NKT'S RIME ANTI-HISTORY

 Before NKT's new book is even available (A Great Deception), NKT is stuffing the Internet with raving reviews, along with its reiteration of false claims.

For example, NKT claims,

    "The Rime movement by the way never existed until recent times, invented by, yes the 14th Dala Lama."

Is that so?

It takes less than 5 minutes to get the facts, which characteristically are different from NKT's hateful political speach and disturbing allegations against Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetans and their proponents.

Whereas the Dalai Lama was born in 1935, the Rime movement in Tibet and the Gelugpa reaction against it began many decades earlier.

A factual summary of Rime,

    "Rimé is a Tibetan word which means "no sides", "non-partisan" or "non-sectarian".

    The Rime movement is a Buddhist school of thought founded in Eastern Tibet during the late 19th century largely by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, the latter of whom is often respected as the founder proper.

    It is a movement that appeared during the late 19th century, which seeks to appreciate the differences between the different Tibetan schools and acknowledge the importance of this variety for the benefit of practitioners with different needs. Rime masters are either brought up in one tradition and through their realisation see that this is in essence equally as valuable as other traditions, or they have gained an equal scholarly understanding of all the different traditions.

    Great Rime masters like Jamgon Kongtrul and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo did not study a particular tradition called Rime. Instead they were grounded in one particular tradition and then realised the commonalities shared by other schools of Tibetan Buddhism. For example, Jamgon Kongtrul was grounded in the Kagyu tradition, while Khyentse Wangpo was originally a Sakya lineage holder. There were also many Nyingma Rime masters such as Patrul Rinpoche and Jigme Tenpe Nyima.

    Similarly, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was tutored and brought up in the Gelug tradition. However, now he is admired as someone who not only understands but has realised the views of all Tibetan traditions, which he equally respects.

    In order to perfect one's practices and become an authentic spiritual person, we can adapt a Rime or nonbiased approach towards the Buddhist traditions.

    Like Tsongkhapa, there are numerous masters from the Sakya, Gelug, Kagyu, Nyingma, and Jonang traditions who acknowledge and maintain philosophical understandings from other lineages without contradiction. Another example was the Great Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lozang Gyatso who was a core lineage-holder of the Gelug tradition but also composed an essential guidance text on the Nyingma Dzogchen teachings known as the Oral Instructions of the Awareness-Holders. Kunkhyen Longchen Rabjam, a core lineage holder of the Nyingma tradition, received and practiced many profound teachings on the definitive meaning of zhentong (shentong) from the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje.

    The lineages of Tibetan Buddhism are intertwined through empowerments, transmissions, and guidance instructions, to the extent that every single one is connected to another. For this reason, to regard a tradition with partiality, to look upon one tradition as better than another, is a mistake. Since these traditions are equal doorways to wisdom, they are each beneficial. As the founders and great authors of these traditions have explained, studying and practicing what these traditions have to offer enables us to avoid prejudices.

    Students who associate with Rime do not leave their old traditions, but rather continue practising as their regular tradition would ascribe.

    Rime is not a spiritual lineage, but rather a philosophical movement which seeks to establish, preserve, and cultivate dialogue between varying traditions, appreciating their differences and emphasising the need for variety. It was initially created to counteract the growing suspicion and tension building between the different traditions, which at the time had, in many places, gone so far as to forbid studying one another's scriptures. Rime became thereafter an integral part of the Tibetan tradition, and continues to be an important school of philosophy in Tibetan Buddhism.

    Rimé is not a way of uniting different Schools and lineages by emphasising their similarities. It is basically an appreciation of their differences and an acknowledgement of the importance of having this variety for the benefit of practitioners with different needs. Therefore the Rimé teachers always take great care that the teachings and practices of the different Schools and lineages and their unique styles do not become confused with one another. To retain the original style and methods of each teaching lineage preserves the power of that lineage experience.

    The Ri-me view means to understand the uniqueness of the teachings of all different traditions and be able to view these in a non-contradictory way, so they can benefit everyone. "

As usual, facts do not suit NKT. NKT prefers to spend years spreading hate and falsehoods than spend a few minutes on research.

NKT also boasts its false allegation that the Dalai Lama has been an utter failure to do anything whatsoever either for Tibet or for Tibetans in general. The good things the Dalai Lama has done for Tibetans (and the rest of us) have been published in dozens of books, thousands of news stories and television broadcasts and several movies.

Source

www.nktworld.org