Trijang Rinpoche's unqualified Manager

[michaela]

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. 

[Zach]

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.

Ever hear the story of Atisha's cook ? 

[Namdrol]

highly attained beings with real bodhicitta act very differently from normal beings, and with reasonings that we cannot fathom, simply because we do not have their level of compassion, so a lot of things they do seem weird and out of worly norms to us, but that is real bodhicitta.

to us it may seem that the manager slow down trijang rinpoche's work, but to trijang rinpoche, perhaps he was not at all concerned about the growth of his work, he simply cared for rigzin so much, that he wanted to keep rigzin near him, even if it so-called slow down his work, simply because trijang rinpoche is kind enough to keep him around and if he let rigzin go, probably something worse would happen to rigzin, that's the only motivation of trijang rinpoche of keeping him around.

and today there are many attained gurus who are doing the same, where we always see very bad people around them and we wonder why, and we think that the gurus will be much better off without these people around, but that's exactly why there are being kept around, some possible reasons could be if they are around they still have the chance to serve the gurus, thus collecting some merits, if they go, they would fall even faster and deeper, so it is out of the kindness of the high lamas, and only with that level of compassion, that the so-called troublesome, problematic people are still hanging aorung them. the lamas' concern for their well-being is much more than the trouble/problem/discomfort to himself that they are causing him, this is real selfless and compassionate act, this is real bodhicitta.

[michaela]

In my original question, I never suggested to let go of Rigzin.  I was suggesting to put him in different capacity. 

During his travel to Chatreng, Trijang Rinpoche, requested to put some of the management of his household to Ganden administration.  This is an indication that he did not trust him anyway. 

What I am asking is, are there any rules or customs that prevented Trijang Rinpoche to put his manager in other capacities?

[Ensapa]

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.

[shugdenpromoter]

I am not surprised. Trijang Rinpoche previous life was Atisha.

Atisha used to have an older monk who hated him in Nalanda. This monk would criticised and discouraged others from going for Atisha teachings. On top of this, Atisha even brought him to Tibet. So for 15 years in Tibet, this older monk continue to criticised Atisha to others. And when this older monk passed away, Atisha did extensive prayers for him. Sounds similar?

Look, in today world, I have seen with my own eyes how a few very attained high lama keeps difficult students around them. I have also heard from monks in the monastery how high lamas in the monastry itself has the most difficult and bad mannered monk assistants which a few holds prominent postions. Why?

I am sure there are deeper meaning for this type of action taken by the lama. Maybe is to prevent them from going to the lower realms or maybe more. Thus it is important to trust the lama eventhough sometimes you do want to strangle certain assistants/monks.

[jessicajameson]

I agree with what Ensapa says:

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.

If it's possible to divide students this generally, I think that there are 2 types of students who are close to the lama: the ones who have a strong affinity to the lama and have the potential to do great things, and the ones who are the most difficult and horrible to have around.

I heard a lama once say that if you want to judge a lama by his students (which as his students, we should behave well regardless!), then the more horrible students he has around, the kinder and more compassionate the guru is. There are different reasons why a Guru will have different students around. Some need to be around the Guru, so that they can collect enough merit to not stay long in the 3 lowers realms. So need to be around the Guru, so that they will do less harm to others... perhaps this is such in the case of Rigzin. Like what shugdenpromoter says, Trijang Rinpoche is Atisha. Trijang Rinpoche is also Vajrayogini and Heruka. He is all-knowing, why else keep Rigzin around if it's not for the pure motivation of helping Rigzin... *shrugs*

[Ensapa]

I agree with what Ensapa says:

If it's possible to divide students this generally, I think that there are 2 types of students who are close to the lama: the ones who have a strong affinity to the lama and have the potential to do great things, and the ones who are the most difficult and horrible to have around.

I heard a lama once say that if you want to judge a lama by his students (which as his students, we should behave well regardless!), then the more horrible students he has around, the kinder and more compassionate the guru is. There are different reasons why a Guru will have different students around. Some need to be around the Guru, so that they can collect enough merit to not stay long in the 3 lowers realms. So need to be around the Guru, so that they will do less harm to others... perhaps this is such in the case of Rigzin. Like what shugdenpromoter says, Trijang Rinpoche is Atisha. Trijang Rinpoche is also Vajrayogini and Heruka. He is all-knowing, why else keep Rigzin around if it's not for the pure motivation of helping Rigzin... *shrugs*

Only a very highly skilled Lama can tame the most difficult people around. Even amongst our friends, there is always the odd one or two friend that the entire group of friends often avoid because it is just so difficult to talk to them, they misunderstand what people say, they get over emotional and they react badly to people around them. Or, they are flakey and never mean what they say. Everyone avoids them like the plague. Because these "friends" go out of control very often and hurt their friends...which is why they are avoided.

