Rainbow Body (eBook)

Trial by the Chinese: A Passage from Rainbow Body, The Life and Realization of a Tibetan Yogin, Togden Ugyen TendzinBy Chgyal Namkhai Norbu This is what I heard directly from my uncle Togden Rinpoche: When I had completed six years of retreat in all (1917) on two different occasions, practicing in the meditation cave above Namdrag, I received a letter from Drugpa Rinpoche, which arrived via Tsenam. In it was written: 'This year, you can come to Adzom Gar for the summer teachings.' According to this instruction, I ended my retreat in the first month of spring, on the occasion of Losar, the Tibetan New Year (January 22, 1917), and went to visit my old father. I also gave to him, to my brothers Snam and Trasam, and to my young sister Trashi Chtso, advice for their present and future lives. Then, after Losar, I crossed the Drichu River and went to visit the Norzang family in Geug. There, according to their wishes, I gave a long-life initiation and performed chd and so on many times. This was the first time that I placed a torma on someone's head. Tsenam told me that he wanted to escort me to Adzom Gar, but I thought, It is better if I bear hardships for the sake of the teaching, and decided to go alone on foot. I wore a robe of soft red wool of good quality and a hat of the same material that Tsenam had had sewn for me, and at the beginning of the second month of spring, I left Geug. In that period there was much turmoil between Chinese and Tibetans, so that when I arrived at the Dotsn bridge, I saw Chinese soldiers camping everywhere around it. Some of them came toward me, and after asking a few questions, they arrested me and took me to the military camp. They said many things, but since I did not know a single word of Chinese, we could not understand each other. They bound my hands and feet and put me in a corner of the camp for the night, guarded by soldiers who took turns. The following day, they brought me inside a military tent on the plain near the bridge, where the bearded Chinese commander asked me, through an interpreter, 'Are you Tibetan?' 'Yes,' I replied. 'I am Tibetan.' The chief laughed and said, 'Right. You are a spy of the Tibetan army.' 'I am not a spy. I am a hermit who lives at the Namdrag retreat near Kamthog,' I replied. The Chinese man raised his voice and said, 'If you are Tibetan, as you say, how could you be a hermit at the Namdrag retreat near Kamthog? You are not a Khampa. Speak the truth.' Many Chinese soldiers who were present punched me everywhere. I tried to explain in so many ways, but they would not listen. Then the commander said, 'If you are a Khampa, then why are you wearing a robe and hat of soft wool from central Tibet?' Although I told him the truth, the only effect this had was that I was beaten even more. At a certain point, the Chinese commander ordered something loudly to the soldiers, after which they took me out of the tent and bound me tightly with a rope to a bush a little way off on the plain. After a while, three Chinese soldiers pointed their guns at my stomach and shot many times. I visualized myself as Guru Tragpo as big as a mountain, and not even one bullet hit my body. However, I rolled on the ground and pretended that I was dead. At dusk, the soldiers ordered some local people, 'Remove this corpse from the ground.' Accordingly, they took me near the bridge, untied the rope that was binding me, stripped off my robe, hat, and boots, and threw me naked from the bridge into the river. I did not know how to swim, but I prayed fervently to Adzom Drugpa Rinpoche as nondual from Guru Rinpoche and held...