11   The Author of the Commentary

The lama who is conferring a tantric initiation explains the ritual step by step as it progresses, informing the students about required attitudes, visualizations, and reflections on meaning, for actual conferral of initiation is not simply a matter of being present at a ceremony and hearing the sounds. The officiating lama gives commentary on the ritual so that the combination of the lama’s and the student’s visualizations and ritual performance can be effective. In this case, the commentator is His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama has published his autobiography¹²⁹ and John F. Avedon has written a brilliant book detailing his activities since the Communist takeover.¹³⁰ Thus, there is no need to attempt to repeat those here. Very telling, however, is the following account, by a high official of the Tibetan government, Liushar Thupten Tharpa, of the finding of this Dalai Lama after the death of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. It gives a glimpse of the importance of this prominent world religious figure throughout the Tibetan cultural region.

Liushar Thupten Tharpa was a member of the Tibetan cabinet at the time of the escape to India in 1959, often called “Foreign Minister” in a cabinet that did not assign particular portfolios. He was a monk from a Hla-a noble family who was deeply devoted to Buddhist practice. While he was serving as the Dalai Lama’s representative in New York in the mid-1960s, we began a long friendship that continued through his retirement to the Buddhist monastery in New Jersey where I was studying and finally through his return, at His Holiness’s request, to Dharamsala, India. He gave this account at the University of Virginia in 1975 and carefully made corrections later after his return to India.

He had been known in the west as Thupten Tharpa Liushar but directed me to put the family name, Liushar, first. Although he had lived according to the Westernized version of his name in New York, now, in retirement, he had decided to do it his way as a Tibetan. His presence naturally commanded respect, one of his compatriots in the Tibetan government telling me that he derived his power from mantra; indeed his lips were in slight, almost constant motion even as he listened to others talk.

My fondest memory of my old friend, who passed away in 1984, involves a discussion I had with several Tibetan scholars at the monastery in New Jersey. I had expressed the opinion that the view of the absence of inherent existence did indeed seem to be supreme, but that a combination of it with a view that conventionally subject and object are of the same entity was very attractive to me. The scholars were silent at my suggestion of a combination of the views of the Consequence and the Mind Only Schools, but later in the temple Liushar Thupten Tharpa motioned to me to come look at a page of one of zong-ka-a’s texts. The line was a direction to practitioners to view themselves and all the other deities of the mandala, as well as the residence mandala, as one entity, manifestations of the same compassionately motivated wisdom consciousness. I started to take the text to the scholars, but he took my arm with one hand and put a finger of his other hand to his lips.

FINDING THE FOURTEENTH DALAI LAMA

By Liushar Thupten Tharpa

In 1932 the Thirteenth Dalai Lama wrote a letter of advice to the government officials. He warned that if they were not extremely careful, the “red view” would take over in Tibet, whereupon not only the monks but also the government workers would be put into a situation where night and day all they could do would be to carry out the Communist views. Therefore, he said, “From now on, you must take great care, great caution … I am almost fifty-eight years old and will not be able to do the work of politics much longer.” People did not pay much attention at the time, but during the next year when he actually became fifty-eight, he died. That was in 1933.

The night of his death, word went out that he had died, and the government workers as well as a great mass of other people gathered at his summer palace. The very next morning, the clouds in the sky were arranged like a rainbow pointing east; everyone thought, “He must be taking rebirth in the east.”

For about two years we engaged in vast offerings, prayer making, and so forth for the sake of his taking speedy reincarnation. According to custom, we took the remains of the body of the Dalai Lama to the Potala, the big palace just on the edge of Hla-a, and put them in a large golden stupa in a huge chapel. There are many such reliquaries there, the largest of which are those of the Fifth and Thirteenth Dalai Lamas, about fifty feet high and gilded with gold. It took us two or three years to make the reliquary for the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s remains and to build a little temple for it on the west side of the Potala next to his main chapel.

