The Life Story of the 1st Shangpa Rinpoche: Part III

From Tibet, he moved to Dolpo in Nepal where he met a great meditator called Gomchen Trinle Chophel. He received many special instructions and empowerments from him and in return he also offered many Kagyudpa teachings and empowerments to his master Gomchen Trinle Chophel. They both exchanged their knowledge and realizations with each other.

The middile mountain that covered by cloud is where the Serphuk cave for his retreat place.

He then went to search for the right place for his long retreat and eventually started his long retreat at Serphuk cave in Dolpo near Tichu Rong. He spent 12 years in retreat in that cave and did many high practices, including completing Konchog Chidu's Four Foundations 12 times in order to firmly establish the basis of practice.

During his retreat, he went through a lot of hardship without much help from others as no one knew him at that time. The nearest village was located below the mountain where the cave was and half a day’s walking distance away. During winter, the whole mountain was covered with snow and the cave is completely inaccessible. It was very dangerous to travel when snow falls. Initially, food was the main problem. Even just to get enough food for one meal a day was difficult, he had to depend very much on whatever food stuff he had brought along with him and so he decided to do Nyungne Fasting during which time he had only one meal in two days. Even so, he finally ran out of food and ended up just boiling hot water for drinking during meal times. He did not put too much effort in acquiring food and other necessities as he only wanted to practice diligently because life is impermanent.

His way of practice emulates that of great Kagyu masters; one becomes a son of the mountain and has mist as clothing. One totally lets go attachment towards food, clothing and fame and aim to attain enlightenment within a single life time for the benefit of all sentient beings.

After a long time, he became so weak that he couldn’t even do simple work and practice well. So one day he thought that he must find food in order to practice well and he set out for the village. He couldn’t get any alms because the people in that village had left to attend a funeral ceremony. He felt very disappointed and thought that he should not wait for the villagers to get back as it would be dark by then. He therefore started to walk back to the cave. Suddenly, he saw some turnips left in the sun to dry. He thought over many times whether he should take some or not. He thought that if he did take it, it would be like stealing. But, if he didn’t take it, he might die of hunger without completing his practice. So, finally, he took 10 pieces and quickly went back to the cave. He tried to take one piece a day. So, for 10 days, he managed to survive and he could practice well.

After he finished the turnip, he was not sure what to do; whether to go back to the village to get food or stay in the cave. Going to the village was a great effort and the struggle to get food and moving around may distract him from his motivation, so he decided not to go and prepared himself mentally to accept whatever happened. After a few days, a dog came to the cave and was very friendly towards him. He was very happy and quickly wrote a letter mentioning that there was a hermit in a cave needing food, and would someone please bring some alms to the cave. He tied the letter around the neck of the dog and bade farewell to it. The dog went straight to the village.

The next day, some villagers came with Tsampa (Barley powder) and other food stuff. They noticed he was skinny and weak yet he very pleasantly greeted them and thanked them for the offerings. He, in return, gave them blessings and also advised them to practice Dharma. So, these were the first disciples; the ones who took time to send food to him. With the food, he could practice without any obstacles for a long time. At one time, there was a big snowfall for many days and nobody could reach the cave. It took months for the snow to melt and people thought that the hermit must surely have died from starvation. They therefore lit lamps at their own houses and dedicated merits to him.

He was however not dead. When the food supply ran out, he still managed to practice for one week by drinking boiled water. One fine morning, when he finished his regular morning water torma offering, he went out as usual to throw out the water and heard some crows making a loud noise. He went out of the cave to find out what happened and to his surprise, he saw that a dead deer was lying there. At first, he was happy and quickly got his knife out to cut the meat into pieces. But then he checked his motivation in time, and then realized that he was very cruel and had totally no compassion towards sentient beings. He then did not touch the deer, but just recited Mantras and prayers and went back into the cave. At the end of his first session of practice, he went out again to see what had happened to the dead deer. By that time, the deer was almost half eaten by crows. He collected whatever leftover meat there was and ate a little bit every day to last him for a month.

Despite great hardship, he successfully completed a 12 year retreat at that cave. What I am writing here is probably one small part of the hardship he went through which I heard from a few of his close disciples. I did not even ask them for these experiences for writing his biography, they told me the same thing at different times and places when I met them long before. So this information is very authentic. There are probably many more details to be added in if his close disciples tell more about him in future.

Tomorrow I will write about how the 1st Shangpa Rinpoche benefitted people in many places after he completed his long retreat.