Nobody likes to be around certain kinds of people, and these people often end up being alone and lonely, which in turn intensifies their delusions, negative behavior and disturbing emotions. In short, there is no hope for these people to ever have some form of happiness or a normal life as they become more and more jaded and bitter over time to the point where they become lonely people who die alone...

And out of the blue comes a kind and compassionate lama who manifests the energy to attract such people, and these people bite the bait and they follow the Lama all the way. And when the Lama takes them in...they're like wild animals who are unpredictable and react in all sorts of ways that are hurtful to people around them including the Lama but the Lama just stays on and stays firm and still shows them love.

And the end result was that the difficult and hurtful students become more pleasant people while the Lama has to tolerate more and more students of this nature and not have a break. This does not include how these students hurt the Lama in more ways than one, usually by accident but it does not take away the pain that has been inflicted on the Lama. And the Lama is very kind to bear it.

[shugdenpromoter]

Simple solution : Trust Your Lama.

When I was in Nepal 4 years ago, I visited a high lama's ladrang. I heard one of his foreign assistant screaming and scolding a monk who has been serving this high lama diligently and he is known to do everything for this particular high lama. I

Immediately, I wanted to form a perception/judgement and etc on this assistant. However, somehow after standing there for 15 mins or so, I realised how compassionate this high lama is to keep such difficuilt person next to him. Subsequently after that, I have many more experiences with horrible assistants but the more I read and understand, these are the skillful ways each lama has for these assistants. To keep them close so that they do not go out and destroy themselves further by action and by their negative karma.

[Ensapa]

Simple solution : Trust Your Lama.

When I was in Nepal 4 years ago, I visited a high lama's ladrang. I heard one of his foreign assistant screaming and scolding a monk who has been serving this high lama diligently and he is known to do everything for this particular high lama. I

Immediately, I wanted to form a perception/judgement and etc on this assistant. However, somehow after standing there for 15 mins or so, I realised how compassionate this high lama is to keep such difficuilt person next to him. Subsequently after that, I have many more experiences with horrible assistants but the more I read and understand, these are the skillful ways each lama has for these assistants. To keep them close so that they do not go out and destroy themselves further by action and by their negative karma.

If it is about cross culture problems, it is understandable if the student does not understand the standard Tibetan protocol or that they do not know how to respect the lama, or perhaps, cultural differences make them think that it is okay for them to scream and shout at others. On the other hand, a truly sincere student will take up the effort of learning the Lama's culture and not just doing as they please and they will take care of their body, speech and mind when talking to their Lama or senior students. It has been pointed out that even during the Buddha's time, junior monks who do not listen to senior monks are subjected to disciplinary action. Therefore, we should always show respect to our senior  Dharma brothers and sisters, especially if we share the same Guru. After all, they have been around the teacher for a longer period of time, and as such definitely has learned a lot more than us so there is no reason for us to disrespect them or show them rudeness. To show them rudeness is also to show that we lack Guru devotion:

In the 50 verses:

26. (Guard) your Guru's belongings as you would your own life. Treat even your Guru's beloved (family) with the same (respect you show for him). (Have affectionate regard for) those closely around him as if they were your own dearest kin. Single-mindedly think (in this way) at all times.

Perhaps, people should actually study up on the 50 verses before being a bad example to themselves and to others, and generate lots of negative karma to go with it.

[Positive Change]

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.

Well... this has always been the bone of contention for those who view the actions of a teacher within his or her own context. We have to understand that these teachers operate from an entirely different view point.

True practitioners and bodhisattvas, who sincerely wish to practice the Dharma, want to have problems. They want people to criticize them. They want their reputation to get ruined. Why? They see problems as wonderful opportunities to practice. Atisha, a great bodhisattva in India, helped to spread Buddhism to Tibet in the 11th century. When he went to Tibet, he took his Indian cook with him. This cook was very disagreeable, speaking harshly and being rude and obnoxious to people. He even regularly insulted Atisha. The Tibetans asked, "Why did you bring this person with you? We can cook for you. You don't need him!" But Atisha said, "I do need him. I need him to practice patience."

So when someone criticizes me I think, "He is an incarnation of Atisha's cook." One time I was living in a Dharma center and had big problems with one person there, let's call him Sam. I was so happy when I left that place to go back to the monastery and see my spiritual master. My master knew of my difficulties and asked me, "Who is kinder to you: the Buddha, or Sam?" I immediately replied, "Of course the Buddha is kinder to me!" My teacher looked disappointed and proceeded to tell me that Sam was actually much kinder to me than the Buddha! Why? Because I couldn't possibly practice patience with the Buddha. I had to practice with Sam, and without practicing patience there was no way I could become a Buddha, so I actually needed Sam!

