Heart-advice from His Eminence Luding Khenchen Rinpoche:
The Meaning of the Throne, and the Teacher Who Sits Upon It
—Extracted and edited from the night of 26 July 2002 at Sakya Tenphel Ling,
after the completion of bestowing the Thirteen Golden Dharmas.
It is not enough just to receive teaching and initiations, because you must practise it and apply to your daily life. Like planting a seed, if you throw a wild seed on the ground, it won’t grow; it needs fertiliser, water and sunlight. With all these collective conditions, it will yield results. Therefore, in Dharma, after receiving initiation and teaching one should practise it.
So in order to receive important teachings, it is very necessary to know what kind of Lama your teacher is. Just by sitting on high throne and looking majestic is not good enough. One should observe carefully whether he is a good guru to receive important teachings, because after having received the teachings, then one should not speak ill of that guru. So it is very important and one should be very careful. You should not attend the teachings of a certain guru simply by hearing the name or knowing all the ranks or just seeing an imposing position.
As many people are going for blessings and teachings from the Lama, sometimes we even don’t know what is his name and simply say we just want to receive teachings and initiations. We go and receive teachings and initiations without knowing the Lama’s background and his qualities. Many people tend to receive teachings from Lamas who sit on a very high throne. Even Lamas themselves prefer to have a high throne, but the high throne itself doesn’t mean anything. The person sitting on high throne must possess certain qualities.
For instance, the Sakya designated a throne that was called Padmo-Kalpo, although the throne itself was not very high, but many banners were placed on top to make it high. So on this throne Sakya Pandita and many of the great Sakya Gongma Lamas sat and expounded the Dharma. Such a throne also make the one expounding become very blissful and powerful. Receiving teaching from these kind of gurus who sat on that throne has got many meanings.
Likewise, the Ngor-pa also has a throne called Temana, the red throne. Although it is not so high, Kunga Zangpo sat on that throne and delivered the Lam-Dre teaching. So, till now, there are about seventy-five successive throne-holders (Ngor-pa throne-holding Khenpos). Every year, they give the Lam-Dre Teaching. This throne become very important and sacred. Likewise, the Gelug-pa throne, like Ganden of Tibet, which was used once by Khedrub Rinpoche. Maybe about a hundred successive Gelug-pa throne-holders had sat and expounded the holy Dharma from this throne. Similarly, in Nalanda there is also a similar throne, which was used by Kunkhyen Rongton Chenpo. So, like these and other thrones that have been blessed and sat upon by very holy gurus, these kind of thrones carry significant meanings.
This Ngor-pa throne has actually been used by Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo also. It is believed that Pangu Sanseba (Caturmukha, the four-faced Mahakala) himself is inside the throne. During the period of Khenpo Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrup, there was a chieftain named Sangye Zhompa. He was like a governor-general in the upper part of Tsang. He and his men were very powerful. The Ngor-pa had some enmities with this governor and could not challenge this governor with force, because the Ngor-pa has not fighting force, but for spiritual power, Ngor-pa is of course superior. The governor was reluctant to send his forces, but he wanted to eliminate the Ngor-pa monastery through sending some supernatural power or spell.
The governor requested one of the Ngor-pa Lamas, who had the attainment of Yamantaka, who had become the Yamantaka yogi. He was ordered by the governor to come and throw tormas against the Ngor-pa. So this Lama sought the advice from Khenpo Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrup. Khenpo Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrup replied that he should go there, but should not give much emphasis and concentration when throwing the tormas. However, when the Lama arrived at the governor’s place, the governor made a very massive offering and the Lama used a lot of concentration when throwing tormas against the Ngor-pa. When he threw the tormas, through Yamantaka manifestation, one wild yak came against the Lamas and finally entered the temple where Khenpo Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrup was sitting on the throne. There was a small table just near the throne and the Guru, Khenpo Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrup, threw his vajra onto it, causing Yamantaka to be dissolved into this small table. Then this table was put inside the throne. So the guru who was sitting on this throne must have possessed great qualities and must have also been accepted by Yamantaka.
Thus, the throne story goes like that. In India, there is no old throne, but just the replicas of these old thrones on which some great teachers have used. Therefore, normally the throne by itself has no meaning.
