When a person, in his or her value system, holds material things above all else, there is not much happiness to be found in this person’s life.

For the sake of sentient beings’ lives, the resources of our planet and personal health, please try to be vegetarian as best you can, so that we may have a better tomorrow.

~ Khenpo's blog published on 15 November 2015

In Tibet, there are many unknown practitioners of the Great Perfection who never have the title of “living Buddha” or “Dharma King.” This particular person is just one of them. Nobody knew who he was except people in his neighborhood. I have lived in Serthar for more than 30 years and I had never heard of him.

He passed away on December 11th, 2015. From the medical and legal standpoint, he was confirmed dead, but actually he remained in a state of deep samadhi.

As there are no disturbances from the six consciousnesses, the state of samadhi achieved after death is especially pure and powerful. The power of this samadhi will enable the body to shrink gradually, and even to disappear completely. Historically, this phenomenon shrinking gradually and nearly transforming into rainbow body is not unusual among Dzogchen practitioners. To us, what this practitioner manifested is nothing out of the ordinary.

Some people denounce the rainbow body as being fake, claiming that the limbs are cut off, fluids squeezed out, the body pressed and wrapped tightly to about one elbow length, and so on. If you saw this personally or had evidence, the phenomenon of a shrunken body must be fake; but to say that all such cases are made up is absolutely ridiculous! It only suggests how ignorant these people are of the theory of body shrinkage, the unique and inexplicable practice of Vajrayana and the tradition of how disciples treat the body of their master.

I have made an effort to understand exactly what happened, and I can say with full confidence that the disciples of this practitioner are all very down to earth and devoted; there is no way they would cut the master’s body like a piece of meat just to fool people.

Material things can fill our needs but not our desires, because there is a limit to what we need whereas desires are unlimited.

In the past few days, the hot topic on the internet here has been about “fake dharma king” or “fake tulku.” We have often advised everybody not to be fooled by such titles, but very few listened. Now the truth has revealed! Actually, in many cases, these titles are just descriptive designations. We should thank them for putting on a show this time for the world to see! But, seriously, we must distinguish between Tibetan Buddhism and hoaxes using Tibetan Buddhism as a cover.

Another new year, another day in transit! Hopefully, some joy and goodwill were felt by everyone I met.

We need to learn how to live, to acquire knowledge and skills, and to work, as well as how to die. This is because death is also a very important link in our lives.

On the path to liberation, we owe everything to you. It’s been twelve years since you left us, but we stay on course with the strength you passed on to us. We all look forward to being by your side again, Lama.

I came here with my master twenty years ago, now I am here on my own. And what will it be twenty years from now?