Khenpo Orgyen Kalzang
Dear all Dharma friends,
It is very hard to announce that my mother passed away on October 26th, 2024,
which is now over two weeks since her passing. She was very dear to me, and
through her kind support, I was able to become a monk and achieve the dharma
life. I took this as her last advice for me: to see the impermanence, even your
dear mother will definitely separate one day. As a son, I have to take care of
all her final fulfillments to complete her spiritual journey to Guru Rinpoche’s
pure land.
In response to some students' requests, also I’d like to share about her life
and how she showed signs of being a great meditator.
My mother, Tsewang Drolma, was born in 1944 in Mugu, a high region of the
Himalayas in Nepal’s Karnali Province. In her early life, she was raised in her
hometown as a normal child without any formal education or schooling. After her
marriage to my father, they left their hometown to seek a living and arrived in
Sikkim, India, to see the 16th Karmapa after walking for 15 days on foot.
Coincidentally, it was a time when Tibetans were fleeing to India after the
Chinese invasion, and India was in its early stages of nation-building. Life
was extremely hard to survive during that time. For example, she worked as a
laborer in road construction, built houses, and even sold homemade beer to make
money, which was a normal way of life for women back then.
She had to make many efforts to raise us, her children. They witnessed the war
between Pakistan and India near Iyol Camp, Dharamshala, and hid in an army tent
at night after working on the road during the day. She spent most of her early
life in India, moving from place to place for nearly 30-40 years, particularly
in the northern areas where His Holiness the Dalai Lama resides, in Dharamshala
and the small town of Manali in the Himalayan region.
They returned to Nepal and built our house in Kathmandu in 2000, where she
stayed near the Boudhanath Stupa until her last journey.
About her later life as a practitioner:
Since then, she began doing long prostrations at the stupa, from her sixties to
her eighties, for over 20 years. She often made offerings of water and flowers
on the 8th, 15th, and 30th of each month, which are special days in the Tibetan
calendar—full moon, new moon, Medicine Buddha days, as well as Guru Rinpoche
and Dakini days.
She was very dedicated and determined once she set a goal. At her request, I
taught her how to memorize the Ngondro text, as she couldn’t read or write
Tibetan letters. Slowly, she memorized the concise text of the Dudjom New
Treasure Ngondro in one year. She was a strict vegetarian for the last 30 years
and made a commitment to complete the fasting practice 108 times, as taught by
H.E. Lama Sherab Gyaltsen from Swayambhu Stupa, completing more than 115 times
before she passed away.
She also received and practiced Phowa until a sign occurred from H.E. Choeje
Ayang Rinpoche for several years in Bodhgaya, which is a highly regarded
Drikung Rainbow-Body Phowa teaching in the Drikung tradition. Additionally, she
received the Kalachakra empowerment from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the
early years in India.
She was very diligent in practicing the dharma with pure devotion and expressed
to me her wish to practice Ngondro more deeply. She received the lung (oral
transmission) many times from HH Dudjom Yangsid Sangye Pema Shepa Rinpoche, HH
Dungse Thinley Norbu, and other teachers.
Later, I took her to H.E. Lama Yeshe Sangpo Rinpoche for Ngondro instruction
and recorded the teachings, which I later explained to her in our mother tongue
so she could understand the proper visualization and essence of the practice.
Gradually, she began to practice Ngondro under the guidance of H.E. Lama
Rinpoche and HH Dudjom Yangsid Rinpoche, and I assisted in explaining the
instructions.
I remember she would start her Ngondro session early at 4 a.m., and another
session in the evening before dinner. In the last more than 20 years, she
completed the Ngondro four times—the five hundred thousand Ngondro accumulation
and 40 million Guru Yoga recitations for each Ngondro, as well as more than 1.3
million long prostrations in front of the great Boudha Stupa.
In 2010, she received all the precious empowerments and teachings from H.H.
Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche during the Three Month Dharma Wheel Teaching at
Pharping Samye Monastery. There, she received oral explanation of heart
instructions of Dzogchen texts, such as "Strike the three words into the
crucial point," "Treasury qualities of Dharmadhatu,”Longchenpa’s The
Final Instruction on the Ultimate Meaning," the "Mountain
advice" from Dudjom Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal's last testimony: the
essence of the butter, the Dzogchen heart instruction from Guru Rinpoche etc.
