TARAB TULKU RINPOCHE XI,
LHARAMPA GESHE / DR. PHIL.
DECEMBER 22, 1934 - SEPTEMBER 23, 2004.
Lharampa Geshe Tarab Tulku & Lene Handberg, 1997
Our most honourable teacher and dear, dear friend Ven. Tarab Tulku Rinpoche has left his physical existence September, Thursday 23 at 15 hour in Denmark - at the very height of his activities and presence among us.
Rinpoche had been sick with a cancer for the last 1/2 year - it broke out aggressively soon after his great tour in India where he was teaching in 21 Tibetan higher institutions, requested by His Holiness Private Office, in October last year (2003).
Rinpoche's death comes as a great surprise even to his near students as it was difficult to believe how sick Rinpoche was. Rinpoche never stopped travelling, never stopped giving teachings. Until less than two weeks before Rinpoche died he was still insisting to go to Hamburg for his teaching on Yogacara in connection with his Unity in Duality Training and Study Program. It was first after many negotiations that he agreed to go to hospital in Strasbourg, where they could not believe he could be alive in this condition, and even less could believe that Rinpoche could be conscious with the level of pain with which he was inflicted. In the end the doctors said he made a miracle in order to convince them that he was able to fly with me back home to Denmark. Rinpoche finally had a week at home with his family and friends before 'passing away'.
It is very strange indeed for me to describe Rinpoche's departure, as it is so new and painful as well as it is very difficult to believe that it has actually happened, partly because Rinpoche's presence is so strong for me as well as for his other students, most times more strong than when Rinpoche was physically alive. Death in this case simply does not fit with our normal logic about 'passing away'. However, it fits very well with Tarab Rinpoche's teachings of which his death was an absolutely true example.
Needless to say it was a very special and profound teaching to be present at Rinpoche's passing to another state. We were all fighting with our emotions and difficulties with letting Rinpoche leave the body, but as soon as Rinpoche entered the death process itself, he helped us tremendously to stabilize ourselves with the immense strength that naturally and effortlesly radiated from his heart chakra.
Lharampa Geshe Tarab Tulku - Copenhagen 1968
Rinpoche's face had already transformed during the last days before his passing. He looked more and more like himself at the age around 35 - I have a photo from this time where he looked like a samurai. The last days Rinpoche joked about that we should bring his new look in the next courseprogram with long hair tied together in the back.
But during his death process Rinpoche's face became even more deep and calm and in the end he radiated an immensely wise calmness with a presence of absolutely undisturbed peace - like a mixture of a great red Indian chief and a fully accomplished Bodhisattva - if I should try to describe the indescribable.
Even though Rinpoche hardly had strength to lift a finger in the end, and with a blood sugar at a level where normal people would fall unconscious, Rinpoche stayed conscious the whole day of his passing. At a certain moment Rinpoche demanded to sit straight up in the bed with the legs crossed as described and he stayed unmovable like that all the way through the death-process. Rinpoche asked Ngawang (his old helper from Tibet) for a Tibetan precious pill. Rinpoche then looked at us and smiled, where after he looked up in the sky for a moment before he closed his eyes for entering into the actual death-process, which, after the last breath, left us for many, many hours with an enormous presence, strength, love and compassion radiating from him, filling up the whole room - at the same time to be felt in many places - still to be here with us today.
The day before Rinpoche's death-process there was an earthquake in Denmark, which is very unusual. When Rinpoche passed away there was sunshine and rain and many rainbows to be seen. Finally, at the night before the cremation of Rinpoche's body our house shook with a big noise to be heard on all three stories, and Rinpoche's table was trembling.
Rinpoche promised to stay with us and we can feel it is true. Rinpoche proved the possibility of his non-physical manifestation to be true already in our Yogacara course in Hamburg, where many of the participants felt his presence even more strong than when he used to be physically present. A phenomenon that later proved to be true both in Aix-en-Provense and in Paris at two weekend teachings just after Rinpoche's 'departure'.
One of Rinpoche's great concerns just before he entered the death process was that he felt he had not finished what he wanted to do especially in connection with his own people. He was sad that he did not manage to finish his second work in Tibetan - Rinpoche has finished his first great work in Tibetan, which is being taken care of by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is overseeing its publication in Dharamsala at the present.
Also it was Rinpoche's plan to start teaching Tibetan scholars in connection with the setting up of the Unity in Duality Program in India, Dehra Dun, to be started this coming March (2005).
Rinpoche was deeply sorry that he did not manage this. So just before Rinpoche was entering the death process I had to promise Rinpoche that we would continue the India Building Project and that we would start the Unity in Duality Training Program in India in March as planned. Also I promised that we would try to open it up to young Tibetans who have the aspiration to study Unity in Duality and who can speak English well enough to attend.
Rinpoche was equally concerned with the Unity in Duality Training Program already running in France and Germany. It was his last wish that they also would continue, and I promised that we will do our very best concerning this.
These promises of continuing the Unity in Duality Training and Study Projects brought a grand smile on Rinpoche's face and a brilliant radiance in his eyes and seemed to give him peace to enter the death process proper. So I hope - and I do know by now - that all of Rinpoche's students feel the same responsibility as me and will help in fulfilling Rinpoche's heartfelt wishes.
Rinpoche is leaving his wife Kirsten Losang and his son Norbu Losang behind. As Norbu is only 16 years old we have promised Rinpoche to establish a fund to ensure Norbu the education he wishes to have. When the fund is established you will find the details on the website of the Tarab Institute.
His Holiness's Office has advised us to let Rinpoche cremate in Denmark, which has already been done. Rinpoche's ashes will then partly be transported to Dharamsala and partly stay in Denmark.
On request from Dharamsala we will let build two silver stupas for the purpose of holding Rinpoche's ashes. The stupas can then later be guilded etc.
All the Tarab Institutes are helping to collect money to finance the building of the stupas - so if you would like to contribute please look into our website: www.tarab-institute.org and contact your nearest Tarab Institute.
From the very time of Rinpoche's entering the death process there have been made the appropriate rituals in Dharamsala and elsewhere, where after all the necessary rituals to request Rinpoche to manifest again as a human being among us will start. Rinpoche's long life prayer, which was written by the teacher of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and former Regent of Tibet, has now been converted into a request-for-return-prayer and it can be ordered from the Tarab Institutes of Germany, France and Denmark.
Lene Handberg
Assistant to the late Tarab Tulku Rinpoche
