Although my mother, when sun tanned could negotiate discounts from the Indian traders in the market in Gravesend, I am not of Indian nor Asian genetics. If she wore a sari and a bindi she could pass as Sikh. Yes one could say the Celtic migration had a terminus in a valley to the South East of Snowdown. I was however born a ginge…
As an outsider I note how many so-called previous lives of Buddha are in the general geo-location of Northern India – Himalayas- Afghanistan. He is often a prince and sometimes Brahmin. I note that the vast majority of Tulku rebirths are in Tibet – Nepal – North India – Bhutan area. If not there then there must be some familial nepotism. Tulku begets tulku out of some follower or nun. I have never heard of a Viking incarnation. Once Buddhism spread East we did not get a sudden burst of Icelandic Bodhisattvas. The streets of Rio were not awash with them dancing at carnival.
My scientific mind notes this discrepancy. It seems unbalanced.
Surely a Bodhisattva reincarnating for the benefit of all sentient beings would not restrict themselves geographically or demographically? Global impact in isolated countries high up in the mountains is not likely to be high. Skilful means suggests ploughing other wider fields.
There is a kind of perhaps spiritual snobbery. After all the Vedas and Buddhism predate Christianity and Islam. Only the pilgrim skilled in meditation, asceticism and vegetarianism can get enlightened. Beer and twice cooked chips are verboten, interdit. Turmeric is a must.
It is illogical that someone should only be born in the same geolocation if they are to garner a wider experience. If you have not tried rollmop and aquavit…you have missed something.
This for me seems slightly problematic in the around the camp fire tales of Buddha. The other problem I have is with the notion of many Buddhas stretching back millennia. The human vehicle was according to archaeology not as intellectually advanced and capable. All those millennia ago it did not look human.
How could a Buddha be Neanderthal?
There is an evidenced based narrative chronology which errs from the verbatim understanding of canon and Mahayana canon more so. If these are meant to be metaphor and parable, there is less problem.
Nevertheless is seems strange that Buddha only hung out there or thereabouts…
Following on from my various dreams I have been looking at internet based information on Tulkus and Rinpoche types. The first comment is that there are shed loads of these. There seems to be a pecking order.
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In some circles it seems that their words are hung upon and that they may be put on a pedestal. On-line there is controversy about iffy teacher-student practices. This provokes heated commentary and in some cases attack. It seems very emotive.
Looks like a minefield to me.
Academic practice in the UK has changed considerably in the last few decades. In the past people used to get shit-faced drunk and there was “intermingling”. This is frowned upon these days. Though no doubt some non standard interaction continues. Many academics marry students…
If people want to check my academic credentials feel free…
Based on what I am reading it looks like a barge pole jobby. That is steer well clear…
I know that I don’t know but I am now less inclined to find out. I am not glamoured thereby.
Some Rinpoche dudes get to meet presidents of countries…
If you are famous and well known you can charge a few hundred dollars for online courses…
The comment that I have in general is that a lot of the teaching material on line is of a somnambulance inducing length. It would not pass muster at a modern higher education establishment. The presentation skills need polish and focus is better than rambling…
It reaffirms for me that “guru yoga” is dangerous both for the acolyte and the guru. It also suggests that the time for gonadal basal yoga is passing. That stuff is old…wrong century…
It has been interesting having a good read around. The “discussion” on line reminded me of the Sutra below.
This idealism in which people are deified and then crucified for their failings remains a problem not just in religion. A well loved star can be cancelled and lambasted on the whim of an allegation. The worshipper takes no responsibility for the down fall of the previously worshipped.
I don’t know what those hundreds if not thousands of Tulkus and Rinpoches are doing with their lives.
They can’t all be angels…
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The Sutra Preached By The Buddha On The Total Extinction Of The Dharma
(Taisho Tripitaka 0396)
The Buddha was silent, and made no response. After Ananda had repeated the question three times, the Buddha told him, “After my nirvana, when the Dharma is about to be extinct, the Five Mortal Sins will foul the world, and the demonic-way will flourish exceedingly. The demons will become monks, to spoil and wreck my Way. They will wear lay dress [rejoicing in cassocks] and multicolored clothing. They will drink wine and eat meat, killing living things in their desire for fine flavors. They will not have compassionate minds, and will hate and envy each other.”
“At times, there will be Bodhisattvas, Pratyeka-buddhas, and Arhats, who cultivate merits diligently and treat all beings with reverence; being the objects of the people’s devotion, they will impartially preach and convert. They will pity the poor and keep the old in their thoughts, and take care of those in poverty and difficulty. They will constantly persuade the people to worship and serve Sutras and images, doing all good acts that bring merit; their wills and natures will be kind and good. They will not harass or injure people, but sacrifice themselves to save others. They will not spare themselves, but will put up with insult, being benevolent and harmonious.”
