The Treasury of Lives

Dezhung Rinpoche was born on February 26, 1906, the third day of the first month of the fire-horse year, in a village called Taklung (thag lung), in the lower Ga (sga smad) region north of Jyekundo, a high grassland almost entirely devoid of trees. His father, a doctor named Namgyel Dorje (rnam rgyal rdo rje, c. 1880s–1922) was a former monk. His mother was named Pema Chodzom (padma chos 'dzom, 1884–1950). His birth name was Konchok Lhundrub (dkon mchog lhun grub). Dezhung Rinpoche's life story has been told in great detail by scholar David Jackson, whose book, A Saint in Seattle, is the main source for this essay.

He was the eldest of six children. Of the four siblings who survived childhood, two sisters became nuns; a brother, Kunzang Nyima (kun bzang nyi ma, 1916–1990) became a doctor; and another sister, Puntsok Dolma (phun tshogs sgrol ma, 1913–1962/3) was the mother of a beloved niece, Sonam Tsedzom (bsod nams tshe 'dzom, b. 1934), who married into the Puntsok Palace of the Sakya Khon family and is widely known as Jamyang Sakya ('jams dbyangs sa skya).^[1]

When he was two years old his parents took him to receive a blessing from the great Nyingma master Ju Mipam Gyatso ('ju mi pham rgya mtsho, 1846–1912). He showed pleasure at visiting temples—his uncle's retreat house at Tarlam Monastery (thar lam dgon)—and in 1910 his parents, by then caring for two additional children, decided to place him into the religious life. They brought him his paternal uncle, Ngawang Nyima (ngag dbang nyi ma, 1872–1951). Because his uncle was then living in retreat and unable to receive visitors, the parents left their child by himself in an open courtyard, where he sat bewildered until his uncle emerged from his meditation. As the doors and windows were bolted shut, the family had to climb down a ladder from an adjoining dwelling. The young Dezhung Rinpoche remained in isolated retreat with his uncle for the next five years, only occasionally seeing his parents through a hole in the door when they brought food.^[2] A dog lived with them.

His uncle, who decorated his two-story retreat house with potted flowers, tasked Konchok Lhundrub with caring for the plants. He taught him to read, as they sat side by side during the day, the older man grunting or whacking the boy on the head with a stick when he made errors. Among his uncle's books was the Life of Milarepa, which Dezhung Rinpoche came to know by heart.^[3] When he was six, Nyiga Kunga Nyima (nyi dga' kun dga' nyi ma, 1846–1925) came to give the boy the Cakrasaṃvara initiation, the first of many transmissions from that esteemed lama.^[4] The following year the same lama gave the boy novice vows and the name Ngawang Zangpo (ngag dbang bzang po).

At age eight the young Dezhung fell ill, and his uncle requested the help of a fellow resident of Dzinda, Jamyang Gyeltsen ('jam dbyang rgyal mtshan, 1870/80–1940/50), who would become one of Dezhung's teachers. The following year he met his main teacher, Gaton Ngawang Lekpa (sga ston ngag dbang legs pa, 1864–1941), who had recently ended fifteen years of retreat at Dzinda to return to Tarlam Monastery. When Dezhung Rinpoche saw him for the first time, he was both awestruck and frightened, as Gaton's skin had a bluish tinge from staying out of the sun for fifteen years. His hair reached his waist, and his nails were very long.^[5]

Dezhung Rinpoche received his first teachings from Gaton at the age of eleven, in 1915. Two years later, in 1917, he received the  Lamdre Lobshe (lam 'bras slob bshad) teachings at Tarlam.^[6] Many years later, in the mid-1970s, Dezhung Rinpoche dictated a biography of Gaton Rinpoche to Dhongthog Rinpoche Tenpai Gyeltsen (gdong rin po che bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan, 1933–2015), finishing in the same manner in 1986, which Dhongthog Rinpoche published in 1988.^[7]

In 1920 Gaton sent Dezhung to Jyekundo Monastery (skye dgu mdo don grub gling) to begin his formal studies in Mahāyāna philosophical works under Khenpo Zhenga, Zhenpen Chokyi Nangwa (mkhan po gzhan dga' gzhan phan chos kyi snang ba, 1871–1927). Khenpo Zhenga was at the monastery to open a new scriptural college, following his tenure as the founding abbot of Khamshe College (khams byed) at Dzongsar Monastery (rdzong sar). Dezhung spent nine months there, primarily studying Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra and Candrakīrti's Madhyamakāvatāra, as well as Longchenpa's (klong chen pa, 1308–1364) Resting in Illusion (sgyu ma ngal gso). Jamyang Gyeltsen's younger brother, Lama Gendun (bla ma dge 'dun, 1880–1939) was the assistant teacher who daily reviewed the lessons. Lama Gendun evoked terror in his students, although unlike his classmate Ngawang Yonten Gyatso (ngag dbang yon tan rgya mtsho, 1902–c.1963), later known as "the Bhutanese Khenpo" ('brug mkhan po), Dezhung Rinpoche apparently avoided being beaten.^[8] He returned to Tarlam in 1920 and received ordination from Gaton, and was given the name Jampa Kunga Tensel (byams pa kun dga' bstan gsal).

