Recalling a Buddha

The EXTRAS DVD - coming this spring
For those who have already purchased Recalling a Buddha, the Extras DVD will be available as a single disc in a dual disc case. Sign up on the Home page to receive updates, which will include the release of the Extras DVD and also the Soundtrack.

The Extras DVD will run approximately 90 minutes and contain the following units:

The Line of Karmapas
Rumtek
In the Service of Karmapa
No Compromise
Physical Preservation of the Dharma

The Line of Karmapas

In "The Line of Karmapas" (approx. 30-40 minutes), we'll see commentary from Very Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche and eminent Tibet scholar, Gene Smith. They describe:

The previous 15 generations of Karmapas, noting
the Karmapa mentioned in the writings of Marco Polo
Early relationships to Chinese emperors
The origins of the Black or Vajra Crown
The sectarian conflicts in early Tibet
Scholarly achievements among Karmapas
The ongoing transmission of lineage

Thrangu Rinpoche is the senior teacher of the Karma Kagyu lineage.
At the age of six, Rinpoche was recognized as a tulku by His Holiness Karmapa XVI. Rinpoche was the abbot and philosophy professor at Rumtek Monastery.

Gene Smith is a scholar's scholar. He led the Library of Congress field office in New Delhi for 20 years. One of his primary charges was to locate and preserve the extant Tibetan texts brought out of Tibet by refugees. His vision and original scholarship, starting in the early 1960s, paved the way for much academic study of Tibet. The forewards he wrote to many important Tibetan texts were compiled in the book, Among Tibetan Plateaus. He currently administers the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center.

Rumtek

Today's leading teachers of the Kagyu lineage lived at Rumtek together. We'll hear about the harshness of refugee life, the construction of the new Rumtek monastery, working with the liturgical and ritual differences that evolved from groups that had been geographically dispersed, and the social environment of great masters in development.

The following share their memories of Rumtek:

Thrangu Rinpoche, abbot of Rumtek
Tenga Rinpoche, Vajra (Ritual) Master of Rumtek
His Eminence Shamar Rinpoche, Kagyu Regent
His Eminence Gyaltsap Rinpoche, Kagyu Regent
Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche
Traleg Rinpoche
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
Achi Tsepal, translator to Karmapa
Ngodup T. Burkhar, translator to Karmapa

In the Service of Karmapa

Ngodup T. Burkhar describes the fortuitous events that led him to Rumtek as a teenager in 1973 and set him on the path to translating for Karmapa.

Dr. Mitchell Levy describes leaving the 1980 Vajradhatu Seminary with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and how he became Karmapa's personal physician.

Lama Ole Nydahl recounts working on Karmapa's behalf in Europe, coordinating the European tours. The differences between the European and American approaches are very interesting.

Achi Tsepal, Karmapa's translator during the 1974 and 1977 tours, describes coming into the service of Karmapa.