''My Life and Lives: Khyongla Rato, The Story of a Tibetan Incarnation'' is the autobiography of
Khyongla Rato
Khyongla Rato (1923 – 24 May 2022), also known as Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, Rato Khyongla Rinpoche, Khyongla Rinpoche, Ngawang Lobsang Shedrub Tenpai Dronme, and also as Nawang Losang, his monk's name, was a scholar and teacher in the Gelugpa tra ...
Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist scholar and teacher. Rato was an
incarnate lama who was born in the
Kham
Kham (; )
is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The original residents of Kham are called Khampas (), and were governed locally by chieftains and monasteries. Kham ...
district of
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
in 1923. The introduction to the book was written by the mythologist
Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the ...
, who also edited the book. ''My Life and Lives'' was first published in 1977, and a second edition was published in 1991.
The book focuses primarily on Rato's years in Tibet, before the
Tibetan diaspora
The Tibetan diaspora are the diaspora of Tibetan people living outside Tibet.
Tibetan emigration has three separate stages. The first stage was in 1959 following the 14th Dalai Lama's defection to Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, India. The se ...
, which began in 1959. It gives a detailed first-person account of life in Tibet's great monastic universities. The book was awarded Amazon "Best Book of 2014" status.
Subject
Rato recounts that when he was born in 1923 in Ophor, a small village south of Chamdo in the Kham district of Tibet, he was given the name Norbu. At the age of five, Norbu was recognized as a
tulku
A ''tulku'' (, also ''tülku'', ''trulku'') is a reincarnate custodian of a specific lineage of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism who is given empowerments and trained from a young age by students of his or her predecessor.
High-profile examples ...
, the 10th incarnation of the lama from the Chung district, i.e. as "Khyongla". At age six he is taken to his labrang, and from there subsequently to Rato Monastery, and in time to Gyudto Tantric College in
Lhasa
Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...
.
Then the catastrophic events of the late 1950s are recounted, and Rato leaves Lhasa on the same day that the
14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
secretly leaves to escape into exile over the Himalayas into India.
The last chapter and the epilogue give a brief account of his time in India, and finally his move to New York City, where in 1975, he founded
The Tibet Center
The Tibet Center, also known as ''Kunkhyab Thardo Ling'', is a dharma center for the Buddhist studies, study of Tibetan Buddhism. Founded by Venerable Khyongla Rato Rinpoche in 1975, it is one of the oldest Tibetan Buddhist centers in New York ...
.
Reception
In the introduction to the book, Joseph Cambell says that when Rato gave him the first chapters to read, it was as if, "...the fabled mysteries of the most secret fastness of forbidden Tibet were, at last, being opened to me by one whose entire life had been given to their interpretation."
Erin Marino on the Columbia University website commented that the book shows that Rato's true nature is "an overwhelming compassion to be of help to others. This character trait shines throughout his autobiography, making for a compelling life story of an incarnate and the Buddhist monastic tradition he took part in."
[Website Columbia.edu, Tibetan History, 20th Century, Wikicholars, "My Life and Lives--The Story of a Tibetan Incarnation" by Erin Marino, October 26, 2009]
Accessed 2104.11.26
See also
*
The Tibet Center
The Tibet Center, also known as ''Kunkhyab Thardo Ling'', is a dharma center for the Buddhist studies, study of Tibetan Buddhism. Founded by Venerable Khyongla Rato Rinpoche in 1975, it is one of the oldest Tibetan Buddhist centers in New York ...
, which Khyongla Rato founded in New York City
*
Rato Dratsang, the re-established monastery of which Khyongla Rato is the head lama
*
Nicholas Vreeland
Nicholas Vreeland, also known as Rato Khen Rinpoche, Geshe Thupten Lhundup, is a fully ordained Tibetan Buddhist monk who is the abbot of Rato Dratsang Monastery, a 10th-century Tibetan Buddhist monastery reestablished in India. Vreeland is al ...
, also known as Rato Khen Rinpoche or Geshe Thupten Lhundup. A Tibetan Buddhist monk who is the abbot of Rato Dratsang Monastery, a 10th-century Tibetan Buddhist monastery reestablished in India.
References
{{reflist
External links
* The book listed at The Tibet Cente
1977 non-fiction books
Books about Tibet
Tibet
Tibetan Buddhist art and culture