“Should there be such a being, the gang of demonic monks will unite in hating him, slandering him and blazoning forth his errors. He will be expelled and banished; they will not let him remain at that place. From then onwards, they will all fail to cultivate merit according to the Way. Temples will be empty and desolate, and will no longer be repaired, but will be allowed to fall into ruin. The monks will covet nothing but material goods, accumulating them without distribution, not doing good deeds. They will deal in male and female slaves, plow the fields and plant them, burning off the mountain forests and harming all living things; they will not have compassionate minds. Male slaves will become monks, female slaves will become nuns; they will have none of the merit that comes from practicing the Way, but rather will be filthy and depraved, foul and turbulent; men and women will not be kept separate. The reason the Way will become shallow and weak, is all because of that type of person.”
I’ll kick this off with an observation. Much to do with Tibet is complex and almost impenetrable to the minds of those not raised there or deeply embedded into the culture thereof. The political history too is highly complex and subject to rapid changes and swings in direction. The iconography is also highly stylised and complicated.
It is fair to say that the recognition of high lama reincarnations is an ongoing hot topic between Tibet and China. To the extent that it is a political hot potato. This due to the influence and sometime power wielded by the Panchen and Dalai lamas. There is some evidence of divide and rule Chinese shenanigans historically. The Chinese have sought to provide a legal and bureaucratic framework for the within Tibet recognition of Tulku incarnations. Perhaps subjecting it to ancient quasi-Confucian bureaucracy.
You need a “chit” from the government to be an official Tulku incarnation…
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The Articles of the State Religious Affairs Bureau Order No. 5 are as follows:
These “Management measures for the reincarnation of living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism” were passed at the administrative affairs conference of the State Administration of Religious Affairs on July 13, 2007, and will be implemented on September 1, 2007.
On August 3, 2007, China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs issued a decree that all the reincarnations of tulkus of Tibetan Buddhism must get government approval, otherwise they are “illegal or invalid”. The decree states, “It is an important move to institutionalize management on reincarnation of living Buddhas. The selection of reincarnates must preserve national unity and solidarity of all ethnic groups and the selection process cannot be influenced by any group or individual from outside the country.” It also requires that temples which apply for reincarnation of a living Buddha must be “legally-registered venues for Tibetan Buddhism activities and are capable of fostering and offering proper means of support for the living Buddha.”
Reincarnation Applications have to be submitted to four governmental bodies for approval, specifically the religious affairs department of the provincial-level government, the provincial-level government, State Administration for Religious Affairs, and the State Council.
Excerpted from Wikipedia
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Traditionally there have been a number of means used to recognise Tulku incarnations. The first being a letter of intent or clue as to the future nature and place of incarnation left by the soon to pass Bodhisattva. Then dreams and visions play a role in finding the incarnation. The new incarnation may recall his name and make verbal claims as to prior birth when young. Candidate Tulkus are often tested with belongings of prior incarnations, especially if the candidate has had a relatively recent death. The idea being that a newly incarnate might recognise his old stuff. An incarnate adept may show untoward high aptitude in study. People may recognise the essence of their erstwhile teacher. Ultimately it is the clairvoyance of the pure wisdom mind of a currently incarnate high lama who might give the seal of approval. An alternate is a shamanic golden urn drawing of lots akin to the Hogwarts sorting hat. The ritual points directly at the newly incarnate being from among a list of candidates.
The Tulku practice in general often has controversy with sometimes competing claimants for the same throne or titular lineage head-ship.
A number of Western Tulkus have been recognised including a possible dakini incarnation. These recognised Tulkus have not generally gone on to fit the traditional modus operandi of a Tulku birth for a being born in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan etc. They do not have training as a child and hence may not be well prepared to adopt the role as lineage holder or enthroned head. They are changed by their western influence and perhaps body. There is some discussion that such western tulkus are a “failed” experiment. Some Tulkus are discovered late. Some in the crib.
Most of the recognised Tulkus have an interaction with Tibetan Buddhism of some form or another, already. Logic says that if they did not they could not be recognised because there would be nobody around them to recognise them.
I have had quite a number of dreams in which things Tibetan have popped up. I have had a dream with a cabinet and a dream with a rosary. These might be prior life artefacts. I have had dreams with Naropa and various Dalai lamas and Karmapa. I have had dreams with other Buddhist masters like Dilgo Khyentse and Chogyam Trungpa.
