Tragic or Blessed? (Trijang Rinpoche & Previous Life Painting in Chatreng

[shugdenpromoter]

This is a painting below of Trijang Rinpoche & his previous life painted by a Chinese artist in Sampheling Monastery (Trijang Rinpoche Monastery) in Chatreng.

According to the monks, when they relocated the main temple to another location in Chatreng in the early 90s, a group of painters were commissioned to paint a few murals on the walls of the monastery. This particular painter whom the monastery had not seen his work before chose to paint this particular piece. It took him 2 full months to complete it and the monastery was very pleased with his work.

The actual day he completed this painting of Trijang Rinpoche, he travelled back on his motorbike back to see his parents in a village nearby. He had not seen his family for the 2 months he stayed in the monastery. He was killed in an accident on the way home.

The monks mentioned that he was indeed very blessed as they truly believe that his karma in this life ended with the painting of such a holy art piece and he will be reborn in a very good place / condition. In normal lay peoples minds, his death would have been seen as a TRAGIC death but if you understand Buddhism, it is viewed as a good blessing.

[Klein]

I believe that the painter is very blessed to have past away after he completed the painting. This was his retreat. Yes, any sort of dharma work is a form of a retreat. Trijang Rinpoche is a Buddha. When one makes images of Buddha's, there are tremendous benefits according to the sutras.

People who make Buddha images, will possess bright eyes and elegant looks in their after lives; their physical bodies, arms and feet are well-proportioned. Even if they are born as gods, with radiant eyes and countenance, their immaculateness outshines other gods of any realms.

Any places in which people who make Buddha images are born will be void of any evilness. Their physiques are flawless. When they pass away, they will be born in the gods realm of the seventh Brahma heaven. Their appearance is exceptionally graceful that all gods will honor them.

People who make Buddha images will be born to dignified families.

[hope rainbow]

Oh this is quite a challenging fact to absorb, for my instinctual, programmed reaction to this event is one of sadness and compassion. I can't help but to feel sorry for that young man who was about to re-unite with his family after being away from them for two full months.

So the wisdom, logic and intellect tells me that it is otherwise, my instinctive samsaric mind still flips between a samsaric reaction of sadness and compassion to an intellectual understanding of the fortunate event lying in this sudden and accidental death.
This shows me how my mind is not one of a great practitioner...yet...

I do rejoice at the good deed of this painting though.

[Tammy]

What we do and how we spend our precious human life is far more important then how and when do we die. The painter spent the last two months of his precious painting the image of Trijiang Rinpoche, his work had made it possible to countless people to be blessed by just laying their eyes on the thangka. This is what matters most. He had use his life in a meaningful way.

Furthermore, having spent two solid months in painting the Buddha image, I am sure his mind would be filled with images of Trijiang Rinpoche When he drew his last breath. This would bring him to a good rebirth.

I rejoice for the lucky painter!

[Galen]

For some, they may view the death of the painter to be a tragedy because he died so young and he could have done more in his life. However, for most in Dharma, they see his death as something auspicious. This is because the last thing he did before he dies was to complete the mural of Trijang Rinpoche in Chatreng Monastery. He had devoted his 2 months into painting the mural and have generated a lot of merits for himself.

His death is a good thing because it is of the the merit he has accumulated would definitely guarantees him a good rebirth and from there on be able to practice dharma progressively because of the imprint created. The reason why he died young may be because his current life may not be conducive for him to practice in dharma.

Karma works in many different ways.

[Ensapa]

Personally, I would like to die the way the painter did because it would mean that the last thing i did before I died was to create something so holy with my bare hands. Since that would be the last thing in my mind before I die, It would guarantee that I will be born in a good place where I can practice Dharma and practicing Dharma is all I want to do from the start. The amount of merits gathered by painting such a holy image can only be humongous. By the way, this type of thangka is called a trungrab, and it features the lama and all his previous incarnations around him. It is said that to worship to such a thangkha creates the merits to cause the teacher's life to be long and the teacher's works to grow and flourish far and wide. Every person who gains attainments or get blessed by the image will add up to the merits of the painter. Besides, dying right after doing something meritorious is so much better than dying while in a state of mental confusion and pain and selfishness, which will definitely lead to the 3 lower realms after passing away. To me, dying early after doing meritorious deeds is much better than dying later, after accumulating many negative karma.

This person is so lucky actually to have passed away, because if he did not and if he did anything negative, it would be a complete waste of that persons' meritorious actions as the negative action would have overwhelmed it and prevented the person from going to a better rebirth. Pick which is better: gain merits for the day and then die immediately, or gain merits for that day, and then live on but in the process, do a lot of negative actions that incur a lot of negative karma, to the point where it is for sure that the next destination is nothing short of the 3 lower realms. I pick the former in more ways than one if given the chance. Why? I do not want to be a burden to others, nor do I want to continuously create suffering and bad karma for myself. However, many people will not see it as this way as they think that suffering and death is always bad no matter what are the circumstances. But this is not true from a deeper point of view due to the reasons that I have just given above. What society thinks is right is not always right.

