Bir, India, 20 May 2025

Today, Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse’s Yangsi released a message which I listened to and am very happy about. Why? Because it is extremely important that Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi remain harmonious together and in his message Yangsi Rinpoche expressed the purity of his connection with Rabjam Rinpoche and his samayas with him, and how he still considers him his root teacher. This makes me very happy. 

There’s just one point I’d like to clarify concerning what was mentioned in the message. Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi said that Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche took from Sikkim, in the middle of the night, the kudung of his predecessor, Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, as well as all his possessions, and later Khandro Tsering Chödron too, bringing them all to Bir. He added that everyone applauded these actions and said it was the right thing to do. 

Unless we clarify exactly what happened around all these events a lot of questions might be asked and doubts raised. It’s best, therefore, that someone who knows all the circumstances explains clearly what happened. And the person who knows best about this is myself. So while I’m still alive, I’d like to make this clarification.

When Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö passed away in 1959 in his room at the Palace Monastery in Gangtok, Sikkim, where Khandro Tsering Chödron continued to live for many years after, he left behind all his belongings there. Most of his attendants and people close to him also continued to stay there, although a few went on retreat in Nenang, Sikkim. When Sakya Dagchen Rinpoche recognized Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche to be the next incarnation, they all immediately gathered again. At that time, all the belongings of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö were still there in Sikkim, where he had left them. 

When Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö passed away, an inventory of all his belongings was made. I’ve not just heard about that inventory, I’ve seen it for myself. I could list for you every item that was on that list, but there’s no need for that. There were two large metal boxes that contained statues, the main one being the kutsap, Ngödrup Palbar. One of those boxes of statues was brought by one of the attendants, Tashi Namgyal, from Tibet. On his second trip there, he brought back the box—not from Lhasa or Kham, but a place called Trom near the border, where it had been left. He brought it back in a truck. 

There were two more boxes filled with reliquaries, samaya substances, ringsels and other such precious relics. These boxes were made from wood and were wrapped in tiger skin. It was very much the old tradition in Tibet to use tiger or leopard skin in this way. That tiger skin later disappeared. So those two boxes contained old relics owned by the previous Jamyang Khyentse, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo.

Two more boxes contained ritual objects that were used for setting up shrines, making offerings, conferring empowerments, and so on. These boxes were wrapped in leopard skin. 

Another two boxes were filled with pechas. These boxes were made from bamboo. They also were wrapped in animal skin.

So that makes six boxes in total. Additionally, there were two large leather bags full of robes, clothes and the like. Two more metal boxes contained brocade and other fabrics. 

When Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö passed away, I saw there was a notebook which listed all the offerings that had been made to high lamas.

There was also a box of ritual objects such as stupas, statues and the like that were offered to Khyentse Yangsi over the years from the moment he was enthroned, as well as a number of kitchen utensils offered to him.

From the moment Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö passed away, Khandro Tsering Chodrön stayed at the Palace Monastery in Gangtok, without moving. She went a few times on pilgrimage to Bodhgaya and once to Sri Lanka, but apart from that, she never travelled. Whenever she went to Bodhgaya, for example, she made sure a few of the old monks of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö stayed at the Palace Monastery and kept an eye on the room—monks like Rinchen Sherab, for example, who was joined by his brother.

It continued this way for many years. Then when the Yangsi of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö was born, Tashi Namgyal was instated as the new labrang manager. The old attendants were still there, at that time: Tsering Wangpo, Gelu Chime, and so on.

How they were then taken to Bir is the most important point. I wasn’t in Bir at the time. but when I returned there, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche asked me to come to see him. He informed me then that Khandro Tsering Chödron had told him to take all the belongings of his previous incarnation to the Khyentse Labrang in Bir. She called him three times to tell him this. 

He had already sent someone called Sherab Gyaltsen to go there but felt he should go there too. Finally, we all went with him.

When I reached Sikkim, I told Tashi Namgyal that Khandro had said Khyentse Rinpoche should take his predecessor’s things with him. Tashi Namgyal replied that Khandro Tsering Chödron hadn’t told him anything. So I said, “Why don’t you ask Khandro yourself?” He said, “Okay”, and went to see Khandro who was just next door. He came back and confirmed, “Yes, she did say that Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche should take all those things back to Bir with him. She said that Yangsi Rinpoche was already quite old and all those possessions were, in fact, his. She added that if she kept them here in Sikkim, she didn’t know how much longer she would live, and what might happen to them.” Tashi Namgyal confirmed this is exactly what she said. She said even further, for the benefit of Tashi Namgyal, “Look at you, you’re hardly ever here. You keep going away and are rarely around.” So that’s why she told Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche to take all the possessions with him.