My only direct linkage with Himalayan Buddhist tradition has been Karma Kagyu and the Dzong in London where I did Guru Rinpoche and White Tara initiations under Akong Rinpoche.
Only of late have Tibetan scripts made an appearance in dreams. And only of late have I had Tibetan coloured robes. I am reasonably comfortable with the notion that I have had several Buddhist incarnations stretching back. I have “resonance” with certain teachings. I am not however of a purely Buddhist orientation. I also have Toltec and Occult leanings.
My attempts to “find” a named person in a prior life so far, in Himalayan Buddhism, are without success or obvious candidate. There is a possibility of an Indian incarnation way back and there is much to do with the nagas.
I can see numerous problems. Were I to be recognised as some “important” geezer that would raise the question as to what to do with me. Am I better kept secret? It would be a rare occurrence for someone with my extensive scientific background and advancing age to be recognised. It provides both problem and opportunity. I am a quantum superposition state of Buddhist and scientist-geek. Potentially I am bi-lingual. The legal ramifications in the complex Tibetan system are unknown to me. There may be some weird socio-political stuff about which I know zero.
Clearly as being outside of Tibet I would not fall under the Chinese bureaucratic decree. I don’t fit the Beijing criteria.
It could be a public relations nightmare for the academic institutions to which I once pertained and at which I taught. How would they handle the press which might result? How would they deal with a Tulku incarnation in their PR and blurb? For example although Chogyam Trungpa claimed he studied at Oxford, I can find no mention of him in the PR. He of course was a controversial figure who went on to found Naropa university in Colorado. August UK academic institutions can be ultra-conservative and protective of reputation. It might take hundreds of years before any open acknowledgement.
There is no way for me to pursue this thread other than to research and dream. It is possibly best left in an obscurity as a mild anomaly…
Here is this morning’s dream had after 6 AM this morning. It is out of the blue considering what I have been exploring in terms of old French manuscripts.
The dream opens in the front room – sitting room in a large home in the English home counties. The wife and I are visiting a young woman and her family. She is a younger version of Dupinder from Aussie MasterChef. In the dream context she is an ex-student of mine and early twenties. She has a nice posh English accent with only the faintest hint of Indian accent. We are there with her sister and mother and father. They are middle-upper class and moderately wealthy. They are highly educated. I say that people like her family have added a great deal to UK culture and life. Their springer spaniel dog comes in and they are worried that the dog will bite or snap at me. This is its usual behaviour with strangers. It comes over to me and I offer it my right hand in a loose fist to sniff. It is very suspicious and growls slightly. I re-offer my hand and emanate warmth along it. The dog sniffs it and then sits to lick my hand. It lets me stroke it and then lies down in front of me, close, calm and happy.
I notice some Buddhist texts on the table and small statuette of Buddha. I comment to “Dupinder” that I did not know she was Buddhist. She says that yes they have been going to the local temple/centre on a regular basis. Her parents have been life long and as of late she and her sister have taken to it too. I ask what denomination. She says that they are Theravada and no fuss Buddhism. I explain to her that I have more than a passing interest. She boots up her lap top and shows me pictures of her centre. It is housed in a wider building run by Tibetan Buddhists as a cross denominational dharma centre. On the outside of the building I can see Tibetan writing and roman scripts. The building has been purchased using the wealth of the Tibetan Buddhist “church” in exile. I ask who oversees the project and she says that Rinpoche does. I inquire further and she says that Rinpoche, a supposed Tulku, is titular head of the dharma centre but others run it day to day. The centre is in a town just outside the north of the M25.
At this point her father interjects. He asks me if I am a Rinpoche too. He has had a sudden intuition that I am. Caught slightly off-guard I say that yes it is more than possible that I am a Rinpoche, a reincarnated lama too. He says that he suspected this from the moment he first set eyes on me and from the way his daughter has spoken of me. He says that he thinks that I should go to the dharma centre to see if I am recognised. I say that I don’t think that it works like that. Me tipping up in such a manner would not go down well. For some reason he is very happy and he invites us all down into the big conservatory to have a light vegetarian snack / dinner. There are metallic thali plates with curries in little bowls, rice and breads.
How we view and to an extent assimilate our notion of world is underpinned by a number of hypotheses which we may deem fact or gospel. Counter hypotheses are therefore cognitively unacceptable. This is because they can literally change our world and view thereof. Different hypotheses can upset the mundane power balance. And we cannot allow that can we.
