Q: Many mediums suffer severe physical or mental distress, especially before being recognized, owing to the opening of their subtle, psychic channels. Did you experience this? TN: There have been no mental difficulties, but my blood pressure is higher and my heart rate has increased. However, once trances are stabilized there is generally no disorder. Q: What special training do your attendants receive for handling your trance states? Does His Holiness understand the Protector's poetic messages, or do they have to be interpreted for him? TN: The kuden has four main attendants—one in front, and one, each, to his left, right and back, in that order. The one in front is the most important because he is responsible for tying on the kuden's heavy headdress [it currently weights thirty pounds, though in Tibet it weighed seventy] just as he goes into trance, and removing it just as the possession ends. The newest attendant takes the rear position, and is moved up to the right, left, and front as he gains experience. If the attendant in front is ill, the attendant on the left takes his position. As to the Protector's messages, they are spoken in an ancient dialect. Another attendant, a trained scribe, writes the messages down. They are also tape-recorded nowadays. But His Holiness understands them perfectly without translation—even when the scribe sometimes doesn't!
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Q: Please tell me the history of the Oracle's complex and heavy costume. Was it designed according to an enlightened master's vision?
TN: It was designed according to a vision of Desi Sangye Gyatso, the regent of the Fifth Dalai Lama. It was he who completed the building of the Nechung Monastery. At that time, he offered the ritual outfit to the medium, who smiled broadly and said: "This costume is so amazing that it would be an object of pride even in the God realms!"
Q: You clearly have a close karmic relationship with the Protector. Have you perhaps served as his kuden in previous lives?
TN: I am very possibly reincarnated as kuden from previous lives. But this does not work in the same way as with most tulkus, who are recognized very young. For one thing, you have to be at least teenaged for the Protector to take possession. So reincarnation is not linear, as with tulkus. One might be reincarnated from a much earlier kuden.
Q: Kuden-la, in this time of danger what advice do you have for Buddhist practitioners and non-practitioners?
TN: Practice is beyond religion. His Holiness [the Dalai Lama] always advises each person to engage in his own tradition, putting his heart into the practice while respecting other traditions. Also, remember that the leaders of each faith have appeared at different times. Christ appeared at a different time from the Buddha, and even within Tibetan Buddhism the founders of the four lineages appeared at different times. It's for the sake of our different needs and dispositions that different teachers have come in a particular order. If you have no religion, it is still important to have right conduct. That makes one's life better, and those around one happier.
Q: Can you tell us about the Protector's origins, and how he and Chenrezig, as embodied by the Dalai Lama, work together? Is his function, like that of His Holiness, expanding beyond Tibet to global concern?
TN: There are four types of enlightened activity: Peace, Increase, Power, and Wrath. His Holiness, as the embodiment of Chenrezig, manifests the first two types, while all Dharmapalas [protectors], including Nechung Dorje Drakden who possesses the Nechung kuden, manifest the latter two. But though the Protector's appearance is wrathful, he is inwardly love—like a mother being strict with her children, though she has love and care for them. There is only a projection of wrath. As to the Protector's relationship with Chenrezig, this goes back aeons, to an Indian king who was a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, and his protector, Dharmazala. Within recorded history, Nechung dwelt in Bhata Hor in Mongolia. When Padmasambhava brought Buddhism to Tibet 1300 years ago, he faced many obstacles. He therefore deemed it necessary to bring forth a guardian—one with a strong connection to Chenrezig—who would protect the teachings in their entirety. So Muni Tsenpo, who was King Trisong Deutsen's son, sent an intermediary to Mongolia to bring back the Protector. To effect this, there was an outer appearance of a war, including the capture of vessels belonging to the Protector. These included a raksha skin mask, a turquoise statue of Tara, and a mother-of-pearl statue of Chenrezig. These were the physical base of the Protector, who was bound to oath by Padmasambhava to become the guardian of Tibet and its Buddhist doctrine. As to the origin of the Protector's appearance through a physical medium, it began with the third Dalai Lama. When the second Dalai died, he went to a Pure Land, where he told Padmasambhava that he did not wish to return to this world. Padmasambhava advised him to take rebirth because of the importance of his role as Avalokiteshvara, but that to help him he, Guru Rinpoche, would send him two protectors—one red, one black. The red referred to Nechung, and the black to Palden Lhamo. But it was in the reign of the Fifth Dalai Lama, when the Nechung Monastery was completed, that the institution of the Nechung Protector became official. Today, the Protector is possibly expanding his concerns. He protects all those who pay attention to karma. Whoever directs their actions positively is protected.
Q: Who have been your principal teachers?
TN: My first teaching was from HH the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. Ling Rinpoche, his senior tutor, was also very kind to me, and gave me my novice vows. In addition, I received teaching from Kalu Rinpoche, Trulshig Rinpoche, and Sakya Trizin, who gave me the Thirteen Golden Dharmas. The previous Nechung Rinpoche gave me teachings, as well.
Q: During the time before the present Nechung Rinpoche took rebirth, you had administrative as well as ritual responsibilities in running the monastery. Now that he has been discovered and installed, are your burdens any lighter?
TN: The Nechung Rinpoche and the Kuden are considered equals. They have the same size throne. So if the Kuden is absent, the Nechung Rinpoche leads the rituals, but otherwise I, as kuden, still have to lead the pujas.
Q: I have heard something about your making sacred sculptures. Could you elaborate on this?
TN: In Nechung's tradition there are two routes a monk can take. Of course, all of us have to learn the basic scriptures, but after that we can either focus on making mandalas, tormas, and so forth, or we focus on chants and recitations. Since I had an inclination toward the artistic, I concentrated on making tormas, and I became the principal Ritual Master to the Oracle's previous kuden. But I never created metal sculpture. Since I was appointed kuden, I only do a little painting—things like opening the eyes of sculpted deities.
Q: Is your visit to the West inspired by the Protector or mandated by HH the Dalai Lama?
TN:Neither, though any time I take a trip I have to inform His Holiness of where I am going and for how long. In 2001 I took on, as a personal commitment, the rebuilding of the Drepung Deyang Monastery in Mundgod, complete with a medical clinic for both lay and ordained. The Drepung and Nechung monasteries are very closely related. A chief disciple of Lama Tsongkhapa, Jamyang Choje, was urged to establish a monastery for the study of the Gelukpa teachings, and this became Drepung. In turn, his disciple, Lama Jangchub Palden, founded Deyang, one of the colleges of Drepung. Later, in a vision, he saw that articles belonging to the Nechung Protector would come down the river and land on the bank below Drepung. When these items, in their leather box, indeed came down the river, one of his attendants picked the box up. But as it became very heavy, he opened it out of curiosity. A dove flew out and vanished into a drowa tree. When Lama Jangchub Palden learned of this, he decided it would be auspicious to establish a monastery there which, in accordance with a prophecy of Padmasambhava, he called Nechung—literally, "small site," in contrast to Samye Monastery, which was also called Nechen, or "large site," and was the original seat of the Protector. "The place is small, but the Protector is great," said Jangchub Palden. Thus, he became the builder of both Deyang and Nechung monasteries.
More about Nechung . . .
Anyone interested in contributing to the rebuilding of Deyang Monastery is encouraged to send tax-deductible donations in care of:
c/o Marya Schwabe
Nechung Dorje Drayang Ling
P.O. Box 250
Pahala, HI 96777
