The Qualities of HH the 16th and 17th Karmapa

I was grateful to Ringu Rinpoche's straightforward and extremely moving account (for me) about the special qualities of HH 16th and 17th Karmapa.

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Ringu Tulku on Qualities of the 16th and 17th Karmapa (13/12/2011)

I was very much associated with the 16th Karmapa. I was recognised by Him, had received all my ordinations and teachings from Him, so I knew Him very well. His main and special quality was compassion. Anybody who went to see Him was extremely happy. He didn't have to give teachings or say anything. When people went to see Him, He just sat there, very relaxed. He laughed. He laughed a lot and everybody would be totally happy. He totally transformed everybody. This was His main kind of quality.

He had a special liking for the birds. Wherever He went, He wanted to buy birds. And He cared for the birds all the time. Everyday, He was busy with the birds. And when some of these birds died, they remained in samadhi. When they died, they sat (straight up) and didn't fall down for a long time, sometimes for few hours and sometimes whole day. So, He was probably teaching the birds. This was His strong speciality -- He didn't have to teach. There were lots of people in the West also. They said when they first saw 16th Karmapa, it was very strange -- He was wearing totally different clothes, the (sangha) people were making ceremonial music and the ceremonial hats and so on. Then, these people went in (and saw the Karmapa) and had this feeling that, "If I cannot trust this person, I cannot trust anybody." So, they took refuge, sometimes even monks and nuns' ordination vows (from the Karmapa), and later wondered "What is this all about?" Many people came into Buddhism like that, just seeing the Karmapa. They were so touched, so impressed and ended up taking everything (all the vows). So, this was His special quality -- like "liberation by seeing". He was not very learned. He never studied very much because He came from an aristocratic family. His father was a very powerful man -- He told the teachers of the Karmapa, "You should not give any trouble to my son. You should not beat Him, touch Him, do anything to Him or give Him any trouble. If He is Karmapa, He will know. If He is not Karmapa, He's my son." So, His teachers couldn't give Him many studies. The 16th Karmapa said, "I do not have much time to study. Hence, in my next life, I'll be a very good scholar."

Therefore, I think the special quality of the 17th Karmapa is He is a very good scholar. He was such a good scholar that I was totally bowed out. He asked me to come to India to translate the Kagyu Monlam prayer book into English. So, I and some Western people did the translation. I studied Tibetan all my life -- I did all sorts of degree, PHD so I am supposed to be good in Tibetan. When I was 17, there was a competition of Tibetan poetry writing. I participated and won the first prize, while my teacher won the second prize. The Sikkim government offered me a job, so I became a Tibetan expert in the Sikkim government when I was 17. Thus, I had a little bit you know, pride.

When we didn't understand some things very clearly or when some things are not so easy to understand (during the translation), I had to see and ask the 17th Karmapa. The Karmapa would say, "Oh, bring that so and so volume of Tengyur." There are 228 volumes of Tengyur. So, everybody went to search for that particular volume of Tengyur -- it was not easy to find it, nevertheless, it was found. And the Karmapa would open the Tengyur and said, "Here it is." We looked and exactly, all the things were explained there. I don't know if He read all these things before and remembered them, or is He doing it because of His supernatural power -- I don't know. But, there were many instances like that. He's so learned. I think this is His speciality -- He is very sharp and remembers so many things. I think He is the most learned lama in Karma Kagyu school now. He has many other qualities, but this seems to be His most special quality.