For a long time, according to history, mankind imagined a flat Earth with earth at the centre of all things heavenly. Others suggested a heliocentric solar system and a quasi-spherical planet. Such views were considered heretic and punishable. For a long time the hypotheses of heliocentricity and orb-like planet were totally unacceptable especially to those in power, in the church. The infallibility of a human pope kept bums on seat and pennies on the collection plate. The infallibility of the pope was deemed factual and not hypothetical. It was the sort of “fact” that was enforced at the end of a blade or a noose.
Human history is littered with old hypotheses which have been used as the reason for slaughter. Hypotheses can be used to justify blood and murder.
The implications of a spherical globe are significantly different from a flat “2d” world. There is no edge off of which to sail. Without a round planet we would not have satellite TV nor surveillance satellites. A flat earth would be bad for NSA and CIA. The hypothesis of a quasi-spherical planet is game-changing in its implications.
An example of a hypothesis which is unacceptable to some is that Jesus was and is the long promised biblical messiah, the saviour. A significant population in the world find such a hypothesis unacceptable. No rabbi could accept this hypothesis and others see him more as a significant prophet. Were a rabbi to accept such a hypothesis it would radically change the assimilation of world and the recounting and recollection of history. You can argue that there is a vested interest not to accept such a hypothesis.
Some hypothesis cannot therefore be accepted because the implication of accepting them is too vast, it changes far too much.
Scientific causality and locality was a notion of Newtonian mechanics. Quantum entanglement kind of fucked with this idea and people like Einstein found this a swede masher and difficult to accept. Nowadays there is a burgeoning quantum aspect to science, business and technology.
One could argue that there is precedent for old, dated hypotheses giving way to newer more widely applicable ones. Things of significant implication always face resistance and slow uptake.
I like the idea of a how a change in hypothesis can fundamentally and significantly alter how a world is and has been assimilated. A benign example of this is when adopted children find out they have been adopted and search out the backstory. The world is turned upside down for a while, perhaps permanently. Modern DNA testing has scuppered many a dubious narrative about parenthood. The hypothesis that Bob was dad to Alice was incorrect, it was Sergei in reality.
A while back somebody insisted that I was a so-called Man of Action and for many years dozens of people interacted with me on the basis of that hypothesis. It underpinned their assimilation of our interaction. It was a hypothesis which may not have been well founded. People might struggle to re-assimilate the world and the nature of interaction given an alternate notion.
Hypothesis can be a close relative of assumption. The working assumption here in France is that I am “anglais”. It is the first “hypothesis”. It is pretty easy to change intellectual understanding of this but still people behave towards me as if I have the same orientation as an English. Although the hypothesis has changed its latent implementation remains.
Based on various visions and dreams I have had one can draw up at least two different hypothetical explanations. These might be radically different in implication both locally for me and more globally.
The simplest explanation is that the nocturnal dreams and waking visons are a form of hallucinatory psychosis. I am off my trolley and provided that I don’t cause any discomfort / break laws there is no need to have me locked up in a psychiatric unit. I am not a threat to anyone and by and large understand my day to day reality such a taxes and medical appointments. Although socially isolated I am not dangerous to myself or others. This is a facile hypothesis with only a very local implication. It does not impinge outside of our immediate geo-location.
Another interpretation is that some of the dreams are to do with previous incarnations of mine. If we accept this as a hypothesis then we can assimilate an explanatory narrative which has me having several Buddhist flavoured lives etc. As this stands it has no wide implication. It is the sort of thing someone well into their cups might claim down the local boozer. No drama. Just another hippy-trippy fruitcake believing something which cannot be proved nor directly unequivocally disproved. Disproof is implied from lack of proof. If however this points at a tulku incarnation of a high lama, this has wide implication in at least one context. Some would struggle to accept this as a hypothesis specifically because of the way they see me and have behaved towards me. It would need a rewrite of life narrative.
This points at an obvious. Hypothesis can not ever be completely separated from context; they are nearly always highly context specific.
In 2009 I had a “conversation” early one morning walking around a wood near Tring. In that I was told that I was a very close disciple of Buddha, Siddartha. Implied that I had been a contemporary of him and spent time with him. The default hypothesis of psychotic hallucination or schizophrenic voice hearing explains this easily.
To accept the “conversation” as factual or hypothetically correct would be a push for some, particularly those who have made my acquaintance.
In 2011 I had a dream which pointed at Bakula one of Buddha’s closet disciples, a scholar who came late to the path according to text. He is named as arhat in scripture and hagiography has him as an enlightened being. I am less convinced that enlightenment of a disciple happens in a single lifetime just from hanging out with the Siddhartha dude. In certain circumstances he is revered as a kind of Buddhist “saint”. Prior to the dream I had no conscious memory of having heard the name Bakula.
