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H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche asking for ordination from H.H. the Dalai Lama

sharonsawsharonsaw
edited May 2012 in Sanghas
Just wanted to share this - what were most of us doing when we were 22 years old? Or if we are younger than that now, what are we doing now?

When he was 22 years old, H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche was not yet officially recognised as a Rinpoche, yet his powerful, unstoppable Dharma imprints from previous lives have already been evident throughout his youth and culminated in this request for ordination. A year later, Rinpoche's dream came true when he was ordained by H.H. the Dalai Lama himself in India...

Read about it in his own words and see the rare footage...
http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/me/requesting-ordination-in-1987.html

Comments

  • TakuanTakuan Veteran
    I like Tsem Tulku Rinpoche. He is quite funny and doesn't take himself too seriously. It's very easy to relate what he has to say. Brad Warner and Tsem Tulku Rinpoche are my two favorite modern dharma teachers.
    sharonsaw
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    Most of us, when we were 22, were doing something similar to Tsem: graduating from advanced studies in college. In lieu of ordination, we got diplomas.
  • sharonsawsharonsaw
    At 23, i had a Masters (Hon) from Cambridge University... with my Bachelors in Land Economy.. but i've never used my educational qualifications. It's just a piece of paper on the wall. The jobs i have had since I had chosen because of my passion for the job, rather than my qualifications. I am now working full time for Rinpoche's Dharma organisation and Rinpoche has recently written a blog post, called The Unknown about Dharma work as opposed to secular work which i found very grounding for me. What do you guys think of what Rinpoche says?
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    At 23, i had a Masters (Hon) from Cambridge University... with my Bachelors in Land Economy.. but i've never used my educational qualifications. It's just a piece of paper on the wall. The jobs i have had since I had chosen because of my passion for the job, rather than my qualifications. I am now working full time for Rinpoche's Dharma organisation and Rinpoche has recently written a blog post, called The Unknown about Dharma work as opposed to secular work which i found very grounding for me. What do you guys think of what Rinpoche says?
    Inspiring!!!
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Most of us, when we were 22, were doing something similar to Tsem: graduating from advanced studies in college. In lieu of ordination, we got diplomas.
    I was working as a shop assistant trying to keep my head above water while my dear H of the time, was languishing in one of her Majesty's less salubrious establishments serving an 18-month sentence for larceny.
    so not everyone was able to follow a 'perfect route'....

  • sharonsawsharonsaw
    Federica.. i only came across Dharma when i was in my mid-30s... boy, i wish i had the merits to meet Tsem Rinpoche earlier! Have to make up for lost time now.... but my son has known Dharma and Rinpoche since he was 7 years old... so for that, i'm grateful :)
  • LydiaLondonLydiaLondon
    I leave at Samye Dzong in London and there's a young monk living here who moved in about the same time as myself, maybe a year or two ago. He had taken ordination shortly before. I think he was 25 at the time. Before that, as far as I know, he was leading a "normal" Western life, got a degree and now he's a Buddhist monk about to take Life Ordination... Of the people I know, he's one of the most dedicated Dharma practitioners. I think it is pretty amazing to make that total transition from a Western upbringing at his age, when most of his contemporaries are out finding the love of their life, establishing a career and hunting after all sorts of other material things...
    My own interest in meditation and Buddhism had certainly been kindled by the time I was 22, but it was a mere tiny seedling at the time.
  • sharonsawsharonsaw
    Dear Lydia,

    Thanks for sharing that wonderful news to rejoice in. He must have strong Dharma seeds from previous lives... what do you do at Samye Dzong?
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    edited May 2012
    Hmm. What were we doing at 22 and what are we doing now?

    22 was my first year living on my own after spending a 3 months training term in a Zen monastery as a lay student.
    Recently someone looked at my hairy form in summer shorts and asked why I shaved the hair on my ankles & knees.
    It took me a moment to puzzle it out. 38 years of daily zafu sitting has prevented the hair from growing at those sitting pressure points.

    And people say zen gives you nothing!
  • minimayhen88minimayhen88 Veteran
    edited May 2012
    At 22 (2 years ago ^_^) I was in my second year of my BA degree in Sociology and Social Policy (I started uni late after working a year as a special educational needs teaching assistant and then a year working as a dementia care assistant) ... this was before I came across Buddhism at 23 ... a year ago now, and fell in love with the philosophy, that simply made sense to me. Now at 24 .... I am still a little nieve and ask silly questions!! .... But with my spirituality strong .... I will be doing a teaching course in Oxford, then moving to Taiwan to teach :-) then some day myself and 3 friends plan on starting our own Charity School :-) ........so the path is great
    Federica.. i only came across Dharma when i was in my mid-30s... boy, i wish i had the merits to meet Tsem Rinpoche earlier! Have to make up for lost time now.... but my son has known Dharma and Rinpoche since he was 7 years old... so for that, i'm grateful :)
    I wish I had found the Dharma earlier too :-) because then my life might of been happier sooner... but thankfully I have found the Dharma now ^_^ and some day hope to bring up my children in a Buddhist culture :-)




  • andyrobynandyrobyn Veteran
    edited May 2012
    The country of Taiwan has opened my eyes in many ways, and I took my daughter ( who is turning 16 this year) to the country for her first visit last year. She hopes to return, also to teach once she has completed her teaching degree after finishing school.

    At 22 I was a newly qualified registered nurse ( sister in those days !!) and I looked about 15 years old!!! I was enrolled at uni doing an Arts degree that year as well as working both part time and travelling lots with my boyfriend who was a rock and roll muso ... those were fun days !! lol.

    Lots of late night intellectual discussions, drugs and good food and wine - it wasn't bad at all. Ultimately, it changed though - of course.
  • LydiaLondonLydiaLondon
    @sharonsaw
    I'm a resident at Samye Dzong. So I just live here. There are about twenty of us doing that. Some are also full-time volunteers for the centre working in the office, cooking etc. But I work outside and pay rent. Of course it's a great opportunity to get involved in a lot of things and the shrine room is only ever 30 seconds away, beckoning for me to come and do some practice. Very difficult to find excuses...
    I think you are right about our monk. There has to be some very good seeds there. When he chants in Tibetan it sounds like he's been doing it for a whole life-time already...
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