THE SNOW LION NEWSLETTER

A Precious Jewel for the East and West
By Lauren Cottrell

I had the good fortune to spend a week with Venerable Segyu Rinpoche this summer at an intensive Tibetan Language Institute held in Taos, New Mexico. He is a wonderfully warm man, full of laughter and generously willing to share his deep wisdom. He speaks English well with a soft and rich cadence. It was a pleasure to be able to speak with him directly in my native tongue. It made communication easy and clear. I would like to share with you his fascinating story.

Biography
Venerable Segyu Rinpoche was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August 1950. He was raised in a Catholic family, his mother a housewife and his father a medical doctor. Throughout his early childhood, he had visions. His mother, concerned about them, took him to a local shaman/priest to have him examined. The priest confirmed that he was special in that he indeed had clairvoyant powers and was the reincarnation of a Great Master of the past. As Rinpoche explains, one of his visions was of a yogi-like Buddha figure floating in the sky. This particular vision recurred often until the age of seventeen.

He attended university in Brazil and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. Later he worked as the assistant director of the systems department of the first nuclear power plant in Brazil. He developed hardware and software programs that linked the headquarters with individual plants. Simultaneously, he pursued his spiritual path. He began a rigorous training as a healer in a Brazilian healing tradition.

After some years of apprenticeship he went to his teacher to show him a Buddhist statue resembling the yogi-like figure he had seen so many times. Before he removed it from the box, the teacher went into a deep state and said to him, "This is your teacher, Lama Je Tsongkhapa. You will help to spread His teachings to the world." The figure inside did indeed turn out to be a statue of Je Tsongkhapa, 1357-1419, founder of the Ge-luk order of Tibetan Buddhism.

Venerable Segyu Rinpoche had the vision of Tsongkhapa only two more times after that. Each time, his heart was filled with love and devotion and he asked for his guidance and blessings. Due to this, he was moved to find who Je Tsongkhapa was and to learn more about his teachings.

Because Buddhism was not widely known in Brazil, he resolved to go to the United States. In 1982, he began studies with Lama Kunga Rinpoche (Ngor Tharse Shabtrung) a Sak-ya lama who taught general Buddhism and Abhidharma.

At the end of 1984 he attended the teachings of the Venerable Gyume Khensur Jampal Shenpen, the 98th Ganden Tri Rinpoche (head of the Gelug order). During a private interview, the Gaden Tri Rinpoche indicated that Venerable Segyu Rinpoche was the reincarnation of Gyuchen Dorje Zangpo, a 16th century Tantric master. Ganden Tri Rinpoche gave him the name Zangpo Tulku, but advised him to use the name Shakya Zangpo.

Soon after this meeting, Gaden Tri Rinpoche passed away, and so Venerable Segyu Rinpoche sought spiritual guidance from Venerable Gashar Khensur Lati Rinpoche and Venerable Gyuto Khensur Tara Tulku Rinpoche. Recognizing Venerable Segyu Rinpoche's gifts as a teacher and healer, they blessed him with many instructions about meditation practice and also advised him to become a monk. At the time, he had several dreams and intuitions that the time was not yet ripe for taking monastic vows and so he took upasaka vows (lay clergy vows) from Kyabje Lati Rinpoche in 1987.
At the encouragement of both Kyabje Lati Rinpoche and Venerable Tara Tulku Rinpoche, he began to wear the white robes of a ngakpa lama (a yogi)- very unusual in the Gelug Order. During those years, he received many initiations and commentaries and established the Healing Buddha Foundation in Berkeley, California, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization dedicated to the study and teaching of Tibetan Buddhism. The Foundation later moved to Sebastopol, California in the spring of 1994.

In 1995, Venerable Segyu Rinpoche went to Tibet and again had many dreams and intuitions about the place in Tibet that was once his home. It was during this trip that he first learned of the existence of the Segyu order. He met Venerable Sermey Shapel Kangyur Rinpoche, who was the first person to tell him that Dorje Zangpo was in fact a Segyu lineage master. He also said that since the recognition was indicated by the Gaden Tri Rinpoche, there should be absolutely no doubt.

Then in 1997, while visiting Katmandu, Nepal, Venerable Segyu Rinpoche was visited by the senior most lama, Venerable Gen Enyi and the Venerable Gen Palden Temphel of the Segyu Datsang Tantric College in exile. They made detailed inquiries into his visions and signs. Two days later Gen Temphel met with him again and told him the story of the Segyu order. At that time he also announced that he and the other senior Segyu monks had conferred, made divination, and were now able to confirm that he was indeed the reincarnation of Venerable Gyuchen Dorje Zangpo- the seventh in the line of ten realized masters and abbots who constitute the close lineage of the unerring, exclusive, secret Tantric instructions and practices of the Segyu lineage. At the Monastery's request, Venerable Segyu Rinpoche promised that he would help to the best of his abilities to preserve and make flourish the sacred Segyu lineage.

