Berlin, 14 October 2024

I see my main mission in life is to perform as many drupchens as possible and by now I have completed a great many. Obviously, we need to listen to dharma teachings and to reflect on them, but by far the most important point is to practice them. When it comes to practicing the dharma, it is said that the teachings of the Vajrayana carry the most blessings and are the most powerful and swift in bringing results. It is further said that to encounter the teachings of the Secret Mantra Vajrayana that take the fruition as the path—whether it be in the past, present or future—is an extremely rare occurrence. 

The teachings of the Secret Mantra Vajrayana were first taught by our teacher, Buddha Shakyamuni, and from that time onwards have been present in our world. Now, however, it seems this era is coming to an end and the teachings are gradually disappearing. Why do I say that? Because now, in current times, we don’t seem to find any accomplished practitioners of the Secret Mantra Vajrayana—the kind of practitioner who can fly in the sky, dive into the earth, or display miracles of different kinds, as a result of their accomplishment. We just don’t see anyone like that anymore, right? It’s probably not the case that no one reaches that level of accomplishment, it’s just that we don’t see them. If you really apply yourself to the practice, it’s possible to accomplish the four activities and eight great siddhis. I’m sure there are still people who attain the ordinary and supreme accomplishments, it’s just there are very few, if indeed any, that we can meet and see for ourselves. What’s the reason for this? It’s because of the exhaustion of the merit of sentient beings. 

Given this context, we need to understand that the practice of drupchen is of great importance. As Guru Rinpoche said, to engage in the practice of drupchen is like mingling with his heart blood. Yeshe Tsogyal further said, “For those who, in the future, will have the opportunity to practice the teaching revelations of the profound termas, it will be the same as meeting with Guru Rinpoche in person. Such fortunate beings should indeed rejoice!”

Once we are born into this world, the shadow of death follows us at the same time. These days, we celebrate birthdays, but the date of our death will also come. When our death arrives, what will be of the greatest help to us? It is to have participated in some drupchens while we were alive. Why is that? Because of the fundamental nature of things, the dharmata, which is primordially pure and is the buddha nature that we all possess. It is because dharmata/buddha nature is pure that practice works. While the dharmata is and has always been pure, at the level of phenomena the law of cause and effect always applies – it is undeceiving. The blessings, compassion and power of the buddhas and their heirs is immense. They contain the special teachings of the Secret Mantra Vajrayana, the methods of deity, mantra, mudra and samadhi, whose power is real.

Right now, we have gathered here to receive empowerment and join in the practice of drupchen, however in the future this kind of opportunity will almost certainly disappear. 

There is a story of an old master whose student supplicated to return as a tulku. The master replied, “Well, to come back as a tulku is relatively easy, but to find students who can truly receive the empowerments, transmissions and introduction to the nature of mind, that is much more difficult!”

We may be born as a human being, but to then adopt the dharma, receive empowerments, transmissions and teachings from a qualified master, and practice them fully, is extremely difficult. Therefore, rejoice to have come here and have this opportunity to practice. 

By the way, I have noticed a few things I need to tell you about. 

1. One of the most important aspects of a drupchen is the melodic chanting of the mantra. We’ve brought many monks with us this time to chant the mantra, but you can all join them and chant the mantra too. The recitation of mantra is something you find in all practices however the melodic chanting of mantra is an important feature of drupchens. As it is said in the drupchen instructions, ‘Do not interrupt the recitation of the mantra.’
2. Now that we have ‘opened up’ the mandala, it is very important to make light offerings. The lamp offering is, as we know from the Narak Kong Shak, the most important of all offerings. Therefore, all of you should buy a few lights and offer them. I’m sure you can buy good candles here, as well as fragrant incense. When we are in places like Delhi or Singapore, I buy a lot of such offerings. They may be a little expensive but what is the point of buying cheap offerings? There are quite a few people here who have the means, so please don’t be stingy.

Many years ago, I visited the sacred mountain of Wu Tai Shan (Manjushri mountain) in China on a pilgrimage organized by the Chinese government. In the Xiantong temple that houses the very sacred image of Manjushri, there is a small golden shrine in which it is possible to offer lamps – a small lamp cost 500 RMB (around 65 euros). I didn’t think anything of it at the time and lit five lamps so that I might realize the five wisdoms. That’s all I had in mind. 

Accompanying our group was one Tibetan man who was an important official for the Chinese government. He had faith in the dharma, though he had to keep this discrete. He also wanted to offer a lamp but when he asked how much it cost and was told 500 RMB he couldn’t believe his ears and flew into a rage. He scolded the monks selling the lights (maybe they were not real monks) and told them he was going to send them to prison for defrauding innocent tourists. I told him not to get upset, it was fine with me, but nonetheless he continued to berate them and threatened to report them to the authorities. 