The facile invocation of grandiose psychotic dreaming is easily made. Maybe I want to be important subconsciously and made up a story to make me significant.
For me to accept it as hypothetically possible is not tricky. For others it may be harder. For example what does one do with that? How does one treat a reincarnated person who actually met and hung with Siddartha? What is the precedent? What is the protocol?
Quickly such a hypothesis becomes cognitively unacceptable. It cannot be proven true and it would take more evidence than Mulder and Scully could ever furnish for it to be believed, no matter how much we may want to believe. I’ll suggest that there may be many hypotheses which describe an aspect of reality which are totally unacceptable. These hypotheses may be before their time. In time they may become less unacceptable until such time as people are ready to believe them.
Careful if you believe, you might fall off the edge of your world…
I don’t know if you can imagine what having dreams like the one I had this morning does to the start of your day. To go from that to the cat saying hello and wanting her breakfast is a little odd. One needs to ground firmly back in day to day reality. The dream partially mashed the swede of the wife when she read it. It is a swede masher dream. You cannot un-have a dream like that!!
What I did not mention in the dream write up was the insistence and persistence of the name Je Tsongkhapa, during the dream and subsequently. An account of him and his teaching can be found at: Tsongkhapa
Having a dream that intense can unsettle. I am more accustomed to them than most. I was unsettled and did not awaken “rested”. It is the first dream I have had of myself in full Tibetan Buddhist garb and with a Gelug yellow hat. There is an implication in the dream that I am perhaps a seat-holder of some kind. The dream was very tantric with the Vajra-bell of emptiness playing a major role. In that context there was a hint of knowledge keeper and maybe even gterma or terma. The snake being the dreaming symbol for wisdom.
Of course I may simply be tapping in to the “buddha-field” and bringing back images.
I am not aware of any tulku of my current physical age and educational background being recognised. In the context of things Tibetan it would already strike as unusual. I am not a hairy-arsed Tibetan yak minder nor am I a relative of a big high lama. I don’t hang with the sangha. Why would a “pikey” from rural Brittany be having these dreams? Is it the Korrigans or the pixies?
Anyway my appointment for a cardio stress test has come through. I will have an ultrasound whilst on an exercise bike or they will give me dobutamine to make my heart race. They want to see if the pump works well enough for my operation to go ahead. The molecule looks pretty water soluble to me.
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Maybe they should do a post dream or in-dream ultrasound to check out my left ventricle function. My dreams are exciting enough.
Given the dream this morning I am wondering what next, what might happen tonight?
Following on from a theme in this morning’s dream write up we have:
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The Nirmāṇakāya (Ch: 化身, 應身; Tib. sprul sku; the body of transformation, emanation, manifestation or appearance) is a reflection of the Saṃbhogakāya, one of the myriad magical manifestations created by the Saṃbhogakāya. It is also called rūpa-kaya, the “form body” or “physical body”. The Nirmāṇakāya generally refers to a Buddha’s human-like appearance in imperfect worlds like ours, which appear for limited periods of time and seemingly die in paranirvana. It is usually associated with “historical” Buddha figures, like Shakyamuni Buddha. It is thus the most historic, temporally and spatially contingent, and humanistic aspect of the three bodies.
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Nirmāṇakāya (Chinese: 應身; pinyin: yīngshēn; Tibetan: སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་, tulku, Wylie: sprul sku) is the third aspect of the trikāya and the physical manifestation of a Buddha in time and space. In Vajrayāna it is described as “the dimension of ceaseless manifestation”
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Diverse nirmanakaya (Tibetan: sna tshogs sprul pa), these nirmanakayas manifest in numerous ways and forms to help sentient beings in any way possible, these may even include seemingly inanimate objects like boats or bridges. There are many forms and types of these, and can include:
Born or animate diversified nirmanakayas (Sanskrit: janmanirmāṇakāya; Tibetan: སྐྱེ་བ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ, skye ba sprul sku) are the emanations of Buddhas who are born in the world in a natural way (womb, egg, etc) and guide sentient beings in various forms, like a king, a bodhisattva, and so on.
Inanimate diversified nirmanakaya, inanimate emanations, like valleys, mountains, boats and bridges
Artisan nirmanakayas (Sanskrit: śilpanirmāṇakāya or śilpinnirmāṇakāya; Standard Tibetan: བཟོ་བོ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་, bzo bo sprul sku) the emanation which appears like an artist or artisan (or even as a work of art) in order to awaken beings. {This can include science – my note}
From Wikipedia
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Normal “sane” westerners may struggle with the notion of a nirmanakaya manifestation. They would find Saṃbhogakāya even harder to swallow. Yet they listen to the Dalai Lama.
