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Instructions for the Search

The letter of prophecy describing the signs of Jamgon Rinpoche's rebirth did not exactly indicate where the incarnation could be found. Therefore, at 5:30 p.m. on the same day (May 27, 1996) Tenzin Dorjee and Sonam Chopel returned to see the Karmapa to seek his instructions on how to proceed with the search.

They met the Karmapa outside his chambers. The Karmapa said that he had witnessed some very auspicious signs that day, such as the single roar of thunder and the sunshine with rain. He said that he had also seen a rainbow above the mountain in front of the monastery, just south of Tsurphu.

They then went into his chambers and the Karmapa proceeded to describe the place of Jamgon Rinpoche's rebirth. As he was explaining, he drew some sketches. Turning to a page in his exercise book, the Karmapa drew a mountain, rainbows above it on the left, and the family's home on the upper right side of the page. He also wrote some Tibetan alphabets. The Karmapa explained that the mountain he had drawn was that which is in front of Tsurphu monastery. Pointing to the family's home in the sketch he had drawn, he told Tenzin Dorjee and Sonam Chopel that it was to the south of that mountain.

Then, turning to a fresh page in his book, he began drawing another sketch. Casually pointing to the sketch, the Karmapa indicated the family's home and the houses around it, depicting an enclosure-like drawing around the family's home. He said that in front of their home is a black mountain, flanked on both sides by mountains like those in the sketch. The view of the black mountain is partially hidden by them. He sketched what looked like a spring or river coming from the mountain and remarked casually that "there is water." The family's home is two storeys and the Karmapa said, pointing to his sketch, that the location of the door into the house faces east, exactly.

The Karmapa then drew a third sketch on the back-cover of his exercise book, but he did not offer much explanation. He had earlier said that the family home is south of the mountain in front of Tsurphu monastery. At that moment, Tenzin Dorjee requested the Karmapa to be more precise about the location. The Karmapa replied that the place is around Chushur Dzong. He requested Lama Nyima, his personal tutor, to write that down below his sketch: "around Chushur hsien". (The word "hsien" means district in Chinese, and "dzong" in Tibetan.) Finally, he said that Tenzin Dorjee should begin the search in the area south of Tsurphu, around Chushur Dzong.