Miracles of the Karmapa's Black Crown, by
Zhanag Dzogpa Tenzin Namgyal
Until 1981 I was the personal secretary of His Holiness the
XVIth Gyalwa Karmapa. For the last thirty years of my life, I was
next to the Karmapa most of the time and wrote down almost every
word that he said, teaching that he gave, and letter that he wrote,
including the recognition letters of the various tulkus. I have
wanted to write an official biography of the Gyalwa Karmapa and to
speak about another side of the Karmapa, which I will do now.
The subject of my talk is about the activities of the Buddha
Karmapa, the ocean of unlimited activities of the Karmapa’s three
secrets of body, speech, and mind. It is something really
indescribable. No one would really be ale to describe it, but the
Karmapa appeared in this world as a human being, and I had the good
fortune of being his attendant for thirty years. So, what I will
describe is what I witnessed. In fact, it is impossible to convey
everything, so all I can do is share the main things I experienced
with you by presenting a brief account.
The tradition says that it is necessary for the Karmapa to visit
and pay respect to the Dalai Lama. All Karmapas would go to see
him; they would take off their hat and prostrate to him. When the
XVIth Karmapa was in his 8th year, together with his father, he
went to the Dalai Lama, the XIIIth at that time. The Dalai Lama and
his minister entered the audience room and the Karmapa performed
the prostrations. The Dalai Lama and his minister noticed that the
Karmapa was wearing a hat, so the minister said, “Why are you
prostrating with your hat on? That will not do!” He asked the
father, “Where do you come from, a remote valley? Don’t you know
that it is not allowed to wear a hat when you prostrate? That is a
big mistake.” The father responded, “He is not wearing a hat. He
hasn’t even brought a hat along. The Karmapas always have a wisdom
hat on, so probably this is the hat that you see him wearing.”
Having heard this, the Dalai Lama and his minister were amazed and
felt great faith in the Karmapa. Then the Dalai Lama wrote a
long-life prayer for him. This was the first occasion on which the
secret hat was seen in the life of the XVIth Karmapa, so it is a
quite extraordinary incident.
Later, when the Karmapa was staying at Palpung Monastery to receive
teachings from the previous Tai Situ Rinpoche, he travelled to a
monastery in Litang. On the way he and his escorts passed Dsongsar
Monastery, the monastery of Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche. The first
and previous Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche was there. At that time,
Jamyang Khyentse saw the Karmapa as Düsum Khyenpa, the First
Karmapa, and saw the Black Crown floating in space above his head
while he was prostrating to him. So, he saw this and they heard
Jamyang Khyentse describe what he had seen.
In 1944, when the Karmapa was going on pilgrimage through the south
of Tibet, the IInd King of Bhutan, Jigme Wangchug, invited him to
Bhutan. When the king met the Karmapa, he saw the Karmapa’s crown
and felt very great devotion for him from the depths of his
heart.
When the Karmapa left, the king cried like a little child – he
cried because of his great devotion and perfect faith after having
met the Gyalwa Karmapa.
In 1967, the Karmapa was invited to Ladakh. At that time a girl
from Kashmir without any faith came to see him. As the Karmapa
performed the Black Crown Ceremony, the girl saw the inner wisdom
hat inseparably on his head; when he placed the fabricated outer
crown on his head, she saw the inner one inside the outer crown.
This happened in Ladakh at that time.
Tashi Lada, who was responsible for looking after the college in
Rumtek, once lived near Tsurphu. When he was 11 years old, he
escorted his father to pay respects to the Karmapa. Next to the
Karmapa’s seat in his room was a statue of the Karmapa. When Tashi
Lada entered the room he saw two statues and saw one moving about.
He told his father, “There are two statues of the Karmapa. One is
motionless and the other one is moving about. Which is the real
one?” He had seen the statue with the Black Crown and he could see
the real Karmapa with the inner crown; they were identical, while
one was moving about. He was very young when this happened and did
not know anything about the Black Crown at that time. There are
many other accounts about people actually seeing the inner Black
Crown.
When the Karmapa was 12 years old and travelling from Tsurphu to
Kham in East Tibet, he came to a village called Drome that is
situated in an area called Tsumbu. At that time the river was
frozen and he went to play on the ice. Later when the ice melted
his footprints could be seen on the water and they remained there.
Apart from Padmasambhava, the Karmapa is the only great master
known to have left his footprints on water.
When the Karmapa was travelling in Kham, he reached a place called
Chang Tang, the location of the monastery of Dechen Rinpoche. The
Karmapa had a young antelope that had been given to him and also
had his tiny pet puppy, called Yidrug, along with him. When they
arrived at the monastery with his dog and antelope, both animals
left footprints on a stone, which can still be seen.
When the Karmapa went to a nunnery to bless the site, he threw
kernels of grain into the room; they usually do not roll under
objects. But when the Karmapa threw the grains there, they rolled
underneath all the objects in the room they rolled under the
feet of the statues and many lay in the hands of the statues. Half
of some and the whole of other kernels transformed into ringsel
(“precious white relics”). Some have been preserved from that
consecration and are now in Rumtek.
One time the Karmapa went to Phayul Monastery. The abbot there was
a famous and great siddha. When the Karmapa arrived, he tied the
sword he had into a knot. He gave it to the siddha and told him, “I
am a siddha, too.” When the Karmapa went to a Bonpo Monastery in
Nitang with Tai Situ Rinpoche, they both left footprints in the
stone; their horses did too.