Fearless In Tibet

Few readers will have heard of the 19th and early 20th century Tibetan lama Terton Sogyal, who is the subject of this fascinating and well-written biography, with a foreword by Sogyal Rinpoche, who seems to be one of two reincarnations of this teacher whose lives overlapped in time. As with many mystics, his father had very different ideas about his career, and even enlisted him with a group of bandits in the hope of toughening him up. However, his calling asserts itself strongly and he finds his first important teacher in Nyala Pema Dundul. There is a vivid account of his death and the dissolution his body into light, leaving only hair and fingernails. The conscious death is one where the next birth is directed. Terton becomes the meditation teacher of the 13th Dalai Lama and his fame gradually spreads throughout Tibet. Special meditation retreats were held to ward off invasion. There is an extraordinary story of Terton ordering his students to cut a hole in the ice, into which he promptly dives, disappearing for quite some time before reappearing with two treasures in his hands. These stories are much less important than the teachings and meditation practices and the vow to help all beings. Towards the end of the book, there is a moving account of the meeting between Sogyal Rinpoche and his spiritual twin Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok in 1993 where they recognise each other as one at a deep level. This is a work of dedicated and spiritually instructive scholarship.