Lama Zopa Rinpoche

After Buxa he was advised by His Holiness’s office in Dharamsala to change the way the
monks studied into that of a school, like a university. Previously the subjects ran sequentially,
one by one, with a different number of years for each subject, so what was studied depended
on time. So he transformed the course of study into a university-type curriculum, where the
five major sutra texts were taught simultaneously.
When Geshe Tsephel, who now has a center in America, 76 was the abbot of Ganden Jangtse,
he wanted to take teachings from Geshe Drati, especially because he was an expert in
Madhyamaka, even though Geshe Tsephel himself is also very learned. He had prepared all
the offerings in order to request the teachings the next day but, that night, he had very bad
dream, so he did not go.
What happened was that Geshe Drati had criticized His Holiness. He said there were many
learned lamas who were practicing Dolgyal and that they were very good, something like
that. I didn’t see details of his criticism but Khadro-la told His Holiness that it was the worst
criticism so far.
Ganden Monastery has two divisions, Shartse and Jangtse, and the letter criticizing His
Holiness was read in public to the Ganden Jangtse assembly. I don’t know how many
thousands of monks were in Jangtse but they were all there for a puja. Because of that, the
staff and abbots of the monasteries gathered to decide whether to expel Geshe Drati from
Ganden Jangtse Monastery, even though he was a great teacher with a thousand disciples.
They decided to ask Kalarupa, the main protector of Ganden Monastery, for advice. The
power of all the buddhas is manifested in Yamantaka, Vajrabhairava, who is the most
wrathful aspect of Manjushri. Kalarupa is the protector that Yamantaka orders to do
activities. But this protector is not a worldly being; he is beyond samsara. There are three
aspects of Kalarupa: outer Kalarupa, inner Kalarupa and secret Kalarupa. Of Lama
Tsongkhapa’s two protectors, Kalarupa and Six-arm Mahakala, Kalarupa is the main one.
Lama Tsongkhapa gave them orders and they fulfilled them.
The requesting ceremony to Kalarupa, which requires using small bowls, takes time because
every bowl has to be weighed exactly, like when you buy gold. The answer to the question is
inside the bowls—you ask the question mentally. So, each bowl has to be of equal weight; if
any are lighter or heavier the answer becomes incorrect.
After the abbots and staff of the monastery did pujas and prayers asking whether this geshe
should be expelled from the monastery or not it came out he should be expelled. His
criticism of His Holiness was then read out to all the monks, who clapped their hands.
Clapping hands in the West means joy and approval, like in football, to show you are happy.
In Tibet, clapping hands in this way means the opposite of being happy or welcoming
somebody. In the monasteries it’s something wrathful.
We also did it at Buxa in the very early times. A huge pot of black tea was made for the
monks and they tipped all of it out, which was a sort of wrathful action, showing the
unbelievable suffering of the whole of Tibet turned upside down. In the very early Buxa days
the monks tipped the tea out and then beat it with the end of their zens.
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