It is with the most profound sadness that we share that Tulku Thondup Rinpoche, one of the great lamas of our time, passed away on December 29th, 2023. This is also the anniversary of Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche with whom he had a profound connection.
We are bereft. Tulku Rinpoche was one of the last of great masters of his generation, and his deep wisdom, humility, humor, and ever-present kindness were a constant source of respite in world filled with so much suffering.
The Mahasiddha center in Massachusetts which Tulku Thondup was very close with wrote that Rinpoche's faithful and perfect companion Lydia said that Tulku did not want prayers for his rebirth. She said people should say whatever prayers with love and devotion, but especially can say prayers for rebirth in Dewachen.
We will update this page with any guidance on appropriate prayers and practices, but Alak Zenkar Rinpoche said that Guru Yoga should be emphasized.
For many of us, he was the Buddha of Cambridge, a hidden but fully realized yogi, always stepping out of the spotlight and pointing to others, in particular his teacher Dodrubchen Rinpoche. He was very much a lama’s lama, and few passing through anywhere near New England would miss an oppportunity to pay a visit and receive the wisdom of one of the great scholars and masters of our day.
Tulku who was in many ways a guide to many of us here at Shambhala Publications. I would often go to him to ask his advice on the suitability of certain projects and he lovingly would suggest a path.
We have a guide to Tulku’s works which you can visit here.
All of his works are absolutely invaluable, but two of the ones dearest to him were Masters of Meditation and Miracles and The Heart of Unconditional Love: A Powerful New Approach to Loving-Kindness Meditation.
The first is a highly engaging set of biographies of thirty-five realized teachers whose lives were full of peace, enlightenment, and amazing miracles. They flourished in Tibet, the Roof of the World, in its golden days. These teachers belong to the Longchen Nyingthig lineage of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, a cycle of mystical teachings revealed by the great scholar and adept Jigme Lingpa.
The second, his most recent, he told us was very dear to his heart. In the preface, he wrote:
In this book, we try from the very beginning to generate unconditional love in ourselves by feeling the Buddha’s unconditional love through devotion and to serve others with that love. We try to see the whole world as a world of unconditional love and to perfect the ultimate unconditional love that is free from concepts. I have not explicitly written about this anywhere else, nor seen it in other books. This is the first time I have talked about transforming oneself and the world through this meditation. Yet, at the same time, this presentation extracts the very heart essence of Buddhism’s ageless wisdom teachings.
Tulku Thondup Offers An Explanation and Guided Meditation on Loving Kindness
When Dodrubchen Rinpoche passed away just under two years ago, Tulku Thondup sent out the following advice. We are including it here as we think the same advice very much applies here:
Today we are all feeling the same emotions, the same ups and downs.
However, we were taught by Kyabje Rinpoche himself. He taught Guru Yoga as our main meditation. So today especially is the time and situation when we must focus most on Guru Yoga, meditating on UNITING OUR minds with the wisdom mind of Guru Rinpoche as Kyabje Rinpoche's mind is inseperable and has become inseparable from Guru Rinpoche. Rest in that trust, that feeling. Awaken it again and again and rest in that state again and again.
Kyabje Rinpoche has been with us all these years in the form of Nirmana-kaya. But now his Nirmana-kaya form has merged into Sambhogakaya, his inner pure Buddha presence, and then into his innermost Dharmayaka Buddha-nature.
The Third Dodrupchen Rinpoche wrote a prayer to himself explaining the principle of manifesting through the three Kayas successively:
"From the Basis of the Ultimate Sphere of Dharmkaya,
Various displays of Sambhogakaya appear in all ten directions.
And then ceaseless Nirmanakayas serve beings:
To Jig-me Tenpe Gyaltshen (Nyima) I pray."So if we, with the force of devotion, could pray and unite our mind with Guru Rinpoche's wisdom mind as we have been taught to do in Guru Yoga, -- then because of (a) the power of our minds' devotion and (b) the blessing power of Guru Rinpoche and Kyabje Rinpoche, we will receive true blessings and WILL MEET Kyabje Rinpoche's enlightened presence there.
So in brief, please focus on doing Guru Yoga and try to rest in the nature of the mind where you meet Kyabje Rinpoche.
Tulku Thondup's Opening Verses to The Heart of Unconditional Love
O Buddha of Unconditional Love,
Your all-knowing wisdom eyes see all;
Your boundless power protects every being
As a mother protects her only child with unconditional love.For he who sees the compassionate eyes of the Buddha of Loving-Kindness,
His own heart wakes up with the force of boundless devotion in the Buddha;
His own face blossoms with unconditional love for every mother-being.
I, a mere distant spectator, am imbued with awe-inspiring wonder.Devotion to the Outer Buddha opens our heart as the heart of loving-kindness,
Transforming it into unconditional love for all, the Inner Buddha,
Awakening every image, sound, and feeling as the Universal Buddha, and
Uniting all as loving-kindness free from concepts, the Ultimate Buddha.Sage of Great Accomplishments—true image of loving-kindness—
Knowledge-holders, Seekers of Enlightenment, and Angels of Wisdom
I beseech you all from my heart-core with undying trust.
Please grant us your blessings to unite us indivisibly with you.Infinite beings are caught in the wheel of endless cyclic existence,
Trapped in the eye of conceptual and emotional hurricanes,
Plunged in the midst of the turbulent waves of conflicting sensations,
Whirring around the world like bees—with no end to this nightmare in sight.I have been wandering in many unknown lands for nearly sixty years.
But by the ever-present kindness of the Sage of Great Accomplishments,
And by the reminiscences of the Blazing Glorious Seat of Accomplishments,
I haven’t drifted too far from the light of the Dharma.However great the sweetness of samsara is,
It cannot be compared with the joy of Dharma, by even a sixteenth.
However vehement the flame of evil deeds and the pain of samsara are,
There is none that the rain of Dharma cannot quench!The brilliance of the sun-like Buddha’s love illuminates the sky.
The radiance of our mighty ocean-like devotion embraces it.
The glow of earth and sky unite into a single world of boundless joy.
This is the true meditation on devotion to the Buddha of Loving-Kindness.Avalokiteshvara, noble lord of omniscient wisdom, Is always looking at us with eyes of loving-kindness.
Whenever we see him with devotion, the unconditional love of his heart
Awakens in us, miraculously. This is what I adore to articulate in this book.
Exceedingly destitute in both learning and realization, I fear thatMy attempt to write about loving-kindness will be a cause of laughter—even to my own tongue.
Nevertheless, to not let some drops trickle forth from
the miraculous ocean of loving-kindness is harder for me to bear.
O learned readers, please forgive me for my pitiable flops.
