03/11/2024
Drala Jong༄gTértön Khyungchen Aro Lingma (gTer sTon khyung chen A ro gLing ma / གྟེར་སྟོན་ཁྱུང་ཆེན་ཨ་རོ་གླིང་མ་ / 1886-1923) facilitates ‘a-Shül Pema Legden (‘a shul pad ma legs lDan / འ་ཤུལ་པདྨ་ལེགས་ལྡན་ / —1951) in taking his leave of ‘Khordong Gompa.
The ‘Khordong throne holder, gTertön Kaldèn Lingpa (gTer sTon bsKal lDan gLing pa / གཏེར་སྟོན་བསྐལ་ལྡན་གླིང་པ་) was the Tsawa’i Lama of ‘a-Shül Pema Legden. Kaldèn Lingpa did not have long to live and he wished ‘a-Shül Pema Legden both to find a Sangyum and replacement Tsawa’i Lama.
He therefore sent ‘a-Shül Pema Legden to visit the mysterious yogini who was sitting on the hillside above ‘Khordong Gompa. He recognised her as a gTértön and incarnation of Yeshé Tsogyel through both direct perception and dreams of clarity.
‘Khordong is in the Sér-ta Valley of Gor-gön Thang , Golok — and Khyungchen Aro Lingma had travelled there from Kham in order to fulfil the prediction of her mother Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér in finding her sangyum.
This historical-narrative thangka was painted by Ngakma Pema Zangmo in 1991.
According to the lineage history, Khyungchen Aro Lingma arrived on the plain of Gor-gön Thang and found Sér-ta Valley. Seeing ‘Khordong gompa in the distance, she recognised it from dreams of clarity which had occurred both in her childhood and on her travels North — consequent to the parinirvana of her parents.
She sat on a rock on the opposite side of the river from ‘Khordong gompa — but within a short enough distance to be seen.
She remained there for several days.
Having noticed the yogini sitting on the hill, Kaldèn Lingpa instructed 'a-Shül to go to her — and find out what she wanted.
He said
“Come to this window. ‘a-Shül. Do you see the yogini sitting there?"
'a-Shúl replied that he saw her.
"Then go and ask her who she is, whence she haiks, and what we may do for her accommodation."
‘a-Shul did as he was instructed. He left the gompa, went down across the river and ascended the hill to where Aro Lingma was sitting. He greeted her in an honorific fashion — and asked the questions as Kaldèn Lingpa had instructed.
Aro Lingma said nothing.
She simply stared without blinking.
‘a-Shül Pema Legden asked her again -. but, again, she simply stared at him. He then asked a third and final time, with the same response — but this time she smiled at him. ‘a-Shül didn't know what to do.
He felt it would be rude to ask more than three times — and so he bade her ‘sit in comfort' and left to report what had happened to Khalden Lingpa.
When he arrived in Kaldèn Lingpa's room, the great gTértön asked what had happened. ‘a-Shül Pema Legden reported that he had asked the yogini who she was, where she had come from, and what they could do for her — but that she had not replied.
“She just stared at me and smiled. I came straight back here to tell you."
Kaldèn Lingpa observed him for a moment and said
“But that was over three hours ago?"
‘a-Shul could not account for the time and apologised. Khalding Lingpa waved away the apology. It did not take more than a moment for him to consider the matter
"Then” he said “you must go back and ask her a second time. Ask her who she is, whence she hails, and what we can do to make her stay at ‘Khordong commodious.
Go now and return with greater rapidity that before ."
‘a-Shül did as he was instructed. He left the gompa, walked down across the river and ascended the hill where Aro Lingma was sitting. He greeted her in an honorific fashion and asked her the questions as Khalding Lingpa had instructed.
She made no reply.
She simply stared at him without blinking.
He asked her again — but again she simply stared at him. He then asked her a final time, with the same response — but this time she laughed ferociously.
The sound made 'a-Shũl nervous.
He did not know what to do. He was completely perplexed and did not know how he was going to tell Khalding Lingpa that he had not been able to communicate with the yogini. He felt it would be rude to ask more than three times, and so he bade her 'sit in comfort' and left to report what had happened to Khalden Lingpa.
When he reached Khalden Lingpa's room, the gTértön asked him what had happened.
'a-Shul reported that he had asked her who she was, where she had come from, and what they could do for her — but that she had not replied.
He explained that she had simply stared at him — and then, on the third time of asking, she had laughed wrathfully.
“Then” he said “I came straight back here to tell you."
Kaldèn Lingpa observed ‘a-Shül Pema Legden him for a moment and said
“But that was three days ago."
'a-Shül could not account for the time and feared that Kaldèn Lingpa would not believe that he had no memory of the time that had passed. He apologised profusely but Kaldèn Lingpa simply laughed gently — and said that it did not matter.
He then told 'a-Shul to try one last time.
“Go to see who she is, whence she comes, and how best we may render her hospitality."
‘a-Shül did as he was instructed. He left ‘Khordong gompa, and went to see Aro Lingma — but never returned.
Khyungchen Aro Lingma recognised ‘a-Shul Pema Legden immediately as being the sang-yab predicted by Jomo Pema 'ö-Zér and took 'a-Shül as her consort.
Drala Jong.
Aro gTér Nyingma Vajrayana Retreat Centre
Pant-y-Porthman
Banc-y-Ffordd,
Llandysul
Sir Gærfyrddin / Carmarthenshire
WALES
