earthquake or war, suddenly occurs, our mind will be able to abide peacefully,
naturally, and at ease. We will then be able to benefit others greatly. For these
reasons, I consider this book to be something important.
MEETING WITH MY GURUS
My greatest fortune is having met solely with gurus who are enlightened beings
appearing in human form. Although their conduct and lifestyle is something I
cannot judge, nevertheless in my perception each guru has an amazing unique
conduct and lifestyle. I have bowed at the feet of some fourteen guru lamas, and
there are also a few more gurus with whom I have made dharma connections. My
main gurus are Lord of Refuge, Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche, the master
who was prophesied in the treasure scriptures to have the power to lead beings to
Ngayab Ling merely by their seeing his body and hearing his name; Lord of
Refuge, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche; Lord of Refuge, Dodrupchen Rinpoche; Lord of
Refuge, Trulshik Rinpoche; Lord of Refuge, Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche; Lord
of Refuge, Drubwang Penor Rinpoche; Lord of Refuge, Domang Yangtang
Rinpoche; Khenchen Pema Tsewang Rinpoche; my sublime father, the second
incarnation of Pema Dewai Gyelpo, Pema Jigme Namgyel Rinpoche; my paternal
uncle Tsewang Rinpoche; Khenchen Dawai Wozer Rinpoche; and Khenchen Pema
Choying Khyabdal Rinpoche. I will now describe the conduct and deeds of my
lords of refuge.
KHENPO CHOYING KHYABDAL RINPOCHE
Before I met Khen Rinpoche, I had heard that he was totally carefree—free of all
conventional responses—but when I met him, I saw that he was even more
unpredictable than I had been told. At that time, he was old, thin, and not very
strong. His room was an old wooden hut four meters square with nothing more
than a small wooden box for his bed and a table in front of it, and he was just
sitting there cross-legged on the bed. He was wearing old stained woolen robes,
and when you looked at his possessions, there was not even five hundred rupees
worth of things there in the room. When I had heard about his living conditions, I
could not believe it: but now, when I saw it with my own eyes, I had no choice.
Having offered three prostrations, I presented my offering scarf and the letter of
introduction from Khen Rinpoche (Khenchen Dawai Wozer) and requested
teaching on The Way of Entering the Mahayana by Rongzompa. When I explained
why and how I had come to meet him, he paid little attention, and combined with
a scolding, he gave me oral instructions, pointing out my hidden faults. After
looking for a few seconds at the envelope of Khen Rinpoche’s introductory letter,
he threw it away. “We used to call him ‘Long Ears,’” he said. “I never called him
‘Khenpo,’ and he didn’t like me calling him ‘Khen Rinpoche.’”
When I think about it, Khenchen Pema Choying Khyabdal Rinpoche was totally
different from worldly people. In general, it is the way of things that whoever one