Lord of the Dance
Autobiography of a Tibetan Lama
By Chagdud Tulku
Lord of the Dance is the autobiography of a great ngakpa: Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. He was known in the West for
establishing thriving Dharma centres throughout North and
South America. The book, however, like Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s Born in Tibet , focuses primarily on Chagdud
Tulku’s life in Tibet during the last years before the Chinese
invasion, when Eastern Tibet’s traditional culture was still
intact. His childhood, education as a recognised tulku, coming of age,
and flight into exile are described. The book closes with an account
of Chagdud Tulku’s return visit, many years later, to the scenes
of his early life, after a partial relaxation of Chinese policy.
For readers interested in the Nyingma Tradition in general
and the Aro lineage in particular, Lord of the Dance
offers intriguing glimpses. There is a vivid description of an
emergency session of chöd practice during a three-year group
retreat (the chödpa, summoned by a galloping horseman, was
tasked with preventing a corpse from becoming reanimated by evil
spirits, by means of the chödpa’s sleeping overnight in a shed
with the rapidly bloating body, which eventually exploded). There are
verbal snapshots of great Lamas such as Dilgo Khyentsé Rinpoche and Düd’jom Rinpoche, functioning with penetrating
insight and compassion in the midst of difficult and demanding
times. There is an ongoing theme concerning the auspiciousness of the
Padma Kod (Pemakö) region as a refuge for Dharma practitioners. (This
region is the site of the children’s school
directed by Lopön
Ögyen Ten’dzin, in which both boys and girls are now being
trained in the tradition of the gö kar chang lo’i dé).
For readers interested in the non-monastic or yogic style of
Buddhist practice, Lord of the Dance provides a rich portrait
of that style in its living cultural context. From an early age,
Chagdud Tulku’s strong visionary experiences pointed him in the
direction of a non-monastic life. When he reached the point in his
training where he had to decide whether to continue as a monk, there
is no indication that that decision was a foregone conclusion, that
there was no alternative to the monastic path. Chagdud Tulku decided
to become a ngakpa, ‘a yogi who holds no vows of
celibacy’. He consulted with his stepfather on this decision,
who replied that although the path of the ngakpa is not easy, many
people in his family had practiced and accomplished it. Chagdud
Tulku’s mother was a powerful practitioner and magician, his
stepfather was a Tértön, his half-sister was a siddha,
and his great aunt was such a strong meditator that she seldom lay
down to sleep. Most of the extraordinary experiences of practice that
Chagdud Tulku describes take place in the context of his family and of
ordinary human life.
Chagdud Tulku had a temper and had difficulties in his
relationships. He married twice and had children. The traditional
Tibetan context that Chagdud Tulku presents is one in which non-stop
visionary and magical experiences are not separate from all the
equally non-stop emotional hassles, arguments, and trying
circumstances. This is someone who played the rôle not simply of
spiritual practitioner and Lama, but doctor, road repair contractor,
and community development administrator – among others. The life
that Chagdud Tulku presents, as a form of teaching, is a picture of
being fully involved with the phenomenal world while at the same time
recognising its transparency.
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