The Story of

Lama Tsering Wangdu Chapter Four

(Abridged)

Transcribed, Edited and Noted by

Joshua Waldman
As narrated by Lama Wangdu from December 1998 to May 1999
Parphing, Nepal
Copy write 1999
Please ask permission to print or distribute any portion of this text.

Chapter Four: Get Back to Kathmandu.

Settling in Jawelekyel :
I returned to Kathmandu and lived in various places. In Kathmandu I was invited
to do many ceremonies and I was quite busy. Mostly, however, I stayed in Jawelekyel . I
went to everybodys house, some were rented or thatched. The Tibetans were making
carpets at the time, spinning wool or stitching clothes. There, in the camp, I also met my
present wife.
Sick people with toothaches or craziness or whatever came to me for healing.
Other lamas couldnt cure them, but I was able to. If their teeth hurt I just did mantras to
their teeth; if someone had a stroke I would do a puja and they would get well. If there
was a death in the camp they listened to my advice about death and dying. If a poor
person died, I would carry the body myself and do all the rituals for th em. Those
families felt happy. If any people fell in love, they came to me for a divination to see if
they should get married. If I tell them it's okay to marry, they become very successful.
If the divination doesnt come out well, I tell them not to marry. If that happened,
sometimes they ask for a pujas and live together anyway.
Those people usually got divorced.
I did Pha Dhampa Sangyes mantra into a black
protection cord and gave it to all the students so they
wouldnt have any obstacles. Everyone wore this cord.
When they would go away to college I gave them the cord.
They felt more protected and happy. Wherever they went, to Dharamsala or Mysori, they
always got the cord from me. The children told me if they couldnt sleep well they just
put the cord on and they slept fine.

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Demon Possession1:
I have healed many people with Pha Dhampa Sangyes mantra. One time the
mother of one businessmans secretary got possessed by a demon. She had visited many
hospitals and healers but was not cured. They brought her to me. I tried to do some
ritual healing but she started shouting loudly. I asked her, Who are you?
The demon said, I am a man eating god. I eat people. I will eat you too lama.
If you will eat me, then eat me now. Take my flesh, take my bones. Eat me
now, I said and waited. She behaved like she was trying to consume me. But she
became tired and slowed down. I visualized Dhampa Sangye and Machig Labdrn and
shouted suddenly PHAT 2

She fell down unconscious.

I sprinkled water on her and she woke up. Im sorry, Im sorry, she said.
I asked the demon, Why did you do this to her?
I was harming her because she did a lot of business but did not help me.
Dont harm them. You have already accumulated a lot of non-virtuous actions.
They will help you from now on. Just drink some water. The demon drank the water
and left the body of the women. Later, she really healed well. From then on that family
helped other families to do business.

Chang Stories:
Soon after that I found some Khampa friends and got really drunk with them in a
chang shop. I dont remember what happened after that except for what people tell me.
All I had were my prayer beads at the time. One black bull and one red bull were
1 Since

all things in this world are interdependent, so too are humans of the form realm interdependent on
beings in the other realms, "whereby the latter, unconscious to man, influence man and bring about disease
and misfortune. The practical aim of all exorcising rites is to neutralize the disharmony in nature and in
man's body and mind, which inimical influences, howsoever arising, have caused." (Evens-Wentz, p. 288)
2This multi valiant mantric syllable is more intuitively understood by the practitioner, but in an attempt to
describe what it means on the outside, Evens-Wentz says, ". . .is an expression of psychic climax. . . 1)
Exotically, for recalling a mentally distracted mind to one-pointedness. . .2)internally, as in this ritual, to
emphasize the seriousness of the offerings of one's body. . . 3)Esoterically, for attaining spiritual insight of
such intuitive character as will enable the yogi to analyze and synthesize all mental processes (p. 302).

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fighting near an army camp in Patan. Many people were watching the fight. I was told I
went right to the place where the bulls were fighting. The Nepali people said, The bulls
will kill lama!
I pulled my robes up and mooned both the bulls. The bulls stopped fighting to
look at my bum. They tell me I told the black ox to leave in Hindi. The black ox left. I
asked the red ox to sit down and I rid it to the zoo. The bull sat down and I talked to the
bull in some Indian language. He left and I walked towards my home.
Just before I reached Jawelekyel I dropped my beads by a tree. One old man
found my beads thinking hed be able to sell them to the tourists. He put them in the
window of his shop. At night my beads became a black snake. The old man was scared
and wasnt able to sleep. The next morning my beads were just beads. He went to the
Tibetan camp and asked whose beads are these? The people recognized my beads and
brought them back to me.

One day I took my bell to a blacksmith to get fixed. When it was being worked
on I sat down in a chang shop and got drunk. When I was walking back, I dropped my
bell. A Nepali man found it and brought it to his home. At night the bell rang by itself
for the whole night. The next morning he went outside and rang the bell. When I came
back to look for my bell, I saw one Nepali ringing my bell just near the chang shop.
Thats my bell.
Please just take it. The bell rang itself all night! I just found it on the road.