[lotus1]

Thank you for showing me a different point of view.
If it is the previous me before I know Vajrayana Buddhism, I would think that it is a tragic. However, when I get to know Vajrayana Buddhism better, my understanding on this has changed. I get to know that actually, the last thought before death is very important for someone’s rebirth. It maybe because of his tremendous Dharma work, his bad karma manifest faster for him to purify faster? Or in this life he does not have a conducive environment for him to learn and practice Dharma? Anyway, the most important is that he will definitely has a good rebirth because of the merits generated from drawing.
BTW, I heard that when we do protector practice well, especially Lord Shugden, he will also help us to have a good rebirth, and to be closed to Dharma at all time. Is it true?

[diamond girl]

For some, they may view the death of the painter to be a tragedy because he died so young and he could have done more in his life. However, for most in Dharma, they see his death as something auspicious. This is because the last thing he did before he dies was to complete the mural of Trijang Rinpoche in Chatreng Monastery. He had devoted his 2 months into painting the mural and have generated a lot of merits for himself.

His death is a good thing because it is of the the merit he has accumulated would definitely guarantees him a good rebirth and from there on be able to practice dharma progressively because of the imprint created. The reason why he died young may be because his current life may not be conducive for him to practice in dharma.

Karma works in many different ways.

As much as I theoretically understand this concept of a "good" death, I cannot help but think that isn't it speculative of us to assume he is in a better place. Since he was not a Lama and no one knows where to find his reincarnation, how will we ever know where his better rebirth is? Do you sometimes think that perhaps we tell ourselves he will have a good rebirth to soften the pain of losing someone prematurely?

How will we ever know that his karma was destiny to die prematurely? Yes, painting a high lama is meritorious and this will give him the "ticket" to a better rebirth BUT how will we know?

[diablo1974]

It would be best if the artist is not dead...and be able to continue to paint and draw for many great enlightened beings. The reason for him being in this tragedy was left a mystery i guess.  No one would know if its an accident or murder. By doing a extremely meritorious act, it might bring forward a ripening karma seed and resulted in an event. As in this case, it might be a good thing for the painter to purify his karma and exhaust his bad karma.   

[Ensapa]

It would be best if the artist is not dead...and be able to continue to paint and draw for many great enlightened beings. The reason for him being in this tragedy was left a mystery i guess.  No one would know if its an accident or murder. By doing a extremely meritorious act, it might bring forward a ripening karma seed and resulted in an event. As in this case, it might be a good thing for the painter to purify his karma and exhaust his bad karma.   

My question is, if he did not die that day but went on to create misdeeds, gambled and drink and basically become a bad example to Buddhists, what would people around him think about Buddhism? is it not creating negative karma by representing Buddhism in an incorrect manner? perhaps, to save him from future misdeeds that can erase or overpower the merits he has accrued from his meritorious act, the merits that he gained from painting that thangka propelled him to pass away before he does more unfortunate acts that would only lead him downhill later in his life. Personally for me, I would rather die right here and now if i were to degenerate into become a person whose mind is not much different from an animal: lacking wisdom, lacking knowledge, lazy, and always thinking of only my needs if i were to continue to live and that would happen later in life. Why? I simply do not want to waste the kindness of my Lama, my Dharma brothers and sisters, and also my family and relatives that are supporting me, knowing that I will end up to be nothing short of yet another human who threw away his life and not doing anything with it.

Yes, it is sad that such a talented painter passed away, but perhaps in more ways that one he is lucky to have passed away early as we do not know for sure if he will degenerate if he continued living, or he would suffer an even more horrific death if he lived just a little longer. As Dromtopa explained to Potowa:

It is Dharma if it becomes an antidote to delusions; it is not Dharma if it does not. If all worldly people disagree with it, it is Dharma; if they agree with it, it is not Dharma

If from a worldly point of view, everyone thinks that the death of this young painter is a tragedy, but high lamas on the other hand rejoice, it shows very clearly that the death of this young man is a positive one and perhaps would benefit us a lot by seeing it as that way. Its not that Buddhism is against mainstream thinking, but in order to be liberated we need to not follow the flow of society as they tend to base their thinking on samsara and their sensual pleasures. If we want liberation, why do we follow the thinking of those who are still in samsara?