Identification as the Third Dezhung

Dezhung Rinpoche's identification as the reincarnation of Lungrik Nyima (gde gzhung lung rigs nyi ma, 1840–1898), had begun to take shape several years after he arrived at Dzinda, when a student of Lungrik Nyima named Drubtob Sanggye Rabten (grub stob sangs rgyas rab tan) arrived and declared that the child was Lungrik Nyima's rebirth.^[9] Lungrik Nyima had himself been identified as the reincarnation of a practitioner named Jamyang Tenzin ('jam dbyang bstan 'dzin), or possibly Jamyang Nyima ('jam dbyang nyi ma) and is now considered to have been the Second Dezhung Rinpoche. Remarkable children in Tibet typically inspired such considerations, and the young Dezhung Rinpoche was also discussed as a possible reincarnation of the Sixty-First Ngor Khenchen, Pende Khenpo Ngawang Kunga Tenpai Gyeltsen (phan bde mkhan po ngag dbang kun dga' bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan, 1863–1899).^[10]

When Dezhung was thirteen or fourteen, another of Lungrik Nyima's students, Dezhung Anjam (sde gzhung a 'jam, 1885–1952), conferred with Gaton Ngawang Lekpa about the designation as the reincarnation, and the two decided to consult the Thirty-Ninth Sakya Trizin, Drakshul Trinle Rinchen (drag shul 'phrin las rin chen, 1871-1936). Dezhung Anjam, the son of the Dezhung chieftain, went to central Tibet with his father, and secured a letter from the Sakya Trizin affirming Dezhung Rinpoche's identity as the rebirth of Lungrik Nyima.^[11] On returning to Kham Dezhung Anjam reported his success to Gaton, who offered his own affirmation, but insisted that even with the title the boy should stay with him at Tarlam, rather than be enthroned at Lungrik Nyima's seat, Dezhung Monastery (sde gzhun dgon), which was far to the south in Litang. As a result, on May 1, 1922, at the age of seventeen, Dezhung Rinpoche was enthroned at Tarlam,^[12] and then again at the same monastery in a much grander ceremony in the late autumn of 1923 as part of the consecration of the new temple.^[13]

Dezhung Rinpoche next studied the rites of Sarvavid-Vairocana with a lama from Dezhung Monastery named Dezhung Chopel Jamyang Kunga Namgyel (sde gzhung chos 'phel 'jam dbyangs kun dga' rnam rgyal, 1880s–1950s), who was a close disciple of Gaton Rinpoche and Khenpo Zhenga. Dezhung Chopel would later serve as the fifth abbot of Dzongsar Khamshe College. He also supervised in the painting of murals of Shakyamuni Buddha and the Buddhas of the ten directions surrounded by the previous lives of the Buddha at the new temple at Tarlam, all under Gaton Ngawang Lekpa's direction.^[14]

Study in Derge

In the spring of 1924 Dezhung Rinpoche went to Dzongsar to continue his formal studies and learn Sanskrit. Gaton Ngawang Lekpa was going to the Derge region to teach Lamdre and brought his student with him. This was accomplished over the objection of Dezhung Rinpoche's family, who wanted him to stay home and who also worried about his ability to secure enough material support in Derge. His uncle and first teacher Ngawang Nyima also opposed the study of Sanskrit, and wanted his nephew to remain at the monastery and establish himself. Differences of opinion between his many advisors would continue until he left his homeland for India in 1959.

Dezhung Rinpoche settled in at Khamshe College, which was then headed by its second abbot, Khenpo Chokyi Wozer (mkhan po chos kyi 'od zer, 1889–c.1960), also known as Wonto Khyenrab (dbon stod mkhyen rab). There he studied Aryadeva's Catuḥśataka and Tibetan grammar. He also briefly studied Sanskrit with an eccentric lama from Pelyul Monastery (dpal yul) who was then living at Dzongsar. Then he transferred to Gagu Hermitage (gwa gu ri khrod) further up the Mesho valley from Dzongsar, to study with Jamyang Gyeltsen, who taught him many texts, including the Bodhicaryāvatāra and the Seven Point Mind Training of Chekhawa ('chad kha ba, 1101–1175). Later in life Dezhung Rinpoche would recite the final verses of the Seven Point Mind Training every night before retiring. In 1926, two years later, Jamyang Gyeltsen was invited to serve as abbot for the summer retreat at Dramagang Hermitage (drwa ma sgang)^[15] near the Derge capital, and Dezhung Rinpoche went with him. There, among other teachings, he received the thirteen volumes of the Collected Works of Gorampa, which Jamyang Gyeltsen had himself compiled and published at Derge.^[16]

Only in 1926 did Dezhung Rinpoche finally meet his Sanskrit teacher, Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyeltsen (khu nu bla ma bstan 'dzin rgyal mtshan, 1894–1977). Dezhung Rinpoche followed him first to Dzogchen Monastery (rdzogs chen dgon) and then to Katok (kah thog), where he lived on sparse provisions brought to him by his mother and his uncle Ngawang Nyima. He was not able to remain with Khunu Lama for very long, however. His uncle, who dismissed the study of Sanskrit and encouraged him to return to retreat, convinced him to leave Katok with him. The two went together to Dramagang where Dezhung Rinpoche received the reading transmission of the Sakya Kambum (sa skya bka' 'bum)—the collected works of the five Sakya founders—from the Lhundrubteng (lhun grub steng) abbot Samten Lodro (bsam gtan blo gros, 1886–1931), who himself had received it from its compiler, Jamyang Loter Wangpo ('jam dbyang blo gter dbang po, 1847–1914).^[17] Dezhung would go on to transmit the collection multiple times, including to the Forty First Sakya Trizin (sa skya khri 'dzin 41 ngag dbang kun dga' theg chen dpal 'bar, b. 1945) in 1977 in New York City.^[18]

For the next two years he moved around Derge, staying at Wara Monastery (wa ra dgon) and again at Gagu, before returning to Dzongsar Khamshe, where he received the transmission of the Compendium of Sādhanas (sgrub thabs kun bdus) from the great Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro ('byam dbyangs mkhyen brtse chos kyi blo gros, 1893–1959), who had been in retreat during Dezhung Rinpoche's previous stay at the college. When he later saw Gaton Ngawang Lekpa again, at a Lamdre transmission in Litang in the spring of 1928, his teacher expressed his disappointment that he had not completed his Sanskrit studies.^[19]

Visit to Dezhung Monastery

Dezhung Rinpoche visited Dezhung Monastery for the first time in the summer of 1928, in the company of Gaton Ngawang Lekpa, who had been invited to teach there. There in the late summer or early fall of 1928, when he was twenty-three, he received full ordination from Gaton and Dezhung Anjam. His ordination name was Jampa Kunga Tenpai Nyima (byams pa kun dga' bstan pa'i nyi ma). While there he was again formally enthroned as the rebirth of Lungrik Nyima.^[20]

