Siddhartha's Intent - Gentle Voice #11

Neten Chokling Rinpoche, an emanation of the great Chogyur Lingpa, recently travelled to Australia and gave the lung or oral transmission of the Longchen Nyingthik Ngondro at Vajradhara Gonpa. The Gentle Voice was able to catch up with him there for this interview.

Firstly, Rinpoche, could you tell our readers something about yourself as very few of us know you?

I was born in Bhutan. I was first recognised by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa and then also by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. At the age of four, when I was recognised and taken from Bhutan, I first went to Bodhgaya where His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was doing the recitation of the Prayer of Excellent Conduct. So I was four years old when I left Bhutan and came to Bodhgaya in India.

After that I went to my monastery which is in Bir and I started my studies. There was one lama there who was my teacher. But first I was taught the Tibetan alphabet, etc., by His Holiness Khyentse Rinpoche. Then I had a teacher who taught me all about the monastery and the books I had to memorise. Also, for philosophy I studied at Dzongsar Institute. Most of the empowerments and oral transmissions I have received from His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

Could you please explain your name, Neten Chokling Rinpoche? I believe Neten is a place in Tibet.

At the time of the first Chogyur Lingpa, when he came there, he had a vision of the Sixteen Arhats or the Sixteen Elders. "Neten" means "elders" in Tibetan. So that's why they thought this must be the place of the Sixteen Elders or Arhats and the monastery there is called Neten Monastery.

Could you say a little about your responsibilities, for example, your monastery in Bir?

I do, of course, have a monastery in Bir. But up until now I haven't really been responsible for it. Why? Because I've been practising and studying the teachings in preparation to take care of the monastery and monks. Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche has been saying to me for some time that I should look after the monastery. But actually, until now Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche and my teacher have been looking after the monastery. Therefore I haven't taken any responsibility for the running of the monastery as yet because they have done it.

You've travelled to France, Rinpoche. Could you tell us about that experience of coming to the West?

The first time I left India to go abroad was to go to France. Of course, at first I was quite amazed to see the difference between India and the West, the living standards, how the people live and so on. While staying in Bir I'd known about the West and people in general, but I'd never much thought about the practice of Dharma in the West because I was staying in Bir and really didn't see so much. But then when I went to France there were people who had practised the Dharma, even people who'd been in retreat for three years, six years or nine years. And this is due to the great blessings of His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche who have, out of their great compassion, taught the Dharma in the West. And so now people really practise and I was very impressed with that.

As the Dharma comes to the West, what do you see as the difficulties for new practitioners?

I've seen that people have great interest to practise the Dharma, but a lot of times they don't know where to direct their energy, so to speak, because it's not given to them in a format where they can, say, put their energy into one practice. So they go back and forth between many practices, not really getting any real stability because of that. But it's really not their fault. It's out of ignorance because they just don't know how to do it. So now what Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche is doing is starting with the preliminary practices and giving them very thoroughly. Then if people practise very carefully the stages of the path, they will be able to get stability and understanding. I mean, in general I don't really know so much about Westerners, but this is what I've seen from looking around since I've been travelling.

I like it here. I've been very happy here. It's easy. Why? Because people are a little bit relaxed here. They're not as busy as in other places I've been. Australians seem easy to relate to.