For the Benefit of All Beings
May 13, 2011
His Eminence Garchen Triptrul Rinpoche
Watched an inspiration film this week, Christina Lundberg’s For the Benefit Of All Beings, a biographical documentary about the Drikung Kagyu Lama, His Eminence Garchen Triptrul Rinpoche. For those unaware of the ways in which Tibet was taken over by China this film is informative, but more relevantly it is the backdrop of Garchen Rinpoche’s most important work as a spiritual warrior. Imprisoned for 20 years from the age of 22 for defending the Buddhist religion, Garchen Rinpoche grappled with staying alive in body and spirit. Anger drove him into despair over what was happening to the Tibetan people: not only was their religion being taken away, but men were being killed and women sterilized. Garchen Rinpoche realized the only way to help Tibet was to tame his anger and relentlessly put into practice the scriptures that he had studied before his imprisonment. Significant to his continued practice were the teachings transmitted to him by other imprisoned lamas, whose secrets and wisdom would otherwise be isolated from the Drikung Kagyu lineage that Garchen upheld.
It was through the love and devotion for Tibetans that Garchen Rinpoche was able to keep his mind strong and stay alive. The message that Garchen Rinpoche wants to transmit through the making of this film is: “The cause of happiness is love and the cause of suffering is self-grasping.” Garchen Rinpoche’s message places great emphasis on the cultivation of compassion for others and attests that this will set you free from suffering. After Garchen Rinpoche was released from prison in 1979, he gave hope to Tibetans by resuscitating the teachings of the Buddha and initiating seekers into religious refuge; while today, Rinpoche continues to rebuild the Drikung Kagyu monasteries in Eastern Tibet (at the risk of further imprisonment). Garchen Rinpoche’s ongoing mission is to spread the teachings of the Buddha beyond his homeland, and does so by traveling the world and through the production of this film. Garchen Rinpoche has a truly remarkable strong will, but with an equally strong if not superior, heart. For the Benefit of All Beings is a film giving evidence to the resilience of the human spirit.
The film is clear on its intent to send a message for the benefit of all beings that Garchen Rinpoche’s life work is relevant to all of us indiscriminately, and does so in the hopes that each of us finds the buddha within and become enlightened beings.
See the film’s link below to donate funds for the film’s DVD distribution, teaching archive, and translating the film into additional languages.
http://www.forthebenefitofallbeings.com/
For the Benefit of All Being will premiere at BuddhaFest in Washington DC, from June 16 to 19th. See trailer and link below for details.
For those interested to know more about this subject for its political depth or to witness the resilient spirituality of Tibetans, watch What Remains of Us, the 2004 documentary about: “A Tibetan-Canadian returning to her homeland to smuggle a secret message from the Dalai Lama and to document the occupation and cultural genocide of Tibet by China.” (imdb.org)
