Here are two works that fill a void, and what a void, because their subjects are nothing less than the biographies of the two main tutors of His Holiness the Dalai Lama! As surprising as it may seem, or perhaps because of the complexity of the work to be done, until then there were very few documents on these two great masters of the 1903th century that were accessible in Western languages. The first biography on Kyabje Ling Rinpoche (1983-XNUMX), The life of my teacher. A Biography of Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, is the work of Dalai Lama himself; the second, The magical play of illusion. The autobiography of Trijang Rinpoche, is the autobiography of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche (1901-1981).
The book dedicated to Kyabje Ling Rinpoche – only biography written by the Dalai Lama! – paints a fascinating portrait of one of the jewels of Tibetan Buddhism of the last century. Remember that Kyabje Ling Rinpoche assumed the function of Ganden Tripa (supreme leader of the Gelugpa school) from 1965 to 1983!
We discover the education and career of the man whom the Nobel Peace Prize winner describes as "the one who has exercised the greatest influence on my life", and as his true "anchor point" throughout the tragic events. which drove him and so many other Tibetans into exile. Written in the traditional style of a Tibetan spiritual biography that reflects the faith of a disciple – the Dalai Lama – towards his master, this biography plunges us into the daily life of an extraordinary being and transforms us over the reading as privileged witnesses of an extraordinary relationship between two no less extraordinary beings. We also meet the great masters who gave him their precious teachings: Phapongkha Rinpoche, Lati Rinpoche or Kyongla Rinpoche, to name but a few... We follow him during these many trips all over the world, the reading of which leaves us almost out of breath as Ling Rinpoche traveled the planet and spent himself without counting for the good of all beings.
Kyabé Trijang Rinpoche's autobiography is equally fascinating. It should be remembered that Trijang Rinpoche was one of the rare masters to master all the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, and unanimously recognized as one of the greatest practitioners of tantras of his time. In this capacity, he was not only one of the Dalai Lama's tutors, but also the root teacher of a large number of lamas who introduced Buddhism to the West. In this, this book offers us a return to the sources! Endowed with an unparalleled memory, the author gives us much more than a simple autobiography, he reveals to us the beauties and wonders of a Tibet that has sadly disappeared today.
It should also be noted that we, the French, have a special bond with these two great masters since the two came several times to our country, in particular at the invitation of another great master, the venerable Dagpo Rinpoche. These two works should occupy a place of choice in our libraries and become essential reading for all those interested in Tibet, its culture, its history and, it goes without saying, its spiritual life.