History of Segyu Monastery
For those unfamiliar with the Segyu lineage, it was started by Jetsun Sherab Sengye at the request of the Great Lama Je Tsongkhapa near the end of his life in 1419. Je Tsongkhapa asked which of his disciples would preserve his Tantric teachings. One of his heart disciples, Jetsun Sherab Sengye, came forward to fulfill the request. With specific instructions from Je Tsongkhapa, Jetsun Sherab Sengye went to the 'Sed' district of the Tsang region of Tibet and established the Sed-Gyud Gaden Phodrang Monastery along with Dulnagpa Palden Zangpo in 1432. The Segyu monastery was the first Gelug Tantric College. Four years later, Jetzun Sherab Sengye founded the Me-gyu (Lower) Tantric College of Lhasa (which later became Gyu-me). The Gyu-to (Upper) Tantric College of Lhasa was established over 30 years after the founding of Gyu-me. In 1959, the Segyu Monastery in Tibet was completely destroyed by the Chinese communist invasion, and only a handful of monks escaped with their lives.

Having found his monastic home, Venerable Segyu Rinpoche took his getsul vows (novice monk vows) from Kyabje Lati Rinpoche, who conferred the name Segyu Choepel- Se refers to the Sed region of Tibet; gyu means tantra; choe means Dharma; and pel means to flourish; thus the meaning of his name is "to flourish the Dharma according to the Tantra of Se". In 1999, he took his gelong vows (full ordination) from Kyabje Lati Rinpoche at the Ganden Shartse monastery in India.

HH the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, who has recently taken an interest in the Segyu Lineage, has tentative plans to teach at the Sed-Gyued Monastery in Salugara, India, in November, 2001. Honoring HH the Dalai Lama, Rinpoche continues with joyous enthusiasm to preserve the Segyu lineage. To this end he has overseen the English translation and publishing of The History of the Segyu Ganden Phodrang Monastery 1432-1959, by Champa Thubten Zongtse Rinpoche, the accepting of new monks into the order, the publishing of the Guhyasamaja text book of the Segyu tradition, and the raising of funds to build a greatly needed kitchen, dormitory, and lama quarters for the monastery in India.

Up until 1959, the Segyu monastery was the lifeblood of the Riwo Geden tradition, where the study and teaching of Tantra with its pith instructions and bare perceptual commentaries have been preserved without degeneration. It is of great fortune for all those interested in the root Tantric tradition of Je Tsongkhapa, that Venerable Segyu Rinpoche has been found again and is working to revive the Segyu Monastery as a vital and active center for teaching in these times.

Healing Buddha Foundation (Segyu Gaden Dhargye Ling)
Being a Westerner, Venerable Segyu Rinpoche also has a strong motivation to preserve and spread the Buddhist teachings in the West. The Healing Buddha Foundation, Segyu Gaden Dhargye Ling of Sebastopol, California, now has branch centers and study groups in Santa Cruz, California; Olympia, Washington; Porto Alegre and Joao Pessoa, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Montevideo and Maldonado, Uruguay. Rinpoche teaches in fluent English, Portuguese, and Spanish.
The Healing Buddha Foundation holds weekly classes to study basic Buddhist texts. Tsongkhapa's Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (the Lam-Rim Chen-mo) is one of the main texts used. This fall the foundation added a class in debate. Throughout the year, there are one-day and weekend long teachings on a variety of topics. Segyu Gaden Dhargye Ling offers longer retreats in the spring, summer, and winter for various traditional meditation practices.
In addition to the numerous Buddhadharma activities offered, the Healing Buddha Foundation provides a unique service to the growing number of people experiencing physical discomfort, emotional disturbance, mental disharmony and spiritual crisis through its Psycho-Spiritual Healing Clinics. Treatment is based on Buddhist psychology and Tibetan Tantric medicine. The Psycho-Spiritual Healing Clinics provide a place for people to find relief from their present physical and mental suffering and serves to inspire them to look deeper at the root of suffering. Practitioners engage in a five-year training program, and strive to provide others with the conditions to see their own true goodness and aspire towards the ultimate healing of enlightenment. For those who cannot attend the clinic, The Healing Buddha Foundation offers Medicine Buddha pujas (ceremonies) for distant healing.

The Foundation also hosts the Jewel Heart Kids Club four times a year. During these day-long sessions the children are offered simple meditation techniques, story telling, arts and crafts, and the children do community service projects. Some of the recent projects included bagging lunches for a local food bank and decorating and planting flowerpots for a convalescent home. The Kids Club is designed to teach the children about the importance of practicing virtue and caring for others.

To find out more about the activities of the Healing Buddha Foundation and the ongoing work of Venerable Segyu Rinpoche, you can contact:

The Healing Buddha Foundation- Segyu Gaden Dhargye Ling
P.O Box 87, Sebastopol, CA 95473  Tel: (707) 823-8700
Email: HBF@healingbuddha.org
or visit the website www.healingbuddha.org

(The Healing Buddha Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit tax-exempt charitable organization dedicated the ultimate healing of enlightenment and the preservation of the Segyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.)