Trijang Rinpoche's unqualified Manager

[shugdenpromoter]

There are no hard and fast rules but why don't you question the wisdom/compassion of His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche directly next time.

You must know more than Trijang Rinpoche as to why he placed Rigzin with him?
 
Mana

This I totally agree with Mana.

Do not look at the students or people around the lama. Always look at the lama, his previous life, what he has achieved and benefitted?

I have a friend of mine who told me that his lama keeps the most difficult people around him. These are the people who steal, lies, arrogant, schismatic and etc. And worst, they do not have much ability or capability to contribute to the lama's work. In fact, they pull the rest of the students down by the "negative" energy. A few of his students could not understand until one fine day when the lama actually told his students that there are a few of these students he cannot let them leave as some will die a horrible death or they will harm more people outside. And it is safer to keep them at the mandala of the lama.

After all, if the students cannot that the vows of the lama, they SHOULD support the lama at his "work". LOGICALLY speaking.

[Manjushri]

I dont think we should question why the immeasurable Trijang Rinpoche kept Rigzin next to him. A lama, out of the greatest compassion, can do beyond words just for one student, therefore questioning why shouldn't be the case. I am sure that if the lama wants the greatest assistants, he can, but he would also like to bring out the best in others. I have heard that the lama would keep the most difficult students closest to him. Maybe this was the case with Rigzen, for him to gain so much more merit and blessings so that in his next life, he can come back and be a more powerful assistant to Trijang Rinpoche or in spreading the Dharma. Who knows. What matters is that Trijang Rinpoche created a legacy through his works.

[dsiluvu]

If we believe that Trijang Rinpoche is Heruka/Vajrayogini... hence why the need to even question who He chooses to be in His mandala. He is a living walking Buddha and loves all sentient beings equally. Hence. instead ask ourselves why are you not in His mandala, perhaps? And receiving all the compassionate purification like Rigzin? We should never make judgements of why a Lama does this or that cos after that we will start questioning more this and that and this can increase more doubts.

How many of us would have such a great opportune condition to be even born as a bird near Trijang Rinpoche would be a great blessing!

If Tijang Rinpoche is a living walking Buddha, then the most difficult to tame is exactly what the Buddha would probably wish for perhaps.

[dondrup]

Early in his career, the previous Trijang Rinpoche has a manager Rigzin who was incapable and put Trijang Rinpoche in a lot of financial difficulties.  However, Trijang Rinpoche kept this manager until his death of stroke, after which Trijang Rinpoche’s fortune slowly picked up.  I understand that Trijang Rinpoche was a very compassionate person, but why kept Rigzin in this capacity to create many challenges for him and slow his work for sometime.  Rigzin could easily be made to serve him in other ways.

One logical reason is that of HH Trijang Rinpoche's great compassion to absorb Rigzin's heavy negative karma. This is what  high lamas would do to their students to help them overcome their obstacles and sufferings.  It is the practice of Tonglen - taking on suffering of others and giving of happiness to others.

Why not made Rigzin to serve in other ways?  For HH Trijang Rinpoche, that was the most beneficial way to help Rigzin!

[Ensapa]

This I totally agree with Mana.

Do not look at the students or people around the lama. Always look at the lama, his previous life, what he has achieved and benefitted?
To me, it is more of this life: look at his achievements of this life and really think and ponder if anyone else can achieve something of that magnitude. If the teacher can have such a profound effect on people and also can benefit so many more (except for a few bad apples) does that not tell you a lot about the teacher's capabilities? One of the best ways to gauge a teacher is to see what kind of people are their students: if his students happen to be difficult people in the past and they change a lot now, it shows you how powerful their attainments are.

I have a friend of mine who told me that his lama keeps the most difficult people around him. These are the people who steal, lies, arrogant, schismatic and etc. And worst, they do not have much ability or capability to contribute to the lama's work. In fact, they pull the rest of the students down by the "negative" energy. A few of his students could not understand until one fine day when the lama actually told his students that there are a few of these students he cannot let them leave as some will die a horrible death or they will harm more people outside. And it is safer to keep them at the mandala of the lama.
I have heard of this as well. The Lama often keeps students that are extremely difficult so that they do not harm others outside of the Lama's care as the damage that they can do is potentially a lot bigger. The Lama is aware and keeps them near and puts them in a position where they cannot harm themselves or others. After all, not every lama has the capability to handle difficult people around them.