Someone offered me 30,000 rupees to do a puja. My Chd friends and I went to

Namo Buddha to perform it. I circumambulated the stupa and went to a shop to drink
some rakshi. There were about twenty Tibetan pilgrims from the border area. I gave
these Tibetans 1,000 rupees each. When my friends asked me where the money was in
order to do the shopping for the puja, I told them I had given it all away. It is all

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finished. My friends argued with me, You gave all the money away, now we dont
have enough money to have a puja, let alone take a bus back home.
In this place the Buddha offered his flesh and bones to a tigress. There is
nothing wrong if I give paper alms to these people. You should try giving your body to a
tigress.
One friend said, Now its time to make tukpa and there is no meat.
I said, Why dont you just put that dog in the soup?!!
That night all my friends were angry at me. They all put together 100 rupees and
bought enough for a small tsok.
Meanwhile, a rich Sherpa from Baktapur and his religious wife came to Namo
Buddha. The wife immediately offered us 60,000 rupees!
Look what happens if you give alms. We had 30,000 rupees and I gave it all
away. Later we got 60,000 in return. It's a good lesson in giving. All of my friends were
changed after this. They became less stingy and more open. They really began to
believe in me.

Other Lamas:
In Jawelekyel, I lived next to two rich old Tibetans. One was from Dzong Kha.
Even in Tibet he was rich. Once he went to Lhasa to offer long life pujas to His
Holiness. Likewise he performed a lot of pujas in Nepal as well. Over the years each
man had me read texts in his home. One man lived alone and one had two sons.
Whenever I went on pilgrimage I always liked to take these two old men with me.
The two old men and I went to visit Dudjom Rinpoche3 when he was staying in
Kathmandu. Dudjom Rinpoche had come to consecrate the new dressing on the Boudha
Nath stupa after lighting had struck it weeks before. Many other High Lamas also came

The head of the Nyingma branch of Tibetan Buddhism.

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to visit and many lay people wanted to see them. One old man wanted to see Dudjom
Rinpoche and asked me to help him.
One morning we went to Boudha and got an audience with Rinpoche. The old
man offered Zee stones,4 mani stones, silver coins, texts written in gold and many other
things. Rinpoche asked me, Are you the son of this old man?
Im not his son. I am a practitioner and he is my patron and neighbor. I perform
pujas in his home and I also take him with me when I go on pilgrimage.
This is very good. Meditators are like that. All men are your father; all women
are your mother; and all children are your children. You should practice like this until
you die. You should consider this man your father and he should consider you his son.
I had also brought all the texts in the Long Chen Nying Thig. I have received
some transmissions from my lama in Tibet, but there are many Tibetans who I have to do
a lot of pujas for. Sometimes I have to do offering to the deities, but I dont have this
transmission. Can you give a complete transmissoin to me?
Rinpoche said, I dont have the book right now.
I brought them.
In that case I can give you the transmission now. If I dont give transmission to
practitioners, who else am I supposed to give them to? Then Rinpoche gave me all the
transmissions. He also gave the two old men and me ritual medallions with mantras in
them. By just wearing this you will be free from non-virtuous acts and resultes. We all
felt very happy.
When the old man died, Dudjom Rinpoche did the Powa service and we were able
offer him the old mans belongings.

A kind of precious stone found in Tibet, which is unable to be reproduced.

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My House:
In Patan there was a Newari couple. The man was a low caste farmer and the
wife was from a high cast family. They hadnt asked their parents for permission and
married against social customs. The girl's family felt embarrassed and kicked them out of
town to live in a field. They built a small house with one wood pillar. They slept on the
bare ground and used a very modest kitchen. The husband came to me one day and
requested a puja; Our parents have kicked us out. We are very poor. Please do a puja of
wealth for us.
I felt great compassion for this young couple. Seeing their poor dress and modest
house, I went with my friend to do a puja for them. There was hardly any room in the
house to beat a drum. From the wooden walls wind came through.
In front of his house in the field were three truck loads of fire wood piled up. He
asked me to do a divination, In the mountains, a womens husband had died. She owned
a forest and a truck. Coming to me she asked if I would sell her wood. She would
supply the wood and I would pay her later. Should I do this, will I be able to carry it
out?
Now the gods are taking care of you. You should be brave and carry on the
business. Be careful to pay her at the right time. You will make good profit and it would
be very good for you. He followed my advice.
Meanwhile the carpet industry was increasing. All the carpet factories needed
wood for looms. All the buyers came to him for wood. He sold so much wood that in
three years he became a very rich man.
After that, he took care of me. When he visited me again, he saw a rat run out of
my wall. He told me, I feel very sad that my lama is living with rats. Since I have a
good wood business, whatever lumber you need to build a house, you may take it from
me.

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Meanwhile a Kagyud lama came to me for advice. He was having interpersonal

difficulties in his monastery and didnt know if he should stay or leave. He was a good
scholar, educated in Vanaris. I did the divination and said, You are good in languages
plus you are handsome. The other monks were jealous of you. Now, dont stay in that
monastery. You should go to a Nyingma lama to get an empowerment and go to the west
to teach.
If this will benefit me, then I will do it.
I did a wealth puja and gave him a protection cord before he left for Germany,
Denmark and Switzerland. Later he became very rich, a millionaire! When he returned
from the west he got a big house in Boudha and built a monastery.
Listen. You shouldnt live like this. One man already offered you wood. I will
offer you bricks. Build a house.