We spread word throughout the country for parents of new-born babies to notice whether the child had any special features, whether prior to its birth the parents had any unusual dreams, whether there were special signs associated with the birth, or whether the child had special knowledge, and to inform the government when such occurred. Since, for the identification of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, the oracle had advised consulting a lake southeast of Hla-a in which the details of his birthplace appeared clearly, we did the same this time. We say that this lake, situated up in a mountain range, is the place of residence of the Glorious Goddess (dpal ldan lha mo). Ra-dreng Rin-o-chay (ra sgreng rin po che), who was the regent, headed a party that went to see what would appear. The regent performed various rites, at the conclusion of which those in the party saw many buildings in the lake. It was like watching a movie; they could see everything. They saw a three-tiered, blue-roofed temple, like a pagoda. There was a roadway, a small villager’s house, and then another small house. This turned out to be an exact picture of the place where the Dalai Lama was born.

Having seen this, the regent held a meeting and explained what he had seen, including three big letters which had appeared in the lake – “A,” “Ka”, “Ma”. Everyone wondered and compared thoughts about what this could mean. Subsequently, the government sent lamas to the four directions of Tibet to investigate and see what they could find. People came to these lamas and government officials with special children who had been born in that period.

The actual Dalai Lama was born in Am-do province in an area we call Si-ling which on Western maps is listed as Kokonor, “Blue Lake.” Though in Tibet, Kum-bum, the birthplace of zong-ka-a, founder of the Ge-luk-a order, was controlled by China. It took about two hours by horse to go from Kum-bum monastery to the Dalai Lama’s birthplace.

Because a Chinese type building had appeared in the lake and they figured that such a scene could only be found in an area controlled by China, a lama called e-tsang (ke’u tshang) had gone to Kum-bum with five or six government officials. His party pretended to be on pilgrimage, not openly seeking the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation. Asking here and there if any special children had been born recently in the area, they heard from several people that there was one born to parents who had had many special dreams prior to the birth of the child and around whose house rainbows had appeared at the time of birth.

Continuing their pretense of being on pilgrimage, the party went to this house and asked, “Will you please give us a place to stay for a few days?” The Dalai Lama at that time was about three years old and, as soon as he saw them, came running up as if he knew them, but they just pretended that it did not mean anything and were only friendly in a normal way to him. A monk official who was pretending to head the party, Lama e-tsang who was pretending to be the official’s servant, and a monk from e-ra monastery in Hla-a were talking back and forth, and suddenly the lama asked the boy, “Do you know who this is?” He answered, “This is a monk official.” “Who is that over there?” In the Am-do section of Tibet, they call monks “A-ga”, and so the boy said, “This is a e-ra A-ga.” Since he had identified the monk’s monastery in Hla-a, they thought, “Ah, now we do have something special here.”

They sent word back to Hla-a that they had a child who was showing such signs and that the boy, instead of going back to his parents, wanted to stay with the lama, the monk, and the official. The letter was sent to the central government, which asked them to investigate again. They did and answered back, “There is no mistake.”

The body of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama had been put in a reliquary in the new temple in the Potala Palace beside which were two wooden columns. Two objects like elephant tusks about a foot high grew out of the floor by the eastern pillars; pictures were taken, and I presume they still can be seen nowadays. These were interpreted as signs that he had been born in the east. Also, despite the fact that it was winter, flowers grew forth on the Dalai Lama’s platform-like throne in an outdoor amphitheatre where lectures are given. It was winter, no one was planting seeds or bringing water, but flowers grew forth. People were amazed and wondered why this was. We understood only later that as they were “dragon flowers,” it was a sign that in the year of the Dragon, which was 1940, the Dalai Lama would ascend the throne.

At this time, the people of Hla-a started singing, apparently without any reason, something like, “To long-life lake lady, beautiful flower.” “Long-life” (Tse-ring, spelled tshe ring) indicated the father’s name, which was Tse-ring, and the “Lake Lady” (Tso-mo, spelled mtsho mo) is the name of his mother, Tso-mo. There were many such signs, but we did not pay any attention at the time.

Upon receiving direction from Hla-a, the party continued their investigation. With them, the investigators had brought two rosaries, a small drum, and a walking stick that had belonged to the previous Dalai Lama and also similar items that had not. The child was first shown two identical black rosaries, and he picked up the right one. Then he was shown two identical yellow rosaries, and once again his preference fell on the right rosary. After this, the child was shown two small drums, of which the actual drum was far poorer than the second drum, which was beautifully carved and had dazzling flappers attached to it. The investigators thought that the child would choose the more attractive and larger drum, but he chose the correct one and started playing it. He picked up one walking stick and looked at it but put that one down and picked up the other one, the right one. So he picked out exactly the right ones. They were amazed and believed that he was the Dalai Lama. They sent word back to Hla-a describing all that had occurred.

