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THE GROUND 275Then something extraordinary happened. An incandescent,milky light, looking like a thin and luminous fog, began toappear and gradually spread everywhere. The palace templehad four large electric lamps outside; normally at that time ofthe evening they shone brightly, as it was already dark byseven o'clock. Yet they were dimmed by this mysterious light.Apa Pant, who was then Political Officer to Sikkim, was thefirst to ring and inquire what on earth it could be. Then manyothers started to call; this strange, unearthly light was seen byhundreds of people. One of the other masters then told usthat such manifestations of light are said in the Tantras to be asign of someone attaining Buddhahood.It was originally planned that Jamyang Khyentse's bodywas to be kept in the palace temple for one week, but verysoon we started receiving telegrams from his disciples. It was1959; many of them, including Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, hadjust arrived in exile, having made the long and dangerousescape from Tibet. They all begged that the body be kept sothat they could have a chance to see it. So we kept it for twomore weeks. Each day there were four different prayer sessionswith hundreds of monks, headed by Lamas of all thedifferent schools, and often with the lineage holders presiding,and thousands upon thousands of butter-lamps were offered.The body did not smell or start to decay, so we kept it foranother week. India is fiercely hot in the summer, but eventhough week after week went by, the body showed no signsof decay. We ended up keeping Jamyang Khyentse's body forsix months; a whole environment of teaching and practiceevolved in its holy presence: teachings that Jamyang Khyentsehad been giving, which were incomplete when he died, werefinished by his oldest disciples, and many, many monks wereordained.Finally we took the body to the place he had chosen forthe cremation. Tashiding is one of the most sacred sites inSikkim, and stands on top of a hill. All the disciples wentthere, and we constructed the stupa for his relics by ourselves,although in India all grueling manual work is usually done byhired laborers. Everybody, young and old, from even a masterlike Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche to the most ordinary person,carried stones up the hill and built the whole thing with theirown bare hands. It was the greatest possible testimony to thedevotion he inspired.