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Saṃbhogakāya
The Saṃbhogakāya (Ch: 報身, 受用身; Tib. longs sku) refers to the divine magical bodies of the Buddhas which manifest for the benefit of noble bodhisattvas. It can be rendered as “co-enjoyment body”, and “communal bliss body” (when reading the prefix saṃ- to refer to ‘together with’ or ‘mutual’) or as “complete reward body”, “total enjoyment body” (reading saṃ- as “complete”, “thoroughness”). The Saṃbhogakāya is described by the Mahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra as that which “brings enjoyment of dharma to the circles of assembly.” The term is usually associated with more supramundane, cosmic or otherworldly Buddhas. For example, Sthiramati names Vairocana, Amitabha and Samantabhadra as Saṃbhogakāya Buddhas.
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To me it is not all surprising that I have the word nirmāṇakāya in my dream this morning. Way more surprising was that I had a mobile ‘phone!! In esoteric thought a nirmāṇakāya manifestation can be a thought projected form of either temporary or quasi-permanent duration made by an adept or master. This form is usually for communication. These need not to be full carnal and would have no need for the DNA building blocks of a human form. These nirmāṇakāya are behind legends of magic and apparition / disappearance of certain masters. They are said to be made out of thought substance.
The most common form of nirmāṇakāya is the tulku of Tibetan-Bhutanese Vajrayāna Buddhism. All of these woman or womb born tulkus would need biological DNA in order to evolve into adult humans. According to the legend these reincarnating masters often have non-mundane capabilities. Their minds are trained and differ. But biologically they ought to be the same. A DNA test would most likely return human DNA.
Human beings worshipping at the altar of modern science like “proof” and carrying out a DNA test / autopsy might appeal to the Josef Mengele mentality. Just as if we found a real alien from outer space. Some would want to slice them open and have a look inside.
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Like a sociopath with a frog or harmless animal, humans like to experiment on other species. There is a whole industry in animal testing.
It is also possible that people see a nirmāṇakāya either as a waking vision or in their sleep and dreams. If you see a nirmāṇakāya or saṃbhogakāya buddha or bodhisattva in your dreams that is considered auspicious and a good thing. Even if that is a bit of a trouser changer so to speak. Such a manifestation is likely to be a noteworthy and impactful dream.
In my opinion a womb born nirmāṇakāya will probably have human DNA. A thought projection nirmāṇakāya may not have any chemical substance whatsoever, nothing to put in a mass spectrometer or for PCR work up. Nothing to do an autopsy on when they die.
The probability of me being a leftie has increased in my understanding since being in this marriage. The wife notices when I do things the “wrong” way round. When I have picked up something like a bow and arrow I have started the left handed way. I always wore watches on my right wrist. Being forced to write right handed and having many marks deducted for my messy handwriting and shit drawing may have kept me back. I now have a certain natural “ambidexterity”. I had behavioural problems at school, perhaps the obligatory dexterity had a role.
I found out today that I have been doing my meditation mudras the “wrong” lefthanded way. A mirror image. I look at mudras and think that is odd. My hands don’t do that.
The passive nocturnal dreaming seems to be converging on some kind of recent “Tibetan” life. It is not Tibet-envy. I don’t particularly want to be/have been Tibetan and have no strange craving for Yak’s butter.
The dream this morning has me referred to as Rinpoche. A term often used for reincarnated lamas of some attainment. There are rare cases when incarnations are recognised late in life.
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Rinpoché ou Rinpotché, Rimpoché, Rimpotché (tibétain : རིན་པོ་ཆེ་, Wylie : rin-po-che, THL : rinpoche, dialecte de Lhassa API : rin’potʃe) est une épithète honorifique propre au bouddhisme tibétain. L’adjectif rinpoché signifie littéralement « précieux ». Le titre Rinpoché est généralement réservé à un lama incarné. Il fait référence au fait que le lama est reconnu comme la réincarnation d’un grand maître du bouddhisme tibétain, suivant une tradition spécifique du Tibet.
Également appelé tulkou (tibétain : སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་, Wylie : sprul sku, lit. Sanskrit : nirmāṇakāya, « corps d’émanation »), mais dans la majorité des cas, il s’agit simplement d’un titre de courtoisie.
Wikipédia
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I might yet have a career as a ninja action hero in films and as a buddy of Putin {Steven Seagal}.
