I am often asked to describe my experiences with the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa during the many years that I spent with him. But it is not so easy to talk about the 16th Karmapa, because being in his presence takes us beyond our normal concepts. One cannot report on his life in the same way as one would do with a normal person, e.g., a familiar personality. I cannot simply say that the 16th Karmapa was like this or like that. But I can say something about what I experienced with him and what my own understanding of that is. So this will not be a report in the form of a history or biography, but simply a few fragments that I can remember.
Over the years, I had gotten to know many high lamas from Tibet. Some were quite famous and highly respected. Many were practitioners on high levels or were very learned. Others were noble dignitaries in Tibetan society. Because of my close association with the 16th Karmapa, I was able to meet all of them. I must say that I experienced a big difference between all of them and the 16th Karmapa. Given some knowledge of dharma, this difference became more and more comprehensible.
What was particularly clear to me was that in his mind there was obviously no separation at all. He was completely one with everything, and everything was totally transparent for him. People always expect that all lamas have the capacity to know everything. But that is in fact not the case. Most lamas have some obscurations, and these influence this capacity. There are many types of such obscurations, and many of them are very subtle. In the case of the 16th Karmapa I saw that he clearly had none of these. He knew everything so directly and without distortion, just as with us when we open a window and directly see the things outside—that is, totally without any veils. Just as with us there are no veils between the eye and the seen object—between the faculty of seeing and the perceived object—thus there is always a direct contact, so did the Karmapa experience everything.
The dharma teachings name this the capacity of a buddha, and it is for this reason that I and others are convinced that the Karmapa indeed manifested as human, but actually was a fully enlightened being, a buddha. A buddha has infinite knowledge; he simply knows everything. Buddha Shakyamuni for example, in the jatakas1, told stories from many of his former lives. He also knew all possible details about the karma of beings, going way back into the past over many centuries.
Since some of us were so close to the 16th Karmapa, we experienced similar things. On the one hand, he was always wonderful, but on the other hand, it was not easy for us: Karmapa always and immediately knew everything that we were thinking! We are only human and thus naturally did not manage to have only nice things in the mind. Negative thoughts also arose, disturbing feelings, concepts and judgments. Since there were always many important personalities around the Karmapa, we also always got into situations where something like that could easily come up. Our minds were like the mind of all people—neither stable nor pure.
Karmapa had full transparency so that we could not hide anything from him. This was something very special about the Karmapa. I do not say that I am particularly clever, but when I was near other important high lamas, I did not experience this. All of them have a certain subtle ignorance. Of course, not the kind of ignorance that normal people have, but a subtle form of obscuration in the mind. When these people meditate very well, they become clearer as time goes by—sometimes even very clear, sometimes not so much, depending on the conditions. But when we were in the presence of Karmapa, there was obviously no obfuscation at all. He knew everything.
As time went by, we established that Karmapa tried to help us by sometimes acting as if he did not know something. For example, we made mistakes and were worried that Karmapa would know about them; but he pretended not to know anything about it. That let us relax a bit, because for us it was not possible to live with this full transparency. There were simply things that for many reasons we could not express and which would have been difficult to say to Karmapa. But he was always kind to us and acted as if he knew nothing.
With that, there arose the habit of thinking that one was always correct. But unconsciously, we always had the feeling “Karmapa knows it but acts as if he does not know.” Through that, one was always forced to check oneself. That was, of course, good because it brought us to regret certain things and to wish not to repeat them. On the other hand, one came again and again into situations in which the circumstances somehow make you do it again.
From the time that I was ten years old, for fifteen or sixteen years I always lived directly in the presence of the 16th Karmapa. Based on all my experiences with him, I think this: although the Karmapa appeared and acted as a human being, his mind was completely open, without any limitation. He knew everything in an instant and without having to think about it. For example, in order to come to know something, Karmapa did not have to do any rituals, make any invocations or oracles. His knowing was simply immediately there. If one looks at the history of Buddhism, one sees that most lamas always used some kind of support. Using this support, they were able to give people the correct advice and to recognize all kinds of things. Karmapa did not need that, and often he was able to help without even having to say anything.
For example, when someone had died, a monk by the name of Dronyerla came to Karmapa and told him. More often than not the Karmapa showed no reaction at all. That could naturally give the peculiar impression that it would not touch him. But Karmapa did not have to concentrate on someone in order to be able to help him; it simply happened spontaneously.
Once, there was an unusual exception, which got me to thinking. A lama who was around sixty years old, an assistant to Karmapa, suddenly one day got sick and had trouble breathing. Karmapa called me immediately and said that I should give a certain pill to the lama. I was surprised that this time Karmapa appeared so concerned. When I got to the lama, he was already near death and could hardly breathe. With the help of his nephew I gave him the pill, but it was clear that he would die soon anyway. I do not know why, but in this case Karmapa proved to be very concerned and was very attuned to the lama. Then afterwards, he said, “Now everything is good.” In all the years it was the only time that I saw that. Normally he did not have to do anything special—e.g., do a puja. That is what is distinctive about the Karmapa, because normally it takes a lot of concentration to free the mind of one who has died. But for Karmapa this was obviously not the case.
In this way it became clear to us what it means that Karmapa is a tongdröl. This concept is applied very often in Tibet. It means “liberation through seeing.” Besides that there is also thödröl or “liberation through hearing,” and regdröl or “liberation through touch.” The 16th Karmapa was all of these: tongdröl, thödröl and regdröl. Thus he had the ability to free beings spontaneously from negative actions, simply when beings saw him, heard him, or touched him. All high lamas speak of this teaching, and it is quite widespread in Tibetan Buddhism. That Karmapa is a tongdröl means that one will no longer fall into lower realms of being after having once seen the Karmapa. Even when one has built up very difficult and negative karma, Karmapa is able to free one from these effects. Tongdröl thus has nothing to do with Karmapa doing something; the freeing takes place simply in that one sees him. The Black Crown is also a tongdröl.