From Litang he returned to Dzongsar where he was able to reconnect with Khunu Lama to continue studying Sanskrit. He stayed with the north Indian lama for about two years, moving between Dzongsar and Gagu, where he also received additional Lamdre teachings from Jamyang Gyeltsen.^[21] He also went to Pelpung Monastery (dpal spungs dgon) to learn to write ornamental scripts.^[22] There he met both the Eleventh Situ, Pema Wangchuk Gyelpo (si tu 11 padma dbang mchog rgyal po, 1886–1952) and the young Sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rikpai Dorje (karma pa 16 rang byung rig pa'i rdo rje, 1923–1981). He then returned to his homeland. Dezhung Rinpoche returned to Dzongsar to pay his respects to Khyentse Chokyi Lodro and his teacher, Jamyang Gyeltsen, who expressed his pleasure in his student's studies and practice. He gave him a long-life empowerment to ensure a long-life span.^[23]

At Tarlam in the autumn of 1930, Gaton urged Dezhung Rinpoche to enter retreat in order to review all that he had learned and practice the transmissions he had received. His family, however, led by his uncle Ngawang Nyima, convinced him to build a residence at Tarlam and establish a monastic estate, or labrang (bla brang). His uncle's reasoning was that as a recognized incarnation and a rather poor monk, he needed to develop financial support for his activities.^[24] Dezhung Rinpoche followed his family's request, but two years later he did enter retreat, settling at Dzinda, where he had lived with his uncle as a child. He returned to Tarlam after a short while when knee and back pain brought on from extensive prostration practice of completing 2000 to 2500 prostrations daily, and the poor quality of the water, forced him to leave.^[25] He would alternate retreat and monastery duties for the remainder of his time at Tarlam.

In 1935, when Gaton gave his ninth and final transmission of the Lamdre, it would be his most extensive and detailed commentary. Dezhung Rinpoche served as an assistant teacher, and also as a tutor to the Tartse Zhabdrung Jampa Namkha Kunzang Tenpai Nyima (thar rtse zhabs drung byams pa nam mkha' kun bzang bstan pa'i nyi ma, 1907–1940), the elder brother of the Eighteenth Chogye Trichen, Tubten Lekshe Gyatso (bco brgyad khri chen 18 thub bstan legs bshad rgya mtsho, 1920–2007). The two became good friends and spent some rare personal time together in the high nomadic lands. Dezhung Rinpoche's younger brother Kunzang Nyima met them there and gave him a new set of monastic robes, which he promptly gave to the Tartse Zhabdrung.^[26]

Gaton Ngawang Lekpa formally enthroned Dezhung Rinpoche as his successor at Tarlam in 1939, when Dezhung was thirty-four years old. Not long afterward he sent Dezhung Rinpoche to Dezhung Monastery on his behalf. According to Jackson, Dezhung Rinpoche asked his teacher where he would be living when he returned, to which Gaton replied, "I won't be living anywhere. I will have died by then," an announcement that made it painfully difficult for Dezhung Rinpoche to leave. ^[27] Gaton passed away in 1941, the year after the death of another beloved teacher, Jamyang Gyeltsen, and that of his friend Tartse Zhabdrung.

Dezhung Rinpoche stayed at Dezhung Monastery for roughly two years, receiving considerable donations from the monastery's patrons. In 1942 he set out of Minyak, where for four years he would teach at Rikhu Monastery, Pelden Samdrub Chodar Ling (ri khud dpal ldan bsam 'grub chos dar gling), a major Sakya monastery in the region, and at other monasteries around Dartsedo. He had the opportunity to visit Bo Gangkar Monastery ('bo gang dkar) and meet the Ninth Gangkar Lama, Karma Shedrub Chokyi Sengge (gangs dkar bla ma 09 karma bshad sgrub chos kyi seng ge, 1891–1957), who was a tutor to the Sixteenth Karmapa and whom the Eleventh Situ, Pema Wangchok Gyelpo (si tu 11 padma dbang mchog rgyal po) had called "the most learned man in all the hundred and eighty Karma Kagyu monasteries of U-Tsang and Kham."^[28] Dezhung Rinpoche studied with him at his monastery for seven months, receiving multiple Karma Kagyu and Nyingma transmissions. Gangkar Lama was impressed by Dezhung Rinpoche's wisdom and comportment and told his students that it would be fortunate for them to establish a religious connection with him.^[29]

Pilgrimage to Central and Western Tibet

Dezhung Rinpoche remained at Tarlam for about six months, during which time he and his uncle Ngawang Nyima built a reliquary for their teacher, Nyiga Dorjechang, who had died in 1925. A stūpa with some of his relics had been constructed earlier at Dzinda village, but nothing had been built at Tarlam for lack of funds. Also during this time, he came to know his sole niece, Jamyang Sakya who was twelve years old. She would later marry Dagchen Rinpoche Jikdrel Ngawang Kunga Sonam (bdag chen rin po che 'jigs bral ngag dbang kun dga' bsod nams, 1929–2016) and the two would become close companions to Dezhung Rinpoche in America.^[30]In her memoir she attributed the rare priviledge of receiving a formal education in Tibet—she was the only girl in her class—to Dezhung Rinpoche's support and encouragement.