The decision about the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama has to be correct, so the government wanted to analyze even more. In front of a very important and valuable image from the time of King ong-zen-gam-o (srong btsan sgam po, 569-650) the regent spun two balls in a cup; the balls were made of moistened ground parched barley, little dough balls wrapped around paper that had the names of the two principal candidates written on them. That which spun out of the cup first was broken open, revealing the name Hla-mo-don-drup (lha mo don grub), the name given to the Fourteenth Dalai Lama by his parents. The other ball of dough contained the name of the second candidate. This mode of prophecy confirmed that they were unmistaken, and thus it was finally decided that he was the incarnation.

At that time in Si-ling, the main city of the Blue Lake area, there was a terrible governor, Ma-bu-fang, who happened to be not a Buddhist but a Moslem. Thus, the party had to be secretive, not letting on that they thought that this was the actual Dalai Lama. They told the governor, “We are looking for the incarnation of the Dalai Lama and have a child here who, like several others, is unusual. To analyze this, we wish to invite him to Hla-a. After further analysis, we will identify from among them the correct one, but we have not been able to come to any decision.” However, the governor thought, “This just might be the Dalai Lama” so he answered, “If you think that he is the Dalai Lama, you had better decide right now.” The governor sent word to the parents to come with their child. He picked up the child, put him on his lap, and asked, “Are you the Dalai Lama?” The Dalai Lama said, “Yes, I am.”

The governor sought some means to prevent the search party from taking him; so he passed word to Kum-bum monastery that he would send the child there for them to decide whether he was in fact the Dalai Lama. They spent two years deciding, and in the end we had to pay Ma-bu-fang a huge sum of money. He was first presented with a hundred thousand Chinese silver dollars and was later given three hundred thousand Chinese silver dollars along with one whole set of the canon, both the teachings of Buddha and their Indian commentaries – printed in letters of gold.

In 1940 we were finally able to invite the new Dalai Lama to Hla-a. The trip was over the plains, and as we did not have any roads or cars and so forth, all had to be on horse. We had a chariot, carried by mules, made for him. It took two months on the road. There were escorts sent out from Hla-a to meet him at various places, and I was sent out as the escort for the third in the escort series.

I met him one pass beyond Nak-chu, about seven or eight days from Hla-a by horse. As the meeting place was just over a pass, we crossed it and waited. We prepared offerings, tents, and a throne, making a place for the party to stay for that and the next night.

First we welcomed him in a tent. He was presented with a letter stating that it had been formally decided that he was the Dalai Lama. He was only five years old at that time but was not like other children at all; it was very amazing.

Then in Nak-chu itself the central government had made extensive preparations for welcoming the Dalai Lama at the big monastery. There were two or three thousand people, and he was put on a very high throne with his father and mother off to the side on a much lower platform. Other children would not be able to stay in such a place for a long time; they would want to go to their mother and so forth, but people were coming to see him, and he had to spend two hours there. He just sat still for two hours. Other children at least would have looked around, watching what was going on very carefully. However, it was as if he had seen it all before, not paying any attention. I was amazed, very much amazed. Every day we spent two or three hours on the road, only a little time each day travelling.

Two or three days from Hla-a, a great tent community was set up for the government officials, the noble families, and so forth to meet him. Three monks who had been his servants also met him. One is something like a butler, taking care of his food, seeing that it is prepared, and presenting it to him. Another solely takes care of his clothing, seeing that it is clean, taken out, prepared, put away. The third prepares all of the religious articles that are necessary for rites and rituals. These are the three main servants; their positions are very high.

The religious servant had brought with him a tang-a, a painting of the Glorious Goddess, which is kept in a red case with a cap on it. From the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama, the tang-a itself has been considered to be the same as the Glorious Goddess herself. Never opened, it is always left rolled up. It is kept with the Dalai Lama wherever he goes – he is never separate from it. The servant had placed it near the opening of the tent, and as the Dalai Lama passed by, he grabbed it, took it inside the tent, and immediately opened it up. It is usually never seen but they saw it at that time. Then he rolled it back up and put it back in its case. Everyone was amazed at what he had done.

