Being Recognized as Shangpa Rinpoche

Around 4 to 5 years after Shangpa Rinpoche had passed away; many disciples discussed about finding the reincarnation of Shangpa Rinpoche and finally decided to send some representatives to Rumtek where HH the 16th Karmapa resided. The group of representatives comprised of three persons, Karma Trasam, Dawa Pura and another village head of Dolpo. According to them, when they saw HH for the first time, they also brought photos of Shangpa Rinpoche for blessing. HH asked for one from them. He told them that Shangpa Rinpoche was a great master and also a Buchen (great son) of the 15th Karmapa. He then kept the photo. They asked him if Shangpa Rinpoche had been reincarnated. HH said he was a great Bodhisattva and so he must surely have been reincarnated. HH said he would check carefully and write down how to find the reincarnate in a letter. The next day, HH called for them, he had prepared the letter.

My mum cannot remember exactly the contents of the letter, but it goes something like this: ‘The father is talented and the first name of the mother is Donma. They have a son born in the year of the pig with some marks on his body. This son is unmistakably the incarnation of Shangpa Rinpoche. In their home, they have a dog and a horse which are also specially marked.” So the representatives interpreted that the father is a famous artist as HH mentioned that the father is talented. My mother’s name indeed starts with Donma as her full name is Donma Tsomo and her nickname is Dontso. I was born in the year of the pig and I have a whole round of red dots around my waist. My parents had a horse whose forehead was pure white and also a unique dog which is reddish in color but whose mouth and legs are all white.

HH’s letter also mentioned that the Tulku (reincarnate) may face lots of obstacles and in order to overcome the obstacles, many prayers needed to be done and many pujas performed. These are one hundred thousand 21 praises to Tara prayers, one hundred million recitations of the 100 syllables mantra of Vajrasattva, and the reading of the Kangyur texts. These needed to be done as soon as possible. The preserved body of the 1st Shangpa Rinpoche must be cremated so as to overcome the reincarnate’s obstacles.

HH questioned them about the whereabouts of the artist Karma (my father). They told him that the artist had passed away. HH clapped both his hands together once and said it was a big loss as such a skilled person was hard to find. He further asked them if the artist had any family. They told him that he has a wife and one son who is just 3 years of age. HH told them that they must take good care of the son. HH said they must also tell Shey Tulku that HH asks him to take care of any matters concerning the artist's son and wife. HH said that this was very important as times were bad. HH also said that if the son was well taken care of, he could become an important person in future. Because of this short conversation and the letter given by HH, the representatives all felt that it was almost certain that the artist’s son is the reincarnate. So they brought this letter back to Dolpo.

The representatives then called a gathering with everyone, inviting Shey Tulku and the head man as well. HH's letter was read and they described whatever HH had told them. The most urgent thing to do was recitation of the prayers and performing the pujas. Those were voluntarily taken care. The reading of the Kangyur text was taken care of by the village head. Shey Tulku sponsored and took care of the recitation of the 100 syllables mantra of Vajrasattva. The recitation of the 21 praises to Tara was taken care of by a group of monks.

According to the HH instruction, the preserved body of Shangpa Rinpoche should not kept in and must cremate but the 1st Shangpa Rinpoche's was still at Tibet. A man named Drawa Pura went to Tibet and brought the preserved body back by carrying it on his back all the way to Dolpo. After he reached Dolpo, the people of Dolpo did not want to cremate the body and wanted to keep it. A big argument ensued. Finally, Drawa Pura told them that if any of them was still against the cremation, he would not tolerate and will fight all the way. So no one dared to object further. Drawa Pura cremated the body and managed to do it well.

After all the preparations had been completed, they gathered together again to finalize the recognition of the reincarnate. Based on HH's letter and also certain actions of mine and some conversations about me, they decided that I was unmistakably the reincarnate of the 1st Shangpa Rinpoche. I had just reached 4 years of age then. One day, some people came to my room at Trekyam Gompa, passed the letter to me and put on me a very long protection cord which is of two colors. They also gave me many Dharma pills and Black pills to eat for blessings. After that, they did prostrations in front of me and queued up to get blessings from me by my hand. I did not know what was happening at that time, yet I felt good as my mother looked very happy.

So in this way, people started to regard me as Shangpa Rinpoche and showed me respect.

( The above letter was presented by HH to me for the replacement of old letter which was destroyed by people)