With Tenga Rinpoche   Whilst staying at Gyuto ?¡ìC the Tantric College of Upper Lhasa, we sometimes hear in the evening when circumambulating the main hall, the resounding, solemn sounds of the great drums used in Protector Offerings to Mahakala, the Great Black One, a manifestation of which being the special protector and expression of the divine activities of the great Gyalwa Karmapas.   Hearing that Tenga Rinpoche, the former Tantric Master of Rumtek, the main seat-in-exile of the late 16th Karmapa and now one of the illustrious Teachers of the 17th Karmapa, was also residing at Gyuto, passing important transmissions to the 17th Karmapa, we requested an audience with Tenga Rinpoche whom we have known for years and whom we met several times both in Singapore and Nepal.   Tenga Rinpoche was the embodiment of holiness, compassion and liberated joy. He unreservedly offered, from His heart, all the beings @ CAS of T_A Chenrezig, His complete blessings. Tenga Rinpoche sent His greetings or ???Tashi Delek !!??¨¤ to all His students in Singapore and said that even though He has not been able to come to Singapore for a long time, He did not forget His students here and had and would always keep them in His heart and prayers. Our meeting lasted less than ten minutes but the blessings from Rinpoche stayed with us for a long time.     HH the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa   The exciting morning came when we were ushered into the audience room of HH the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, Supreme Head of the influential and popular Kamtshang or Karma Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, above the main hall of the Gyuto Tantric College.   The Karmapa looks strong and very accepting and comforting. To our great surprise and feeling of great underserved attention, the Karmapa returned our greetings with much thoughtfulness and sincerity by saying that He is honoured and very happy to meet the monstrous band of bandits from CAS. The weight, wisdom and consideration to which the Karmapa offered His every replies were very impressive and gave Him powerful credence as a designated spiritual leader and anointed successor and head of centuries of accumulated spiritual blessings of the great Kagyu lineal forefathers.   The Karmapa further enquired of the length of our stay in Dharamsala and our planned activities.   The beings @ CAS of T_A Chenrezig informed the Karmapa of the purpose of our visit to India which was essentially to see our Teacher, the 100th Ganden Trisur Rinpoche. The Karmapa enquired of the health and well-being of Trisur Rinpoche and assured us of His prayers for Trisur Rinpoche??£¤s Long-Life and holy activities, whilst folding His palms in front of His heart. These two great beings have in fact been quite close, having done pilgrimages with the Dalai Lama together and taken much initiations and transmissions from the Dalai Lama together on numerous occasions.     The 17th Gyalwa Karmapa emanates strength, power, integrity and unmistaken sincerity. Through our unenlightened perspective, although thick and dull enough to detect blessings and light, we saw and heard sighs several times from His Holiness whose mild sadness breaks our hearts.           We gave our ( by now broken ??!! ) hearts to His Holiness and pledged our support and service to fulfillment of His holy aspirations for the world. The Karmapa graciously accepted our sincere offers and prayers but assured us that all matters are fine and being more or less taken care of in the meantime.   We asked the Karmapa to offer His advice to the friends and students @ CASonline of T_A Chenrezig. The Karmapa expressed His great delight that we are following Trisur Rinpoche??£¤s advice by being staunchly non-sectarian and offering our assistance to any holy Masters of every tradition whom we could be of service. CAS of T_A Chenrezig, has for years, taken pains, to offer everything possible within our humble means to authentic, sublime spiritual beings in Singapore.   The Karmapa stressed the importance of all beings @ CAS to be united in their aspirations and activities. He told us the story of how even a lion??£¤s carcass will never be disturbed by other creatures in the forests, but that the little worms within the lions??£¤ body can effectively eat away the body however. Similarly, too, the Buddha??£¤s holy Teachings will always remain intact unless it is degenerated through internal dissension and disharmony. Hence, the Karmapa reiterated the importance of unity.   We told the Karmapa that just as CAS of Thousand-Arm Chenrezig has hosted Teachers from all the four great schools of Tibetan Buddhism and have been commanded by our precious Teacher to be always non-sectarian in our outlook and work, He could consider us His second Kagyu center in Singapore, the first center here in Singapore, having strongly held the fort for Him throughout the more than one difficult decade and whom the beings @ CAS of T_A Chenrezig are spiritually bonded under many of the same Teachers.   The Karmapa nodded and replied that He accepted CAS of Thousand-Arm Chenrezig and all friends and beings in it under His protection and care until Enlightenment and that should He come to Singapore, He will see all the beings @ CAS and will offer teachings at our requests in the future.      Being the brutally but sometimes inconveniently honest group of beings, the beings asked the Karmapa how the Sharma Rinpoche, historically, the Karmapa??