Lama Jamgon Mipham Gyatso (1846-1912), or Lama Mipham, as he is most
often simply called, was never enthroned as a reincarnate lama, but if anyone
ever has been, he indeed was a true tulku, or Rinpoche. Through study and lifelong
discipline, through writing, teaching and successful yogic practice he
displayed the qualities of a precious vessel of the dharma. He fully shared and revealed the
teachings not because he wanted to show off his scholastic prowess, but because
he had proven worthy and dedicated enough to realize them. From which follows that his writings
are not based on hearsay or collected quotations from the scriptures, but on
the yogic realization that he compassionately shared with others through
teaching and his collected works.
By now, some of his original treatises have become available through
translation into western languages, and a little has been written about him as
well. In addition, a good number
of the Tibetan scholars and meditation teachers presently traveling and teaching
throughout the world can, through their own root lamas, trace some of their
lineages back to him. This is in
line with a prediction made about him during his lifetime, stating that
Mipham’s popularity would eventually spread throughout the world. He was as captivating, unorthodox and
refreshingly broad-minded a character, free of prejudice.
It is indeed hard to imagine someone who would be equally well versed in
the classical canonical literature of Indian Buddhism, as well as in the Great
Perfection teachings and practices (dzogchen)
of the Nyingma lineage, to the point that he can write precise and elucidating
commentaries on all of these subjects, without exception, while simultaneously
revealing himself as an expert in the theory of poetics as well as being a formal
classically schooled poet of the highest order. Lama Mipham accomplished both. Not only did he write, among other similar works,
commentaries to Chandrakirti’s Introduction
to the Middle Way or to the major treatises of the Buddhist logicians
Dignaga and Dharmakirti. He also
authored the definitive Tibetan commentary to one of the most famous theories
of Indian poetics, Dandin’s Mirror of
Poetics or Kavyadarsha. Furthermore, although he took the vows
of a Buddhist monk at the young age of twelve and remained a monk throughout
his life, he did not permit the fact to prevent him from composing love poems,
which are not only most elegant and refined in style but in terms of content,
at least according to some, sound absolutely convincing and real. All of which confirms Lama Mipham as a
truly a remarkable man free of prejudices.
Besides, Lama Mipham showed continuous interest in a great many
different traditional methods of forecasting, or divination. When some lamas challenged this preoccupation
with what in their view appeared to be worldly concerns as being unfit for a
monk, he countered the criticism by authoring a concise essay shedding light on
the subject from the perspective of the teachings. With his usual eloquence and ample quotations from the
sutras and tantras, he explained how well the topics of forecasting and
divination actually suit the purpose of the dharma. Therefore, Mipham continued to study the subject and did compose
many shorter and longer presentations so that at the end of his life he had
filled the prolific output of more than 2000 folios or Tibetan block print
pages with his research and observations on oracles as well as divination and
forecasting methods.
The interest started at a young age, even before Mipham Gyatso took the
vows of a novice when he was still with his parents. At the age of seven or eight, he learned what is called the
basics or preliminaries for black and white astrology and later became very
skilled in arithmetic, being able to solve any calculation problem. After ordination, when he was fifteen
he studied the white astrology of Svarodaya
of the Kalachakra system, but
encountered some difficulties, as he was unable to grasp the full meaning of
the text. To surmount the blockage
he internally appealed for help until, when concentrating on Manjushri,
understanding finally dawned. This
set in motion a lifelong deep bond to the bodhisattva of transcending wisdom.
The Role of the Practice of
Manjushri and Its Influence
After Mipham had gained understanding he felt he owed a debt of
gratitude and that he needed to repay the bodhisattva’s kindness of granting
him insight through the realization of his practice. Having thus recognized that Manjushri was his chosen deity,
or yidam, at the age of only 15
years, Mipham went into a one and a half year long meditation retreat
practicing Manjushri in his form as the “Lion of Speech”, or Simhanada. Through his accumulation of mantras in the course of his
long sessions many more sacred Manjushri pills (rilbu) spontaneously manifested in their container on the shrine,
in addition to the ones he had prepared and put there when starting the
retreat. A miracle had
occurred.
As in all mantra accumulations when such self-manifesting and spontaneous
increase in the amount of sacred pills or rilbus
occurs, this is interpreted as a sign for the successful outcome of a
retreat. In this particular case
it presaged that henceforth, Mipham would be able to understand the meaning of
any scripture once a lineage teacher had transmitted it to him through reading,
without further study and analysis.
This quick understanding and thorough grasp of all aspects of the
teachings from the ground up beginning with the rules of discipline (vinaya) to the most secret transmissions
of the Great Perfection (dzogchen)
eventually convinced others to regard him as an emanation of the bodhisattva of
wisdom himself.
A few years later one of Mipham’s mentors, the vajra master Wangchen
Gyerab Dorje confirmed the connection when he told him on the occasion of their
first encounter, “You are under White
Manjushri’s protection.” His
main teacher Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892) made the same observation and
thus conferred upon Mipham a different empowerment into the practice of White
Manjushri, among the countless other scriptural transmissions, oral
instructions and initiations that he shared with him. Eventually, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye (1813-1899), also an
important root guru completed Lama Mipham’s practical exposure to the energy
field and practice lineage of Manjushri by bestowing upon him the full
empowerment of Black Manjushri, Lord of Life (Jampal Tsedag Nagpo) including the mantras and secret instructions
for applying Black Manjushri’s four activities of: 1) pacifying; 2) magetizing;
3) subduing; and 4) destroying.
