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

104 THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYINGSome 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 demandingtutor. He had to live with him in his hermitage in the mountains.One morning his tutor left for a neighboring village toconduct a ritual for someone who had just died. Just before heleft he gave my master a book called Chanting the Names ofManjushri, an extremely difficult text about fifty pages long,which would ordinarily take months to memorize. His partingwords were: "Memorize this by this evening!"The young Khyentse was like any other child, and once histutor had left he began to play. He played and he played, untilthe neighbors became increasingly anxious. They pleaded withhim, "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. Finallyjust before sunset, when he knew his tutor would be returning,he read through the whole text once. When his tutorreturned and tested him, he was able to recite the entire workfrom memory, word perfect.Ordinarily, no tutor in his right mind would set such a taskfor an infant. In his heart of hearts, he knew that Khyentsewas the incarnation of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom, andit was almost as if he were trying to lure him into "proving"himself. The child himself, by accepting such a difficult taskwithout protest, was tacitly acknowledging who he was. LaterKhyentse wrote in his autobiography that although his tutordid not admit it, even he was quite impressed.What continues in a tulku? Is the tulku exactly the sameperson as the figure he reincarnates? He both is and isn't. Hismotivation and dedication to help all beings is the same, buthe is not actually the same person. What continues from lifeto life is a blessing, what a Christian would call "grace." Thistransmission of a blessing and grace is exactly tuned andappropriate to each succeeding age, and the incarnationappears in a way potentially best suited to the karma of thepeople 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 DalaiLama. He is revered by Buddhists as the incarnation ofAvalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Infinite Compassion.Brought up in Tibet as its god-king, the Dalai Lama receivedall the traditional training and major teachings of all the lineagesand became one of the very greatest living masters in the