The Gyalwang Drukpa

Well, since I have a little time, I should tell you the importance of this hat. This is not any hat, this is the hat offered by the Dakinis to Tsangpa Gyare, founder of our lineage, when he was in solitary retreat in Tsari, the holy abode of Chakrasamvara. This hat is known as "the Hat of Interdependent Coordination". Blue represents Chakrasamvara and red represents Vajra Yogini, like the Ying and Yang, and together, they represent Great Union or Great Seal. Tsangpa Gyare said very clearly that this hat is so sacred that whoever wears it will definitely be liberated and will never go down to the lower realms. But this specific hat of two colours unfortunately can only be worn by those who are the reincarnations of Tsangpa Gyare. There is also another maroon version with similar design which should be worn every time by our monks and nuns or the genuine practitioners of the Drukpa Lineage. Almost all of my nuns are wearing them, some of my monks are wearing but it’s not so popular because it doesn’t look nice and fashionable, I guess. However, I think, one should not be too bothered about fashion. I sometimes feel that some fashionable hats don’t look very good as well, so why not wearing Tsangpa Gyare’s "fashionable" hat. Fortunately, I think most people feel that I look better with this dual colour hat, whatever that means.

At the end of the initiation, Ayang Rinpoche said something in his appreciation speech which really puzzled me, therefore I thought I should also be making some clarifications. He said that I had changed my name somehow from "Drukchen" to "Drukpa". Actually, my name since Tsangpa Gyare’s time has always been "Drukpa" and not "Drukchen". Somewhere in the middle of the road from Tsangpa Gyare to me, maybe because some kind people felt that "Drukchen" which means "Great Dragon" sounded better, they changed my name. But I don’t feel that this is correct. I also discussed with the late Adeu Rinpoche about this change as he was very interested in this topic as well, he also could not remember how or when my name was changed from "Drukpa" to "Drukchen". On top of everything, now most of the books and even Tibetan texts that are printed by monasteries and international publishing companies also printed my name wrongly as "Drukchen". This is a big mistake. My name is "Drukpa". If you like, officially or honourifically they say "Gyalwang Drukpa", and the honourific title of "Gyalwang" which means "King of the Victorious Ones", is normally used for the founder of a lineage and his successors or for head of a spiritual lineage or religious order. My Guru is also a "Gyalwang" and several other heads of Tibetan lineages are also known as "Gyalwang". So I told everyone that I didn’t change my name, someone or some people changed my name a few hundred years ago, and now I want to correct this mistake once and for all.

Of course, ultimately, name is only a label, you can call me anything. Unfortunately, I don’t have this freedom, and I don’t think it is fair to Tsangpa Gyare and the dragons who appeared before him, as well as all the great yogis who have been appearing again and again for generations until our time today. Therefore, for the sake of our lineage, I have to make this declaration.

In fact, lately I realise some very strange things are happening in our spiritual world. Something I don’t like and something I feel will contaminate the entire beauty of spirituality. People believe only in majority. So smart people who have some other hidden agenda and some smart skills may use the game of majority in the name of spirituality. This is not a good sign, this is a sign of degeneration of spirituality. This changing of my name tells something. I really don’t feel happy or comfortable. But I am sure now that I have mentioned it, it is time to make corrections. History is very important, therefore it is very important to make sure that history is not modified or manipulated, especially in the case of spiritual lineages, whatever spiritual traditions, if all the masters are able to keep their minds and motivation strictly for helping sentient beings, then such kind of unauthorised modifications would not have happened. I am happy that I have a chance to say this here. This is at least a place where I can express how I feel very freely. At least I have freedom for this.

This is also the reason why I keep saying that you need to be careful to find and follow an authentic lineage and genuine masters who can help you understand your own nature. It is very important because for those of you who have the precious opportunity to learn Buddhist philosophy, it is a very rare chance. To find a genuine and qualified spiritual master is also very difficult. I am not saying that it is not impossible. But to find a genuine and qualified spiritual master who has karmic connection with you is really extremely difficult. You need time to check and also you need smartness to check.

Anyway, I don’t have any photos to show now, because the uploading process is quite difficult due to bad connection. When I find a good connection, I will definitely share some photos of this journey with you.

That’s all for now.