Noa Jones

Feb 2011
In September, Rinpoche posted a message on the SI Web site warning people who might be thinking to following him on his pilgrimages to Bodhgaya and Sikkim:

“Here in India, worlds like “delay”, “cancellation”, “confirmation”, “cleanliness”, “no problem,” “yes” and “no” all have different meanings. And in fact, if you learn how to appreciate those different definitions, you will find that this is what makes this part of the world magical. So, people who are wishing to come from the first world expecting their toilet will flush, and a hot shower, who are married to, the whole principal of no trespassing, who value individual rights and personal space, might as well just look at pictures, preferably black and white and especially taken by Cartier Bresson and Raghu Rai.”

Attending the drupchen in Tashiding, Sikkim was part practice, part pilgrimage and part adventure. About 20 of Rinpoche’s Bhutanese, Tibetan and Sikkimese students attended the ten-day drupchen and another ninety came from other parts of the world. Tashiding Gonpa is remote and even when one drives—and if one makes it through the road blocks and striking protesters—there is a good 10 to 15 minute walk up a set of stairs to arrive at its gates. People scrambled to find housing near the top but the higher one stayed, the more rustic the conditions became. People were shacking up in the strangest of places to be closer to the action. The action being a red hot drupchen, Lhatsun Namka Jigme’s Ridgin Songdrup, in a very cold temple.

Tashiding landscape and Farmhouse

Like all sangha gatherings, there were exuberant reunions with old friends and lots of new connections made. And of course the restrained clamour for the guru’s attention. He appeared, but always seemingly just out of reach, emerging from the mist, disappearing, giving scant moment of his precious time to as many people as possible before moving on with the enigmatic grace of his. And as the days progressed, as we all became grimy and exhausted, he only seemed to become more luminous.

It rained for days and then hail, the likes of which a 17-year resident had never seen, came crashing down on the temple roof on one sunny cold day. Most days were cold, though sometimes hot. The nights were frigid and in the sky the moon waxed from half to full. We asked if there was a reason the drupchen landed on these particular dates. Did it have to do with the moon? “Sometimes we check astrology for dates but this time we only checked Rinpoche’s schedule,” said Khenpo Sonam Tashi. The shivering masses, old friends, wanderers, court jesters, and royalty, engaged in all kinds of survival techniques, sharing supplies and telling stories, inviting romance, butting heads, and spending rollicking nights with that Sikkimese potion, tongba, in the parking lot below.

“No matter where we go, it’s the people we meet who create the ambience and character of a place and who inject it with a unique energy. A café becomes ‘cool’ or a ‘dive’ depending on the kind of people who hang out there; a rave party for three hundred over-60s and two teenagers is unlikely to involve much raving. It goes without saying that for people like us whose minds and perceptions aren’t very flexible, a holy site is made powerful by collective devotion and veneration, not wall-to-wall carpets.”

Fresh paint on old stone - Tashiding Gonpa

The real potion of the week, however, was the amrita, the mendrup, that was produced with the help of the monks from Pemayangse over the course of the ten days. Preparations had been underway for months prior to the drupchen, overseen by Khenpo Sonam Tashi. Substances were ordered and gotten from an expert in Kalingpong, others were brought from Rinpoche’s secret stash. “Mother pills” are required, just like starter is needed to make sourdough bread. These pills contain parts of pills that contain parts of pills that go all the way back to Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo’s days and with those came snow lion milk, herbal medicines, the eight substances, and so on. During the ten day drupchen, one day is spent preparing these substances, then three days is spent mixing the dry substances, and on the fifth day it is mixed with the mother pills and wet substances. This mix is placed into a large vase and the main practice begins. On the ninth day, the vase was opened and the mendrup is measured. Everyone was very pleased because there were clear signs that the substances had increased, which is the best result. Khenpo Sonam Tashi said that this means it “woke up” and that the worst case scenario is that it merely rots.