In the autumn of 1947 Dezhung Rinpoche, with the considerable wealth he had accumulated in Litang and Minyak, went west to make offerings at the main Sakya monasteries in central Tibet. He brought his elderly mother and his younger sister, Ane Chime (a ne 'chi med), a nun, along with him, as well as several other relatives and attendants. The journey to Sakya Monastery (sa skya dgon) took a little over a month. There he had audiences and made significant offerings to the monastery's leaders: the Fortieth Sakya Trichen, Ngawang Tutob Wangchuk (sa skya khri chen 40 ngag dbang mthu stob dbang phyug, 1900–1950); his eldest son, Dagchen Rinpoche; and also the future Forty-First Sakya Trichen, Ngawang Kunga Tekchen Trinle Wanggyel (sa skya khri chen 41 ngag dbang kun dga' theg chen phrin las dbang rgyal, b. 1945).^[31]

From Sakya Dezhung Rinpoche and Ane Chime left on pilgrimage to Milarepa (mi la ras pa, 1040–1123) caves in southwestern Tibet. From a young age, Dezhung Rinpoche had loved Milarepa, and he was overjoyed that he could finally make a pilgrimage to the holy sites.  Eventually making their way to Drakkar Taso (brag dkar rta so) where they stayed for over a month receiving teachings from the lama there, Tenzin Norbu (bstan 'dzin nor bu, 1899–1958).^[32] They returned to Sakya in the fall of 1948 on learning that their mother was ill. Their mother was relieved and happy that they were safe and well. She recovered quickly.

Dezhung Rinpoche had made several promises to Gaton Lekpa. One of the promises was to receive Lamdre at Ngor Monastery. He had intended to go to Ngor after being in Sakya, but the death of the mother of the forty-first Sakya Trizin, Sonam Dolkar (bsod nams sgrol dkar, 1918–1947) necessitated his remaining at Sakya longer than he anticipated, and he only arrived at Ngor in early 1949 after much of the annual teaching had already occurred.^[33] Nevertheless he received the transmission privately, from Khangsar Khenchen Ngawang Khyentse Tubten Nyingpo (khang gsar mkhan chen ngag dbang mkhyen brtse thub bstan snying po, 1913–1988). Additional relatives arrived from Kham bringing more offerings to the monastery.^[34] The second promise that Dezhung Rinpoche had made to Gaton Lekpa was to bestow extensive offerings to the great lamas and monk assemblies of Sakya and Ngor. His offerings of the finest tea bricks were remembered by many monks.^[35] He returned to Sakya and remained there, establishing relationships with multiple members of the monastery's leading family, the Khon. In 1950, his niece Sonam Tsedzom married Dagchen Rinpoche, who was the son of the Fortieth Sakya Trizin. After his father’s death in 1950,  he served as acting throne-holder, but was passed over when the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso (tA la'i bla ma 14 bstan 'dzin rgya mtsho, b. 1935) selected the eldest son of the Dolma Palace (sgrol ma pho brang), Ngawang Kunga Tekchen Pelbar (ngag dbang kun dga' theg chen dpal 'bar, b. 1945), who became the Forty-First Sakya Trizin at the age of five.^[36] Later in 1959 the Phuntsok Palace family (phun tshogs pho brang) branch of the Khon family would flee Tibet due to the Communist Chinese invasion and settle in Seattle, Washington.

Return to Kham and Flight to India

At the end of 1949 Dezhung Rinpoche left for Lhasa and returned to Kham, arriving in the spring of 1950, on the eve of the arrival of the Communist People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the region.

In 1953 Dezhung Rinpoche's niece and her new husband, known as Jigdrel Dagchen Rinpoche, came to Tarlam for an extended visit, in order to continue Dagchen Rinpoche's education. Their child, Minzu Rinpoche, Jamyang Kunga Wanggyel (manju vajra 'jam dbyangs kun dga' dbang rgyal, b. 1953), was born at that time. He would later be identified as the reincarnation of the Fortieth Sakya Trizin, himself a recognized reincarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo ('byam dbyangs mkhyen brtse'u dbang po, 1820–1892). Together they traveled to Dzogchen Monastery and on to Dzongsar to receive Lamdre transmission and the Collection of Sādhanas from Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, alongside Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (dil mgo mkhyen brtse, 1910–1991). A young Chogyam Trungpa (chos rgya drung pa, 1939–1987) was also present at Dzogchen. In the summer of 1954 Dagchen Rinpoche was summoned by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama to accompany him to Beijing. He would represent the Sakya tradition at the summit with Mao Zedong and Chinese Communist Party leaders to discuss the future of Tibet.^[37]

In the Spring of 1955, after Dezhung Rinpoche had left Dzongsar for Lhagyel Monastery (lha rgyal dgon), he learned that Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro had left Kham to avoid being summoned by the Communists. Dezhung Rinpoche would soon follow, but first he made a short trip to Minyak, where Dagchen Rinpoche had been invited, and where he would also once again meet his friend Gangkar Lama, whose health was failing; he passed away while Dezhung was with him. He returned to Tarlam at the end of 1956, after a stay at Lhagang Monastery (lha sgang). All around him communities were succumbing, with various levels of resistance, to the PLA, and lamas were leaving for central Tibet and beyond.

In 1958 unrest flared in Jyekundo. Dezhung Rinpoche was then teaching the Compendium of Sādhanas but was forced to stop as the situation deteriorated and he fled to Goshung, in Yushu, part of a large group of nomads and villagers that numbered in the tens of thousands. Around the first of November, 1958, a battalion of Chinese soldiers disguised as monks surrounded the encampment and fired their weapons at the Tibetans. Dezhung Rinpoche, his sister Ane Chime Drolma, and a few others managed to escape. Over the course of several months, with about a dozen companions, they made their way to Lhasa, arriving at the end of February, 1959 where he reunited with his niece, Jamyang Sakya, and members of the Sakya Khon family.^[38]

As tensions rose in Lhasa around the March 10 uprising against the Chinese occupation, word came that Dagchen Rinpoche was in danger, and Dezhung Rinpoche and the Khon family narrowly avoided arrest. They managed to leave on March 19, making their way to Nalendra Monastery (na len dra dgon), in the Phenpo valley just north of Lhasa, the seat of Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, who was then in retreat. Nalendra was no safe haven, however, as Chinese planes soon began to fly over the monastery, strafing the grounds with machine gun fire, and the leadership soon fled to nomadic regions.^[39]

