The-Tibetan-Book-of-Living-and-Dying

104 THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING
Some incarnations need to practice or study less than others.
This was the case with my own master, Jamyang Khyentse.
When my master was young he had a very demanding
tutor. He had to live with him in his hermitage in the mountains.
One morning his tutor left for a neighboring village to
conduct a ritual for someone who had just died. Just before he
left he gave my master a book called Chanting the Names of
Manjushri, an extremely difficult text about fifty pages long,
which would ordinarily take months to memorize. His parting
words were: "Memorize this by this evening!"
The young Khyentse was like any other child, and once his
tutor had left he began to play. He played and he played, until
the neighbors became increasingly anxious. They pleaded with
him, "You'd better start studying, otherwise you'll get a beating."
They knew just how strict and wrathful his tutor was.
Even then he paid no attention, and kept on playing. Finally
just before sunset, when he knew his tutor would be returning,
he read through the whole text once. When his tutor
returned and tested him, he was able to recite the entire work
from memory, word perfect.
Ordinarily, no tutor in his right mind would set such a task
for an infant. In his heart of hearts, he knew that Khyentse
was the incarnation of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom, and
it was almost as if he were trying to lure him into "proving"
himself. The child himself, by accepting such a difficult task
without protest, was tacitly acknowledging who he was. Later
Khyentse wrote in his autobiography that although his tutor
did not admit it, even he was quite impressed.
What continues in a tulku? Is the tulku exactly the same
person as the figure he reincarnates? He both is and isn't. His
motivation and dedication to help all beings is the same, but
he is not actually the same person. What continues from life
to life is a blessing, what a Christian would call "grace." This
transmission of a blessing and grace is exactly tuned and
appropriate to each succeeding age, and the incarnation
appears in a way potentially best suited to the karma of the
people of his time, to be able most completely to help them.
Perhaps the most moving example of the richness, effectiveness,
and subtlety of this system is His Holiness the Dalai
Lama. He is revered by Buddhists as the incarnation of
Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Infinite Compassion.
Brought up in Tibet as its god-king, the Dalai Lama received
all the traditional training and major teachings of all the lineages
and became one of the very greatest living masters in the