Do Khyentse, Reformed

Tuesday, May 6th. 7:32am Ulaanbaatar local time. Snowing again.

Apologies for the radio silence (as Konchog arrogantly assumes there’s anyone out there who truly gives a flip) but A) there wasn’t too much to write about, beyond my struggle to master the subtle distinctions among the four verb suffixes in the Mongolian language which express the causative voice. I will write about this if you beg me. And...B) my building switched to a new internet service which, of course, led to a three-day blackout in the internet service.

But now, conversely, there’s too much to write about. So do tune in; it’ll be a chatty week.

Where to begin?

Well, tonight, we’re anticipating the arrival of one Alak Zenkar Rinpoche (aka Thupten Nyima Rinpoche), a great Nyingmapa scholar and member of the Board of Directors of the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center. We note with interest that Rinpoche is said to be an emanation of Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje, the wildly unconventional 19th c. master who, upon reading Patrul Rinpoche’s judgmental thoughts (look who wrote this biography), "famously introduced Patrul Rinpoche to the nature of mind while beating him and dragging him by the hair"! I can’t vouch that this version of the story is not a wee bit embellished, but it certainly is the most entertaining telling of it I could find on the ‘net. Afterward, Patrul Rinpoche (who is most renowned, of course, for the classic text The Words of My Perfect Teacher, which we want to publish in Mongolian translation) would often use Do Khyentse’s epithet for him, calling himself “Old Dog Patrul”.

Erka has invited Rinpoche to stay in one of the guest apartments in our building. I’ll have dinner with him on Friday, and then accompany him to Khamriin Khiid on Sunday for two days. I can’t wait. I haven’t been to the Gobi for at least six months and it's not often I get to go with such an illustrious companion.

When I'm with Rinpoche, I'm going to ask his permission to translate and publish his wonderful "Brief Presentation of the Nine Yanas," a subject I've been trying to teach, but without 100% confidence that it's sinking in.

8:56am. Still snowing. Hard.

Comments

[Sarabaite]

Forgive me for acting as though you were my "Asian Connection," but I did have one question to ask about the cyclone in Myanmar. Every time I've checked the news today, the death toll gets higher. CNN is now projecting it to be 15,000. However, when I searched for "send aid to Myanmar," it sounds rather tricky. In particular, it sounds as if the gov't there isn't too keen on accepting American help. If I were to attempt to raise donations at our school (we did this a few years ago when the tsunami hit), what would be the best avenue to go through? Perhaps I should be asking: Where should I go to answer that question?
Thanks!

[Konchog]

Hi Sarabaite --

The link we're using is to the U.S. Campaign for Burma. It's here.

[Leamur]

Thanks for the link to the Brief Presentation of the Nine Yanas. Very interesting.

[Holly]

Hi Konchog, I was wondering why things were so quiet... Glad your internet is working again. For the record, there are folks who give a flip what you are doing in Mongolia.

[Sarabaite]

Thanks a lot for the link!