Tulku
A tulku is an individual recognized as the reincarnation of a previous spiritual master, and expected to be reincarnated, in turn, after death. The tulku is a distinctive and significant aspect of Tibetan Buddhism, embodying the concept of enlightened beings taking corporeal forms to continue the lineage of specific teachings. The term "tulku" is a loanword from Tibetan སྤྲུལ་སྐུ, which originally referred to an emperor or ruler taking human form on Earth, signifying a divine incarnation. Over time, it evolved within Tibetan Buddhism to denote the corporeal existence of certain highly accomplished Buddhist masters whose purpose was to ensure the preservation and transmission of a particular lineage.
The tulku system originated in Tibet, particularly associated with the recognition of the second Karmapa in the 13th century. Since then, numerous tulku lineages have been established, with each tulku having a distinctive role in preserving and propagating specific teachings. Other high-profile examples of tulkus include the Dalai Lamas, the Panchen Lamas, the Samding Dorje Phagmos, Khyentses, the Zhabdrung Rinpoches, and the Kongtruls.
The process of recognizing tulkus involves a combination of traditional and supernatural methods. When a tulku passes away, a committee of senior lamas convenes to identify the reincarnation. They may look for signs left by the departed tulku, consult oracles, rely on dreams or visions, and sometimes even observe natural phenomena like rainbows. This process combines mysticism and tradition to pinpoint the successor who will carry forward the teachings of their predecessor.
A Western tulku is the recognized successor to a lama or dharma master born in the West, commonly of non-Tibetan ethnic heritage. This recognition has sparked debates and discussions regarding the cultural adaptation and authenticity of Westerners within the traditional Tibetan tulku system. Some argue that Westerners should explore their own forms of Buddhism rather than attempting to fit into this system. Western tulkus may struggle to gain recognition among laypeople and even other monastics. Generally, Western tulkus do not follow traditional Tibetan monastic life, and commonly leave their home monasteries for alternative careers, not necessarily chaplaincy.
Etymology and meaning
The word སྤྲུལ or 'sprul' was a verb in Old Tibetan literature and was used to describe the བཙན་པོ་ btsanpo taking a human form on earth. So the sprul idea of taking a corporeal form is a local religious idea alien to Indian Buddhism and other forms of Buddhism. The term tülku became associated with the translation of the Sanskrit philosophical term nirmanakaya. According to the philosophical system of trikaya or three bodies of Buddha, nirmanakaya is the Buddha's "body" in the sense of the bodymind. Thus, the person of Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, is an example of nirmanakaya.Over time, indigenous religious ideas became assimilated by the new Buddhism; e.g. sprul became part of a compound noun, སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་'sprul.sku'. Valentine summarizes the shift in meaning of the word tülku: "This term that was originally used to describe the Buddha as a 'magical emanation' of enlightenment, is best translated as 'incarnation' or 'steadfast incarnation' when used in the context of the tulku system to describe patriarchs that reliably return to human form."
According to the Light of Fearless Indestructible Wisdom by Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal: the term tülku "designates one who is 'noble' and used in Buddhist texts to denote a highly achieved being who has attained the first bhumi, a level of attainment which is truly egoless, or higher." Higher Vajrayana practitioners who have attained siddhis and mastered the bardo of dying, bardo of dharmata or bardo of becoming can be reborn as a tülkus. According to Khenpo Ngawang Pelzang:
In addition to Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism is a traditional religion in China and Mongolia. The Mongolian word for a tülku is qubilγan, though such persons may also be called by the honorific title qutuγtu, or hutagt in the standard Khalkha dialect. The Chinese word for tülku is huófó, which literally means "living Buddha".
Grades
Tibetans recognize at least three grades of tulku. Three of these grades as reported by Peter Bishop are:- Low-level lamas – any monk who has been rewarded with a human rebirth
- Nearly perfected beings – these are highly skilled practitioners who intentionally reincarnate to fulfill a specific purpose or mission
- Incarnate Bodhisattvas – the fullest sense of tulku, this grade includes only the major tulku lineages such as the Karmapas, the Dalai Lamas, and the Tai Situpas.
History
A related term in Tibetan is yangsi which refers to an enlightened master who has returned to earthly existence for the sake of benefitting sentient beings. While the notion of a nirmāṇakāya is found throughout Mahayana Buddhism, and is integral to the doctrine of the trikaya, the concept of the yangsi is uniquely Tibetan. Tulku, as a title, refers to one who is recognized as the yangsi of a master.
