by Thomas Shor
Purba — Tibetan. Ritual dagger, often made of brass and whose blade has three surfaces, used in Tibetan ritual and during the religious dances.
Rinpoche — Tibetan. Literally: precious one. The term reserved for highly respected and spiritually accomplished lamas, often appended to their names.
Sang — Tibetan. Incense made from the needles and branches of various pine and cedar trees.
Shambhala — Sanskrit. Literally: source of happiness. Mystical kingdom of Tibetan tradition hidden behind a ring of snow peaks somewhere in the Himalayas or perhaps north of western Tibet. First known to the West in the writings of the seventeenth century Jesuit missionary Estevao Cacella, this hidden kingdom has fired the imagination of the West ever since. Such mystics and artists as H.P. Blavatsky, Alice Bailey and Nicholas and Helena Roerich wrote of the kingdom and even claimed to be in touch with the hidden adepts there. A very important Tibetan religious text, the Kalachakra Tantra, is said to have originated there.
Shangri-La — The hidden mystical valley of lamas and wisdom in central Asia that the survivors of a plane crash find in James Hilton’s 1933 novel Lost Horizon. Now synonymous with any hidden place of refuge or Utopia, it was even the name first given to the US presidential retreat now known as Camp David.
Stupa — see Chorten.
Tamic — Tibetan. Literally: picture eye. The special ability to see prophetic images in the burnished brass mirror during the divination known as trata melong (see below). This ability is most often found in girls and young women.
Tantra — Sanskrit. Literally: thread or continuity. Esoteric and often secret spiritual teachings, many of which are at the root of Tibetan Buddhism.
Ter, Terma — Tibetan. Literally: treasure. These treasures, which may take the form of a scripture, ritual object, or insight, were hidden by great masters of the past, most notably the eighth-century mystic often credited with bringing Buddhism to Tibet, Padmasambhava. Hidden in the earth, mountains, water, sky, or the mind itself, they await the auspicious time for their discovery, even centuries later. They are found by a special class of Tibetan lamas called tertons (see below).
Terton — Tibetan. Literally: revealer of hidden treasure. An incarnate lama with the spiritual ability to find hidden treasure.
Thangka — Tibetan. Tibetan religious scroll painting usually painted on cloth depicting Buddhas, deities, mandalas and other religious subjects.
Trata melong — Tibetan. A form of divination using a convex brass mirror, or melong, typically propped up in a bowl of rice. Following this ritual, which is performed by a lama, people with the tamik (see above), a special intuitive ability—typically girls or young women— gaze into the mirror and see images in it, which are then interpreted by the lama.
Tsampa — Tibetan. Roasted barley flower, the staple of Tibetan diet, typically mixed with water or tea and butter into a paste or dough and eaten raw. Tsampa is a highly concentrated food that is easily transported and prepared on the high Tibetan Plateau and in the remote regions of the Himalayas.
Tulku — Tibetan. An incarnate.
Tulshuk — Tibetan. Changeable or mutable, and by inference crazy.
Umzay — Tibetan. The master of rituals at a Tibetan gompa, or monastery.
Yogi — Sanskrit. A practitioner of yoga. One who aspires to direct experience of the divine by means of meditation, physical exercises or esoteric ritual practices.
Dramatis Personæ
This is not an inclusive list of the people (and Buddhist figures) found in this book. It lists those who appear at more than one point in the narrative and—since so many of the names will be new to readers not familiar with Tibetan culture—the reader might need assistance in recalling.
Atang Lama — Atang Lama was in his late teens at the time Tulshuk Lingpa lived in Tashiding and Sinon, which is where he grew up. He died in 2009.
Chatral Rinpoche — An accomplished yogi of the Nyingma branch of Tibetan Buddhism, Chatral Rinpoche was born in Tibet and is now in his late nineties. Older than Tulshuk Lingpa, he was something of a teacher and advisor to him. At the time of the events depicted in this book he had a monastery in Jorbungalow, about 8 miles (12 kilometers) outside of Darjeeling. He now has monasteries south of the Darjeeling Hills in Salbhari and in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. He is married to Tulshuk Lingpa’s eldest daughter Kamala, with whom he has two daughters.
Chenresig — Tibetan (Avelokiteshvara in Sanskrit). Literally: see with the eyes. The Buddha of Compassion.
Chimi Wangmo — Tulshuk Lingpa’s khandro, or consort, from the village of Koksar in Lahaul, with whom he had a daughter, Pema Choekyi.
