November 9, 2014, Tergar Monastery, Bodhgaya
Khöndong Ratna Vajra Rinpoche visited the Gyalwang Karmapa at Tergar Monastery this morning. Rinpoche was received with the highest honours and escorted in procession to the Karmapa’s residence, where the two spiritual leaders spent half-an-hour in private conversation. The Karmapa then presented Ratna Vajra Rinpoche with a Buddha statue and a facsimile of a rare practice text, the Nag-gyal-phag-sum. The author and compiler of this text was the Fifth Shamarpa, Kunchok Yenla and the original was printed in gold ink on black paper.
Following the meeting, Chamsing Ngodup Pelzom, the Karmapa’s elder sister, escorted Rinpoche on a tour of the International Kagyu Monlam site, visiting the administration block and the Monlam Pavilion.
Khöndong Ratna Vajra Rinpoche is the elder son of H.H. Sakya Trizin, the current throne holder of the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The Khön family holds an unbroken lineage of great Tibetan Buddhist masters stretching back over a thousand years. Rinpoche himself is an acknowledged Dharma teacher and travels extensively. He is currently in Bodhgaya to preside over a three-day Sakya Prayer Ceremony at the Mahabodhi Stupa.
On Saturday 8th November, the renowned Bhutanese lama Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche came informally to Tergar Monastery and met with the Gyalwang Karmapa. The following day they lunched together at the Royal Residency Hotel.
Dzongsar Rinpoche has been in Bodhgaya since October. He is well- known for three award-winning films which he wrote and directed: The Cup (1999), Travellers and Magicians (2003), and Vara: A Blessing (2013). He is also the author of two popular books on Buddhism: What Makes You Not a Buddhist and Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called Preliminary Practices. He is the driving force behind the 84,000: Translating the Words of the Buddha project, a global non-profit initiative that aims to translate all of the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and to make them available to everyone, free of charge.