Dodrup Rinpoche is one of the great gurus who showed me enormous kindness in
bestowing upon me empowerment, oral transmission, and instruction. Not only
that, but in particular, I received his blessings in dreams and visions. When I was
staying in a three-year retreat and had almost finished the recitation of
Vajrakilaya, one day, in my dream, Dodrup Rinpoche was sitting on top of a throne
inside a small shrine room, chanting while playing the damaru and bell. I and a
few other monks were there, and at one point in the chanting, Rinpoche said, “It’s
now time to pay homage, so make the mudras.” Then all of a sudden I was naked.
I fell on the floor, and my two legs went around my waist and reappeared at the
front. My right leg extended over my left thigh, and my left leg extended over my
right thigh. They wrapped behind my waist and reappeared at the front, forming a
full knot around my waist, and I was transformed into Vajrakilaya. When I woke
up, it was like I had no waist, and for a long time I had the experience of my body’s
being empty form.
Further, in another dream during that three-year retreat, Dodrup Rinpoche was
sitting in a tent on top of several flower-covered mounds in a grassy meadow. I told
him that I had completed the three-year retreat and its recitation, and he said,
“Now you need to recite 1,100,000 Arapatsana [Manjushri] mantras. If you do that,
it will be like a sharp sword that will cut through all obstacles to the
accomplishment of your activities.”
Later, when I told Dodrup Rinpoche about those dreams, he said they were very
auspicious. I told him, “I want to practice the realization of Manjushri, but there
are so many different texts. Which one would be best?” Rinpoche then replied,
“My guru is Yugog Chadral. He considered the Manjushri meditation practice from
the tantric tradition to be very precious, so do the entire recitation and
accomplishment for that.” So then I stayed in retreat for about three months, doing
the recitation of the peaceful aspect of the tantric tradition of Manjushri. I
accumulated exactly one million mantras in that recitation, and, together with the
“amendment” recitation, the total was exactly 1,100,000. At the end I realized that
the Dodrup Rinpoche who had appeared in my dreams was identical to the actual
present Dodrup Rinpoche, and I believe that the guru actually came in person in
my dreams.
DOMANG YANGTANG RINPOCHE
In general, in the context of the secret mantra Vajrayana and, in particular, in
Dzogchen Ati, one sees one’s root guru as the Buddha in person, the all-pervasive
lord of the mandala, and places his or her commands at the crown of one’s head.
This is a crucial point, showing that the blessings of the wisdom lineage are
transferred solely from the guru. You can see this clearly from whichever guru’s
life story you look at.
In 1959, during the terrible chaos in Tibet, the great beings who upheld the
teaching, monasteries, and teaching centers were struck a vicious blow. During
that time, placing his root guru, Lingtrul Rinpoche, on the crown of his head,