On March 25 Dezhung Rinpoche, Dagchen Rinpoche, and several dozen relatives and other companions left for India. They first made their way to Samye (bsam yas), avoiding Chinese airplanes and ground troops then scouring the countryside for fleeing Tibetans. Traveling on foot and horseback, they passed through Yamdrok and Lhodrak, stopping over at Sekhar Gutok (sras mkhar dgu thog), the site of Milarepa's famous tower. Dezhung Rinpoche's party did not want to stop, but Dezhung Rinpoche insisted on doing so, declaring, I don't care if the Chinese come and kill me. This would be a fine place to die. I have always wanted to pay my respects to the great teacher Marpa." The others left him there, and he barely escaped, catching up the party later. They then crossed a 18,000 foot pass to arrive on the Bhutanese border, twenty-seven days after leaving Nalendra.^[40]

India

By mid-April, 1959, when Dezhung Rinpoche and Dagchen Rinpoche arrived, roughly seventeen hundred Tibetans were at the border, unable to cross into Bhutan. After two weeks the Bhutanese prime minister Dasho Jigme Palden Dorje (drags shos 'jigs med dpal ldan rdo rje, 1919–1964) arranged for lamas, monks, women and children, to have passage through the country to India. Dezhung Rinpoche fell seriously ill, and was only able to make the month-long journey with medicine secured by his niece from the prime minister.^[41]

From the Indian border they traveled by train to Siliguri, and then on to Kalimpong. Not long after their arrival they received the news that their friend and teacher, Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro had passed away in Sikkim. Also in attendance was the fourteen-year-old Sakya Trizin and his elder sister, Jetsun Kushok. Dezhung went there to participate in the funeral rites, and donated thirty ounces of gold that he had brought from Tibet, gold that he had previously collected with the intention of gilding statues at Dzongsar. Some people thought this gesture was foolish since he and his party still did not have a clear idea of where they would live or how they would eat. Dezhung Rinpoche told his sister, "This gold would not support us for more than a few months. Anyway, we probably won't go hungry. Better to offer to the Lama."

Dezhung Rinpoche remained in India for a year and a half. He and his niece went on pilgrimage that winter for several months to the great Buddhist sites of Bodhgaya, Lumbini, and other places. At Sarnath Deer Park, Dezhung Rinpoche met the Fourteenth Dalai Lama for the first time, and also reconnected with his Sanskrit teacher, Khunu Lama. Back in Darjeeling he tutored his niece's son, Minzu Rinpoche and gave extensive Lamdre teachings to a monk named Jamyang Gyeltsen (jam dbang rgyal mtshan).^[42] This monk, in the face of the difficult circumstances, was struggling to hold onto his faith, and twenty years late he thanked Dezhung Rinpoche for his encouragement and inspiration.^[43]

In the fall of 1959 the two married French Tibetologists Alexander Macdonald (1928–2013) and Ariane Spanien Macdonald invited Sakya Dagchen Rinpoche and his family to Paris but they declined. Soon after, in March, 1960, the Macdonalds introduced Dagchen Rinpoche to the American Tibetologist Turrell Wylie (1927–1984). Wylie was in India searching for educated Tibetans to invite to the University of Washington under the auspices of a Rockefeller Foundation project that would bring over a dozen notable Tibetan scholars to universities in Europe and North America. Dagchen Rinpoche accepted this offer, with the provision that his extended family, including Dezhung Rinpoche, and Dagchen Rinpoche's younger brother, Kunga Trinley (kun dga' 'phrin las, 1937–1997) be included. Dezhung Rinpoche had been considering a position in Bhutan, on the advice of Chatral Sanggye Dorje (bya bral sangs rgyas rdo rje, 1913–2015), but his niece convinced him to join them in America. Thus, in October, 1960, having passed medical exams and received their visas, Dezhung Rinpoche, together with Dagchen Rinpoche's family, flew to the United States, where he would remain for the majority of the remainder of his life.^[44]

The University of Washington, Seattle

In Seattle the Sakya family resided in a large former student boarding house in the university district, and were treated by the local media as minor celebrities, with newspaper and television journalists running stories about the exotic Tibetans, in which Dezhung Rinpoche came to be known as "Lama Labrang" and other curious titles. Most members of the Sakya family took jobs, while Dezhung Rinpoche taught at the university under the auspices of the Rockefeller program. 

Robert Ekvall (1898–1983), who had grown up in the eastern Tibetan borderlands as the son of missionaries, met the Sakya contingent in the airport and greeted them in an Amdo nomad dialect of Tibetan, which was barely comprehensible to the Sakya family.

The family was photographed exiting the plane. From left to right are: Geshe Nawang Nornang, Dezhung Rinpoche, Sakya Dagchen Rinpoche, Lhadon Kyarsip, Thinley Rinpoche (Dagchen Rinpoche's younger brother), Kuyang Norbu (Dagchen Rinpoche's younger sister), Turrell Wylie, Minzu Sakya, Ani Sakya, Mati, and Dagmo Kusho. Kuyang Norbu later married Taktser Rinpoche Tubten Jigme Norbu (stag mtsher thub bstan 'jigs med nor bu, 1922–2008), the elder brother of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. 

Ekvall was one of many North American scholars whose research blossomed under Dezhung Rinpoche; Ekvall's time with the Sakya lamas resulted in his 1969 study A Tibetan Principality: The Political System of the Sa skya. Dezhung Rinpoche taught and collaborated with some of the major figures in twentieth-century Tibetan studies, including students and professors at the university and scholars who came to read with him. They included E. Gene Smith (1936–2010), David Jackson, Leon Hurvitz (1923–1992), Lewis Lancaster, Matthew Kapstein (b. 1949), Edward Conze (1904–1979), Hugh Richardson (1905–2000), Melvyn Goldstein (b. 1938), Turrell Wylie (1927–1984), Janet Gyatso, Cyrus Stearns, and David Seyfort Ruegg (1931–2021), who arrived in Seattle after Dezhung Rinpoche had retired from the university.