Chokshi — At the time of the events depicted in this book, he was a young man from Simoling, where Tulshuk Lingpa had a monastery in the high mountains of Lahaul.
Dalai Lama — Born in 1935 the present Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the fourteenth incarnation in the lineage. Considered the head of the Gelukpa branch of Tibetan Buddhism, he is said to be the incarnation of Chenresig, the Buddha of Compassion. The Dalai Lamas were also the temporal leaders of Tibet from the seventeenth century until 1959 when the present Dalai Lama was forced to flee the Chinese invasion. The Dalai Lama’s position as compared to other lamas would be roughly analogous to the position of the Pope to other priests. Still considered the leader of the Tibetan people, he is also a moral force in the world and deeply committed to non-violence. He won the Noble Peace Prize in 1989.
Dorje Dechen Lingpa — Also known as the Domang Tulku. He coronated Tulshuk Lingpa at the Domang Gompa in eastern Tibet and gave him his name. He made an attempt to open Beyul Demoshong in the 1920s, which failed. He died on his return journey.
Dorje Wangmo — The mother-in-law of my friend Tinley Gyatso, the thangka painter from Gangtok. She was the one who first told me of the expedition to Beyul Demoshong. In 1961, while she was in her mid-thirties, she heard the lama had arrived who would open Beyul Demoshong. She left her native Bhutan, never to return. She is now in her late seventies. A few years ago she shaved her head, donned robes and became a Buddhist nun.
Dudjom Rinpoche — Born in Tibet in 1904, Dudjom Rinpoche was the ‘root’ guru, or main spiritual teacher, of Tulshuk Lingpa. Himself a terton, or revealer of hidden treasure, Dudjom was also a great scholar and the author of many books on the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He died in 1987.
Gonde Drungyig — An official of the Sikkimese Ecclesiastical Department. He was at the head of the first delegation sent by the Sikkimese king to investigate Tulshuk Lingpa.
Géshipa — With a name that translates to Four Hundred, he is sure to be an unusual character. Once the rainmaker for the king of Bhutan, Géshipa is now in his mid-eighties and is actively working on a potion of invisibility.
Gyurme — Tulshuk Lingpa’s grandson, now in his early twenties. His mother is the daughter of Tulshuk Lingpa and his consort, or khandro, Chimi Wangmo. Gyurme acted as my guide and interpreter
during my journey to the Kullu Valley and Lahaul.
Jinda Wangchuk — The sponsor who provided Tulshuk Lingpa and his family with a place to live in a cave above the Beas River in the Kullu Valley of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal — The main spiritual consort of Padmasambhava (see below).
Kunsang — The only son of Tulshuk Lingpa, also known as the Dungsay Rinpoche, an honorific title for the son of a high lama. Through the many hours I spent with Kunsang both at his home in Darjeeling and while travelling together in Sikkim, he provided me with the thread that held all the disparate stories together.
Kyechok Lingpa — The father of Tulshuk Lingpa. He was a lama at the Domang Monastery in eastern Tibet until he was forced by the invading Chinese to flee over the Himalayas to India with his wife, Kilo. He then had a monastery in Patanam, a few days’ march from Tulshuk Lingpa’s monastery in Simoling in Lahaul until he died.
Lama Tashi — A lama from Simoling. He was and is the umzay, or head of rituals, a
t Tulshuk Lingpa’s monastery in Simoling, Lahaul, in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
Lobsang — A close disciple of Tulshuk Lingpa and a very learned lama.
Mipham — A close disciple of Tulshuk Lingpa and a learned lama in his own right. Originally from Lahaul, and a great practitioner of chod, a practice performed at charnel grounds in which the practitioner imagines himself flaying the flesh from his bones, Mipham now lives in deep retreat in a cave in Bhutan.
Namdrol — One of Tulshuk Lingpa’s closest and most learned lama disciples. He was often the one to hand-copy the texts that Tulshuk Lingpa wrote or received as terma, hidden treasure. He was also a practitioner of Tibetan medicine.
Padmasambhava — Tibetan. Literally: The Lotus Born. Also known as Guru Rinpoche. The eighth-century mystic credited with establishing Buddhism in Tibet.
Pema Choekyi — The daughter of Tulshuk Lingpa and his khandro, or consort, Chimi Wangmo. She was born shortly before Tulshuk Lingpa went into the snow mountains to open Beyul Demoshong. Her son Gyurme acted as my guide and interpreter in Himachal Pradesh.
