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THE SPIRITUAL PATH 143highest stage of realization, what we call "the exhaustion ofphenomenal reality."THE STREAM OF BLESSINGSSuch stories about the power of devotion and the blessingof the master do not merely belong to the past. In a figure likeKhandro Tsering Chödrön, the greatest woman master of ourday, who was the wife of my master Jamyang Khyentse, yousee very clearly what years of the deepest devotion and practicecan create out of the human spirit. Her humility andbeauty of heart, and the shining simplicity, modesty, and lucid,tender wisdom of her presence are honored by all Tibetans,even though she herself has tried as far as possible to remainin the background, never to push herself forward, and to livethe hidden and austere life of an ancient contemplative.Jamyang Khyentse has been the inspiration of Khandro'sentire life. It was her spiritual marriage to him that transformedher from a very beautiful and slightly rebellious youngwoman into the radiant dakini 3 that other great masters holdin the highest regard. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche looked to heras a "spiritual mother," and always used to say how privilegedhe felt that of all the Lamas she revered and loved him mostdeeply. Whenever he used to see Khandro, he would take herhand and tenderly caress it, and then slowly place it on hishead; he knew that was the only way he could ever getKhandro to bless him.Jamyang Khyentse gave Khandro all the teachings, andtrained her and inspired her to practice. Her questions to himwould be in the form of songs, and he would write songsback to her, in an almost teasing and playful way. Khandrohas demonstrated her undying devotion to her master by continuingto live after his death in the place in Sikkim where helived toward the end of his life, where he died, and where hisrelics are kept, enshrined in a stupa. 4 There, near him, she carrieson her clear, independent life, devoted to constant prayer.She has read the whole Word of the Buddha and hundreds ofvolumes of commentaries, slowly, word by word. DilgoKhyentse Rinpoche used to say that every time he went backto the stupa of Jamyang Khyentse, he felt as if he were cominghome, because Khandro's presence made the atmosphereso rich and warm. It was as if, he implied, my masterJamyang Khyentse was still present and still alive, in her devotionand her being.