In Exile From the Land of Snows (40 page)

Dorje Drakden’s possessions, nonetheless, continued. Confining himself to his room for fear of being possessed in public, Lobsang Jigme felt himself entering a new stage, becoming stronger and stronger, “like a horse,” as he described it, “filling with hot blood.” At the beginning and end of each trance, he experienced severe pain. Though the trances themselves lasted only for two to five minutes, he would invariably shout in agony at the top of his voice—something which the authorities of Ganden, despite the peculiarities of the case, could not permit. Forced
finally to leave Ganden, the young monk could return neither to his own monastery nor to his mother’s house. His illness had made him an outcast. Through friends, he eventually found a family in Lamo, east of Ganden, who agreed to take him in. Able to depart without interference, he stayed in Lamo for a further month and a half, where he suffered, as before, not just from the newly developed trances but also from the ceaseless round of hallucinations, fits and sleepwalking that had consumed his life for six years.

At this time, Lobsang Jigme’s mother received a message from Nechung Monastery. Though regretting his illness, the note nevertheless demanded his immediate return on penalty of being struck from the monastery’s rolls. The other monks were complaining of Lobsang Jigme’s long absence, the letter said; despite the severity of his condition there could be no exceptions to the rules. His mother replied that her son had been sick for so long, with no cure in sight, that even if his name were to be struck, it couldn’t be helped; he was not yet able to return. The monastic officials then softened their stance and tried to effect a compromise. Through his mother they informed Lobsang Jigme that for the time being his name would not be eliminated from the roster; still, he would have to return soon. Convinced that his days as a Nechung monk were over and with no place to turn for help, Lobsang Jigme decided to retire to a cave and live in isolation from the world. He was just turning sixteen.

Aware of the young man’s plans, Samling Rinpoché came to his aid. He offered to lead him through a three-month meditation retreat at Legpai Lodru, the cave of a great hermit, above Sera Monastery, hoping that by reciting mantras and conducting purification rites some of the negative influences affecting the youth could be dispelled. Accompanied by Kesang’s uncle, they went to the cave and commenced the retreat. At the start, Lobsang Jigme was in such a depressed state over the impasse his illness had brought him to that he could barely follow Samling Rinpoché’s instructions. Though he managed to fulfill the daily quotas of recitation, there was still no discernible change in his condition. Then, one morning in the middle of the retreat, he woke feeling well for the first time in years. The next day, he felt well again—and the next. Remarkably, all signs of the illness had left at once. A messenger now arrived bearing the startling information that Lobsang Namgyal, the Nechung
kuden
, had died. The day of the medium’s death had been the very day on which Lobsang Jigme’s illness disappeared. Furthermore, the messenger informed Lobsang Jigme, he had been dispatched by the abbot of Nechung Monastery, Nechung Rinpoché, to summon him back. None other than Taktra Rinpoché, then Regent of Tibet, had ordered him to present himself at the
Norbulingka. With a single message, it seemed, Lobsang Jigme’s fate had completely reversed itself.

As all those associated with Lobsang Jigme would soon learn, the Regent had consulted Shinjachen, through the Gadong medium, shortly after the Nechung
kuden
’s death. Asking where a new medium for Dorje Drakden could be found, he had been told that the candidate was a monk from Nechung Monastery itself. The oracle went on to say that the prospective
kuden
was still very young—a child of fifteen, born in the Year of the Iron Horse; his name, Lobsang Jigme.

The news was greeted with a mixture of amazement and relief by Nechung Monastery’s superiors. Ironically, among the eleven mediums who spanned the three hundred years of the monastery’s existence, no
kuden
had risen from the ranks of its own monks; all had been chosen from elsewhere. To confirm the message, the Regent undertook a series of extremely sensitive tests. They involved placing Lobsang Jigme’s name, along with those of six other candidates—all chosen for their reputations as mediums—inside precisely weighted balls of barley paste. The balls were then put in a precious vessel and brought before three of the holiest images in the land. Questions posed by the highest authorities were believed to be answered by the respective Bodhisattvas through the displacement of one of the balls. Though the vessel was rotated to produce a gentle momentum, there was an unmistakable pattern by which a single ball would be ejected. Out of the seven balls placed in the vessel by the Taktra Regent, the one with Lobsang Jigme’s name on it came out on all three occasions. Nechung Rinpoché was then requested to have the young man brought immediately to the Regent.

