March 2001

In This Issue

INTERVIEW WITH NAMKHAI NYINGPO RINPOCHE

NORTHERN TREASURES

A WEEKEND WITH MATTHIEU RICARD AT SSRC

INTERVIEW WITH VENERABLE TENZIN PALMO

NEWS OF THE PEACE VASE PROJECT

PEACE VASE AT AVARA'ATURI, BOUGAINVILLE

Gentle Voice
Contact Information

NORTHERN TREASURES

There are five treasures, one for each of the cardinal directions and one for the centre. The Northern Treasures is the main practice lineage taught in Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche's gonpa in Bhutan.

Rinpoche told me that there are over 40 volumes in the Northern Treasures terma tradition. At the present time there is no complete copy known of in existence, in or outside Tibet, as so much was destroyed at the time of the invasion by the Chinese. Rinpoche has been able to collect a certain number of the missing texts in recent years and his great aspiration is to complete the collection and publish the Northern Treasures in their entirety.

As you can imagine, this is a huge and complex task, made even more difficult as a large number of the texts are hand written in U mey Tibetan script, rather than the more formal U ching script. This presents multiple reading, scribal and translation difficulties. Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche, who has a gonpa in Simla, Himachal Pradesh, and is over 70, is one of the few remaining lineage holders of the Northern Treasures tradition. Recently, he went to Bhutan and gave the entire transmission at Rinpoche's gonpa. Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche told me that, although the Northern Treasures is indeed a vast and profound system of termas, which includes such rare gems as Mönlam Tobpoche or The Prayer to Samantabhadra (which has been taught on extensively by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in the "Referencelessness" teachings and also by Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche), at the present time it is the least known, least propagated and least practised of the terma traditions. Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche requested that if anyone could assist in this important task to revitalise interest in the publishing, study and practice of this wonderful terma tradition, it would be of great benefit to sentient beings.

Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse is also closely connected with this terma tradition, as Tashi Tobgyal (1550 - 1603) and the Fifth Dalai Lama, Lobzang Gyatso (1617 - 1682), two of his former incarnations, are major lineage holders of the Northern Treasures tradition.

Douglas Mills