Notable Tibetan scholars also made their way to Seattle to collaborate, including Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa (rtsis dpon dbang phyug bde ldan zhwa sgab pa, 1908–1989), who visited several times in the 1960s while he was composing his famous history of Tibet, Surkhang Wangchen Gelek (zur khang dbang chen dge legs, 1910–1977), who lived in Seattle from 1964 to 1972, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama's elder brother, Thubten Jigme Norbu (thub bstan 'jigs med nor bu, 1922–2008), and the great Tibetan educator Tashi Tsering (bkra shis tshe ring, b. 1929), who wrote an anthropological study of Seattle and returned to Tibet to open Tibetan-medium schools.^[45]

Hurvitz, then the professor of Buddhist Studies, and Smith both studied with Dezhung in a manner akin to the traditional style, memorizing texts, making prayers and offerings. They read eclectically, from the Diamond Sūtra and Candrakīrti's Madyamakāvatāra to Patrul Rinpoche's Words of My Perfect Teacher^.[46] Smith lived in the Sakya family's residence for four years, guiding Dezhung Rinpoche through the university's library and its collection of the explorer Joseph Rock (1884–1962), and an Ōtani edition of the Peking Kangyur and Tengyur. Smith filled notebooks with the Dezhung Rinpoche's responses to his copious questions, which became well-known in Tibetan Studies as his "green books." Many of the papers Smith presented at university colloquia later served as introductions to the Tibetan texts he arranged to be published in India under Public Law 480.

The Rockefeller program that had brought Dezhung Rinpoche and Dagchen Rinpoche to the University of Washington was intended to support them for only three years. In 1963, as the grant period ended, Hurvitz and other professors at the university asked Dezhung Rinpoche to remain on the faculty, organizing the necessary paperwork to secure needed permissions, including visas and work permits. The Sakya family had expressed their desire to remain in Seattle, and Dezhung Rinpoche declared that he would not stay if the rest of the Tibetans had to leave. Gene Smith secured jobs for several of them: Dezhung Rinpoche's niece, Dagmo Kusho, went to work as a lab technician in a blood bank, while Dagchen Rinpoche was hired at the Burke Memorial Museum as a project consultant for an upcoming Tibetan art exhibition.^[47] He was given the position of Research Associate in the Inner Asia Project of the Far Eastern and Russian Institute, and taught in an official capacity for nine years.

In 1965 Dezhung Rinpoche's brother, Dr. Kunzang Nyima, and his sister, Ane Chime, were able to gain entry to the United States and joined him in Seattle. She took a job in a sewing factory, while he worked on weekends caring for animals who were being experimented on in a medical laboratory. A year later Dezhung Rinpoche secured US permanent residency. Within a few years the three siblings had purchased a house and were living together. He walked to campus from his residence, and as a knee problem grew increasingly serious, he developed the habit of resting on the lawn of a neighborhood house. The owners of the house eventually positioned a lawn chair for him to use. An operation in 1969 for the problem was unsuccessful, and a second only made the knee worse, leaving him unable to bend his leg.^[48]

Religious Instruction

Although Hurvitz and Smith had approached studying with Dezhung Rinpoche in a traditional religious fashion, religious instruction itself was generally not encouraged. According to Jackson, Turrell Wylie expressed the view that scholars should not personally engage in the religious tradition they studied for fear of losing their critical objectivity. This paired with Dezhung Rinpoche's own reticence to give even simple religious instruction or rituals such as refuge, telling would-be acolytes that they would do better by requesting such things from Dagchen Rinpoche, his senior lama in status within the Sakya tradition.

At the end of 1971 Tartse Zhabdrung Kunga Gyurme (thar rtse zhabs drung kun dga' 'gyur med, b. 1935), whom Dezhung Rinpoche had known at Ngor, came to see him with his students from the Bay Area, Janet Gyatso and Tom Trabin. The Americans requested refuge vows, which Dezhung Rinpoche initially declined to offer. As narrated by Jackson, on finally agreeing to give the vows, there was a knock on his front door, which turned out to be a woman selling fruit. Delighted by the obvious symbolism, Dezhung Rinpoche invited her in and bought a fair amount of her product. The following day he imparted the popular Avalokiteśvara sādhana of Tangtong Gyelpo (thang stong rgyal po, c. 1360–c.1460), All-Pervading Benefit for Beings ('gro don mkha' khyab ma), which would become one of his frequent transmission to Western students.^[49] The Avalokiteśvara mantra was his constant practice, cultivating constantly the mind of compassion. His niece Dagmo Kusho said of him, "I was born in a family of lamas. I married a lama. But I've never seen another one like Dezhung Rinpoche. He was so compassionate.^[50]

The following year, in the spring of 1972, Kalu Rinpoche (kar lu rin po che, 1905–1989) arrived in Seattle, a leg on the first of several extensive world tours, sent by the Sixteenth Karmapa to teach Buddhism in the West. Vancouver inspired Kalu Rinpoche to establish the first of many dharma centers he would create in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Dezhung Rinpoche sent his brother, Kunga Nyima, to meet Kalu, and went himself in September at the request of Kalu Rinpoche's Canadian students, teaching them for ten days and giving them refuge vows and the transmission for preliminary practices. Lobsang Lhalungpa (blo bzang lha lung pa, 1926–2008), the Tibetan scholar and translator of The Life of Milarepa, was then a lecturer at the University of British Columbia, and who had previously spent time with Dezhung Rinpoche in Seattle, translated for Dezhung Rinpoche.^[51]