Of course, that wasn't what I wanted my teacher to say! I wanted him to say, "Oh, I understand, Sam is a horrible person. He was so mean to you, you poor thing." I wanted sympathy, but my teacher didn't give it to me. This made me wake up and realize that difficult situations are beneficial because they force me to practice and find my inner strength. All of us are going to have problems in our lives. This is the nature of cyclic existence. Remembering this can help us to transform our problems into the path to enlightenment.

[Barzin]

In vajrayana Buddhism, the fundamental practice is guru devotion.  But usually not all students around the lama have that quality.  I have heard stories or even witnessed with my own eyes how difficult some students are even they have the rare opportunity to be so near the guru and we might ask, wouldn't they receive the most dharma teachings and how come they are he very ones who do not practice.

This example showed the quality of the lama who is so compassionate to keep them next to him so at least they will gain some merits by serving the lama and for the lama's work.  Just like what everyone has said earlier, it could be worse if they are outside the lama's blessings.  However, what if they are kept very near to the lama and they still don't practice dharma, wouldn't they created more negative karma?  Does it mean that the merits out weight the negativity?

[Ensapa]

In vajrayana Buddhism, the fundamental practice is guru devotion.  But usually not all students around the lama have that quality.  I have heard stories or even witnessed with my own eyes how difficult some students are even they have the rare opportunity to be so near the guru and we might ask, wouldn't they receive the most dharma teachings and how come they are he very ones who do not practice.
In some instances, it could be due to that the student that is close to the Lama forgot his or her original motivation to be near, that is to gain more knowledge and to receive more intense training. In other cases, it could be that the student went in with the incorrect motivation that is to just hang around the Lama because it makes him or her happy. It could also be that the student took the Lama for granted after a while and start to act in ways that contradict the Lama's teachings. There are several scenarios here that could happen.

This example showed the quality of the lama who is so compassionate to keep them next to him so at least they will gain some merits by serving the lama and for the lama's work.  Just like what everyone has said earlier, it could be worse if they are outside the lama's blessings.  However, what if they are kept very near to the lama and they still don't practice dharma, wouldn't they created more negative karma?  Does it mean that the merits out weight the negativity?
At least these people will have an opportunity to collect positive karma, irregardless of whatever that might happen in the future. I have seen a lot of people whom the Lama sends away or the Lama distances away from because it has reached a point where the student can no longer benefit from being near the Lama and collect negative karma instead because they are so near the lama, yet so far from the teachings. I have also seen the case of a student who worked for the center with impure intentions which did not change after many years, but she still hung on and in the end, she had a stroke and her family members did not allow her to visit the center ever again as it was a very severe one. It was the cumulative result of her stubbornness to change.

Sometimes, it is not really up to us to judge whether or not someone has good or bad karma that is near the Guru. It could be that the person is trying really hard to improve but to no avail. The lama knows and therefore keeps that person around to give him or her more extensive training but sometimes it may not always turn out for the better, especially if that student has more negative karma than the rest. In any case, it is best not to judge as we should not be poking bad of others who cannot hold their vows or develop negative views of them as stated in the Bodhisattva vows, but we should learn from their mistakes and not repeat them.

[Mana]

In my original question, I never suggested to let go of Rigzin.  I was suggesting to put him in different capacity. 

During his travel to Chatreng, Trijang Rinpoche, requested to put some of the management of his household to Ganden administration.  This is an indication that he did not trust him anyway. 

What I am asking is, are there any rules or customs that prevented Trijang Rinpoche to put his manager in other capacities?

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

[tsangpakarpo]

Dear Michaela,

Whatever a Lama does, sometimes we simply do not have the ability or wisdom to understand. But we should follow anyways. One thing we can do is to study up the Dharma, read up on our Guru's teachings to gain knowledge. With knowledge, it will be much easier for us to comprehend the words of our Guru. By having knowledge we will also have more faith in our Guru therefore we won't question the doings of our Guru.

A good example will be Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He is famous for his CRAZY WISDOM. Many people could never understand what he is up to, but today although already entered clear light, he still has many faithful students and followers because they realized what he was doing all along is effective and no matter what he did, his motivation was for others.

To your question, I believe Trijang Rinpoche has great compassion for keeping Rigzin next to him. Maybe Rinpoche knew if he was given other responsibilities the karma will be worst for him that's why he kept him close to him. I don't know but I believe so.