Phuntsok Choeden — Tulshuk Lingpa’s wife. She was from central Tibet and went with Tulshuk Lingpa to India at a very young age. She died in Kathmandu following a bout of colon cancer in 2006.
Rigzin Dokhampa — The senior researcher at the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology outside Gangtok, Sikkim. He was a disciple of Tulshuk Lingpa and learned thangka painting from him from the age of fourteen. He died in 2005.
Senge Dorje — The birth name of Tulshuk Lingpa.
Tamang Tulku — The boy who lives with Tulshuk Lingpa’s son Kunsang and his family in Darjeeling. Originally from Nepal, he is learning Tibetan and the dharma from Kunsang and helps run the family clothing shops. Whether he is really a tulku, or reincarnated lama, is an open question.
Tarthang Tulku — A reincarnate lama born in Golok, eastern Tibet in 1934. He fled to India in 1958, where he met and spent time with Tulshuk Lingpa in both Pangao and Simoling. He moved to California in 1968, where he founded the Nyingma Institute and Dharma Publishing.
Tashi Lhamo — Tulshuk Lingpa’s half sister.
Tenzing Norgay — He and Edmund Hillary were the first to successfully climb Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, in 1953. Though born in Nepal, he was the favorite son of his adopted home, Darjeeling. After Tulshuk Lingpa cured Tenzing Norgay’s wife of a fatal illness, he became a sponsor of Tulshuk Lingpa’s, even though he never knew the real reason for Tulshuk Lingpa’s journey to the area. He died in 1986.
Tinley Gyatso — The thangka painter from Gangtok whose mother-¬in-law first told me of Tulshuk Lingpa and his expedition to Beyul.
Tulshuk Lingpa — Literally: Crazy Treasure Revealer. The main character in this book. Born in the Golok region of eastern Tibet with the name Senge Dorje, he was recognized as a revealer of hidden treasure at an early age and received this name. He moved to India in his early twenties, lived and had monasteries in Himachal Pradesh, in India’s western Himalayas. After receiving visions that indicated he was the one to open the hidden valley in Sikkim, Beyul Demoshong, he went to Sikkim with many followers.
Wangchuk — The grandson of Tulshuk Lingpa, son of Tulshuk Lingpa’s only son Kunsang. Apart from acting as my interpreter, he became a close friend. In many ways we investigated the story of ‘Grandpa’ together.
Yabla family of Yoksum — An influential landholding family from the village of Yoksum in West Sikkim. Once with high positions in the government of the chogyal, or king, of Sikkim, they now own hotels and the biggest beer brewery in Sikkim. Of the six sons in this family, five were followers and sponsors of Tulshuk Lingpa in his quest for Beyul Demoshong—all but the youngest, who was on a quest for his own promised land and made it, to Bollywood, where he is well known for playing the dark villain under the stage name of Danny Denzongpa.
Yab Maila — The eldest son of the Yabla family of Yoksum, Sikkim, who were major sponsors of Tulshuk Lingpa. He was a tax collector for the king, and very influential.
Yeshe — The sister of Tulshuk Lingpa’s khandro, Chimi Wangmo, and herself a khandro to Tulshuk Lingpa. Yeshe had tamik, the special intuitive ability to see images in the burnished brass ritual mirror known as a melong.
Places
This annotated list of places mentioned in the book is by no means comprehensive. Rather, it lists those places a reader unfamiliar with India and Tibet, particularly the obscure places in which so much of the story takes place and which recur throughout the book, might find difficult to remember.
Bhutan — A Himalayan Buddhist kingdom situated in the eastern Himalayas south of Tibet, and bordered on the west, south and east by India.
Darjeeling — A town of a hundred to a hundred-and-fifty-thousand people in the Himalayan foothills of the Indian state of West Bengal. At an elevation of about 7000 feet (2200 metres), it was established as a hill station by the colonial British in 1835 and quickly became a center of tea production. Situated just south of Sikkim and Tibet, it has a sizeable Tibetan Buddhist population.
Domang Gompa — A monastery in the Golok region of eastern Tibet where Tulshuk Lingpa was trained and to which his father Kyechok Lingpa was attached. It was also the monastery of Dorje Dechen Lingpa, also known as the Domang Tulku, who both coronated and gave Tulshuk Lingpa his name and who tried to open the way to Beyul Demoshong in the 1920s.