Dezhung Rinpoche increased his religious instruction following his retirement from the University of Washington in the spring of 1972. He began to travel widely across North America, returned several times to Kalu Rinpoche's center in Vancouver, and to the newly established dharma centers of Lama Kunga Tartse and Tarthang Tulku's (dar thang sprul sku, b. 1935), both in the San Francisco area. Dezhung Rinpoche had studied alongside Tarthang Tulku at Dzongsar. He traveled to New York City in 1973 at the invitation of Joseph Campbell (1904–1987), gave an Avalokiteśvara initiation at Kalu's center and visited Geshe Tubten Wangyal (dge bshes thub bstan dbang rgyal, 1901–1983) at his Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center in Washington, New Jersey, which he had established in 1958 for the Kalmyk population there. He returned to Vancouver again in 1974 during Kalu Rinpoche's second tour, while the Karmapa was present. While there he participated in Kalu Rinpoche's transmission of the Shangpa Kagyu teachings, given at the home of Kalu's student Sara Harding. Kalu Rinpoche returned the visit, traveling to Seattle and staying in Dezhung Rinpoche's basement.^[52]

By the mid-1970s a handful of students were meeting regularly in Dezhung Rinpoche's basement to receive instruction. As Jackson remembers these sessions, although Dezhung Rinpoche would claim no special insight and that he could only repeat the teachings of his own lamas, he had a boundless capacity to recall and recite, not just oral instructions but entire texts he had read and memorized, which, crucially, he had the the additional ability to explain.^[53] By the summer of 1974 Dagchen Rinpoche, who had been attending the meetings, announced that he would establish a formal center in Seattle. Dezhung Rinpoche gave it the name Sakya Tekchen Choling (sa skya theg chen chos gling), which was later changed to Sakya Monastery. On the day of the first meeting to incorporate the center, Dezhung Rinpoche received a rubbing of the footprints of the Buddha, sent from Bodh Gaya from Moke Mokotoff, which Dezhung Rinpoche considered an auspicious omen. The center remained in Dezhung Rinpoche's basement until it was moved into a rented house in 1975. Dagchen Rinpoche's cousin, the Sakya Trizin, came in 1974, requesting teachings from Dezhung Rinpoche and giving a brief initiation of White Tārā to the community.^[54]

From early 1976 to the summer of 1978 Dezhung Rinpoche stayed in New York, at the Long Island estate of Mr C. T. Shen (1913–2007)—a wealthy patron of Buddhist teachers and a founder of the Buddhist Association of the United States—with Lobsang Lhalungpa. The two men worked on a translation of Dakpo Tashi Namgyel's (dwags po paN chen bkra shis rnam rgyal, 1512–1587) Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā (phyag chen zla' ba'i 'od zer) which they published with Shambhala in 1986 as Mahamudra: The Quintessence of Mind and Meditation. Despite his considerable contribution, Dezhung Rinpoche is only credited in the book as an advisor to Lhalungpa. While in New York he was able to meet with Dudjom Rinpoche (bdud 'joms rin po che, 1904–1988), the Sixteenth Karmapa, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and Trungpa Rinpoche, all of whom passed through the city.^[55] He also wrote short biographies of Kalu Rinpoche and of the Fortieth Sakya Trizin.

While Dezhung Rinpoche was in New York his student and translator Jared Rhoton (1941-1993) requested permission to open a dharma center, which he named Jetsun Sakya Center. The community organized around an Avalokiteśvara empowerment that Dezhung Rinpoche gave in February, 1977, at an art gallery in the East Village, and later moved uptown to Riverside Drive near Columbia University. Teachings he gave there in 1977 on the Lamdre introductory manual Beautiful Ornament of the Three Visions (snang gsum mdzes rgyan) by Ngor Khenchen Konchok Lhundrub (ngor mkhan chen dkon mchog lhun grub, 1497–1557), were edited and published in 1995 as The Three Levels of Spiritual Attainment. While in New York Dezhung Rinpoche completed an accumulation of one hundred million recitations of the Avalokiteśvara mantra, which Gaton Rinpoche had tasked him with many years earlier. Dezhung Rinpoce told the Sakya Trizin, "Avalokiteśvara is where I direct my prayers in this lifetime."^[56]

The center moved again a few years later, to a space above an auto body shop on West 129th Street.  Dezhung Rinpoche returned to New York in 1979 and resided there, reading with scholars Janet Gyatso and Matthew Kapstein. During this period the Dalai Lama was giving teachings at the massive cathedral of St. John the Divine. Dezhung Rinpoche was asked to offer a maṇḍala on behalf of the New York Tibetan community during the teachings, and he gave an unanticipated forty-minute explanation of the practice, which the surprised translator declined to put into English for the audience. The Dalai Lama also called Dezhung Rinpoche to his hotel room, where he spent a full day asking questions on Lamdre. As Jackson tells the story, the Dalai Lama grew exasperated with Dezhung Rinpoche's repeated claims that he could not presume to explain such matters to the living embodiment of Avalokiteśvara, to the point that the Dalai Lama had to grab him by the shoulders and playful shake him, saying "What is this? Are you like an old dog who has to be kicked before he barks?" After Rinpoche left, the Dalai Lama remarked, "I knew he was learned and wise, but I had no idea how much so!"^[57]

Later that month Dezhung Rinpoche hosted the Dalai Lama at Jetsun Sakya, a trip to Harlem that threw the secret service detail into a panic.^[58] The Karmapa also came through New York that year, with the Third Jamgon Kongtrul, Lodro Chokyi Sengge ('jam mgon kon sprul 03 blo gros chos skyi seng ge, 1953–1991), and he accompanied them to the new Karma Kagyu center in Woodstock, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, or KTD. In June 1980 he visited Cambridge, Massachusetts, and established a dharma center there, Shakya Shei-Drub Ling.^[59] Back in Seattle in September, 1980, Dezhung Rinpoche met with T. G. Dhongthog Rinpoche and returned to Kalu Rinpoche's center in Vancouver to teach.^[60]

Tharlam Monastery, Nepal

When Dezhung Rinpoche agreed to assist Lobsang Lhalungpa in 1976 his express purpose was to raise money to reestablish Tharlam Monastery in exile. In 1978 Kalu Rinpoche came through New York on his third world tour, and Dezhung requested the empowerment and transmission of Khyentse Wangpo's treasure cycle the Secret Gathering of Dākiṇī (mkha' 'gro gsang 'dus). During the ceremony Kalu Rinpoche encouraged Dezhung Rinpoche to build the monastery, promising his help should he do so.^[61]