I didnt tell anybody about these offers except my friend Tenzin Dorje. When he
was selling carpets his wife had died of poisoning. I did all the funeral pujas for her.
Later, he became very rich. He told me, Since other people have offered you wood and
bricks, I will give you all the iron you need to build a house.
With everyones help I was able to build the house I presently live in. My house
became like a monastery with statues. Every month I perform pujas at my home. Before,
I hadnt house nor monastery. Now I have both.

Statues to Tibet:
Three years ago I raised enough money to have some statues made. I made Pha
Dhmapa Sangye, Milarepa and Thangtong Gyalpo. I did 100,000 tsok offerings and sent
these objects to Tibet.
The morning I was about to go, a few helpers were loading the truck. Some
people shouted, A monkey got into your Shrine room.

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There are no monkeys in Jawelekyel . How can there be a monkey in my

room? I went up to see for myself. There was a big black monkey with a white beard
sitting where the statues where kept. At first I was confused. I thought it might be an
obstacle for the statues either at the boarder or
an accident in the car. I looked at the statue of
Guru Rinpoche to see if the obstacles would
arise in my mind. Immediately I remembered
Dhampa Sangye was supposed to have a
monkey face. I felt comforted. I realized this
was not an obstacle but an emanation of
Dhampa Sangye.
I offered the monkey a dozen bananas.
The monkey got off the statue stands and
stood on the box the statues where packed in.
The monkey was looking right back at me as if he had something to say. With a banana
in hand I said, Milarepa, Thongtong Gyalpo and Dhampa Sangye, Im trying to see
these three off to Tibet. Im wishing the sun of happiness will soon shine in the world;
please help them go to Tibet. I offered the bananas to the monkey. Taking them, he
went up to the stairs and sat down. He put two bananas on his right and started to peel
one. He looked at me happily. I became relieved and comfortable. This wasnt an
obstacle, this was a miracle from the Mahasiddhas, the enlightened masters.
Normally in Nepal the roads are blocked with bamboo cross beams at check
posts. This time we were never stopped or asked questions. The driver exclaimed,
Normally the cars are questioned at the checkpoints. This is very strange. They didnt
ask us any questions and just let us pass by, what a miracle!

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We met the people who came to escort the statues and made a document. It said:
I was the son of the Penak family. I have been in Nepal a long time. Whatever money I
made doing pujas I have used to make these statues and I am handing them over to the
Langkor monastery of Dhampa Sangye on fourteenth day of the eleventh month of the
Tibetan calendar in the western year of 1996.
When I handed over the things to the lama from Langkor, he broke into tears. I
told him, Because of karmic connections you were born in Langkor. As it is said in
texts, you are lucky to be born in sacred places. You should take care of the monastery.
Dont think about making money for yourself. If I can, I will send you money from
Nepal. They offered me chang and meat from Tibet in gratitude.
The statues reached Langkor on the fifteenth, on the full moon day. On the
sixteenth, they arranged the statues properly, dressed them and did blessings. On the
seventeenth they invited all the Langkor villagers. Five hundred and fifteen people came
to look at the statues. They gave each person the black protection cords I sent. The
people wondered, Who is this Wangdu who sent such a wonderful offering to our
village? Many young Tibetans wanted to see me. They wrote to me, If you are able to
live long enough, please visit us in Langkor, just one time.
Although I have not been able to go back since 1958, having received their
invitation, my thoughts have moved back to my birthplace.

Puja:
In order to show gratitude to my family heritage, on every tenth and twenty fifth
of the Tibetan month I offer Chd tsok. This tradition comes from when I was growing
up in Langkor. Also on the fourth day of the sixth month, when the Buddha descended
from heaven, I offer 100,000 tsok in Boudha. I also donate money to paint the stupa and
change its dressings. These days I do divinations for marriage and heal sickness for
people if they want them. This is my story until now.

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Colophon:
I met Ngawang Kalden5 and Trinley Thundrup6 who wanted to write the story of
my activities. Since this project has begun, many people have complimented it. Others
had wanted this to happen before but were unable to carry it out.
Kalden Ley Dro Chen means auspicious connection, so Ngawang Kalden has an
auspicious connection with me and my life story.
The translator, Trinley whose name means "enlightened activity", will indeed
benefit limitless beings beyond the universe.
I have enjoyed telling my story as much as I could remember from the age of
seven up to the age of sixty three. If you could write this book people with trust and faith
in the Dharma will be greatly benefited. To those who do not have faith in the Dharma,
those who have wrong views, who are jealous or simple minded-- my biography might be
of use as well. Whatever the case may be, these are the activities of my crazy wisdom
yogic lifestyle which are like a blooming lotus flower.

5
6

My Tibetan name.
My Tibetan teacher who served as a translator for our conversations.

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