Lobsang Jigme descended from his retreat a day after the messenger’s visit. Arriving in Lhasa, he was met by Nechung Rinpoché and a delegation from the monastery, in whose company he rode two miles west to the summer palace. Leaving their mounts by the great stone lions flanking its front gate, the party was received in the gardens beyond and led down a narrow lane running between tall, shady trees, their leaves turned red and gold in the late autumn, to the Shabten Lhakhang, the temple in which the Regent received visitors. Directed into an ornate receiving room Lobsang Jigme nervously took a long white scarf and walked forward. It was the last thing he remembered. As he came before the Regent’s high throne and offered the scarf, Dorje Drakden instantaneously took possession, greeting Taktra Rinpoché through the new
kuden
in a direct demonstration of his validity. The trance lasted for five minutes, during which time Dorje Drakden spoke to the Regent in private. At its conclusion, Lobsang Jigme collapsed and was returned to Nechung Monastery. There, he was
housed in separate quarters while being subjected to a series of tests to determine if indisputably it was truly Dorje Drakden taking possession and not another strong, but lesser spirit.

The need to thoroughly test the authenticity of the Nechung
kuden
had, for centuries, been a critical concern of the Tibetan government. As the most delicate policies of state, both domestic and foreign, were involved with the oracle, the possibility of a leak, either from a malignant spirit taking possession (and subsequently relating information via another medium) or from the medium himself retaining some trace memory of the trance, was ever-present. So, too, was the danger of a garbled or mistaken transmission. To protect against the latter, the level of the medium’s trance was closely observed, a complete possession, inducing unconsciousness, being the ideal state. Such a possession could occur only if the 72,000 psychic channels upon which, according to tantric theory, consciousness is mounted in the human body were clear of all obstructions. In such a case trance would be undergone swiftly, continuing without fluctuations or other irregularities. Though Lobsang Jigme’s trances revealed him to be a very pure “vessel,” the next task, that of checking whether or not it was in fact Dorje Drakden who possessed him, required, following preliminary observations, three levels of tests.

Initially, four signs of Dorje Drakden’s immense power were sought: swelling of the medium’s body up to two inches, effortless support of the heavy costume, ringing of the golden bells on the helmet’s top and shuddering of the mirror on the chest from the increased heartbeat. The character of the possessing spirit was then observed. Dorje Drakden’s
cham
was particular to him, as was the fact that his fierce, prideful attitude gave way to humility only if the Dalai Lama, his picture or an article of his clothing was present. Otherwise the spirit minister demanded complete subjugation from all those in attendance. With these factors present, three categories of tests, known as outer, inner and secret, were undertaken. In the outer test, the medium was presented during trance with sealed boxes and requested to name their contents. This exam was considered easy, as the majority of spirits were believed to possess a minor form of clairvoyance. It was followed by the inner test, in which the possessing spirit was requested to quote verbatim prophecies given by the Protector on specific dates in the past. With hundreds of prophecies on file, all imparted in Dorje Drakden’s poetic, often cryptic style, this test was virtually impossible to pass if the Protector himself was not present. The two tests comprising the secret category, however, were believed definitive. Prior to the trance the
kuden
’s breath was checked to make sure that it had no odor. During trance it was examined again. If Dorje Drakden was in possession, the breath
would invariably have a strong scent, similar to that of alcohol but described as actually being that of nectar. At the moment Padmasambhava had converted the Five Kings, in the form of the eight-year-old novice, to the Dharma, he had anointed the child’s tongue with a few drops of nectar. Its odor was maintained by the spirit as a sign that his vows were being upheld. While exacting allegiance, Padmasambhava had also placed the blazing tip of his
dorje
on the head of the kneeling child. As the trance ends and the thickly padded helmet is quickly removed before the
kuden
chokes, Dorje Drakden’s possession is revealed in the well-defined imprint of a
dorje
, clearly visible for a matter of minutes, on the crown of the medium’s head.

