This is the first time I’ve heard about Tulku left sitting on the cushion, interesting to know.
I’d like to refer to a more specific usage of tulku that is the recognised yangsi, or the child who is recognized as the reincarnation of a particular recently deceased lama. Traditionally in Tibet, the newly recognized tulku would be installed in the same position as the previous incarnation such as the abbot of a particular monastery. They would be recognised as the “rebirth” of the person who had previously held the monastic seat in question and would take up again the work, teachings and administration which had been interrupted by the death of the previous incarnation.
In the last few centuries, most seats of abbots were held by tulkus, and the prestige of the monasteries depended mainly on the stature of the tulku who resided and taught there. So in relation to the “highness”, I have heard before that it depends on the recognition the tulkus received from the institutions, e.g. there is a big difference if was the abbot of a provincial monastery compared to if one was the abbot of the 3 great monasteries of Sera, Drepung and Ganden, but I do not know much about this.
I’ve read before in the book “Buddhism, reincarnation, and Dalai Lamas of Tibet” by M.G. Chitkara that very high Tulkus are primarily emanation of body, speech, mind, quality of action.
A body Tulku is one whom the physical presence is very strong, whereas a speech Tulku would be one with the special gift of teaching the Dharma. A mind Tulku has the clarity and depth of awareness and the a quality Tulku would be one who outward manifestation is particularly brilliant and regal. There’s also the action Tulku who is very effective at outward activities of administration and politics.
Alexander Berzin gave a clearer explanation in Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy Relationship, (Snow Lion, 2000),
“Tulkus are the reincarnations of highly advanced tantric practitioners, such practitioners need not necessarily have been great spiritual teachers, nor monks or nuns. They may have been lay meditators, for instance, who lived alone as hermits in caves.
To start a line of tulkus requires usually only four conditions: (1) foreknowledge that recognition of one's future incarnations will be beneficial to others, (2) well-developed bodhichitta as the motivation, (3) sincere prayers to take rebirth in a form, beneficial to others, which will be recognized as a tulku, and (4) a certain degree of mastery of the first stage of the highest class of tantra.”
It was also mentioned in the book that just as Buddhas manifest in a spectrum of emanation, Tulkus too generate as what is called “a network of pathway-level emanations”. The Tulku may have achieved a certain level of spiritual attainment from part of the generation stage to Buddhahood. Thus, they do not necessarily are enlightened or have understood voidness/ realised emptiness. It should be noted that only a tiny fraction of the founders of Tulku lines comprises enlightened beings.
So, from that understanding, majority of Tulkus will still have negative karmic potentials or imprints in the midst or sea of positive merit/instincts. Thus, their upbringing, environmental influence and also education will cause different potentials to come forth and ripen, just like any of us.
Having said that, by the force of their meditation and prayers of the founder of their lines at the time of death, their next incarnations may still be recognised as Rinpoches by masters who deemed that the recognition would bring benefit.
Perhaps someone who's familiar with the traditional Tibetan monastery hierarchical order of Tulku can share more about the actual "levels" of recognition?
