TaraNet
September 28, 2009

White Dakini Drubchen Hits Tara Mandala! Wow!

The White Dakini "Great Accomplishment Ceremony" held August 23-31, 2009 was a resounding success. Outwardly we had the auspicious signs of a double rainbow and "rain of flowers", a very light, almost indistinguishable rain at dawn.

This rainbow over the temple occurred just after we had concluded the Drubchen by receiving the "siddhis," or powers, from the substances that had been in the mandala for the duration of the ceremony, and just before the five simultaneous fire ceremonies in the four directions around the temple. Inwardly, it was a success in the joy, transformation and compassion felt by the practitioners.

The purpose of the Drubchen is to use all aspects of the senses to shift perception into the pure, luminous, enlightened dimension. For this reason, there are elaborate costumes, dances, music, and intense meditation with the practice that focused on the mandala of Machig Labdron at the center, surrounded by the four retinue Dakinis in the four directions. The participants practice this shift in perception. Through the leadership of a large group of authentic Lamas, the "field" of awareness transforms the fundamental patterns of ordinary experience into luminous awareness.

It all began with a formal procession lead by a full "band" of Tibetan instruments including the wonderful "jaling" Tibetan oboes and long horns, setting up the shrines to the Protector Kings of the four directions.

It had rained in the morning, so when we got to the lower point below the east entrance where the effigy symbolizing the ego was to be buried, we were up to our ankles in mud. Our fearless Brazilian Chopon (shrine keeper) got down on her hands and knees in the mud helping the Lamas to bury the symbol of the ego-clinging. The clay soil stuck to our shoes as we tried to move around, an apt symbol of how the ego grasps and holds us down like the clay clods on the bottom of our shoes.

From then on, the rest of the time was beautiful, clear weather with evenings of magical sunsets illuminated by lightning flashes. Practice went on in shifts with no break the whole time. During the day there were fully attended sessions from 9 am to 10 pm with meal breaks. At night there were Lama dances.

...and every afternoon we had tsog (feast offering).

In the late night and early morning there were similar sessions more sparsely attended, and there was the constant of the mantra chain: a group sitting to the side holding a vajra attached to a five colored string that went into the mandala, a fifteen foot tall "palace" elaborately decorated and surrounded by offerings and tormas (dough sculptures covered with colored butter ornaments).

This mandala is the focus of the Drubchen, symbolizing a front visualization of the mandala of Machig, and containing symbols of body, speech and mind that are empowered during the ceremony. The mantra chain never stopped for the duration of the Drubchen. The curtain surrounding the mandala was a brilliant, embroidered masterpiece, copied from one that was hand-carried by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche when he left Tibet, escaping the Chinese. The costumes and bone ornaments were made in Nepal and are completely traditional and authentic.

The temple was packed with 160 participants and all the Lamas on thrones, symbolizing the support of the Buddha's teachings.

The Vajra Master, or Dorje Loppön, was Tulku Sang Ngag Rinpoche, who was trained in this cycle by his teacher Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

The four Gyaltseb or regents were Jigme Rinpoche, a great master of Vajrayana and son of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, our Lama Tsultrim, Chagdud Khadro, the elegant, powerful wife of Chagdud Rinpoche, and Namchag Khenpo, the wonderful warm brother of Tulku Sangngag.

Tulku Jigme Rinpoche

Lama Tsultrim

Chagdud Khandro

Namchag Khenpo

The Dorje Tsampa, Vajra keeper of the boundaries, was Lama Padma Gyamtso, the chief American activity Lama for Chagdud Gompa, and an old dear friend of Lama Tsultrim's from her time studying with Kalu Rinpoche in Darjeeling in 1970-1971.  Lama Jigme is a ritual master and dance master trained by Dudjom Rinpoche and Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche.

Lama Jigme

Lama Gyurme is the primary artist for the temple, and a former monk from Mindroling monastery. Khenpo Sonam did most of the written translation for the Drubchen along with Khenpo Orgyen Wangchuk, our newly arrived expert on Dzinpa Rangdrol, the terma cycle of Do Khyentse from which the Drubchen practice comes. Khenpo Sonam and Khenpo Orgyen were the umdzes, or chant leaders, playing the cymbals.

Left to right: Lama Gyurme, Khenpo Sonam, Lama Pema

Lamas, far left to right: Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche, Lama Tsultrim, Lama Khandro, Khenpo Orgyen, Lama Jigme

Lama Sonam, head Lama of Pema Osel Ling in California and Ani Tsering Wangmo from Shugseb Gompa in Nepal, now residing in Montana, played the jalings, which are Tibetan oboes that wail with a heart opening trill played with circular breathing so the sound is continuous.

Beloved Lama Sonam

Lama Sonam from Pema Osel Ling and Ani Tsering Wangmo

Erik Drew masterfully did the oral translation

Sangha came from all over the world, some coming for the first time and some who have watched Tara Mandala grow out of the earth over the last sixteen years.

The temple was astonishingly beautiful, dressed in brocades with light filtering in through the stained glass windows and four of the eventual twenty-one Taras at the doorways.

Newly installed stained glass window in the east

The masterpiece throne carved for three months by the Bhutanese carvers supported our Vajra Master, an incredible jewel of craftsmanship in itself.

The Drubchen has been a major focus for more than a year for all of us at Tara Mandala, and one of the Lama's said, "the signs of the rainbow and rain of flowers at the end, and the completeness of every aspect of the Drubchen are extremely rare. This was truly a magnificent manifestation, a great sign for the stabilization and development of the Dharma at Tara Mandala."

We would like to thank all the donors who made the temple possible as well as the residents and volunteers who made the event with all of its complexities run smoothly. It is an unforgettable blessing to enter the Vajra world in this way.

Thank you!!! See you next year!