Successfully passing all of the tests, Lobsang Jigme was publicly proclaimed, early in 1945, to be the new medium of Tibet’s State Oracle. On the day of his investiture he took part in an elaborate ritual at Nechung Monastery after which the abbot conducted him to the
kuden
’s personal residence, a large well-appointed building within the monastic complex. Here, cared for by a carefully chosen staff, he spent most of his time engaged in the practice of deity yoga, pursuing meditation techniques which enabled him to enter trance with consistently less discomfort. Collecting the ample salary given to all Nechung
kudens
by the government, was treated with the utmost respect, on a par with that accorded to high lamas. Most rewarding of all, for the first time since the age of ten, Lobsang Jigme continued to enjoy good health.

The position of Nechung
kuden
, however, was neither easy nor even necessarily desirable. It held the potential of a high as well as an ignominious fate. Many
kudens
had suffered the later; only a few had achieved the former. The very first
kuden
, appointed at the monastery’s founding in the seventeenth century, had been executed when, through possession by lesser spirits, secret government information had been revealed to the public. Though no such drastic measure had occurred since, two of the three
kudens
preceding Lobsang Jigme had been disgraced, fired from their posts, after their meditation practice had deteriorated to the point of interfering with the coherence of their trances. Shakya Yarpel, though, the renowned
kuden
prior to them, had been so beloved by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama for the clarity of his possessions that he had been accorded honors above even those granted the Prime Minister and Cabinet, actually being conveyed when he traveled in a
pep jam
, the gold palanquin normally reserved solely for Dalai Lamas and Regents. Aware of the difficulty of the post, Lobsang Namgyal, Lobsang Jigme’s predecessor, had run away on being singled out during a trance of the Gadong Oracle as the new Nechung
kuden.
Nonetheless, unable to prevent his destiny, he had
been possessed by Dorje Drakden and, until his death (attributed by some to the immense strain placed on his heart by possession), accepted the role.

Lobsang Jigme’s favorable response to the post was augmented by a sense of personal affinity with Dorje Drakden himself. For the first three years following his recognition, on the night preceding a scheduled trance, the same odd event would inevitably occur. Past midnight, a loud banging would be heard in Lobsang Jigme’s room, waking both him and his attendants from sleep. Unable to find a source for the commotion, the aides would turn to the
kuden
, who by then would be staring at the door and laughing. After some time, he agreed to relate what others heard but only he saw. Scores of small monks, no more than two feet tall, would appear in a jovial mood, and rushing altogether through the doorway, collide with one another and fall to the floor. Those who reached his bed brazenly stared at him and then burst into infectious laughter. It was clear, Lobsang Jigme felt, that these visits were being paid as a welcome of sorts to the new
kuden
by the followers of Dorje Drakden, due to enter him in trance in a few hours’ time.

On only two occasions a year did Lobsang Jigme experience serious discomfort in his occupation. At these times, two of the Five Kings, the superiors of Dorje Drakden and Shinjachen, would come with the ministers and very briefly take possession of the Nechung and Gadong mediums. In the case of the Nechung
kuden
, Trinley Gyalpo, the Northern King of Action, would follow Dorje Drakden into the medium’s body. This happened on the second day of the first month and again on the twenty-fifth day of the third month. Initially, Dorje Drakden took possession. Then, within “the stomach,” as it was metaphorically phrased, of the Renowned Immutable One, Trinley Gyalpo would manifest himself. Without the intervening energy of Dorje Drakden to modulate the current of White Pehar, as Trinley Gyalpo was often called, the medium would immediately die. So much was made clear during the single minute—and sometimes only a few seconds—of possession. At the moment of entry, the medium’s body, already swollen from Dorje Drakden, would become rigid, arms and legs outstretched, blood gushing from his nostrils. Those present would quickly offer a scarf in honor of Pehar Gyalpo, after which the Northern King would depart. Dorje Drakden remained in possession while the blood stopped flowing and the body was restored, and then he too would leave.