There is no real likelihood of some senior Buddhist dude saying, “yes, he is the incarnation of Joe Bloggs Rinpoche.”
It seems to me that the rate of recognition of western tulkus is in decline. I have no association with a sangha nor were my parents Buddhist. There was a spurt in recognition occurrence when the Tibetan diaspora took hold.
My behaviour to date is not one of shining virtue and abstemious living. I am not good PR.
There are less Rinpoches than science professors. I have met way more of the latter and only very briefly, en passant, one of the former. By analogy to the US system, I was once an Associate Professor in Physical Chemistry. If I had stayed in that system they might have made me full professor just before I died / retired.
It has often tickled me, the notion of tipping up at Imperial College dressed in full monk’s robes and going around knocking on the doors of people who once knew me, many of whom are professors. I would have to get a swipe card to be let in. They may not let me past security, especially if I was dressed funny.
They may or may not have spoken well of me in then past. I may have pissed a few of them off. The first look on their faces would be precious even for a Rinpoche. You can’t buy that kind of experience; it would be priceless, unrepeatable.
But probably that is not going to happen.
It is possible {though unlikely} in the fullness of time that there might be a Wikipedia page about me. I certainly might be the only one with two EUV and one Quantum Optics patent. I probably have the most extensive physical sciences publications list.
To follow on from the dream I could have both “titles”.
I’ll speculate that it would make me a rather unusual incarnation, were it true and/or real.
In terms of kudos common or garden professors have a contextual kudos which varies. During COVID professorial status was elevated even if they were seen as killjoys. They saved lives. People like Trump don’t like “liberal” or “commie bastard” academics.
In certain contexts, Rinpoches have an elevated status and many seek their blessings. Some have entourages and security. They mix in different circles from ours.
In their own cultural contexts, they have more kudos than profs.
Not sure where this dreaming is headed…
Last night there was no Buddhist / Tibetan influence. We watched a recording of University Challenge and some UK TV. There was no conscious pondering. The whole dream came “out of nowhere”.
There is a part of me that is hesitant to go to bed…
Nirmāṇakāya (Chinese: 應身; pinyin: yīngshēn; Tibetan: སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་, tulku, Wylie: sprul sku) is the third aspect of the trikāya and the physical manifestation of a Buddha in time and space.
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Nearly ten years ago I tried to explain to the anaesthetist that because of the very large amount of meditation I had done there might be some anomalies in how I responded to medication – anaesthetic. They completely ignored me and did not take me in any way seriously. A few days subsequent to the operation I had strong recall of being above the operating table watching the “vultures” around my corpse operating. On going into theatre, I was chatting about the clean room conditions of the operating theatre. The same night after ~ six hours of surgery to remove a colon cancer, I stood on my own two feet. Which freaked out the nurse in recovery.
I am pretty sure that something weird transpired during the operation and that it was not spoken about.
There is no way that a modern medical professional would countenance the notion of a nirmāṇakāya or janmanirmāṇakāya; སྐྱེ་བ་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ, skye ba sprul sku. Nor that they might be biologically different to a regular human being.
If one takes the dreaming “evidence” in this blog, then there is a hint of non-standard reincarnations plural stemming back lifetimes. It could be a Soul reincarnating or it could simply be some kind of emanation. In the latter case the emanation body or nirmāṇakāya may not clothe itself in meat in a standard way. I have not read of any different approach to the medical treatment of Tibetan tulkus. But there is a vast amount of stuff which is kept away from prying eyes. My guess is that Tibetan Vajrayana etc. is like an iceberg, with only a tiny bit showing.
The body may be similar but the “mind” very different. Tulkus may be very different to normal people though looking the same. The manifestation, the emanation, need not be that of a full buddha.
On the horizon for me are up to three more major surgeries. In 2019 they put my titanium pin into the left femoral neck/head whist under the influence of a spinal injection and some other drugs. I can remember the bone shaking pneumatic drill. They would not let me watch even though I asked. It was enough to induce PTSD…I was conscious if drugged.
It can be said or observed that I left / renounced the Imperial palace, when I walked out of my job as a senior lecturer at Imperial College in London. I was a strict vegan for a long time, close to nine years. I walked out of a relationship with a wife, a home and a very young female child. I renounced my family later. I meditated extensively away from the madding crowd. I learned science sport and martial arts. There are some of the twelve acts attributed to Siddartha.
At a very long stretch one could say I share these, have them in common.
There is a part of me that wonders if the medical approach to me needs to take other factors into consideration. This adds a little reticence to the notion of drastic orthopaedic surgery. Somehow, I need to understand better…
I have found that if you start looking into things Tibetan that complexity soon arrives.