With this intention Dezhung Rinpoche flew to Delhi in the spring of 1981. It was first time to return to India in twenty years. He brought all the money he had raised and everything saved by his two siblings. Gene Smith arranged for his travel up to the Sakya Trizin's residence and monastery in Puruwala where he was met by a large formal procession. The Sakya Tridzin was giving the Lamdre transmission, and Chogye Trichen, Luding Khenpo Jamyang Tenpai Nyima (klu lding mkhan chen 'jam dbyangs bstan pa'i nyi ma b. 1931), and other important Sakya lamas were there. Dezhung Rinpoche gave the 1500 assembled disciples an Avalokiteśvara initiation and distributed small cash offerings, tea, and food. Jackson describes how his American students who were there for the ceremonies were shocked to see their low-key and humble monk adopt the persona of a highly respected lama, accepting the tremendous deference and veneration that he was due.^[62]

From India he flew to Nepal on the encouragement of a fellow Sakya monk from Gawa named Tharig Rinpoche (khra rigs rin po che, 1923-1998) intending to stop over on his way to Darjeeling, where Kalu Rinpoche had suggested he establish Tharlam. In Boudhanath, at Tharig Rinpoche's monastery, Tsechen Shedrub Ling (brtse chen bshad sgrub gling), he gave the transmission of the fifteen volumes of the Sakya Kambum, which he had to halt for several weeks due to an attack of dysentery. After several more large transmissions in Nepal, including at Parping, he asked Dudjom Rinpoche for a divination on where to establish the monastery, unable to decide between Nepal, Darjeeling, or in the Tibetan settlements in southern India. Dudjom Rinpoche told him Nepal would be best, as did Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and Dezhung Rinpoche's own dreams pointed to Nepal as well. At the end of 1981, with $35,000 he had brought from America, he purchased a small parcel of land in Boudhanath. The land he selected had no right of way, and people joked that Dezhung Rinpoche intended to access it by helicopter, but he was able to slowly purchase adjoining parcels, aided with funds collected during a trip to Malaysia and Singapore in 1982.^[63] The new monastery was consecrated on Dec 27, 1993.

On his return to Seattle in August, 1982, Dezhung Rinpoche's teaching activities took on the additional goal of fundraising for the new Tharlam. He traveled to Los Angeles, and San Francisco, where he met with Kalu Rinpoche (then on his fourth world tour), Minneapolis, New York, and Boston, all in the span of less than a year. In March, 1983, he flew to Taiwan, teaching to over a thousand people at Ling Chi Monastery in Taipei, and spending two months on the island.^[64]

In the fall of that year, he received a visit from Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje (smyo shul mkhan po 'jam dbyangs rdo rje, 19301–1999) and then went on to Kalu Rinpoche's retreat center on Salt Spring Island, in the Salish Sea across from Vancouver, living for two weeks in private retreat for two months with his brother Kunzang Nyima in a house outside the retreat center owned by Drubgyu Anthony Chapman. He also taught Mahāmudrā to the inhabitants of the retreat center.

Dezhung Rinpoche returned to Seattle in time for the February 1984 ground-breaking ceremony of the new Sakya Monastery, an old church building that the community would renovate. That fall he went east again, receiving two cataract operations and teaching at Jetsun Sakya, Kalu Rinpoche's center in Wappinger Falls, and at the center in Cambridge. On his return to the West Coast he stopped over at Kalu Rinpoche's center in Sante Fe, Kagyu Shenphen Kunkhyab and where he taught the Embodiment of the Three Jewels (dkon mchog spyi 'dus) of Jatson Nyingpo ('ja' tshon snying po, 1585–1656), one of his most frequent offerings, and again at Kalu Rinpoche's center in Los Angeles.^[65]

Return to Nepal and Death

Dezhung Rinpoche returned to Nepal in February, 1986. Dagchen Rinpoche had attempted to dissuade him from going, wanting him instead to remain in Seattle and help develop Sakya Monastery. According to Jackson, Dezhung Rinpoche was not planning on returning to America, even expressing to attendants that he would prefer to die in Nepal. Despite his advanced age—he had recently turned eighty—he continued to preside over large religious ceremonies, such as an ecumenical prayer gathering at Tharig's monastery and participating in the consecration of the Maitreya Temple with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, as well as supervising the construction of a massive gilt-copper image of the Buddha, a challenging task given the relative size the Tharlam temple building and the need to find craftsmen who could build the necessary internal wooden support structure. It was finished only after Dezhung Rinpoche's death.^[66]

Dezhung Rinpoche fell ill in June, 1986. After a short stay at the Bir hospital he recovered enough to return to teaching, including giving Sanskrit grammar instruction to a small group of Bhutanese monks. His sister, Ane Chime, came to Nepal to care for him in August, and his niece Dagmo Kusho came in December, on her way to Tibet with her three sons. He fell ill again in April, 1987, at which point Kunzang Nyima gave him pills that Dezhung Rinpoche carried with him in his amulet box, having long instructed his brother to place them in his mouth when the signs of death were clear. He slipped into a coma, and then recovered enough to discuss another fundraising trip to Taiwan. The revival was brief, however, and on May 16, 1987, Dezhung Rinpoche passed away. His body remained in tukdam (thugs dam) for three days. With the assistance of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Tharig Rinpoche, he was cremated on the roof of Tharlam on May 19. Two stūpas have been made from the ashes, one at Nepal Tharlam, the other at Sakya Monastery in Seattle.^[67]

Sakya Trizin recognized Dezhung Rinpoche's reincarnation in 1993, in the person of a child named Sonam Wangdu (bsod nam dbang 'dus, b. 1991). He was born in Seattle to a Tibetan man named Tenzin Lama (bstan 'dzin bla ma) and an American woman named Carolyn Hawley. Following the recognition, his mother decided to send the boy to Tharlam for training, which provoked considerable media attention. He was enthroned on March 8, 1994.^[68]   

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