Lama Gyaltsen's memories Lama Gyaltsen's life is remarkable. His father was a younger brother of Kalu Rinpoche. When Lama Gyaltsen was 10 years old, he met his uncle for the first time and soon became his close companion. At first, Lama Gyaltsen was Kalu Rinpoche's servant, then his secretary, and his disciple for more than forty years. Lama Gyaltsen was 53 years old when the death of Kalu Rinpoche, in 1989, seemed to definitively interrupt this long common road. However, a year later, a son was born to Lama Gyaltsen, and the child was recognized as the reincarnation of Kalu Rinpoche! A privileged witness of the life of his master in Tibet, India, and the West, Lama Gyaltsen was a confidant of other lamas and Kalu Rinpoche's mother. This is an account of the direct and indirect memories that he has wanted to share during a trip in France in the summer of 1992.
THE STORY OF A NAME Kalu Rinpoche was born in Kham, the eastern province of Tibet, in a mountain chain called Tracho. His family's name was Ratak, a deformation of Ratsa, a term meaning goat skin. To understand the origin of this name, we must go back to the time of the first Karmapa, Tusum Khyenpa.
Tusum Khyenpa was born to a poor family that bred animals on a mountain-side. In this region, one could distinguish poor people from the rich by their clothes. The poor families wore jackets of goat skin, while the rich families were clad in sheepskin. This detail is not without significance in our story.
When Tusum Khyenpa was born, no one realized that a holy man was being born. He was not granted any particular attention. Tusum Khyenpa kept herds, taking care of cows and goats like many children of his age. However, some events should have caused people to realize that he was not an ordinary being.
For example, water was rare in this region, which created difficulties for people and animals who needed it. One day, people noticed the young future Karmapa scratching at the ground around a boulder. He did this the next day and day after day after that. What was he looking for scratching like that? Children and other people began to wonder. However, water soon started to spring forth, to the astonishment of his friends who never thought that this dry place could conceal such water.
The future Karmapa was teased by other children because his family was poor. Sometimes, they chased him and threw stones. Again, he demonstrated his extraordinary nature on several occasions. One day, while he was seeking to avoid the rocks being thrown at him, he leaned for an instant against a cliff. Tusum Khyenpa's back left an impression on the cliff that is still visible to this day. Another time, while he was throwing stones back at his tormenters, the attackers ran away; but the stones hit them, regardless of how far they ran. These unusual events were regarded as the strange acts of a poor child who deserved no special attention.
However, since the young future Karmapa struck water in a place where its lack was sorely felt, he was shown some kindness by the people of the region, who found relief for themselves and their animals. Later, people began to notice that this water was endowed with healing properties. It especially healed those who had tumors of the digestive system. The spring still flows today, and people continue to come and drink its curative water.
When he became an adult, the future Karmapa went to central Tibet and was soon recognized as a lama of extraordinary capabilities. He had numerous disciples and his person gave rise to a great faith among the people. Because of the greatness of his realization, he was named The One Who Knows The Three Times (the past, the present, and the future).
The news of the Karmapa's achievements reached his native country where people finally decided that it was necessary to somehow show him their veneration. This lama, whose reputation is now so great in Tibet, was a child of our village. When he tended the herds with us, we understood nothing of his magnificence. Now he is far away and we cannot meet him. We must find a way to evoke his presence among us. We need to find an object that could be the support of our devotion. They began to look for an object that had belonged to the child. Because of his poverty, however, Tusum Kyenpa had possessed very little. The villagers finally found the Karmapa's goat skin jacket that he wore when he was little. Wishing to make it into a sacred support, they decided to cut it in small pieces one hundred thousand pieces, according to the story. Then, they made the same number of small statues of the Karmapa and inserted the pieces of goatskin in them. They built a stupa in which to place the statues, and called it the stupa of The One Hundred Thousand Statues with Goat Skin (Tibetan, Ratsa kumbum choten). The place became known as Ratsa, and the family linked with the first Karmapa inherited the name. Its members became the Ratsa; later the word was deformed into Ratak, which is the family name of Kalu Rinpoche.
Later, when the father and mother of the Karmapa passed away, the people of the region wanted to thank them posthumously for engendering such a holy being. They erected two small stupas on the right and the left of the main stupa in their honor. These three stupas are still visible today.
FATHER AND MOTHER: A MEETING ARRANGED BY FATE Kalu Rinpoche's father was called Lekshe Drayang and had the title of Ratak tulku, that is, the tulku of Ratak. He was the thirteenth incarnation of a lineage of tulkus stemming from the family of Ratak and, therefore, related to the first Karmapa.
