In December last year Khenpo Appey , a very important teacher of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche passed away.
It was very remiss of me not to have honoured this in some way in the last issue of Gentle Voice so when I recently caught up with an old student, Inge Riebe , I asked her to write something. Pamela Croci
By Kunga Södron
It is very difficult to write something about Khenchen Appey Yönten Zangpo Rinpoche because he was totally dismissive of the cult of the ‘personality’. When I met with him after the death of Gyaltsay Tulku Rinpoche, who had originally introduced me to Khenchen Rinpoche, I asked him ‘how best to maintain the connection to Gyaltsay Tulku’. Rinpoche gave me the quiet-searching-look and said, ‘We don’t do that, the point is not personal connection – just do his work.’ It is even difficult to feel ok about including a photograph of him.
When I worked on the first brochure for the International Buddhist Academy that Khenchen Appey set up for ‘those foreign students with a sincere interest in Buddhist philosophy’ he did not want any photos of himself or of His Holiness, who is the patron. He eventually agreed to only two quite small formal pictures. He also did not allow any detailed descriptions of his major teaching role in Tibet and India allowing only ‘He taught in several seminaries of Tibet and India’. For this phrase please understand that he was a foremost scholar, monk and practitioner who taught many of the great teachers of today, and established Sakya College a key seat of learning in India. His students included Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche who studied formally under Khenchen Appey Rinpoche for five years from 1972-1985 as well as receiving further teachings from him thereafter.
For Khenchen Appey Rinpoche establishing anything, whether stupa or college, included everything, from carrying bricks and sacks of cement to overseeing the development of his students, and the spiritual and ritual correctness of all endeavours. When the IBA in Tunchili Kathmandu was being built, Rinpoche was there daily checking details – I remember him carefully making decisions as to the height of the handles on the cupboards.
Being taught by him was life changing. His incisive razor-like, breathtakingly deep, wide and subtle teachings were an overpowering shining mountain, of which one aspired to grasp just the smallest part. If one asked a ‘good’- that is unpretentious, heartfelt question – he would answer with a twenty minute Teaching and then often the next day add some extra point he had considered from another sutra or text. But if one asked something that came from the desire to impress, or some poorly thought out idea, he cut through with one or two words. Despite his incredible exactness and toughness, his compassion and kindness made everything acceptable. It was always an honour and a huge pleasure to see him and a single word of praise from him resonates for the rest of ones life.
So what could we take as ‘to do his work’? Khenchen Appey RInpoche dedicated his life to furthering ‘the great Buddhist tradition of rigorous scholarship and soundly based practice’. To take some words from a teaching of his, that outlined the activities on the path,
The Mahayana path must be completed with these four characteristics: moral discipline which is the cause of not being distracted; hearing which is the cause of not being ignorant; contemplation which is the cause of ascertainment; and meditation which is the cause of parting from defilements.
and then gave encouragement to the union between practice and scholarship,
In the Sutra known as Nam mKa’ mZod kyi mDo it is said, ‘No virtue or non-virtue accumulated earlier will go astray; no virtue accumulated through making offerings to the Tathagatas will go astray; no virtue accumulated through altruistic thought will go astray; no hearing accumulated primarily through practicing will go astray.’ Therefore, one must engage in the practice as said.
Khenpo Appey gave credit for that which actually was one’s achievement. I wrote to him on one occasion in 1992, inviting him to Australia on behalf of Gyalsay Tulku Rinpoche and expressing my desire to do what ever would be helpful for foreign students to be able to study at Sakya College which at that time was supported by Khenpo Migmar. Khenpo Appey’s reply letter concluded ‘Finally thank you for your good motivation…’ which was really all I could be thanked for.
So as he taught,
The Sutra known as Paltreng Sengei Dra states that all the prayers are combined into one. If one should ask ‘what is that prayer?’ it is “May I hold the Holy Dharma “.
If we sincerely pray that prayer, Khenchen Appey Rinpoche would thank us for that.
A few small words by the very poor student Kunga Södron.
For Jurek Schreiner’s photo gallery of Kenpo Appeys Cremation click here
Khenpo Appey Rinpoches Kudung Photo Jurek Schreiner
