A Sword Rolled like Paper

A Sword Rolled like Paper, a Story about Realization of the Nature of Mind and the Malleability of Phenomena

Since I’m an old man, I’ve had a lot of experiences. For instance, my father was a famous and renowned lama named Repkong Lama Chimé Dorjé (he was also called Tam-nyen Lama and Dam-chen Kang Lama, after the name of the place where he lived at the time). He displayed many miraculous activities, performing amazing things stemming from his realization. He could really demonstrate that the elements are not solid and fixed, even though we ordinary beings believe they are. For instance, I remember one time when I was about thirteen or fourteen, my father and I traveled to visit Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche at Lama Ling, about a morning’s horse ride from our house. As a prominent lama’s son, I was pretty fancy. I dressed really well and had a very fine horse named Sak-truk. I had an expensive and beautiful saddle ornamented with silver and gold and bal-ko[1] details. There were matching stirrups, a bridle, and a beautiful carpet that went under the saddle. I also had a sword that matched the saddle set. I loved it so much and was very proud of it. Its sheath was silver, adorned with large pieces of turquoise and coral, and decorated with gold. The handle had red silk tassels. We arrived at Lama Ling and tied up our horses outside at a post with grass and water for them. Before going up to see Kyabje Rinpoche, we stopped at the guesthouse to be served food and a drink. I hung my sword, my prized possession, on a hook on the wall in the room. 

One Repkong yogi (with dreadlocks), Lama Dönden, was a resident at Lama Ling at the time. The servants were preparing lunch, and my father and Lama Dönden were drinking arak (distilled alcohol). They began debating something about the dharma. Lama Dönden was saying one thing, and my father was saying another. Now, my father could become very wrathful and very powerful. Their argument became really heated, louder and louder. Suddenly my father grabbed my sword off the wall, pulled it out of its long sheath, and hit the tip of the sword with his left palm. But instead of cutting through his hand, it rolled up just like a piece of paper until his hand hit the hilt. He threw the rolled-up sword down on the table and said to Lama Dönden, “What do you mean, yes or no?!” Of course, Lama Dönden immediately gave up all his intellectual concepts and arguments. He jumped up and did prostrations to my father and his realization [of zang-t’hal, the unobstructed nature of reality], begging forgiveness for his own narrow-minded stupidity.

I saw all of this with my own eyes. The funny thing is, at the time, it almost seemed normal. In fact, at first, I was really irritated that my father had ruined my beautiful sword. Only after a little while did I think what happened was a little weird. Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche heard about it before we even had a chance to eat, and he told his attendant, “That sword belongs to me. Bring it here.” Kyabje Rinpoche hung the rolled sword on the wall in his gӧn-khang, the dharma protector room, so everyone could see it as a support for their faith, a holy object like a statue or phurba. I don’t know what happened to it under Chinese rule.

For someone like my father, a yogi who wasn’t bound by dualistic perception, that sword’s steel was just like paper. It wasn’t hard and solid at all. There are so many stories like that, and I saw lots of them myself. The point is, whatever you believe has so much power. That is the immense power of the mind. Although the mind seems insubstantial, it’s actually the most concrete and solid thing in the world. Mind is harder than any other material thing. However, when mind turns to its essence, the level of enlightened wisdom, then everything appears as light. Our phenomena change. It’s like watching a movie. Our mind is the projector, and phenomena appear on the screen. So, in this same way, we pray to realize the illusory-like nature of appearances. When we pray with strong intent, our mind takes it seriously. If we take something seriously and really focus on it, we will definitely get a result. That’s why, before we do dharma practice, we set this intention through prayer that we will attain realization of the unchangeable truth.

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