Today I came upon ma ’das sprul sku for the first time.
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Abstract: A ma ’das sprul sku is a non-hereditary reincarnate lama (sprul sku) who assumes his or her predecessor’s status, but who takes birth before his or her predecessor’s death. This paper presents ten oral histories of ma ’das sprul skus and examines what they and their narrators reveal about the logic of transference in establishing the personhood of a ma ’das sprul sku, how ma ’das sprul sku personhood may challenge conventional understandings of sprul sku personhood and temporality, ma ’das sprul sku and their creators as reflective agents, and what the dearth of ma ’das sprul sku hagiographies may imply.
Marcia Calkowski in The Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies.
The notion that a being can have a second incarnation whilst still alive, kind of messes with the idea that one needs to leave the meat before getting some more. She mentions the idea of mandé trülku.
Taken to the limit that could mean that an emanation, similar to that which gave rise to the Dalai Lama, could already be incarnate whilst he lives.
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Literary Sources for Tulku Lines
Successive systems of reincarnation or tulku (sprul sku) are fascinating sources for the study of the social history of Tibet. The tulku, predicated on Buddhist metaphysics of rebirth, is a phenomena in which a person is recognized as embodying a previous person, in their own current body. This is technically referred to in Tibetan as one who is “recognized as having returned to existence” (yang srid ngos ‘dzin or sprul sku ngos ‘dzin).
There are hundreds of multigenerational tulku lines in Tibet. By looking at when such tulku lines were declared, within which contexts, patterns of interpersonal relations, institutional alliances, and regional practices emerge. We are given new visions of these trans-generational social networks and the weblike worlds in which tulkus function.
This suggests that there are so many tulkus that some could be considered common or garden as opposed to the big three.
The naming and interweave is not easily tractable. If I was to start with my recent Tibetan dream, trying to find out who I might have been, there are many pitfalls.
This dream, if taken literally, suggests that I was being escorted out of Tibet in and around the early sixties / late fifties. Clearly that is a big if. It suggests an importance sufficient to warrant an escort and a rank above common or garden
I could search for a person, lama or tulku, who died in and around that time but the list of tulku lines is not easily searchable by date. The dream suggests that I was not going to make it.
But I may have made it. Which might make me a co-incarnation of a living person. We share an emanatory source. That co-incarnation could have passed on since and could in principle have been born biologically before me, say ~1940s in order to be old enough to march to freedom.
The feeling from the dream was that I was a youth / young man. Which puts a window ~1935 – 1945. My hands in the dream were soft inconsistent with extended heavy manual labour.
Points at Southeastern Tibet / Shigatse/ Shigatze which might geo-locate an incarnation but does not take me much closer to a named individual in the twentieth century.
My Tibetan Buddhist Search Committee Dream suggests that I might recognise a magically inscribed cabinet. It suggests that I might recognise Tibetan martial arts weapons.
“The carpet on the floor of the hall has been rolled back to reveal a parquet dance floor of some considerable sheen. Amongst the entourage I can hear gossiping. “It cannot be him; he is too coarse thickset and muscular.”
I hear this and whip off my shirt to reveal my muscular bare chest. I say that I will cooperate with whatever it is they must do. Take a look if you must. I am now wearing saffron yellow trousers, training pants, that are “elasticated” at the ankles. I start to do a forward splits on the floor to warm up. I say that given I am nearly sixty I am surprised that being that old I can still do that.
One of the woman in the entourage says to me that I am much older than that both in this lifetime and stretching way back. I am nearly 73 she says. I do the mental calculation that I must have been “born” in the early 1950s. She says, “we tried to wake you five years ago”. You have been “asleep” and we have been waiting.”
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So, the dreams suggest an inconsistency of age or timing.
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The monastery airport dream points at Leh in Ladakh.
There are other dreams with H.H. Karmapa and H.H. Dalai lama in.
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If dreams are “evidence” then there is quite a bit suggesting some Tibetan connection. If I were a Tibetan having these dreams then the Tibetans would take them more seriously. A hairy arsed sixty-year old Welsh ex-academic spendthrift is not as attractive as perhaps a younger person linked to the sangha.
It is difficult to explain these dreams cropping up from a Freudian or Jungian perspective.
There is circumstantial evidence. It is pretty unlikely that any conscious imaginations / research makes its way fully into dreams. I did not make any of them up. They were recorded as is the morning after.
I have not tried to visualise this putative life as that is more likely to be prone to prejudice / confirmation bias.
It is possible that having looked at this theme there may be more passive dreams on the way….
Dreamyoga 