-Written by Rinchen Angmo

It’s been more than a year. Last year around March, I made a pilgrimage to Tso Pema, tso meaning lake and pema meaning lotus; I will refer to the holy lake as Tso. Tso Pema is located in Rewalsar, Himachal Pradesh, India. For followers of Vajrayana Buddhism, Tso is a very holy site associated with Guru Rinpoche.

How do I describe the serenity of Tso? There is a sense of blessedness at Tso that escapes description. The jade green lake, the deep green trees and the pilgrims circumambulating around the holy lake, fill the air with a sense of serene jubilation.

As soon as we reached our guesthouse, my Abile (granny) narrated a short account of Guru Rinpoche’s life on earth. I write ‘on earth’ because according to the Tibetan-Buddhist worldview, there are different realms of existence; the earth or miyul (human realm) being one of them. There are many variations of Guru Rinpoche’s life accounts, which I will try to cover in detail some other time once I have gained enough information; for now, I will try to provide some basic information according to my Abile’s narration in relation to Tso specifically. Guru Rinpoche came to earth in the 8th century as an already enlightened being in the land of Oddiyana. During his journeys through the Himalayas, Lacham Mandarava, the daughter of the Mandi King, became one of his disciples. Unaware of Guru Rinpoche’s enlightened nature, the Mandi King was against Lacham Mandarava’s association with Guru Rinpoche; compelling them to go into hiding in order to continue the transmission of Buddhist teachings by Guru Rinpoche. They hid in one of the caves in Rewalsar, only to be spotted one day by a shepherd, who then reported their location to the Mandi King. The Mandi King instructed his men to burn Guru Rinpoche alive. As per the King’s instructions, the men set Guru Rinpoche to fire. When they returned to check, they were astounded to find that instead of being burnt, Guru Rinpoche was in full health, sitting atop a lotus amidst a lake which had magically been formed at the spot where they had attempted to burn him. When the King heard of the miracle, he realized his mistake and himself came to convey his sincere apologies to Guru Rinpoche. After all his entreaties, Guru Rinpoche accepted the King’s apology and the King offered his crown to Guru Rinpoche as tribute. Lacham Mandarava, who had been placed in a prison like cell by the King was also now entreated to come out of the prison and was apologized to by the King. The King, having realized Guru Rinpoche’s enlightened nature, celebrated Guru Rinpoche as his guru (teacher).

Today that lake is known as Tso Pema and still exists in Rewalsar and the headdress worn by Guru Rinpoche in most statues depicts the one offered by the Mandi King.

I’ve written this on the basis of my Abile’s account. Several times, she has narrated this account to me and now here I am trying to recount the account to the Rewa Sum community.

Here it is important to note, that though it is difficult to narrow down on the details of Guru Rinpoche’s life on earth, Guru Rinpoche is not a mythical figure but very much a historical one. Guru Rinpoche is a historical figure who traversed many lands across Afghanistan, Bhutan, North India, Pakistan, Tibet, Ladakh, Sikkim, Himachal, and so on.

Tangpe Tsechu ( 10th day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar) is a very holy day. The whole of Tangpo, the first month, is considered  holy and tsechu (the 10th day of every month) is considered holy for it is celebrated as Guru Rinpoche’s birth anniversary; therefore making Tangpe Tsechu an especially holy day.

Words cannot describe the calm wonder of being in Tso. The blessings, the serenity, and the festive air around Tangpe Tsechu. What’s more, it was beautiful to come across people from all across the Himalayas. Ladakhis, Tibetans, Kinnauris, Lahaulis, Spitians and the list goes on. In fact, to my amazement we even met two people from Rudok. Rudok is in Tibet, now under the forced occupation of Communist China. Back in the old days when there were no borders, my family had a small house in Rudok for the purpose of trade; having heard so often about this remnant in Rudok, I was really happy to have met people from Rudok (who now live in Ladakh).

All in all, I would just say that my pilgrimage to Tso Pema felt like blessed destiny and I hope I can accumulate more merit to be able to visit Tso again. So here’s my account of one of the most blessed visits of my life.