[Dorje Pakmo]

This is a very beautiful painting by the young artist who passed away. It is a pity that he could not continue his good work and produce more excellent piece as this one, in this lifetime. It is indeed very tragic for the parents to have lost a child. There must be so much pain. But their child had used the final two months of his life concentrating and painting this wonderful holy painting of Trijang Rinpoche. I would like to think that his passing is a blessing for him and his family as it has written off his and his family’s negative Karma, and it’s time for him to go and take a new form to benefit sentient beings.

It must be very sad for the family of the painter; it is only natural to grieve the loss of family members and those we knew as we adjust our lives to live without their presence. But that is the nature of things. Nothing is permanent. Death catches up with everybody one way or another and it is inevitable. It is what we do in every moment of our life that is important. Are we living a full life doing all we can to the best? Are we caring, benefiting and helping the people around us?  What is important is our motivation for others. The painter may or may not know it, but his painting of Trijang Rinpoche is a work that will bless so many more that comes to see it. And it creates so much positive merit for him and his family.

"Some of us may have heard the story of the women who came to the Buddha in great anguish, carrying her dead child pleading him to bring the child back to life. The Buddha said Bring to me a mustard seed from any household where no-one had ever died and I will fulfill your wish.  The woman's attempt to search for such seed from houses were in vain and of course she could not find any household in which no-one had ever died and suddenly she realized the universality of death."

[Aurore]

I think having a longer or shorter lifespan depends solely on what is the purpose of having a longer lifespan. Having a longer lifespan definitely has its advantages. The advantage is so that the person could use his life to practice more dharma. Other than that, there is really no use in prolonging one's life. If a person does not practice dharma but only live their life to create more negative karma, there is no use in having a longer lifespan. In fact, can create more disadvantages than advantages.

Just because somebody dies a violent death doesn't mean that they are a bad person. It means that they have created some kind of karma in the past which happens to ripen in this current life. Negative karma can ripen even at very high levels of spiritual practice or if the person is very kind and a good practitioner. The person can still die violently because some kind of karma created from millions of eons ago which has not been purified. At that point of death, how the person's mind reacts depends very much on what they happen to be thinking about at that time, which in this case the artist who died could be thinking about his accomplishment of the painting on that SAME DAY itself. The mind must still be fresh imprinted with Trijang Rinpoche's painting. The object itself is a blessing! At the same time, this artist would have purified that karma which caused him to die in the accident.

[shugdenpromoter]

As much as I theoretically understand this concept of a "good" death, I cannot help but think that isn't it speculative of us to assume he is in a better place. Since he was not a Lama and no one knows where to find his reincarnation, how will we ever know where his better rebirth is? Do you sometimes think that perhaps we tell ourselves he will have a good rebirth to soften the pain of losing someone prematurely?

How will we ever know that his karma was destiny to die prematurely? Yes, painting a high lama is meritorious and this will give him the "ticket" to a better rebirth BUT how will we know?

Dear Diamond Girl,

To answer your questions.

Whether you know the person did have a good rebirth, I believe only a lama will be able to let us know.

But I was taught by a high lama before on how to analyse whether a person will have a good rebirth through a layman view is
1. To check what this person has done when he was alive. Whether, this person was indulging in worldly activities or whether this person has done a lot of charitable/spiritual act.
2. What was the last activity this person did? Did  he die when he was drinking, womanising, busy making money or etc. Or did this person die when he was doing something good like helping the poor, saving lives, or doing something spiritual.

What your thoughts are the moment of death is important to trigger a good rebirth. Therefore, it is important to ask that questions.

The benefit of the painting which the painter drew of Trijang Rinpoche and his previous incarnation is an act which I believe is highly meritorious. Why?

1. Trijang Rinpoche is not an ordinary monk. Whatever form of offerings you made whether is via your skills or monetary will have benefits even though the lama is no longer around.
2. What the painter has painted will plant imprints in the visitors of thousand when they lay eyes on the painting.

I hope this help but one need to believe in karma or the above will not make any sense.

[kris]

I have heard about this story before! But I have not seen the photo of the painting. Thank you shugdenpromoter for posting the photo!

When I first heard about it, I thought the painter is bad luck. May be it is because of where I brought up, where Dharma is not strong, and I only think of it from a secular point.

After learning from Lama and Lamrim, I now understand that we will eventually die one day, and how long we can live is depends on our karma. Given that, it will be better to do something good and die, rather than do nothing good (or even worse, do bad) and die.

I can really see that how a Dharma mind is so different from my small secular mind, and I am still learning...

[Ensapa]

Some people are born in this life to fulfill a certain mission or to perform certain deeds, and as the purpose of our life has been met, we pass away. That sounds like what happened to this painter here. I'd see it as something meritorious because it is better to have a short life creating huge amounts of merits rather than a long life that is dedicated solely to nothing but entertainment and the self.

I'd rather die while doing Dharma work anyway than outside of Dharma.