Karmapa can liberate beings directly in all of these ways. But when one is in his presence, one does not actually see that he is doing anything special. When someone has died, that presents a serious business and normally requires a lot of support. In such a case the lamas usually do pujas and phowa, for only thus can one directly help the one who has died. But for Karmapa it was enough that he would simply hear of the death and he would immediately stand by the person who had died. We sometimes asked ourselves how he could know where the dead person was. Sometimes the person had died far away, but Karmapa could immediately contact them. That was the case with normal deaths, but also with tulkus, the “consciously reborn.”
Sometimes people came to Karmapa and asked, “Our lama has died. Where was he reborn?” Karmapa always answered immediately and directly and dictated the answer to his assistants—at that time it was usually Tsultrim Namgyal and Tsorpönia. He never said anything like, “I will think about it” or “I will investigate.” He always gave the answer spontaneously. If there was no rebirth, he simply said, “No, there is no reason to look.” Otherwise, he immediately gave all details: the name of the parents, a description of the house, and the neighborhood. Then he described various signs associated with the rebirth, such as whether there was a river or a specific tree, how the garden looked, and even the color of the animals—for example, that there was a brown dog or a white cat. These descriptions were always very precise, and he had his assistants write them down immediately. The people who had asked got the notes immediately and went looking.
For example, Karmapa sometimes said, “This tulku was reborn in…” and described regions that were thousands of kilometers away. Between Tsurphu and Kham, or between Sikkim and Tibet or India are big distances, but his descriptions were always totally precise—the kind of house, on which street, the name of the mother and father, what the child looked like, how old he was, etc. Other lamas cannot do that, even if people often think that they can.
The circumstances in connection with his own rebirth were also very special. In the biography of the 3rd Karmapa, for example, it is said that he took the lotus position right after being born and said, “I am the Karmapa.” Many of the earlier Karmapas did similarly.
The mother of the 3rd Karmapa, however, was a nun and really should not have gotten pregnant. Therefore she tried to hide the child. Thereupon the Karmapa composed a little poem with a play on words—something like, “I can still always see a star.” The Sanskrit word karma means “action,” but the Tibetan word means “star.” Thus he said again, in poetic fashion, “I am Karmapa.”
The Karmapas always let themselves be recognized in a very special way. This type of report does not exist for anyone else. One can verify this by looking at what is said on this theme around the world in the various traditional Buddhist schools, especially and naturally in the system of reincarnation in Tibet. Even the Dalai Lamas—who are so important in Tibet—do not show something like this. I am not exaggerating here; one can check it out historically. The Dalai Lamas have not had themselves recognized like the Karmapa himself. Rather it happened as follows: On the basis of various and not-so-precise circumstances—such as specific dreams, feelings, and so on—a lama would propose where the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama might be found. Using various means, one then picked one child out from several children of the same age. One used intellectual methods, investigating signs and symbols; one asked oracles of specific gods or protectors; and one carried out rituals at specific sacred lakes and waited for signs. Finally, several people came together and decided on one child, on the basis of all the indications. One can read this in the history books; it always functioned in this way. The Dalai Lama is one of the most important people in Tibetan society, and all these procedures for finding him again are written down.
The history of the Karmapas describes that they always let themselves be recognized under very precise conditions. Many wrote a letter before they died, and a close student kept this letter in confidence. But it did not depend only on a letter, as the Karmapas revealed themselves, mostly while still babies. That is something very special. But today the history and the old values are turned upside down. Recently I saw on television the Tibetan prime minister talk about the Dalai Lama. Someone asked him something about the recognition of the next Dalai Lama, and he answered that there was no cause for concern since the Dalai Lama would always recognize himself. I was surprised that he apparently did not know that in the history of the Dalai Lamas it never happened that they recognized themselves. It was always necessary that a former student set up inquiries and request the help of important lamas, protectors, and symbolic dreams and visions.
People sometimes think that all the high lamas let themselves be recognized. But when you check in the history books, you see that the Karmapa was the only one of them who did that. Of course, sometimes there were controversies about the authentic rebirth. It is not only today that we have this situation. It happened already at the time of the 8th Karmapa and even earlier. The main students of the Karmapa always and constantly refer to how the Karmapa shows himself, but there can always be controversy, because we are always dealing on the conceptual level of humans.
After the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Thaye Dorje was born, already as a small child he met several lamas. He told them that he was the Karmapa and he recognized them from his former life. But despite knowing better, some of them did not want to follow him, and for various reasons they even took a stand against him. But some were convinced of the Karmapa and stayed. Almost all Karmapas have demonstrated this ability as children.
In Tibetan society, there are lamas with high wisdom, but some of them also have obscurations. Authentic lamas, who really recognize themselves, are convinced that Karmapa is precisely like Buddha himself. Sometimes this is discussed in the Buddhist community, with various levels of understanding. But if one then investigates why lamas have so much confidence in Karmapa, then one understands that it is said of the Karmapa that he is like Buddha.
See: My Experiences with the 16th Karmapa, Part 2 (When Your Mind is One-pointed, Then You Get Results)
- Any of a genre of Buddhist texts containing stories concerning the previous births of the Buddha Shakyamuni. ↩︎