After that, Tashi Namgyal had nothing to say. I then told him that they should first present Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche with the old notebook that listed all the possessions, so he could decide what should happen to them. I brought the book to Rinpoche myself and asked him what he wanted to do with the possessions. He said that we should first look inside all the boxes and see what they contain. So he came down and we opened each box. He looked at one object in each box and said we could close it. Then we began to arrange how to take all these objects from Sikkim.

Wherever Khyentse Rinpoche goes, a lot of foreigners follow him. At that time, we were making a hundred thousand tsok offering based on Sampa Lhundrup and many people had come. We divided up the statues so that each person carried one or two statues. Rinpoche himself left a few days later. Two boxes were taken to Bhutan as Rinpoche said he wanted to keep them at his residence there. The majority, however, was taken to Bir.

At first, Rinpoche said we should also take the Ngödrup Palbar kutsap. I said to Rinpoche that if Tashi Namgyal and myself were to ask Khandro for the kutsap, since it was so sacred to her, that might not work so well. It would be better if he asked her for it directly. When I did go to see Khandro, I asked her whether we should take the kutsap with us or not and she replied that Rinpoche had already taken it. But then the following morning she said, why don’t you leave it here for a little longer. So we left it there, but we took everything else with us.

I don’t remember the exact day or year it happened, but Rinpoche was over 30 years old at the time. 

That’s one of the points that Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi referred to. The second point concerns how, many years later, Khandro fell ill. I wasn’t there at the time, but word was sent that Rinpoche should come quickly to Sikkim because Khandro might pass away. So he went there. At that time, I was in Kham and Rinpoche called me while I was there. He told me he was in Sikkim with Khandro and she was no longer able to recognize people. He had the idea to bring her to Bir and invited her to come with him. But before that, she needed to go to a hospital to Delhi to check her condition. 

A couple of days later I received another call from Rinpoche who said they were at Bagdogra airport, he had the kutsap with him, Khandro at his side, and in one hour they would be flying to Delhi. So they had left Sikkim.

There were a few things left behind but nothing of great value, except for the kudung. This was brought later by Khandro’s own attendants. The reason they had to take the kudung away is because the King of Sikkim told Rinpoche he should take all his remaining possessions since he was going to transfer responsibility of the Palace Monastery to the care of a trust. Therefore, they slowly took everything that remained there. 

And so it was that Dzongsar Kyentse took all the belongings of the previous incarnation, Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö.

When I came back to Bir, Khandro was staying at the old labrang. When I went to pay respects to her, she didn’t recognize me. There were a few moments when I thought that perhaps she did recognize me, for example, she asked me where she was. She stayed there a few months and then left for France.

These are the facts, what really happened. There hasn’t been any problem concerning this. No one has raised any objections. I thought it important, therefore, to clarify these points.

The present incarnation, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, doesn’t seem to make any distinction between old objects of his previous incarnations and present-day new ones. For him, it all seems to be the same. Especially concerning statues. If you say to him that the old statues have great blessings, he will answer that all you need to do is consecrate a statue, then it is blessed. Actually, he likes well-crafted Nepali statues the best.

I know everything about Rinpoche and his life and what I have stated here is the truth, faithful to the facts. I was concerned that if these facts were not stated clearly, it might give rise to questions and problems even. So I want to make sure everything is clear and there are no misunderstandings. Whether what happened was good or bad, I have no idea. I have never heard anyone make that judgment. It’s what happened, and that’s that. 

The majority of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö’s possessions actually originate with Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. There are Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo’s own drums, damaru, bell, kangling, cymbals and other such objects. Also the white conch for conferring empowerments. Then of course there were many objects that belonged to Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö himself. Khyentse Rinpoche still keeps them. 

I know what happened, I know the facts, and I am sharing here honestly what actually transpired. Since Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi, the Wish-fulfilling Jewel, spoke about this, I felt it important to make sure everything is clear. This is all I wanted to say.