On the second day of the war, on March 22, 1959, Domo Geshe Rinpoche was taken prisoner by the Chinese Communists together with many other people. From the Norbulingka gardens where they were all held for several days, he was taken to army headquarters. Since Rinpoche was a Sikkimese, it was expected that he would be let go immediately. However, he was not released until more than two years later. According to the Indian Consul in Lhasa at the time, Domo Geshe Rinpoche was too important to be let go. The Chinese Communists hoped to convert him to their views and use his tremendous popularity for their own ends. Another reason for Geshe Rinpoche’s imprisonment was that all the resistance fighters used the famous rilbus and other objects blessed by Rinpoche as protection against weapons. It is said that when some of the Chinese used Geshe Rinpoche’s protection, which made many fighters bullet-proof, it worked for them as well. Domo Geshe Rinpoche and the monks of his Labrang, who had handed out rilbus freely to anyone “who went south,” were considered part of the resistance and were all imprisoned.

The first few months of Geshe Rinpoche’s imprisonment he was forced to perform the dirtiest of all jobs, such as cleaning out pig sties or sewers and washing dirty laundry; or the heaviest, such as carrying huge concrete slabs as the youngest person among a group of old ailing people. His back was badly injured when a huge chunk of concrete fell on him. This injury would continue to bother Geshe Rinpoche for many years to come. Rinpoche never complained about the work or the difficult conditions; he was a good worker. Once when he was taking care of the pigs, a Chinese officer tried to force him to shoot one of the animals. Rinpoche refused. The soldier just cursed and left.

Later, Geshe Rinpoche no longer had to do the back-breaking dirty work, but the Communists tried to break him through re-education sessions. When after more than a year he had still not changed his mind, they took Domo Geshe Rinpoche to Trapchi prison and kept him in solitary confinement in total darkness for several months, in a cell too small even to stretch out in. For the last year of his imprisonment Geshe Rinpoche shared a cell with the Tibetan general Sampho Tenzin Thondup, who described how he developed complete trust in Rinpoche. In prison, this was a most special gift. In his book, the general talks about how happy he was that he could trust someone completely.

In the meantime, many Tibetans outside of Tibet repeatedly petitioned His Royal Highness the Chögyal of Sikkim to facilitate Geshe Rinpoche’s release, as he was not a Tibetan national. The Chögyal, as well as 38 different organizations, petitioned Pandit Nehru, Prime Minister of India, to bring pressure on the Chinese Communists to free Domo Geshe Rinpoche from the illegal imprisonment. Later, the Indian newspapers reported: “His Holiness Domo Geshe Rinpoche has been detained by the Chinese at Lhasa since 1959 on suspicion of being involved in the Tibetan uprising” (Hindustan Standard, August 10, 1960).

Finally, Domo Geshe Rinpoche was released from prison on the tenth day of the Tibetan New Year in 1961. For the next few months he traveled by bicycle all over Lhasa and its outskirts collecting texts and precious holy objects to be smuggled out of Tibet. He did so at the risk of his life. He gathered texts too rare to exist anywhere outside of Tibet, among them a number of very precious manuscript collections. Perhaps most important were the sets of textbooks used by the different colleges of Sera, Drepung and Ganden. Without these textbooks, it would have been impossible to continue the tradition of the great monastic universities in exile. They came out with “Katsara” traders, the only people then permitted to travel across the border.

While Geshe Rinpoche traveled around Lhasa collecting holy objects, he found his outer robe (chögö), which he had received from Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and in which this great master had given many teachings, as well as his ordination Buddha. This was considered an auspicious omen. Many of the precious objects Geshe Rinpoche collected, like thangkas and other art works, did not reach their rightful owners. A large number of them got stolen while waiting near the border of Sikkim or on the way across. However, the collections of books, which had no monetary value, remained untouched. Only these precious things collected by Domo Geshe Rinpoche came out of Tibet at the time; the border was very tightly sealed.

Later that summer of 1961, Geshe Rinpoche arrived in Gangtok. The Chinese authorities in Lhasa had finally become aware that Rinpoche would not, after all, work for them. They escorted him from Lhasa to the border through Tromo – and past Dungkar Gonpa – secretly. They were worried that if Rinpoche were recognized, the local people would not let him leave and create an uprising. At Nathula, Rinpoche turned facing Tibet to say prayers. At that moment, his meager bundle fell to the ground. In it had been his only valuable possession, a wooden bowl used during government-sponsored dinners. He heard a crack: a chip had broken off the bowl’s delicate rim. Thus Domo Geshe Rinpoche came out of Tibet without any possessions at all. From the terribly dirty food in prison and other privations, he arrived in Sikkim and India quite sick.

