Marya Waifoon Schwabe - Road to Freedom - A Journey from Occupied Tibet

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Road to Freedom: A Journey from Occupied Tibet

Copyright 2020 by Marya Waifoon Schwabe

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America

Cover Design by Claire Flint Last
Cover Photo by Diego Hangartner

Photography by Shogen Rai, Chiu Leong, Paul Murray,
Ritsuko Tokura-Ellsworth, Greg Herbst and Michael Schwabe

Luminare Press
442 Charnelton St.
Eugene, OR 97401
www.luminarepress.com

Nechung Dorje Drayang Ling
Wood Valley Temple & Retreat
P.O. Box 250, Pahala, HI 96777-0250
www.nechung.org

LCCN: 2020913711
ISBN: 978-1-64388-777-7

Dedicated to
His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Nechung Rinpoche
Our Root and Lineage Teachers
the Tibetan People
and
All People who Live under Tyranny

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Reincarnation

Nechung Rinpoches Lineage

The Search for Nechung Rinpoches Reincarnation

The Early Years: 1949 to 1983

Tibet 1949 to 1959 and Beyond

The Sacred Mask

A Daring Escape1962

In Exile

Sweet Beginnings

Nechungthe Oracle, Medium, Lama, and Monastery

The First Journey: Summer 1987

Our Search Party

Into Tibet

Nechung Monastery in Lhasa

First Public Tsok Ceremony

The Way to the Visionary Lake

Lhamo Latso

The Elusive Chamseng Latso

Sacred Pilgrimage Sites

Drikung Monastery

To the Tibetan Border

Border to Kathmandu

The Second Attempt: Summer 1993

The Long-Awaited News

Visit of Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok

Summer in Beijing

Thuptens Mysterious Disappearance

Five Peak Mountain

City of the Gods

Travel in India

The Secret Police

One Step at a Time

The Discovery: September 1993

Lhasa Encounters

Perfect Circumstances

The Long Wait

Caution and Terror

Karmic Connections

Wednesday, September 8th

Thursday, September 9th

Friday, September 10th

Saturday, September 11th

Sunday, September 12th

Monday, September 13th

Tuesday, September 14th

The Escape: September 14th19th, 1993

Leaving Lhasa

The First Checkpoint

Time, Space, and Elements

Dramthe Tibetan Border

Dinner in Darkness

Guides of the Night

To Leave or Not to Leave

New Friends

The Crossing

The Friendship Bridge

The Nepalese Border

A Small Bribe

A Matter of Courtship

Simple Human Smile

A Brief Respite

The Kathmandu Airport

On to Delhi

Arrival at Nechung

The Enthronement

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

The Symbolism of the Tibetan Flag

Statement of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

An Explanation of Reincarnation by H.H. the Dalai Lama

Introduction

Past and future lives

How rebirth takes place

The meaning of Tulku

Recognition of Reincarnations

The system of recognizing reincarnations in Tibet

The ways of recognizing reincarnations

Emanation before the passing away of the predecessor

Using the Golden Urn

Deceptive strategy and false hopes

The next incarnation of the Dalai Lama

Glossary

Abbreviations

Buddhist Terms

Cultural Terms

Eminent Personages

People

Places

About Marya and Miguel

Venerable Nechung Rinpoche, Lhasa, Tibet in the mid-1940s

In 1983, our teacher Nechung Rinpoche, a Tibetan lama, passed away
in exile in India. In 1987 and 1993, following clues provided by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Nechung Choekyong, Chief State Oracle of Tibet, my husband Miguel and I, along with a Nechung monk from India named Thupten, set out to find Nechung Rinpoches reincarnation in Chinese-occupied Tibet.
This is the true story of our search, his discovery, and harrowing escape.

Foreword

Introduction

Reincarnation

The concept of reincarnation and afterlife is, and has always been, a mystery to human beings. Where does the consciousness go after departing the physical body? A common belief is that one ascends to heaven, joining loved ones and God in whatever form the holy being takes and in accord with each culture and religion.

Another conviction is the notion of past and future lives. Human beings have the potential to direct their deeds toward ultimate goodness, creating positive disposition and results; or, to the contrary, may spiral downward to negative tendencies. In most cases, life is a combination of both. Dependent on physical, verbal, and mental actions, the consciousness is imprinted with habitual patterns that create causal conditions for future births, whether they are fortunate or unfortunate.

Tibetans accept reincarnation as a reality. This is reflected in their philosophy of life which emphasizes the cultivation of loving-kindness, compassion, and tolerance. These principles are practiced in conjunction with the elimination of afflictive emotions and actions. Thus, individuals can imbue their mental continuum with virtuous qualities in order to achieve good rebirths and gain freedom from the cycles of existence.

Over the centuries, Tibetans have refined a system of mystical proportions for identifying the reincarnations of influential lamas. Recognition came from the guidance of spiritual masters who offered their wisdom, insight, and divinations. Other methods included predictions by oracles, visions in sacred lakes, and other accepted signs. In the cases of preeminent lamas, delegates from monasteries would seek explicit direction from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and a prediction from the Nechung Oracle. In some unique cases, lamas leave personal letters with the place of their rebirth, parents names, and other instructions. Vivid accounts of previous lives can be found in some autobiographiesincluding clear recognition of assistants, friends, family, and personal possessions.

The reincarnation of a person merits recognition if his or her predecessors activities have brought great benefit and significant spiritual influence to a community of practitioners. Searches are conducted when the child is relatively young by members of the deceased lamas household, monks, or officials who have a stake in the process. Thereafter, the discovered child is given the title Rinpoche and is regarded with utmost esteem.

Nechung Rinpoches Lineage

Nechung Rinpoches reincarnations can be traced back to the great master Padmasambhava. Along with King Trisong Deutsen and Abbot Shantarakshita, Guru Padmasambhava was primarily responsible for the establishment and dissemination of the Buddhist doctrine in eighth century Tibet. His achievements touched countless lives, the principal ones being his twenty-five chief disciples, each of whom achieved extraordinary accomplishments. Nechung Rinpoche is an emanation of one of those disciples, Langdro Konchok Jungne, who was later recognized as the Treasure Revealer, Terton Ratna Lingpa (14031479), a highly revered lama of Buddhism in Tibet.

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