Black Manjushri, of course is also known as Black Yamantaka, or the “One
of Black Complexion Who Puts an End to the Rule of the Lord of Death” (in
Tibetan: Shinje Tsedag Nagpo).
Mipham continuously upheld the practice of all of these forms of
Manjushri, including in the course of his final 13-year long retreat at the end
of his life, which lasted from some time in either later 1898 or early 1899
until 1912. Naturally much of his
devotion and previous expertise with the practice of Manjushri also flowed into
the creation of this Book of Predictions. The latter therefore provides much more
than an intellectual formula but like all comparable Buddhist systems,
represents the fruit of the realization of the practice on which it is
based. Because of this, besides
indicating the possibility for forecasting it can inspire the fruition of
similar results in those who take its advice to heart.
The Predictions Lama Mipham Made at
the End of His Life
Padmasambhava’s predictions, including with regard to the “spreading like ants across the earth” of
the Tibetan people, “and the dharma
coming to the land of the red man” subsequently were not unknown to Lama
Mipham. He very much took them
into account and occasionally commented on them. For example when one of his main students, Khenpo Kunpal
left for his homeland to the east of Kham in 1912, Mipham stated in very clear
and lucid terms what was going to happen in the world and his homeland in the
near future,
“Now I
shall not remain for much longer in this body. After my death, in a couple of
years hence (i.e. in 1914 when World War I broke out), war and darkness shall cover the earth, which will have
repercussions even on our remote Land of Snows. In thirty years time, a mad storm of hatred will billow like
a black thundercloud in the lands of China (a reference to the Japanese
occupation and ensuing civil war in China in the 1940s) and ten years later this evil shall spill over into Tibet. At
that time guru-lamas, scholars, disciples and yogis will be violently
persecuted. Due to the demon-king
Pehar (a force of destructive materialism) usurping power in China, darkness and terror will enter our sacred
land, with the result that violent death like a plague, will visit every
village. Then the three lords of
materialism and their cousins will seize power in the Land of Snows, spreading
strife, famine and oppression. No
one will be safe…”
This passage is self-explanatory.
In it as early as in 1912, Lama Mipham gives an astoundingly accurate
time-line and preview of the coming events that, despite all predictions, no
ordinary Tibetan could have foreseen in their devastating reality. Having enjoyed freedom from all major
wars for a little more than a thousand years, the Tibetan people in Lama
Mipham’s time probably had no memory left of the sheer bestiality of the
business. They had no way of
imagining the terror of any regime solely run by the powers of despotic
egotism, fueled by the rigid concepts of the materialistic view.
It is very difficult to practice dharma and support beings in the
traditional Vajrayana way under the circumstances that Mipham himself outlined
in the quote above. Therefore, he
stated at another occasion before his passing,
…There
is no point in my taking rebirth.
From now on, I will not take rebirth in contaminated places. It is
stated [in the scriptures] that it is the nature of enlightened beings to stay
in pure lands without interruption until the end of time, benefiting beings
with miraculous emanations by the power of prayer… Now I cannot possibly stay [in this body in Tibet], or take
rebirth [here]. I have to go to
Shambhala, in the north.
In as much as his own predictions of the future bear testimony of his
capacity as a seer, Lama Mipham commanded the powers and qualities of a siddha, or fully realized yogi. However, like practically all other
masters of his caliber, he rarely showed them openly. Once, as they were sitting outside his hut basking in the
mild sun, one of Lama Mipham’s students asked him about the tangible results of
a recent retreat, which had been devoted to the practice of Vajrakilaya. In response, Lama Mipham smiled
roguishly and pointed his ritual dagger or phurba
(which is Vajrakilaya’s, or Dorje Phurba’s main implement) towards a snow
covered slope on the opposite side of the valley. In this very moment, a huge avalanche started to roll down
where Mipham was pointing his phurba.
As he was interested in studying and conveying all aspects of
philosophies and psychologies of the Dharma, including what are usually regarded
as lesser sciences, such as grammar, poetics, mathematics and so forth, Lama
Mipham throughout his life remained fully dedicated to the practice of the
Maha-, Anu and Atiyoga cycles of teachings and the yogic powers (sang ngak) that they bestow. Therefore, he passed from this earth
plane as consciously as he had lived, as is stated in one of his short
biographies,
“On
the 29th day of the fourth month, Dzogchen Rinpoche and I arrived
early to discover Mipham Rinpoche’s remains seated upright in full meditation
posture, the right hand displaying the gesture of teaching, the left hand in
the gesture of meditation. We
stayed with him… [Finally], many miraculous signs appeared, as Rinpoche clearly
uttered the words ‘vajra rainbow body’ three times. He then dissolved into space like a rainbow, just as the sun
dawned over the horizon.”
Lama Mipham’s enlightened energy did not vanish. His teachings and transmissions remain
in the world, today. His books
continue be read. Some teachers
presently alive have a special connection to him.
In this way Lama Mipham, to the best of his vast abilities continues to
promote the impartial view of the Buddhas. Because of his yogic achievements, Mipham’s words carry the
power and seal of realization into the future. Because of his undeniable quality as a teacher, they have
the quality to change and transform lives.
