54. The Moon Cave at Drak Yerpa
55. View from the Moon Cave
56. The young Dudjom Rinpoche
57. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
58. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche in Lhasa
59. Dudjom Rinpoche
60. Chatral Rinpoche
61. The Kongtrul of Shechen
62. Chökyi Nyima, Chokling and their mother Kunsang Dechen
63. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche early photo
64. The family in Sikkim
65. The Vajra Throne in Bodhgaya
66. Dzongsar Khyentse under the Bodhi Tree
67. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
68. Trinley Norbu Rinpoche with his wife and the tulku of Dzongsar Khyentse
69. The sixteenth Karmapa
70. Trulshik, Dudjom and Tulku Urgyen, Rinpoches
71. Dudjom and Nyingma lamas in exile
72. The Great Stupa in Boudhanath
73. Swayambhu Stupa
74. Lama Tashi Dorje of Nubri
75. The third Chokling of Neten—Pema Gyurmey
76. The Chokling of Neten with his oldest son Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche
77. The fourth Chokling of Neten
78. Chökyi Nyima and Chokling, Rinpoches
79. View of Nagi Gompa
80. Bomta Khenpo
81. Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche
82. Khenpo Ngakchung
83. Vimalamitra—the Dzogchen master
84. The Black Crown ceremony of the Karmapa
85. The Boudha Stupa and Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery—old air photo by Toni Hagen
86. The sixteenth Karmapa with the tulkus at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery
87. The sixteenth Karma & King Birendra of Nepal at the inauguration
88. Chatral, Dudjom and Dilgo Khyentse, Rinpoches
89. Enacting the drama of Padmasambhava, Shantarakshita and King Trisong Deutsen—Dilgo Khyentse, Trulshik & Chökyi Nyima, Rinpoches
90. Lamas at the Boudha Stupa, at the end of the transmission for the New Treasures
91. Five lamas in Boudha—Tulku Urgyen, Trulshik, Dilgo Khyentse, Dabzang and Depuk, Rinpoches
92. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche with lamas at the Yak & Yeti
93. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s family
94. Tulku Urgyen with Tsoknyi and Mingyur, Rinpoches, and their mother Sonam Chodron at Nagi Gompa
95. Tsoknyi Rinpoche with Adeu Rinpoche of Nangchen
96. Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche—the youngest son
97. Tenga Rinpoche with Tenpa Yarpel
98. Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling monastery in Boudha
99. The temple at Asura Cave in Parping
100. Ngedon Osel Ling monastery
101. Chatral and Tulku Urgyen, Rinpoches, with Kunsang Dechen and Phakchok Tulku
102. Chokling Rinpoche with his first son—Phakchok Tulku
103. Chokling Rinpoche with his second son—the incarnation of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
104. The fourth Chokling of Tsikey in Nepal
105. The fourth Chokling of Tsikey in Kham
106. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche with Tsikey Chokling, Dechen Paldron and the incarnation of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
107. Neten Chokling and Tsikey Chokling
108. Three sons and Phakchok Tulku at Nagi Gompa
109. Marcia Binder Schmidt in Nangchen 2003
110. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Erik Pema Kunsang at Nagi Gompa
by Sogyal Rinpoche
Here in this book, you will read about extraordinary practitioners of meditation and exponents of the teachings of Buddha, about great masters whose compassion, understanding and capacity defy ordinary criteria, and about a world in which a very particular definition prevails, quite different to the one promoted all around us today, of what is possible to be achieved by a human being. However, you will not learn so much in these pages about the author of these memoirs, the Tibetan master Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. This is inevitable, because of his humility and his discretion. And yet he is the heart of this book, not only because it is his eyes witnessing these amazing events, his voice recounting them and his mind making sense of them for us, but also because he was of the very same caliber as the exceptional individuals he is describing. He inherited their wisdom completely, and he embodied their incredible qualities. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche was, in fact, one of the greatest masters of meditation of the twentieth century, and one of the most outstanding and prolific teachers of the Dzogchen and Mahamudra teachings that lie at the heart of the Buddhist tradition of Tibet.
I first met Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche when I was very young, because, as he explains in this book, he came many times to receive teachings from my master Dzongsar Khyentse, Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö. When, years later, I requested Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche for teachings, he recalled how he had always seen me at the side of Jamyang Khyentse, and our mutual bond through our proximity to this great teacher gave us both a deep feeling of closeness. In the Nyingma and Kagyü schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche was an immensely important lineage master, and was the teacher and representative of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa. He also passed on transmissions to the greatest lamas of the Nyingma tradition, Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche and Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Both of them, along with Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje and so many other great holders of the teachings,