£¤s very own supposed equivalent and emanation, could have recognized and enthroned another candidate as an authentic incarnation of the late Karmapa, whilst denying that He Himself is the genuine incarnation.   The Karmapa contemplated for a while, while the English translator gave a suppressed gasp by His side.     We further told the Karmapa frankly that we have organized programmes for a popular Danish Karma Kagyu master, supposedly encouraged by the late Karmapa Himself to travel the world to spread the holy teachings. He has in fact been significantly successful throughout Eastern Europe and even during His programmes twice in Singapore.   We felt we needed to let the Karmapa know that the so-called "other-side" with the other enthroned Karmapa candidate are not all vicious "vow-breakers" who are destined for the lowest hell. We knew as we were their ex-organizers. We informed the Karmapa that we have stopped hosting the popular Teacher after the eruption of the Karmapa controversy due to the strong concerns many of the beings @ CAS had of major issues related to the matter !!   However, we have taken initiations, just have thousands of people in Singapore have taken initiations, from the Sharma Rinpoche, leader of the so-called "other-side" during the "good times" when there was no Karmapa-Controversy and there was only one Karma Kagyu Order under one Karmapa, albeit one that has passed away sometime in the 1980s.     We sincerely felt that we needed to tell the Karmapa that many of the people from the so-called "other-side" were very good and sincere students of the late 16th Karmapa and that one Austrian lady who attended our Singapore programme actually worked night shifts to save up for her trip here, how another French student used a significant portion of her retirement savings to come here and how many and many of the students had done years of retreats under great personal perseverance and sacrifice so on and on.   We told the Karmapa that we felt that the entire "Karmapa-Controversy" is completely tragic.   We requested the Karmapa to keep all the students from the "other-side" in His prayers and care and that instead of demonizing each other, it is really time for healing and conciliation, through compromises, understanding and communication.   On top of all this, though, we assured the Karmapa that there is no question that all friends and students @ CAS of Thousand-Arm Chenrezig unreservedly followed the Dalai Lama's confirmation of Himself and our own precious Root Teacher's advice, that He Himself is the genuine incarnation of the late 16th Karmapa.   The Karmapa, with impartial compassion and maybe perceivable sadness answered in mandarin, "I have no attachment to the whole issue. I have no jealousy too towards the matter. There are many internal issues [ mandarin: ku ( 3rd tonal inflection ) zhong ( 1st tonal inflection ) ], Causes and Conditions involved. From my personal point of view, a Buddhist student will have genuine understanding of the matter." He assured us too that He understands the whole issue and His love and guidance to all.   We had a relatively long audience of more than 30 minutes with the Karmapa where we truly completely open up our hearts and during which the Karmapa gave the 7 dreadfully fortunate beings @ CAS of T_A Chenrezig Oral Transmission of practices of the Longchen Nyingthig, a main cycle of Teachings of the Nyingma school as well as transmission of the mantras of Holy, Noble Green Tara, Chenrezig ( what else !! ) and His personal name mantra, "Karmapa Chenno".    Demonstrating again the hallmark of great beings, the Karmapa, with humility, advised that we seek the transmission again from seasoned Masters familiar with the Longchen Nyingthig cycle of teachings as even though He has received the transmission, He has not mastered the actual practices related to this cycle.   The Karmapa, in fact, initially hesitates to offer the transmission but upon being prompted that He has probably received the complete Longchen Nyingthig when He received the renowned "Richen Terdzod", the Great Collection of all Terma Treasuries, from one of His Teachers, Gyaltshab Rinpoche, He gave His assent.     For us, the Karmapa, like the Dalai Lama, is the embodiment of Lord Chenrezig, the combined compassionate aspect of the Buddhas and the holy, compassionate Bodhisattva whom our society belongs to.   Probably a portent of some significance, with not a drop of rain, the thunder rumbled time and again in the distance, one mathematical being approximated at more than 25 times throughout. Then, again, are even "strange" phenomenal not but illusory manifestation from Basic Awareness ??!!   At the door, whilst sending the beings @ CAS off, one being hurriedly enquired of the necessity or not for a potentially complicated operation. The Karmapa, from His deep realization of Intrinsic Awareness, gave His replies which subsequently were backed by both of the Dalai Lama's physicians and a renowned specialist from one of Singapore's top private hospital.   The Karmapa sent us off and told the beings @ CAS that He will keep us in His prayers always.   "Karmapa Chenno !!"   ___________________________________________________________________________________________________   Part Threes or even Fours should be offered to all frens and students @ CASonline of Thousand-Arm Chenrezig in the unforseeable future !!   With much prayers and regards in the meantime,   bb @ fortunate CAS of t_A Chenrezig