Stupa that Liberates upon Seeing - Lhatsun Namkha Jigme photo Sangpo Shresthra

Drupchens are magical, not least because of the chanting of the mantras must continue uninterrupted through the night. Not everyone signed up for all night shifts, although some signed up for almost all of them. Tshewang Dendup, the “hero” from Travellers & Magicians, became the hero of the night, taking it upon himself to make sure there were thermoses of tea and some biscuits to keep people awake. Sometimes only one or two people would show up and the pressure of the drupchen’s success lay on their shoulders, which was enough to keep them alert and chanting ! The mantras changed every few days to match the activity of the amrita production.

We were told plainly not to complain but by the fifth day, Tashi Colman was making the rounds in the shrine room, alerting people to the exact number of minutes and seconds until the drupchen would end (although there was a rumour that he may have been set up).

Rinpoche sat on the throne flanked by Thangthong Tulku, who is the reincarnation of Thangthong Gyalpo, the famous bridge maker.  Jamyang Gyeltshen, whom many students know from Sea to Sky Retreat Centre in Canada attended them both. Jamyang was in fine form, serving Rinpoche all kinds of crazy concoctions, and seemingly always going for elaborate costume changes between services. You never knew what he’d show up with at tea time, perfectly pressed espresso in a Tibetan robe, banana flambé in traditional Sikkimese dress, paan in a tracksuit, all variety of chili pastes. Rinpoche seemed amused.

And Rinpoche was more than just amused by the westerners that came to the drupchen. He made a point of praising the effort they put into making the drupchen a success. He even went so far as to say they “saved” it. This was a surprise for some of the monks who were unaccustomed to foreigners participating in such rituals. “In the end they learned a lot,” said Khenpo Sonam Tashi about the monks, “and they were very happy.”

Stupa of Choki Lodro at Tashiding Gompa

Rinpoche noted that the very first empowerment he ever received after his enthronement was from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, the Lama Gongdu. It took place right there in Tashiding, in the room that was now used for cold storage. It was also here that Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro was cremated in 1959. Several of Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro’s close students were key coordinators of the drupchen. If one wasn’t made aware of these men, they might have seemed like any other old codgers fetching thermoses of tea and making sure things were running smooth. “Butter tea or sweet?” We asked them. And they pointed and poured with a smile. But these were the very same men, his carpenter and his cowherd, who travelled with Chokyi Lodro from Derge, witnessing miracles and mastery along the way.

Khenpo Sonam Tashi, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche and Thangthong Tulku on the last day at Tashiding

After the drupchen, a smaller group of students followed Rinpoche to Ghezing (Geyshing) where Rinpoche did a fire puja and hosted two bonfires to burn loads of his old possessions so that he could clear way for the new abbot of the Gonpa there. He saved a few things, his Bee Gees record, a tea set from his teens, and of course his pechas, but suitcases full of clothes and books went up in flames while his students sang and danced around the flames.

For the two weeks following the drupchen, the nine monks who had come from Rinpoche’s Chokyi Gyatsho Institute (Dewathang, Bhutan), remained in Tashiding to roll the mendrup into pills, which will be saved for special occasions. Seeing what goes into the production gave many of those who attended the drupchen a new appreciation for precious pills. Many participants are now back at home with their hot showers and routines, some kept going on the pilgrim path. But all took a little shining memory of Tashiding with them that can be lit up or forgotten, clung to, used, misremembered. It doesn’t really matter. As Rinpoche said in “ What to Do in the Holy Sites of India”:

“What exactly is the right motivation for going on a pilgrimage? At best, it is to develop wisdom, love, compassion, devotion and a genuine sense of renunciation (renunciation mind). So, as you set out, you should make the wish that your journey, one way or another, will continuously remind you of all of the great noble enlightened qualities of the Buddha, and that as a result you will accumulate merit and purify defilement.“

Noa Jones  – Feb 2011

Mt. Kanchenjunga from Tashiding Gonpa