Dzongri — At 13,200 feet (4000 metres), this small nomad settlement is on the main trekking route from Yoksum, in Sikkim, to the massif of Mount Kanchenjunga.
Gangtok — Literally: hilltop. The capital of Sikkim at about 4750 feet (1450 metres). With a population of approximately 30,000 people, the culture of Gangtok is heavily influenced by Tibet, which lies just to its north.
Golok — The region of eastern Tibet where Tulshuk Lingpa grew up and was trained.
Himachal Pradesh — The Indian state in the western Himalayas just south of Kashmir where Tulshuk Lingpa lived for many years before travelling to Sikkim to open Beyul Demoshong.
Jorbungalow — A small town about 8 miles (12 kilometers) from Darjeeling where Tulshuk Lingpa visited his spiritual teacher Chatral Rinpoche.
Koksar — The first village in the high mountains of Lahaul after crossing the Rohtang Pass. At 11,000 feet (3300 metres), Koksar is where Tulshuk Lingpa’s khandro, or consort, and her sister Yeshe were from. It is situated on the banks of the Chandra River.
Kullu — The capital town of the Kullu district in the Kullu Valley (see below) of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh in the western Himalayas.
Kullu Valley — A roughly north- to south-lying valley in the western Himalayas through which the Beas River flows and has its source. Located in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, this is where Tulshuk Lingpa lived in the winters in a cave outside the village of Pangao.
Ladakh — A region of high mountains in the western Himalaya. With over half its population Tibetan Buddhist, it is part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and lies just north of Himachal Pradesh.
Lahaul — [Pronounced ‘Lahool’] A high-altitude region in the Himalayas from roughly 10,000–17,000 feet (3000-5100 metres) in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is accessed from the Kullu Valley by crossing the 13,000-foot (4000 meter) Rohtang Pass.
Manali — A town in the Kullu Valley, now quite popular with tourists.
Mount Kanchenjunga — The third-highest mountain in the world at 28,169 feet (8586 metres). It straddles the Nepal–Sikkim border. Long regarded as sacred by people who have lived in its vicinity beginning with the indigenous Lepchas, it was on the slopes of this mountain that Tulshuk Lingpa went to find the hidden valley of immortality, Beyul Demoshong.
Pangao — The village in the Kullu Valley where Tulshuk Lingpa and his family lived during winters for the years preceding his going to Sikkim to open Beyul Demoshong.
Pangi — The village in the further reaches of Chamba where Tulshuk Lingpa had his first monastery.
Rohtang Pass — Literally: Plain of Corpses. The approximately 13,000 ¬foot (4000 meter) pass at the head of the Beas River that connects the Kullu Valley with Lahaul and Spiti in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
Simoling — Also known as Telling. The village in Lahaul where Tulshuk Lingpa cured the inhabitants of leprosy then lived for many years and had his own monastery.
Sikkim — Formerly an independent Himalayan kingdom and British protectorate, Sikkim became the twenty-second state of India in 1975. It is bordered by Nepal to the west, Tibet to the north and northeast, Bhutan to the southeast, and the Darjeeling Hills of India’s state of West Bengal to the south. Its western border with Nepal is dominated by the third-highest peak on the planet, Mount Kanchenjunga.
Sinon — A village in West Sikkim with an historic monastery, a few kilometers from Tashiding. This village, connected to the ancient history of Sikkim, is where Tulshuk Lingpa moved when things got difficult for him in Tashiding. He performed a miracle here on the outcropping of rock just below the monastery.
Tashiding — A village in West Sikkim; also the name of the monastery perched on a hilltop outside the village. The name is Tibetan and means Auspicious Center. Believed to have been blessed by Padmasambhava, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism, the monastery is considered the spiritual center of Sikkim. It was here that it was prophesied the lama who would open Beyul Demoshong would announce himself, and it was here Tulshuk Lingpa came when preparing to open that hidden land.
Tseram — The nomad encampment at 12,300 feet (3770 meters) on the slopes of Mount Kanchenjunga in Nepal where the journey to Beyul Demoshong began.
Tso Pema — The Tibetan name for a sacred lake in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is known locally as Lake Rewalsar.
Yoksum — The first capital of Sikkim and the last village before the trail rises to Mount Kanchenjunga. At 5800 feet (1780 metres), the name comes from the Lepcha language. It means the Three Great Ones in commemoration of the three Tibetan lamas who met there in order to found the Buddhist kingdom of Sikkim in 1642.