At Tharpa Chöling Monastery in Kalimpong, a dispute that had started in the late 1940s was still festering. The monks sent from Dungkar Gonpa in Tibet to rotate the administrative offices took their personal offerings back to Tibet and offered them at Dungkar Gonpa. This created animosity among the locals which escalated into a deep conflict. Both sides tried to resolve it by presenting their grievances to the Indian and Tibetan courts. This is a case famous for its uniqueness. Neither the Tibetan nor the Indian government could solve the problem. Only Geshe Rinpoche, upon his return from Tibet, resolved the lingering crisis mainly by means of his non-partisanship and fairness, his equal treatment of all, and his uncompromising attention to all the details of monastic discipline. It is said that the following lines from Je Tsongkhapa’s praise of Buddha Shakyamuni known as “Kapsumpa” describe well this particular accomplishment of Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s:

“Through the power of insight and compassion alone you conquered the hosts of evil, leaving none unvanquished; ten million legions of evil forces conquered not by weapons of war but by yourself alone, like a black cloud driven by the force of a wrathful gale.”

When the Indian Government officially handed over Tharpa Chöling Monastery to Domo Geshe Rinpoche in a formal ceremony in 1966, auspicious signs and unusually shaped clouds were observed. Later that year, together with Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, Domo Geshe Rinpoche instituted an annual Ganden Ngamchö procession in Kalimpong and Darjeeling on the anniversary of the passing away of Je Tsongkhapa in which a statue of Je Rinpoche is carried through the town for blessings and people offer khatas. The offerings for the first celebration, although made by Geshe Rinpoche, were done in the name of a British monk, Sangharakshita, without his knowledge. Domo Geshe Rinpoche often makes elaborate offerings or extends crucial help in someone else’s name. Almost nobody knows all the amazing ways he has helped and benefited others.

Shortly after Geshe Rinpoche came out of Tibet, he and people in his immediate circle founded the Ü/Tsang Association in Kalimpong, whose headquarters only much later were transferred to Dharamsala. This association helped many of the Tibetans escaping from Tibet and also took care of the poorest in Kalimpong. Whenever a Tibetan had difficulties with the local authorities, who were harassing Tibetans at the time, the Ü/Tsang Association came to the rescue. It was very effective in taking care of the needs of the local Tibetans and those passing through after escaping from Tibet.

In 1962, while Domo Geshe Rinpoche was in Bodhgaya, His Holiness requested him to start a Tibet House in New Delhi. An artist himself, Domo Geshe Rinpoche is a great expert on Tibetan and other Buddhist art. Through his connections with so many aristocrats and old families, Geshe Rinpoche was able to collect many precious, holy, and old works of art. They were exhibited at the Tibet House Museum. When registering these wonderful collections of thangkas, statues, and other invaluable works, in order to save them from the inevitable fate of the marketplace, Geshe Rinpoche had a great number of them labeled, “On loan by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.” Today many of these can be seen at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala. On Lhapab Düchen of 1965, Tibet House was inaugurated with many illustrious guests present: His Holiness and his two Tutors, Prime Minister Nehru, and Indira Gandhi, to mention just a few.

In his autobiography Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche speaks of the wonderful collection of Tibetan texts at Tibet House at the time. He also mentions that he received special collections and rare texts from Domo Geshe Rinpoche from Kalimpong several times, on one occasion, in 1963, to give transmissions to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This had greatly pleased him, since the very continuity of the tradition depended on them. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche said on more than one occasion that he and Domo Geshe Rinpoche are exactly the same, are of one mind. During the years when Geshe Rinpoche was the Director of Tibet House, Kyabje Ling and Trijang Rinpoches usually were accommodated at Tibet House while staying in New Delhi. The two Tutors took refuge there during the Pakistan air raids in 1965. During his Tibet House years, Rinpoche also took a Tibetan art exhibition to Japan as a cultural ambassador for His Holiness and the Tibetan government. While working for the Tibetan government, Domo Geshe Rinpoche visited 12 countries in Asia, Europe, and North America.

In 1965, Domo Geshe Rinpoche made the famous rilbus again. It is said that the rilbus Rinpoche put together in India contain even more holy ingredients than those of the previous Domo Geshe Rinpoche. He made the famous rilbus twice in India. Domo Geshe Rinpoche also continued his pilgrimages. He went to the four famous Guru Rinpoche caves in Sikkim, as had the previous Rinpoche, and to the Buddha’s holy places in India, Nepal, and the Himalayan areas that are still accessible. Rinpoche also went on a pilgrimage to Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The monks who accompany Domo Geshe Rinpoche say that he usually leads the way on these pilgrimages, especially in remote areas. He always knows the way exactly.