It arose in the context of a political vacuum spurred by the assassination of Ralpachen, which saw monastic centers develop political power in a second spreading of Buddhism in Tibet. It had "purely politico-mercantile origins and functions" and later became a significant spiritual institution. However, some commentators argue that the political shift was "grafted onto the tradition of recognizing reincarnations, not the other way around." Turrell V. Wylie wrote that the tulku system "developed in Tibetan Buddhism primarily for political reasons" while Reginald Ray argued that such a view ignores "miss what is perhaps its most distinctive feature" which is its "important ideological and religious dimensions", being "deeply rooted" in the bodhisattva concept.
Tulku have been associated with ruling power since its origination, expressing indigenous Tibetan notions of kingship. This system supplanted the earlier model of monastic governance, in which a celibate religious head acted as abbot, while his brother, a married administrative head, continued the family line, with his eldest son becoming the next religious head, creating an uncle-nephew system of inheritance. The first recognized tulku was perhaps Rangjung Dorje, 3rd Karmapa Lama.
Giuseppe Tucci traced the origin of the tulku concept to Indian Vajrayana, particularly in a fragmentary biography of Maitripada he discovered in Nepal. The tulku system of preserving Dharma lineages developed in Tibet after the 12th century, with the first recognized tulku being perhaps Rangjung Dorje, 3rd Karmapa Lama. Foreign tulkus have been identified since at least the sixteenth century, when the grandson of the Mongol Altan Khan was recognized as the 4th Dalai Lama. The Mongol conversion to Buddhism served a political function and allowed Tibet to build a closer relationship with the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. Traditionally, however, tulku were only recognized from Tibetan cultural areas, encompassing Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, and Bhutan.
The Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1959 created massive social upheaval. This intensified during the Cultural Revolution which brought irreparable damage to the institutions and traditions which constitute Tibetan Buddhism as one of the Four Olds. As a result, Tibetan Buddhism has flourished in areas of Tibetan culture not under Chinese rule, such as Nepal, Bhutan, and parts of North India. In India, the traditional monastic system is largely intact and the tulku system remains politically relevant. Compounded with the inherent transnational character of proselytizing religions, Tibetan Buddhism is "pulled between the need to adapt itself and the need to preserve itself".
Westerners began taking an interest in Tibetan Buddhism during the counterculture of the 1960s, and Tibetan Buddhism became popular among western Buddhists and they began to be recognized as incarnations of Buddhist masters around this time. Most of these, however, were expatriate Tibetans or Tibetans of mixed heritage, such as the son of Chögyam Trungpa. Initially, Westerners were not recognized as tulkus by the wider Tibetan diaspora.
The recognition of Westerners as tulkus began in the 1970s, following the spread of Tibetan Buddhism to modern Western countries such as the United States. The first recognized Western tulku was Dylan Henderson, an American boy identified as his father's teacher, or alternatively Ossian MacLise. MacLise, however, was born in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Lineage of the Karmapas
, was a disciple of the Tibetan master Gampopa. A talented child who studied Buddhism with his father from an early age and who sought out great teachers in his twenties and thirties, he is said to have attained enlightenment at the age of fifty while practicing dream yoga. He was henceforth regarded by the contemporary highly respected masters Shakya Śri and Lama Shang as the Karmapa, a manifestation of Avalokiteśvara, whose coming was predicted in the Samadhiraja Sutra and the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra.The Karmapa is a long line of consciously reborn lamas. A Karmapa's identity is confirmed through a combination realized lineage teachers supernatural insight, prediction letters left by the previous Karmapa, and the young child's own self-proclamation and ability to identify objects and people known to its previous incarnation.
After the first Karmapa died in 1193, a lama had recurrent visions of a particular child as his rebirth. This child was recognized as the Karma Pakshi, 2nd Karmapa Lama, thus beginning the Tibetan tulku tradition. Karma Pakshi was the first recognized tulku in Tibetan Buddhism that predicted the circumstances of his rebirth.
The 8th, 10th, and 12th incarnations, as well as the 16th Karmapa, each faced conflicts during their recognition, which were ultimately resolved. There was a controversy over the enthronement of two 17th Karmapas.