Free Fearless in Tibet: The Life of the Mystic Terton Sogyal by Matteo Pistono

discovered teaching. The most important role of the treasure holder was to spread the treasure teachings. In the treasure’s prophetic guide, Padmasambhava had written of the importance for Sogyal to find the guardian: “If you hand The Most Secret Wrathful Vajrakilaya over to Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, it will eliminate obstacles and this profound treasure will have great benefit.”

    Khyentse, along with his close friend and fellow visionary, Jamgön Kongtrul, were inspiring a nonsectarian movement that was reinvigorating Buddhist scholarship across Tibet. The Rime, or ecumenical movement, was a response to the radical changes in the previous century to Tibet’s religious environment when different religious traditions—namely, the Kagyu and Gelug schools—competed for political power and financial sponsors. Political and territorial competition were often conflated with doctrinal disputes of a philosophical nature, which created a twisted dynamic, and quarrels fed upon one other. The reformist Gelug school, aided by Mongolian military support, gained political supremacy and exerted its intellectual conformity throughout its vast network of monasteries. The Gelug influence permeated all levels of Tibetan government officials. Intolerance among the Tibetan Buddhist schools toward practices other than their own gained traction during this time, leading to solidified sectarianism. These divisions were most pronounced in central Tibet. It was against this backdrop of sectarianism and hardened divides among Tibetan Buddhists themselves that the Rime movement arose.
    Khyentse’s and Kongtrul’s philosophical scholarship, encyclopedic knowledge, esoteric abilities, and spiritual insights were unmatched in the middle of the 19th century. Such authority was the backbone of their nonsectarian approach to the Dharma. The attitude of Rime honored the thousands of teaching and practice lineages in Tibet instead of proselytizing harmful biases. Rime was not so much a tradition as an attitude. Mingling all the old traditions together did not create it. Rather, Rime cultivated pure perception toward all the teachings of the Buddha, with the recognition that the different traditions are all valid means of bringing about liberation from suffering. While respecting other approaches, Rime adherents almost always follow one lineage as their main practice. As Sogyal came into his own as a treasure revealer, he developed profound spiritual relations with the senior Khyentse and Kongtrul and was himself an example of the Rime approach whereby one embodies fully one’s own tradition while respecting the paths of others.

    Sogyal’s solo arrival at Dzongsar Monastery, two days’ ride from Drikok, to see Khyentse Wangpo was unannounced. A group of monks and village boys watched him ride through the dusty town up the hill to the monastery that stretched along a ridge. His Nyarong heritage was visible in the self-assuredness with which he cast a deadpan stare at the locals. Everyone at Dzongsar remembered when, 20 years prior, they had watched most of the monastery burn to the ground by the Nyarong chieftain Amgon. Anyone whose bone-lineage came from Nyarong was suspected of allegiance to Amgon, and Sogyal’s tough demeanor did not allay suspicion. As in most parts of Tibet, memories were extremely long here, especially for atrocities. Considering sending the Nyarong yogi back where he came from, three local village boys twisted fist-size rocks into their long sleeves, ready to use as an improvised mace. But nothing came of the ruffians’ challenges save a few insulting words hitting Sogyal’s back as he turned from the group.
    From Dzongsar Monastery’s hilltop, Sogyal could see the dirt path leading north toward the holy pilgrimage sites around the Crystal Lotus Cave. To the southwest, barley fields stretched as far as the eye could see. Hundreds of tents were pitched in the fields and along the river below, with horses grazing in the