On his return from Kalimpong once, while he still worked at Tibet House, the road below the Tista bridge was blocked and Rinpoche decided to take the long way to the train station through Ghoom and Kurseong. In Sepoydhura, he unexpectedly stopped at the house of Tsewang Norbu, who had been a monk at Geshe Rinpoche’s monastery, Samten Chöling, in Ghoom. Since Rinpoche is not known to stop anywhere unannounced, this was most unusual. The recently born child in this family turned out to be the present Pabongka Rinpoche. The parents offered Rinpoche milk which was seen as a good sign. Domo Geshe Rinpoche thus found the incarnation of Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche and later helped with his enthronement, as he did with the enthronement of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche’s incarnation.

During his stay in Delhi Rinpoche helped many poor Tibetans. In particular, he helped some students get started in successful business careers. Geshe Rinpoche also helped many poor Indians there who are still devoted and thankful to him. Of course, Geshe Rinpoche helped many poor people in Kalimpong as well as in every place he went. He helped send children to good schools and girls to college. Next to Tharpa Chöling in Kalimpong was a school for small children of the poorest people in the area, mostly Nepalis. The building belonged to the monastery and the children were given a daily lunch from the monastery kitchen. Through his extraordinary kindness, power, and knowledge, Geshe Rinpoche was constantly healing sick people and those who were mentally disturbed, and he took care of those most destitute. In the U.S. and other countries, too, a great number of people can trace their wealth, well being, and often their very lives, to Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s help. When asked what they know of Geshe Rinpoche, almost everyone who met him mentioned that he paid the same amount of attention to rich and poor alike. All agree that Rinpoche never favored a rich patron over a poor person. His even-mindedness was constant and has become legendary.

In the early 1970s, when the big monasteries were resettled in South India, Tashi Lhunpo Monastery encountered great difficulties in obtaining land there. Domo Geshe Rinpoche went to Dharamsala to ask the Tibetan government-in-exile for land on behalf of Tashi Lhunpo, upon their request. He was successful and it is said that he presented the case very well. As an example of political enemies becoming friends again, he mentioned US/China relations which were starting to warm up at the time. “Things change, and not all monks were against the Tibetan government, so why should they all be punished.” He also reminded them that the Panchen Rinpoche was a Tibetan.

In 1976, Domo Geshe Rinpoche established the Dungkar Gonpa Society in New York. That year, he was offered a large tract of land in the Catskill Mountains in New York, which was named Gangjong Namgyal. It is said that Rinpoche had seen the land, perhaps in a vision, before he actually went there. He already knew that it had lions (at the gate), peacocks (at another gate), a “vase” (bumpa), a river, a lake, an “earth lotus” and a “sky lotus.” Almost single-handedly, Rinpoche took care of this land with heavy physical labor, caring for the wildlife, plants, buildings and water, and effecting spiritual transformation. Now it is a holy place, and people, many of whom teach others, come from all over the world for advice, oral transmissions, explanations, retreats, and so many other kinds of help and, when the time is right, there will be a monastery.

Domo Geshe Rinpoche hosted His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in Gangjong Namgyal in the summer of 1981. His Holiness enjoyed the beautiful and peaceful surroundings for a restful week and mentioned that the place was of great inspiration and that Dharma understanding came easily there. Wondrous occurrences are not limited to the past, as so many people believed. They continued to happen in Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s presence then just as they did before. In 1981, for example, a “mushroom” (shamo) relic with an extremely sweet fragrance grew on a plastic surface in Geshe Rinpoche’s Labrang in Kalimpong. When Rinpoche started to rebuild Tharpa Chöling Monastery in 1993, the old building had to be torn down to the foundation. The main Buddha statue on the altar is made of clay and its size is no more than four to five feet tall. When the statue was to be moved so that the construction could begin, it became so heavy that it could not be moved even by a large number of strong men. The Buddha refused to leave the grounds. A little shack was built around him and the construction went on with the Buddha statue present.

Perhaps it is not surprising for people with faith to see holy objects in Geshe Rinpoche’s surroundings produce relics or multiply, or that the beautiful old statue of Padmasambhava in Kalimpong in his closed altar, which had not been opened for decades, moved on its own axis to face Rinpoche’s seat more directly in 1991. What is surprising in today’s world is that Domo Geshe Rinpoche never asked anyone for money, never solicited financial help from anyone for his multiple responsibilities in India, Sikkim, Tibet, and Western countries. He neither advertised his teachings nor charged for them, a custom commonly practiced by Buddhist teachers or their organizations, especially in the West. Neither Domo Geshe Rinpoche nor his Labrang owned any business. He depended solely on donations without ever soliciting them or allowing his attendants to do so. When a man from Switzerland came to visit Tharpa Chöling Monastery and asked Domo Geshe Rinpoche for several receipt books to raise funds back in Switzerland for the rebuilding of the monastery, Geshe Rinpoche asked his attendants not to give him any. Unless the offering came from individual initiative, he did not accept it. According to Vinaya, someone with vows is not permitted to solicit money. However, whatever amount is offered, small or very large, this person is obliged to accept it.

