A Step Away from Paradise: A Tibetan Lama's Extraordinary Journey to a Land of Immortality (49 page)

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, at 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.