Tulku

I really enjoyed this documentary. I remember seeing snippets promoting it some years ago, and a few weeks ago wondered if it ever got finished. I am not a Buddhist, but have read a lot of books about reincarnation, found T. Lobsang Rampa's books and read about half of those, plus got 2 biographies about T. Lobsang Rampa - and yes, I am aware that he is not officially accepted or endorsed by Tibetans. This documentary arrived as I am completing a recently done biography of Edgar Cayce, so I am somewhat immersed in the concepts of soul groups and reincarnation.The extended interview included in the Bonus/Extras section of Dzongsar Khyentse Rimpoche was fascinating. His analysis of the meaning of Tulkus being born in the West, many without the historical cultural support network, comes with a frankly surprising opinion. My takeaway from the extended interview is that he sees institutionalized corruption within the Tulku tradition and that he believes with the incarnations of unsupported Tulkus in the west (some of which are recognized by "dodgy" people and are questionnable Tulkus) that there will eventually be a gradual dismantling of the Tulku tradition - leaving only Buddhism. And, he thinks that will be a good thing.I loved this documentary.I am not Buddhist, but am interested in reincarnation and Consciousness and more thinking along the lines of the My Big TOE concept of Tom Campbell that this is a virtual reality. The comments within the documentary and in the feedback about the corruption and abuses were mentioned in T. Lobsang Rampa's first trilogy too.

It is a little overwhelming to see that a Tulku - someone that comes back in order to help others in this world of suffering - feels as lost and confused as we - standard people - do! It is such an effort for this special beings to come back and than you have to learn everything again! Eventually you will remember your previous lives, but it is not guaranteed that you will not divert from Buddha's path! And Samsara is such distracting and tempting place even for a Tulku... I had the honor to be a student of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, a man that worked day and night to teach the Dharma. He was also a Tulku. He endured Tibet invasion, exile and when he arrived in India he had to work carrying rocks during the day. At night, exhausted, he still had straight to teach Dharma to ohterTibetan exiles!He was restless and he had the certitude of his mission in this world - to liberate sentient beings from suffering! Maybe the new Tulkus had a life too easy to build character... anyway, I am happy to know that the son of the great Chogyam Trugpa now found his path and is under Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche supervision. He already has the Dharma seedin inside his Bodhisattva heart. Now with the right guidance, lets see how it growns!

I have been waiting for Tulku for a long time and it didn't disappoint me. Until I received the DVD last week I had seen snippets and anxiously awaited it's release. Gesar Mukpo leads viewers on a journey of a reborn Tibetan Lama, actually the teacher of his father Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. The cultural challenges resulting from this Tibetan experience in the West bridges many social and religious dogma.Gesar adds color to his experience by interviewing other Western Tulkus as they share their doubt and questions. Gesar travels to India for some of these interviews and concludes with an interview with his spiritual teacher Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, who is also a film producer (The Cup) and also questions the Tulku tradition.I highly recommend this documentary.

For those of us who have been or or are involved with some form of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism this is a very important look into the epistemological and even ontological struggles of a new generation of emanations of greatly realized beings. It is significant that it is produced and directed by Gesar Mukpo who is one of the sons of Chogyam Trungpa.To some degree, perhaps, it can be said that he, like his father, is a maverick. In Tullku Gesar begins to expose the soft and frequently corrupt underbelly of the body politic of Tibetan Buddhist orthodoxy. He is joined by other young Tulku's who question the relevance and the efficacy of much of the religious/social dynamic of Tibetan Buddhism in this time.Even so, this film is not an out and out attack on the Bodhidharma; not at all. Instead it is a rather naked commentary about what is really going on within the dynamics of transplanted Tibetan culture. One young Tulku even speaks to the sexual abuse which is endemic in the monastic system and has become so disaffected that he has left it altogether.Much of this film is shot like a fairly well edited home movie. These are not actors pretending to toe a company line. These are young people expressing very differing perspectives regarding what it means in these times to be emanations of luminous mind steams in a world gone mad. Only the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa seems fully sanguine in his role. I hope he embraces his former friends and allies in a gesture of much needed compassion.I met his father on the day of Gesar's birth and will always consider him to be one my most important spiritual friends. I feel strongly that Chogyam Trungpa would be quite proud of the simple honesty Gesar brings to the screen. In the mean time, may all of these emanations remember that the transparent clarity of the Tathagatagarbha is never more than a feeling breath away.