After that, with instruction from HE Lama Yeshe Sangpo Rinpoche, she focused
mainly on Guru Yoga and Dzogchen practice focusing on nature of mind until her
last days. In 2012, she received the complete treasure cycle of empowerment and
transmission of the Dudjom Tersar lineage, including both the early and later
cycles of Dudjom Lingpa and Dudjom Jigdrel Yeshe Dorje from HH Dudjom Rinpoche
Sangye Pema Shepa, the supreme head of the Dudjom lineage.
The astonishing last moments of her life:
On October 22, 2024, she was deemed unlikely to survive, as she had stopped
eating and was placed on an oxygen mask to help her breathe. Though deeply
asleep, she could still feel our presence after her long battle with both old
and new illnesses, given her age. I reminded her about Guru Yoga and asked her
to focus on the nature of mind and the heart instructions she had received from
the Rinpoches.
After four days, on the early morning of October 26th, she left her body in her
room, where she normally practiced. It was an extremely auspicious Dakini day,
and it seemed as if she had been waiting for this day. As she was a very
ordinary and simple woman without holding any great title or position, no one
expected anything extraordinary. After a long period, her body remained
unchanged and kept warmth at the heart area, which made me doubt a little.
On the second day, I consulted some lamas who are specialists in Thukdam (the
meditative state after death), and once they visited, we confirmed she was in a
luminous state. We left her body undisturbed for three days until she showed
signs of completing her meditation. Throughout this period, the body emitted no
bad smell, but the room was filled with a unique scent, similar to incense or
perfume, as witnessed by all close relatives who were present.
On the fourth day, she showed signs of completing her Thukdam. In this hot
weather, her body remained in the house for six days without any supportive
materials to prevent decay or smell. As HH Chatral Rinpoche had recognized the
place as special for cremation, on the sixth day, at the Ramadoli cremation
ground, as instructed by H.E. Lama Yeshe Sangpo Rinpoche, we conducted her
funeral.
H.E. Nyoshul Khenpo Yangsid Jampal Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche kindly presided over by
the ritual of the fire puja to offer her body to the fire-goddess, Yumchen
Gokarmo. During this ritual, there was no unpleasant smell, and no smoke rose
from the fire. Some of my students who attended the funeral later remarked on
this. The sun was unusually bright, and its rays appeared in a different color.
When I spoke to the lamas about this, they said it was a good sign for the rest
of the family, indicating that we would be blessed. For me, it felt like her
last goodbye to us.
For me, she is an example of the profundity and preciousness of the Vajrayana
path in this age. Those who take this path into practice will, no matter what,
be blessed by this secret yana. I also believe that she received the benefits
of the Vajra Guru Mantra, which Guru Rinpoche often mentioned in his treasure
teachings:
The Benefits of the Vajra Guru Mantra and an Explanation of Its Syllables, A
Treasure Text Revealed by Tulku Karma Lingpa says:
“ If you can do thirty million, seventy
million, or more recitations, you will never be separate from the Buddhas of
the three times nor ever apart from me; thus, the eight classes of gods and
spirits will obey your orders, praise your words, and accomplish whatever tasks
you entrust to them. At best, practitioners will attain the rainbow body;
failing that, at the time of death, mother and child luminosities will meet;
and at the very least, they will see me in the bardo and, with all their
perceptions liberated into their essential nature, will be reborn in Ngayab
Ling and accomplish immeasurable benefit for sentient beings.”
Additionally, I’m very grateful to those Guru Rinpoche in human flesh, the
great and accomplished masters who transmit their blessings through their
instructions and compassionate wisdom, allowing her to appear as a great
meditator in the end.
These are a few practices to which she dedicated her whole life:
1. Strict vegetarianism
2. Offering water and flowers to the Three Jewels
3. Practicing Guru Yoga
4. Long prostrations
We are accumulating 10 million Vajra Guru Mantras and 10 million Mani Mantras
for her final fulfillment, as instructed by my teachers... I would like to
thank all the friends and students for supporting us in completing the
accumulations.
This was briefly written at the request of some students during the second week
of the Vajrasatva practice offering for my Late mother Mrs Tsewang Drolma.