My point is, we have different ways of seeing such things. All I’m saying is that you should buy some lamps and offer them, and be generous. Similarly with tsok, which is very important, incense, which I don’t see or smell here, and flowers. When we practice drupchens in Bir, I offer hundreds of thousands of butter lamps, tormas, and so on. That’s why when I see the meagre offerings arranged here, I don’t feel so comfortable. If you offer abundant lamps it has no benefit to me, it’s purely for your own benefit.

Back to the topic at hand, once or twice a year we go to the doctor for a check-up, right? We all do this—the doctor informs us about our health and usually we are simply told that there’s nothing to worry about. But then one day when we see the doctor, suddenly we’re told that we have cancer. So many of the sponsors of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and myself have fallen ill with cancer. Then they panic, send us a report of their illness, and ask, “What can I do?” All I can say to them is, “There’s nothing much you can do now. I don’t know how long you will have to live but just make sure you cultivate a good heart in the time that you have remaining.” Usually they then ask, “Are there any practices I can do to make the cancer go away?”, to which I reply, “You can try, if you wish, to free some lives, for example, but I don’t think it will help all that much.”

Some of the people close to me who have developed a cancer say they don’t want to suffer too much before they die, they’d rather die quickly. 

As for myself, I do a thorough check up every 3 months—blood tests, everything. Until now, I haven’t developed any new diseases, I just carry the old conditions that I had in the past. But I’m one hundred per cent sure that one day, the doctor will announce something new to me. What will I do then? That’s something I need to think about now, right? We need to be aware that this is going to happen and when it does, there’s very little we can do anything about it. We’ll be told we don’t have much longer to live and will die soon. The fact that we’re all going to die is clear, right? There’s no doubt about it. Whether we’re diagnosed with a terminal condition or not, we will all die, right? 

I’ve come to the practice the past few days and the result is that my blood sugar is very high. The problem with diabetes is that it can cause other secondary conditions, such as falling into a coma and not dying for a long time. Some lamas have a problem with their kidneys—they might then have an operation and receive a transplant. For others, the body becomes covered with sores and they end up needing to amputate their arm or leg because of infection. These do nothing to prevent our death, we will all die anyway; they just make life much more difficult. If we don’t have a condition like that, life is okay. 

As for myself, I’ve completed everything that I needed to do in this life, so whatever comes, I’m ready.

You all need to reflect about this. There are only a few young people here, but they’re already starting to get old. The older you get, the closer you come to death. When I first went to India, all the lamas whose photos you see here were still alive. Now, they’ve all passed away. Of that old generation, the only ones still surviving are Garchen Rinpoche, Tarthang Tulku and Namkhar Drimed. But you can’t meet them. Tarthang Rinpoche never leaves his room and doesn’t meet anyone. 

There’s also the Dalai Lama. When he first went to India, he was 26 years old. When you see him now on the internet, you can see how difficult it is for him to move around. It just shows you how life becomes much more difficult when you become old. When I see that, it scares me. If anything could be done to prevent such a thing from happening, you could be certain that the Dalai Lama would have done that. He has many people taking care of him and is surrounded by the best doctors of every tradition – Tibetan, Indian (Ayurvedic) and Western. Still his mobility is greatly reduced. This is old age. He has pledged to live for 113 years but in such a condition, it will not be so easy for him.

This is something you all need to think about. Westerners are actually a bit better than we Tibetans when it comes to this. A Swiss person told us, “All your newspapers report that the Dalai Lama is in excellent health, given his 90 year age, but in Switzerland we have people who are 90 years old who can still ride their bicycle. So the Dalai Lama isn’t actually in such great shape, is he?” This was his conclusion and perhaps he is right. Westerners tend to live longer. 

I have a friend in Belgium who works in an old people’s home and I asked him a lot of questions about his experiences there. Through this, I have come to better understand the condition of old people. In the final moments of your life, you are given an ice cream to eat. One hour later, you are dead. I’ve learned about all aspects of the life of an elderly person. For example, I asked him, “What do old people talk about when they speak together?” Why did I ask this? Because one day, I know I will face this same situation too. 

As the great conqueror, the Buddha said, we all go through birth, old age, sickness and death. The suffering of sickness is something we all know about. The suffering of birth we don’t really know about, but it’s over and done with. Nonetheless, we will all experience it over and over again, billions of times. The suffering of death we know a little about and will all have to face. But the suffering of old age is something we need to look more into and be better prepared for. In our Tibetan literature, there’s very little said about the suffering of old age. Apart from a few lines in Words of My Perfect Teacher, you don’t find too much written about it. So I think this is something really important for you to look into, to find out more about. 

That’s what I wanted to share with you today. Basically, it’s something you need to think about, to reflect upon. If we are not able to think at least a little about the ocean of suffering of samsara—i.e. about the inevitability of death and the suffering of old age and sickness—then we will never become a true dharma practitioner.