphy of the word Foreward which is
followed by an introductory letter from the Gyalwang
Karmapa. He praises Gyaltsap Rinpoche, one of the six
heart sons, and mentions that in the seventeenth century
during a war in central Tibet, Gyaltsap Rinpoche’s
skillful means saved the teachings of the Kamtshang when
they were about to die out. Moving forward to the
present Gyaltsap Rinpoche, the Karmapa writes that he
has looked at most of the treatises belonging to the
sutra and tantra traditions and gives spontaneous oral
instructions that are wonderful. Gyaltsap Rinpoche is so
humble that just looking at him from the outside, it is
difficult to fathom his depth. Gyaltsap Rinpoche’s name
includes the words armor (go cha) and
representative of the Gyalwang Karmapa (rgyal tshab).
With great diligence, he has indeed implemented their
full meaning as the Karmapa’s representative in Rumtek,
serving both the monastery and the Shri Nalanda
Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies. The Karmapa’s
letter ends with prayers for his long life and the wish
that he never let go of his disciples, but look after
them until samsara is empty.
Immediately following the letter and spread over two
pages is a black and white photo of the Sixteenth
Karmapa, Gyaltsap Rinpoche, and the President of India,
Sanjiva Reddy, as they walk together at Rumtek
Monastery. Next, an intimate photo shows a young
Gyaltsap Rinpoche sitting on the floor near the
Sixteenth Karmapa, whose long life prayer for the young
tulku follows on the next page. Leading off the
following section is the two-page spread of a photograph
from 1959. It shows Tsurphu Monastery, the Karmapa’s
seat in Tibet, and just behind its main shrine hall
stands Gyaltsap Rinpoche’s monastery, known as the Upper
Temple (mchod khang gong) as its rich maroon
walls are set on slightly higher ground in this narrow
valley of Dowo Lung.
The following section begins with a serene image of the
blue bodhisattva Samantabhadra, who is the basis for the
emanations of Gyaltsap Rinpoche. Afterward come the
images of his six emanations, including Ananda, the
attendant and cousin of the Buddha; Dromtön, the great
scholar and translator; and Milarepa’s moon-like
disciple, Rechungpa. Each of the six is illustrated by
brilliantly colored details from thangkas that bring the
figures alive.
The twelve incarnations of Gyaltsap Rinpoche follow,
each one with a full page image painted in the spacious
style of the Karma Gadri. Many of the images reveal the
intense inner focus of a great meditator and others, a
quality of gentleness, both of which are reflected in
his present incarnation. As with Situ Rinpoche, the
opening page of the present Twelfth Gyaltsap Rinpoche’s
biography is flanked by a photograph of him performing
the red crown ceremony. A sequence of black and white
photos show a smiling young boy just arrived in India; a
serious tulku with his activity hat; a radiant teenager
on the roof of Rumtek Monastery, the Himalayas
stretching behind him; and a student leaning over his
text as he sits outside under a tree and listens to the
Sixteenth Karmapa teach.
The next series of photos shows Gyaltsap Rinpoche
receiving teachings from great lamas, such as Kalu
Rinpoche and Orgyen Tulku, and making connections with
his Holiness the Dalai Lama, Benchen Rinpoche, Sakya
Tridzin, and Nenang Pawo Rinpoche. Many of the photos
detail Gyaltsap Rinpoche’s Dharma activities. He
performs the Mahakala dance in Rumtek; in the
light-filled room of the young Karmapa at Tsurphu, he
plays the cymbals for a Mahakala puja; and at the
Karmapa’s enthronement, he offers a stupa, symbol of the
enlightened mind. From his simple office at Rumtek,
Gyaltsap guides the studies and teaches the monks; in
Nalanda Institute’s shrine hall, he gives teachings on
the famous Two Volumes (on Hevajra); he bestows
vows on the new monks in Rumtek’s main shrine hall and
gives numerous empowerments.
Gyaltsap Rinpoche continued to teach the Seventeenth
Karmapa in India, and several photos show him sitting
with a text in front of the Karmapa or offering him a
mandala. This year, Gyaltsap Rinpoche brought to the
Kagyu Monlam three imposing statues of the protectors
Mahakala, Mahakali, and Vajrasadhu. A full page spread
shows him at Ralang, standing next to the outstretched
foot of an unfinished Mahakala and looking into at his
fierce face. Two full page photographs beautifully show
two sides of Gyaltsap Rinpoche: in one he smiles with a
youthful brightness, his eyes playful under the arch of
his brows, and in a second, he holds a deep yellow
flower in his joined palms, his attention turned inward
with deep devotion. The final photograph distills the
essence of Gyaltsap Rinpoche’s life: in an image
remindful of the subtle and limpid shades in a Vermeer
painting, he sits in a simple room of a small temple in
the mountains of Sikkim, the light coming in over his
shoulder illuminating the text as his hand reaches out
to turn the page.