After all, if the students cannot that the vows of the lama, they SHOULD support the lama at his "work". LOGICALLY speaking.
Most students i see just criticise the difficult students but not help the Lama to make them realize their faults or try to understand them which, increases the burden of the Lama. They should really do something to help these difficult students change.

I do like what you posted here as it gives a nice dimension to the current topic of Lamas and scary people around them. To me, a failed Lama is one that gives the basic teachings and teachings that are nice to listen to and never challenges the disciples, and has lots of disciples around them but nobody improves. Everyone still stays the same year after year and some even become worse. But thats what I feel anyway. I'd rather have a challenging lama than one who just cares about appeasing the students.

[Dondrup Shugden]

Sometimes, a lama will place one of their students in a position where they clearly cannot perform or that they clearly are unable to do anything good with the position that they are being placed in. I have seen this happen a few times with my Lama also and sometimes it is hard to accept but when you think about it you will realize that if these people are not in this position, they will be in a state that is even worse off than now.

Perhaps Rigzin would have died even earlier if Trijang Rinpoche did not allow him to manage his funds. The very act that Trijang Rinpoche insisted that he do what he did even tho he was not capable of doing so shows you the compassion that Trijang has for his own students, more than his own needs. If a student will do badly in the given role but if the student will die faster if he is not in the role, the Lama will allow the student to remain.

A lot and a lot of my Lama's close students are not exactly the best kind of students that you will see around, and they often give my Lama more trouble than help. Some of these students are also famous to be difficult to handle or deal with by other students, but as time passes by and the Lama uses more skillful means, compassion and love to help tame these students, the gradually become better people.

Sometimes, stories like these show you the extent of the Lama's compassion in dealing with difficult people and helping them transform because if the Lama does not take up this responsibility, there is really no hope at all for these people as society wont accept them, their friends wont accept them, their peers wont accept them and they will have nowhere else to go and their sufferings will only send them to the lower realms...so the Lama is very compassionate to these people.

Thank you Ensapa, it is very good for me to have read this contribution from you.  I am totally guilty of questioning why certain students are chosen to do work that they are not qualified to do.  This used to frustrate me as the work although normally will get done due to the Guru's care and compassion, really slows ''things'' down.

But as you have mentioned all highly attained Lama are not about rushing through but to ensure that every mother sentient being is helped out of samsara to liberation.

As students, we must always keep this in mind and trust our Guru 100% and help each other and this will create harmony and the work will then grown to benefit others.  Harmony and care is the key to propagating the Dharma in 10 directions.

[kris]

I have heard from different students for different Lamas, and it seems there are many students or assistants around Lamas who are not qualified, and some I heard are even quite evil and take advantage of others. They really do not represent the Lama well, but yet, the Lama still keeps them around.

I was told this is due to the compassion of the Lama, and if the Lama does not keep them near to Lama, they will hurt even more people.. Is that true?

[fruven]

It is also just to show that the lama doesn't give up on that person. As I heard that even if we wish to save all sentient beings but exclude one that is not Bodhicitta. Therefore the lama is very compassionate to assist difficult disciples to transform themselves. There is no end to a lama's kindness. Ultimately it is the students who will gain happiness from their transformation.

[DharmaSpace]

Not every lifetime we may have the correct motivations or sometimes even the faculties or ability to do good work.

Perhaps Trijang Rinpoche saw the only place that monk can collect merit is in that position, plus naturally Trijang Rinpoche also saw the future potential of that monk where that monk can do in the future. Enlightened beings always invest time in their students and those are difficult to change or transform not just those who are ready for the dharma.

[grandmapele]

LOL... Zach......what a trial it must have been for Atisha and what Atisha said for posterity is priceless!

"Among the party traveling to Tibet was Atisha’s personal cook, who was known as a very difficult person to get along with. And indeed, the Tibetans found him rude, crass, and unfriendly. But even worse, the cook’s terrible behavior did not merely extend to the Tibetans but even to Atisha himself. The Tibetans just could not understand why Lama Atisha would keep such an unsavory person as his cook. Wasn’t travel hard enough?

However, Atisha never showed any sense of intolerance, anger, or embarrassment over his cook’s behavior. Then as now, traveling can sometimes bring out the worst in people, and the Tibetans were impressed that Atisha showed only affection for the cook. Finally, though, they couldn’t sand it, and they asked Atisha why he did not fire the man and send him back to India. Lama Atisha replied, “He is not just my cook; he is my teacher of patience.”

With that one simple statement, Lama Atisha demonstrated to the Tibetans and to us the entire concept of transforming one’s inner experience through mind training.” - http://karunagroup.com/2013/11/atishas-cook/