The Tashi Choling Center for Buddhist Studies in Ashland, Oregon, said that its memorial stupa project for the revered Nyingma lama Dhomang Gyatrul Rinpoche, who died early in 2023, aged 98, was consecrated in mid-November during the community’s Vajrakilaya retreat.
“It has been a busy fall at Tashi Choling,” the Tashi Choling community shared in a recent announcement. “Work to prepare the site of the memorial stupa began, coordinated by Kevin DeMers. The production of tsa-tsas to fill the stupa continued, coordinated by Trish DeMers.”
Gyatrul Rinpoche, one of the last great Nyingma masters of his generation, passed into parinirvana in the early hours of 8 April 2023 at his home in Half Moon Bay, California, in the presence of family members and close attendants.*
The planned stupa is to be a changchub chorten (the Tibetan term changchub refers to the concept of enlightenment or awakening), which will stand 9.8 meters tall. Tashi Choling previously announced that a US$100,000 matching grant had been pledged by a long-time student of Gyatrul Rinpoche for funds donated toward the effort, although this initial target has already been exceeded.
Tulku Jigme Wangdrak Rinpoche was the Vajra Master for the Vajrakilaya retreat and led the sangha in the consecration ceremony, offering the white torma to the local guardians of the land, and conducting prayers of auspiciousness and good fortune.
Sangye Khandro, the spiritual companion of the Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche for nearly 30 years, has said of the project:
We have all been deeply touched in many ways by Gyatrul Rinpoche’s precious presence during his life, living here among us on this planet—our temporary home. Rinpoche lived a very long life of ninety-eight years from 1925-2023, continuously blessing us with his nirmanakaya form as an authentic tulku (or intentional reincarnate). Rinpoche’s enlightened deeds remain accessible to us through many expressions and representations including videos and recordings of teachings and dharma activities as well as many reliquary monuments and sacred structures that Rinpoche bestowed upon us. Most important is the impression Rinpoche made on the minds of everyone he touched, always planting seeds of goodness that will continue to sprout and mature for centuries to come.
Now it is our responsibility to honor our precious master from Tibet who graced America and made this country his home by erecting a magnificent stupa in his memory and honor. We understand based on indications from our teachers who are alive, as well as from Rinpoche himself, that there is no time to waste in building this as an offering and expression of devotion and gratitude as well as giving everyone the chance to earn vast merit and purify karmic obscurations and shortcomings. (Stupa Project at Tashi Choling)
Click here for full details of the stupa project
Gyatrul Rinpoche was born in 1924 in modern-day Sichuan Province, China. He was recognized as a tulku at the age of seven by Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro and Tulku Natsok Rangrol, and trained at Payul Dhomang Monastery in eastern Tibet. He spent many years in solitary retreat before fleeing to India in 1959, where he lived for 12 years. Gyatrul Rinpoche then moved to the United States, where he was appointed as the spiritual representative of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche.
Rinpoche was instrumental in establishing many Nyingma centers throughout the US, including Tashi Choling in Oregon, Orgyen Dorje Den in the San Francisco Bay Area, Norbu Ling in Texas, Namdroling in Montana, and a center in Ensenada, Mexico. A prolific author, Gyatrul Rinpoche also shared a wealth of profound Vajrayana teachings in written form. His books include: Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga (Shambhala Publications 2002); Generating the Deity (Snow Lion Publications 1992); and a commentary on Natural Liberation: Padmasambhava’s Teachings on the Six Bardos (Wisdom Publications 1998).
In his introduction to the 1999 translation of Jamgon Kongtrul’s landmark text The Teacher-Student Relationship, Gyatrul Rinpoche wrote:
All teachers must eventually leave this world, just as did the Buddha himself. Yet, the lineage that we still receive, the legacy of their enlightened awareness, is passed on from generation to generation through the teachings that remain. Since that is inevitable, what we have to call a lineage in their physical absence is the blessing of their unbroken lineage of teachings. This is what we, in turn, are expected to pass on to our and future generations. If we were to depend solely upon the physical presence of the teacher, then the lineages would have been lost long ago. The Buddha said, “I shall reveal the path that leads to liberation. You must practice the path in order to reach liberation.”
* Parinirvana of the Esteemed Nyingma Lama Dhomang Gyatrul Rinpoche Announced (BDG)
References
Jamgon Kongtrul the Great. The Teacher-Student Relationship. Translated by Ron Garry, 1999. Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications
See more
Tashi Choling Center for Buddhist Studies
Stupa Project at Tashi Choling
Related news reports from BDG
Tashi Choling Shares Update on Stupa Project to Honor Gyatrul Rinpoche
Tashi Choling Center to Build Stupa to Honor Gyatrul Rinpoche
Parinirvana of the Esteemed Nyingma Lama Dhomang Gyatrul Rinpoche Announced
