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JIGME PHUNTSOK RINPOCHE BESTOWING EMPOWERMENT

The Tibetan master, Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche, received teachings in visions directly from many buddhas and bodhisattvas. In this video, he shares the transmission of blessings for Manjushri, the buddha of transcendental knowledge, the embodiment of wisdom. He is one of the most important masters after the Cultural Revolution, in terms of the multitudinous number of teachers he educated in Buddhist philosophy, meditation and way of living. 

Jigme Phuntsok’s Larung Valley, Sichuan Province.

He appears stocky, short and with, one could say, a slightly wrathful presence, but with immense compassion. Young intelligent men and women from all over China, Mongolia and Tibet were drawn to his hermitage. Without being invited, between ten and twenty thousand spiritual seekers camped around him on the inhospitable desert prairies of Golok, near the border to Mongolia. A whole city naturally sprung up, like mushrooms in a summer meadow.
Thousands amongst his followers have become Dharma teachers in their own right, instructing hundreds of thousands of others in the arts of facing reality with a naked mind, caring for others’ spirituals needs and thirst for understanding and becoming a valuable contributor to our global civilization. The standard was set very high. If you received a master’s degree in philosophy, you were most probably a very advanced meditator as well.

Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche is an illustration of how the Dharma was continued in Tibet, before the industrial revolution: by simply allowing people to gather around a master and, most importantly, bringing them closer to a realization equal to his own.
I had the great fortune of meeting him, together with friends, in Bodh Gaya under the Lord Buddha’s tree of enlightenment. He placed his hand on our heads, holding his mala, and quite briskly said OM A RA PA CHA NA DHIH, the mantra of Manjushri.
Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok passed away on January 7, 2004 in Chengdu of Sichuan province, China.

The Manjughosa/Manjusri - arapacana - mantra in the Tibetan Uchen script
The Manjushri mantra: om a ra pa cha na dhih

While watching the movie, people say they cannot help being affected by the master’s innocence, love and blatant absence of artifice. If you have met this master or have a small anecdote about him, you are welcome to share it with others by writing it as a comment below.

Precious advice from Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche
Photo of Larung Valley by Chensiyuan