Chapter Twelve: Entering Nirvana

In the year of the Iron Tiger of the Seventeenth Century of the Tibetan Calendar, in 2011, on the 13th day of the Month of Miracles to tame the six Tirthikas demonstrated by our teacher the Buddha Shakyamuni - the son of King Suddhodana, the awakened body of the primordial wisdom like the lotus emerging the mud without being stained – when he perfected the union of Samsara and Nirvana, with wisdom and luminosity as both wings, guided by compassion, the Supreme Yogi Chöying Dorje Rinpoche, our great compassionate refuge to lead countless sentient beings out of the vast ocean of suffering, entered into the unobstructed luminous Dharmakaya in Barang.

Before entering Nirvana, Rinpoche left seven important instructions:

1. I will abide in Samadhi of equality for seven days, during which no one is allowed to enter the retreat room.

2. After Nirvana, apart from dressing me with the Five Buddha Crown and the Dharma robe as origination, no adjustments are required regardless of the sitting posture.

3. Due to the continuous reactions of prana, nadi, and bindu during the first one hundred days, my body shall be kept, in three ways of the outer, inner and secret, in Tashi Ling or the Tuptin Monastery as usual as in retreat.

4. Those who are predestined with me in future should continue to follow the doctrines, purify the secret altar, and practice the Dharma and pith instructions of the wish-fulfilling jewel left by me, the Dharma of the nature of mind. The master and his disciples will eventually meet in the Pure Land.

5. And more.

At this point, Rinpoche entered a state of meditation in his retreat room in Barang. It was a clear sky, gentle breezes under the azure sky, peaceful and quiet. A very wide and long rainbow appeared behind the retreat room. In the following days, red and green lights also showed up, and lotus-shaped snow fell from the sky.

Seven days later, in the early morning of the 19th, the disciples entered the room holding incense in hand. After opening the door, a strong aroma filled the air. Rinpoche still maintained the same sitting posture as on the 13th, and his skin was very smooth. After the disciples prayed in the retreat room, they followed Rinpoche’s instructions, putting on the Five Buddha Crown and Dharma robes for Rinpoche and placing Rinpoche on the Dharma seat in the Sutra Hall as a causality, and then escorted Rinpoche back to the Tuptin Monastery.

On the way back, starting from the Riyue Mountain, the sky grew different from usual. Particularly in the Orla Snow Mountain, the rainbow and clouds of various kinds accompanied the car fleet until dark.

In the early morning of March 5th, 2010, Rinpoche arrived at the Tuptin Monastery and was enshrined in Rinpoche's room in the main hall. Several days later, a fifty-day ceremony for Nirvana was held in the monastery, participated by a lot of believers who had adamant faith in Rinpoche. On the forty-first day of the ceremony on the 25th of the Tibetan calendar month, also the extraordinary dakini tsog offering of wisdom blessing, as the manifestation of the realization of five wisdoms, five-color Sarira appeared. As the pouring down of nectar of the great joy, Rinpoche’s Dharma body was covered with Sarira. In the box where Rinpoche’s Dharma body was placed on the way back to the monastery, three large Sarira appeared, one of which is as big as a quail egg. Not only that, but the Sarira also fell in every corner inside and outside the main hall. This majestic phenomenon lasted for a few days. There is a saying that an elderly and devout monk who was unable to pick up any Sarira due to his poor eyesight cried and blamed himself for the lack of good fortune, Sarira later showed up in his wooden bowl, even bigger than others. After that, on some special days, hundreds of Sarira would fall continuously in Rinpoche’s room and entrance.

Due to Rinpoche’s compassionate and wise manifestations, one year after Rinpoche’s Nirvana, the Tuptin Monastery acted according to Rinpoche’s will and allowed all sentient beings to witness Rinpoche’s Dharma body, bestowing more people with faith to embark on the path of liberation. More than a decade later, even without any treatment of chemical drugs, Rinpoche’s Dharma body saw no signs of decay to this day. Rinpoche’s hair grew even longer, compared to before. Colorful Sarira continue to surface on Rinpoche’s face and all over the Dharma body. Later during the annual Rinpoche’s Nirvana Ceremony and the Buddha’s First-Turning of the Dharma Wheel Assembly, the four groups of faithful disciples would be allowed to pay homage to Rinpoche’s Dharma body.

This is the most precious gift Rinpoche left to the world, but not the last nor the only one.

Chapter Twelve: Entering Nirvana