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

The devotion that people had towards him was very great. Everywhere he went, there were large gatherings of people who wanted to receive teachings and blessings from him. Lots of poor people and beggars started to follow him wherever he went as he always distributed food to them and took care of their needs. His disciples told me that at one time, over a hundred beggars was following him and he was very happy about that. He even encouraged them to follow him, as these people not only received food they needed, but also received many teachings and empowerments which made their lives become meaningful.

He also set free animals that were meant to be slaughtered. He bought many of them and gave them to his trusted disciples for them to take care of. Often, people would offer animals to him. They were all set free and well taken care of by his disciples. One old disciple mentioned that at one time, almost ten thousand animals in Tibet and Nepal were spared the fate of being killed. There are many places in Tichu Rong, Nepal, where people practiced the sacrificing animals to deities. Every year, hundreds of animals are slaughtered and their blood is offered at the local Deity shrines. Shangpa Rinpoche taught Buddhism and promised the people that there wouldn’t be any harmful effect if they stopped sacrificing animals. He told them that if they prayed to Buddha they could overcome every obstacle and eventually more and more villages of that region started to trust him and listened to his advice. And, so, such practice stopped since then until today.

He rebuilt many historical temples that were ruined and about to collapse. He raised funds and contributed whatever he had to rebuild the temples. He not only paid for the cost of rebuilding but was actively involved in the building process, motivating the workers to work harder. He not only rebuilt the structure of each of these temples, but also provided everything that a temple needs; such as ritual instruments, text books and cooking utensils. Each time, people thought that he would use the temple as his own residence since he had put in so much effort. At the end, however, he handed over the temple and everything in it to the villagers and a resident Lama to take care of it. He himself would travel to another place without a single coin in his possession.

His mission to rebuild temples continued after he left Dolpo and moved on to western Tibet. While Shangpa Rinpoche was at Western Tibet, he met my father who was a well-known artist. Shangpa Rinpoche requested him to paint drawings at the temples that he was rebuilding. My father served him for 3 years.

My mother still remembers that when Shangpa Rinpoche came to her village, which was called Phenchi, hundreds of people from all over west Tibet gathered to receive his teachings and empowerment. She still recalls that before or after the teachings, people flock to him to get his blessings. The crowd was so big that she could hardly get near him and only managed to receive his blessings once in a while. Shangpa Rinpoche stayed a month to give teachings and empowerments. She said that she was extremely happy that time as she was just a little girl and managed to receive so many teachings and blessings in a short period. She mentioned this to me with tears in her eyes.

Many of his rebuilt temples can still be seen at Mustang and Dolpo as well as nearby regions but most of the temples rebuilt in Tibet were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. He also built stupas at a lot of different places where people felt that there were negative forces. He blessed the land and built the stupas so that eventually the land became peaceful.

He composed some texts for rituals and also gave advice to his disciples. However, as there was no photocopying or printing services and methods of voice and image recording back then, many of the texts and teachings have disappeared. Perhaps some of these may still be with old disciples from the mountainous regions of Nepal and Tibet.

At Tichu Rong Where 1st Shangpa Rinpoche stepped on rock and was later his foot print appeared on the rock.

He rebuilt the ruined Densa Chokhor Ling Temple in Tichu Rong which is till today exist.

This two photo are given to me by a monk from Tichu Rong recently and it seems very coincident that I am also writing biography of 1st Shangpa Rinpoche.

Tomorrow I will write more about Shangpa Rinpoche's travel to Tibet and his activities there.