Although he lived up to the prediction of the Yidam who entrusted him with the future of his Tantra, Geshe Rinpoche always acted in the manner of a perfect Kadampa. He is someone who renounced the eight worldly Dharmas exactly like Je Tsongkhapa. Domo Geshe Rinpoche did not use his famous name to obtain favors or financial gain for himself and also did not allow his monasteries to use it for those reasons. Many Tibetans remember that “the sweet smell of morality” surrounded the previous Domo Geshe Rinpoche wherever he went. In Gangjong Namgyal in the United States, people still noticed the same phenomenon in Rinpoche’s presence. The rules and vows of the Buddha, the holy teachings – especially of Je Tsongkhapa and his two main disciples – unmixed and pure, and the different levels of practice were safe with him. This is more surprising to find today than anything else. Geshe Rinpoche took birth in the “hidden land.” It was predicted more than a thousand years ago that at the time of great crisis for the Dharma, help will come from there.

Geshe Rinpoche taught in the same way his predecessor did. The main difference between their ways was that Geshe Ngawang Gyalten Jigme Chökyi Wangchuk became an even greater master of hiding his good deeds – perhaps because the times changed. But if we are concerned with the continuity of the holy teachings, the time has come to distinguish between those who invent their own personal histories to make themselves stand out among others and those who hide their good deeds while working ceaselessly to safeguard the Buddha’s true teachings. Now is the time to distinguish between those who seek to praise only themselves and those praiseworthy ones who praise only the Buddhas through their pure deeds.

The current incarnation of Kyabje Domo Geshe Rinpoche
It was with great joy that in August 2006, Dungkar Gonpa Society announced that the reincarnation of Kyabje Domo Geshe Rinpoche had been found.

Early in 2002, the Ghoom Dun Samten Choling Association, the umbrella association of Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s monasteries in India, established a Reincarnation Search Committee. In an official meeting convened at Samten Choling Monastery by this Committee in November of 2002, representatives Geshe Rinpoche’s monasteries, representatives of the Dungkar Gonpa Society and other lay devotees, unanimously resolved to request Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche to coordinate the search for the Tulku and to identify him according to the tradition. This decision came naturally as an acknowledgment of the exceptional relationship that existed between those two great masters in their previous lives. Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche kindly agreed to the petition and for the next four years the process of the search progressed as intended.

In the early summer of 2006, from the list of names gathered by the Search Committee, Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche selected one child, a boy born into a Sikkimese family belonging to the Lingmo Kazi family who were orthodox Nyingmapas. This holy reincarnation of one of the greatest present day Mahasiddhas was born in New York, USA on 2 June 2003 in the auspicious month of Saga Dawa.

Due to the great obstacles that usually accompany the birth of such an emanation and the degenerate times we live in, Rinpoche’s family faced unbelievable opposition and harassment. As such, it was only after establishing beyond any doubt that their son was indeed the true and unmistaken reincarnation of Kyabje Domo Geshe Rinpoche that his parents finally consented to offer their only son two years after the recognition.

During this period, Rinpoche revealed himself to his parents on many occasions and the miracles that accompanied him is legendary now among his devotees. Today the parents are convinced that they have done the right thing and are happy in the knowledge that they have had the privilege of playing a positive role in the continuation of this holy lineage.

His official enthronement took place at Dung Guen Samtencholing, Darjeeling, his principal monastery in India on 3 March 2008. This joyous occasion was attended by thousands of devotees from all over the world including members of The World Fellowship of Buddhists and the Representative of the US Consulate. Thereafter he was enthroned at Tashi Choling, his monastery in Kurseong, West Bengal and then at Enchey House the ancestral home and seat of previous Domo Geshe Rinpoche in Gangtok, Sikkim.

On 23 June 2008 he was enthroned at Gangjong Namgyel, Lew Beach NY, the US residence and headquarters of the previous Domo Geshe Rinpoche. The enthronement was presided over by Kyabje Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche and  Kyabje Yongyal Rinpoche. Gangchen Rinpoche, Achok Rinpoche, Michel Rinpoche and Zawa Tulku  Rinpoche attended. Geshe Helmut Gassner attended as Gonsar Rinpoche’s representative. Kyabje Phabongka Rinpoche too sent his blessings and Khentrul Rinpoche as a representative.

He was formally enrolled and enthroned at Shar Gaden Monastery on 25 April, 2009. He is presently studying with several tutors under the guidance of his spiritual Guru and Mentor H.E. Kyabje Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche.

Sources:
www.nyackbuddhism.org/rinpoche.html
www.domogesherinpoche.org
www.shargadenpa.org/throneholder/domo-geshe-rinpoche