8 

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A Very Special Experience

  
Mount Karak Khyung Tsun, the black mountain,
facing the 4th Jamgon Rinpoche's family home

Tenzin Dorjee and Lama Nyima stopped and, alighting from the car, they first met a middle-aged woman (they later discovered that she was, in fact, the grand-aunt of the Fourth Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche). In reply to their enquiries, she said that she knew of no babies like the one whom they were looking for. Walking further along, they next came across a very young boy who offered to bring them to meet a baby whom, he said, was born in the Pig year before. However, they were discouraged from going there by an older passer-by who said that the child was already 2 years old.

Tenzin Dorjee and Lama Nyima continued on their way. Very soon, they met a young girl (whom they later found was the Fourth Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche's aunt). She told them that she knew of a baby of the Pig year and bade them follow her. They walked about fifty yards and came to a house. Just as they approached, a middle-aged lady with a baby bound on her back came out of the main gate.

Tenzin Dorjee noticed that the baby was wearing a yellow shirt, a maroon chuba (a traditional Tibetan clothing) and had a bracelet of light green beads around his wrist. He asked the lady if the baby were her own. She replied that he was not, but he was her grandson. Lama Nyima then asked how many were in their family. She said there were eight. Then Tenzin Dorjee asked the parents' name. She replied that, "his father's name is Gonpo and his mother is called, Yangkyi."

Tenzin Dorjee recalled: "The baby kept looking at me and he was smiling in a very special way. He was not afraid, even though we were strangers. It seemed he was very familiar. At that moment, I wondered about the black mountain, the river, and the family home, that all seemed to match the signs in the Karmapa's letter. A feeling of sadness, yearning and joy, all mixed, overcame me. I have never experienced such a feeling before, and I was very close to tears. Lama Nyima reminded me to be strong and not cause any suspicion in the lady."

  
Didi, Yum Yangki, Tenzin Dorjee, Lama Nyima, Sonam
Chopel and Yab Gonpo. Behind is the black mountain.

The black mountain was exactly as the Karmapa had described in his letter of prophecy of the Signs. As it turned out, it was Karak Khyung Tsun, a holy Guru Rinpoche mountain. On its right and left were two other mountains, which partially obscured its view. The family's home, and their village, were in front, facing it directly. On the left, between the mountains, was a spring, like in the Karmapa's second sketch; and in the direction facing the family's home was a big river, flowing deep down below. It was as Karmapa had described earlier, when he said that there would be water at the place of the family's home. The big river was the Yarlung Tsangpo, and it separated the family's home, on the side of Chushur Dzong, from the black mountain which was on the opposite side, in Kamba Dzong.

  
Tenzin Dorjee, Sonam Chopel on the upper terrace of
the family home with the 4th Jamgon Rinpoche and his father

The family's home was well built and it had two storeys, as the Karmapa had predicted. They had a courtyard in front of their home, and one entered the house through the gate in the courtyard. The gate faced east, exactly. It then became clear that the "door" which the Karmapa had referred to was actually this gate.

Tenzin Dorjee and Lama Nyima then requested permission to enter the family's home, and the lady carrying the child obliged. The rest of the family was away at that time. They went up to the second floor, and met a lay practitioner reading the "Sutra of the Good Aeon" (tib. dor de kalsang). The lady asked Tenzin Dorjee what might they be doing there. He told her that they were from a very small monastery and were looking for the incarnation of a Khenpo. Tenzin Dorjee then asked her when the baby was born. She replied, "it was in the previous year, on the Fourth day of the Tenth month."

  
The 4th Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche with his
grandmother, father and grandfather

After thanking the lady, Tenzin Dorjee and Lama Nyima left the house. Once outside, they requested Thinlay and Chogdrub to look for Sonam Chopel and Didi. In the meantime, some curious villagers had assembled around them, and from them, Tenzin Dorjee and Lama Nyima learnt that there were "about 28 to 30 families" in that village, which is in Sehmed Shang. They asked if there were any other baby boys born in the last Pig year. They said that the baby they had just met was the only baby born in their village in the last year. There were no other boys, or girls, for that matter. However, they said, there was one other baby who was also born in the last year, but that was in another village further below. Tenzin Dorjee and Lama Nyima did not visit that child at the time.

When Sonam Chopel and Didi returned, they reported that they found a child with eight family members born in the last Pig year, but it seemed that he must have been born early that year, as he could already stand. Apart from those two signs, they said that nothing else matched. Without informing them about the experience they had had, Tenzin Dorjee and Lama Nyima sent them into the house they had just visited. About fifteen minutes later, both of them returned looking very excited and happy. They exclaimed that they had a very good feeling about the child they had met, and everything about the place seemed to match what the Karmapa had predicted.

Recounting their experiences, Sonam Chopel said that when he and Didi went into the home, the grandfather showed them in. He remembered the baby was looking at his grandmother when they entered the room. He was wearing a yellow shirt and a maroon chuba, and he wore a bracelet of jade-like beads around his wrist. Sonam Chopel said he felt that the child was extraordinary, and could not help blurting out, "Rinpoche." The baby turned around to look at Sonam Chopel, and smiled. At that moment, Sonam Chopel said he felt the similarity in the smiles of the Third Jamgon Kongtrul and that of the baby, and he felt overcome by a feeling of joy. Though he had not checked for any signs yet, a strong feeling of confidence that this might be the reincarnation arose in him, and he was very happy. After that, he and Didi went out to see Tenzin Dorjee and Lama Nyima, and their entire search party of four then went back into the home again. Soon after, the baby's father arrived, and they all went together to meet the mother, who was in the field.

The baby's mother was in the field with some other women, cutting wheat. She appeared very young and she looked at them wonderingly. Her husband introduced the party to her, and Tenzin Dorjee asked the mother for her name, her age, when she had married, and the date of the baby's birth. The mother replied that: her name was Yangkyi, she was 21 years of age, she had married when she was 19 years old, and her baby was born on the Fourth day of the Tenth lunar month in the previous year. The meeting with the mother and rest of the family was very warm overall.

Everyone in the search party felt good about the events that day. They were confident that they had probably found the reincarnation of the Third Jamgon Kongtrul, and that the Karmapa would likely agree and decide on this child.