He was brought into Hla-a itself to the main temple to pay respect to the images and then was immediately taken to the summer palace, not the Potala, which is the winter one, but the Nor-bu-ling-a. During the first month of the Tibetan year in 1941, which would be in the second month of the Western calendar, he was invited to his main residence, the Potala, and the actual investiture was done at that time.

On the day he was installed, the two tutors were there, one being the regent Ra-dreng and the other Dak-tra Rin-o-chay. The regent gave the Dalai Lama the name Jay-zun-jam-el-nga-ang-o-sang-ye-hay-en-dzin-gya-tso-i-um-ang-gyur-tsung-a-may-ay-day-el-sang-o131 that day when he was installed. From that time he has been called Tenzin Gyatso, a shorter form of the long name.

His head was shaved like a monk, with a little longer hair on top; then this was cut as the sign of his having become a novice monk. The abbot asked at that time, “Do you go homeless?” “Yes, I go homeless.”

He assumed residence in the Potala and began studying. Even though he was very young, it was almost as if he did not have to be taught the alphabet and so forth. Other children would need a place to go, others to play with, and so forth, but all that he had were these three old servants – any other child would stay a while and then find it very difficult, saying, “I want to go to my mother.” He did none of this. Sometimes his mother did visit, but otherwise, he was alone, reading books in his room. Occasionally they would send in his brother who was just a little older than he.

When the Dalai Lama was thirteen years old, it was time for him to go to visit the monastic colleges at Dre-ung and e-ra. This was like entering into the monastic college and becoming a more studious monk. Each of the colleges made great preparations for him. He spent three weeks in Dre-ung and two in e-ra to mark his entry into formal study of philosophy. He had two main tutors and eight excellent ge-hays, Doctors of Philosophy, to discuss the topics back and forth. All of these remained with him wherever he stayed, in the winter or the summer palace.

At age sixteen, the Chinese first invaded eastern Tibet in Kam Province. Although the Dalai Lamas are usually installed as the head of the government at the age of eighteen, everyone thought that the Dalai Lama should take over the government immediately because it was such a dangerous time. Thus, at a very young age, he took responsibility for the government, a tremendous burden since this was the period that the Chinese came into Tibet. Throughout, he continued his studies and at twenty-five, in 1958, became a ge-hay. In order to do so, he had to debate in front of the other ge-hays at Dre-ung monastery. There were probably several thousand monks, a host of government officials, and many others; he was in the middle of all this. Then he did the same at e-ra and Gan-den. At a final debate which takes place at the New Year’s celebration when all of the monasteries gather in Hla-a he had to debate three times. This was in 1959, and subsequent to it he was given the title of a highest rank ge-hay.

It was just a month after becoming a ge-hay that he had to escape to India, where he has stayed until now. There are about eighty thousand refugees in India, and their place of hope is the Dalai Lama; there is no one else. In conversations with the Indian government we, as his representatives, have arranged for settlements for Tibetans. Thus, even though we are refugees, we are in quite a good situation. We have independence to engage in our own religion and do what we want as if it were our own country.

Those left in Tibet are in a very bad situation of suffering. There is nothing that we can do for them now, but the Dalai Lama has assumed the burden of freeing them from misery. He has been able to make visits to Japan, Thailand, and Europe, not as a head of government, but as a private citizen. His idea of visiting, especially the West, is to exchange ideas, to find out what Western ideas are and for him to present some Eastern ideas. Therefore, perhaps there is hope that when he comes to America, you can ask him about the Buddhist doctrine.

By the way, of the three letters in the lake, “A” stood for Am-do, which is the province where the Dalai Lama was born. “Ka” stood for Kum-bum monastery, which was nearby. Most people felt “Ma” referred to his mother, but I asked the Dalai Lama in 1974 what he thought it meant, and he said that as a child he was called Hla-mo-don-drup, an unusual name for a male child because it means “Goddess Siddhārtha”. “Ma,” a feminine ending in Tibetan, referred to that name.

The above is a record of what I have heard and the little that I actually experienced in the search for the fourteenth Dalai Lama. Those interested in more information can consult two reliable sources: one, His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s memoirs, My Land and My People, and the other, a book bv Sonam Wangdu, a member of the search party led by e-tsang Rin-bo-chay, entitled The Discovery of the 14th Dalai Lama.132