Saturday, September 03, 2005

Samye - early photo of the Glorious and Spontaneous Fulfillment of Boundless Aspirations

It was in the Year of the Ox when King Trisong Deutsen, who had reached the age of twenty, gave rise to the thought of practicing the holy Dharma and this deep aspiration took root in him: “The former king, Songtsen Gampo, constructed many temples in this pitch-black darkness of Tibet. He had many texts of the holy Dharma translated and he was extremely kind to Tibet. Now, I shall cause the holy Dharma to spread and flourish! I will construct a temple that will be a palace for the Three Jewels, a site of devotion and respect for all the people. I shall build a temple to fulfill my sacred aspiration. What kind of temple should I construct?” He then decided, “I shall build a temple that resembles the four continents and Mount Sumeru, surrounded by the ring of iron mountains!”
--From The Lotus-Born

Earlier, I mentioned that Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche was born at Yeshe Tsogyal's Life-Lake near Samye in Central Tibet, and here is an old photo of Samye. It appears in Blazing Splendor in a small size and I am happy to share a larger one with you here. One of you may know who took this picture and when.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

en..i would like to ask a question:
Rinpoche was born near central of tibet or: He was born in eastern Tibet ? thank you!

Erik Pema Kunsang said...

Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche was definitely born in Central Tibet near Samye. His parent were on pilgrimage from Nangchen, a journey which ended up taking three years.

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much