Rimé movement

Rimé in Tibetan letters

Rimé is a Buddhist ecumenical movement 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. Excluding non-Tibetan traditions, it seeks to unify the Buddhist Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug traditions (along with the Bön religion), attempting to harmonize the common grounds and various views and practices and removing elements considered by the Rime advocates to be divisive while maintaining the authenticities of various practice lineages and saving endangered elements. It is responsible for a large number of scriptural compilations such as the Rinchen Terdzod.

Rimé is often wrongly defined as an "eclectic movement". It is not a new school with set elements from various schools. Rimé practitioners "follow multiple lineages of practice" from different masters or mistresses. One of the most prominent contemporary Rimé masters, Ringu Tulku, emphasizes the message of the original Rimé founders that not only Rimé is not an eclectic school, but that it is not even a new school. It is simply an approach allowing freedom of choice which was always the majority practice within the history of Tibetan Buddhism apart from a minority of sectarian innovations in recent centuries. The Karmapas, Je Tsongkhapa, Sakya lineage heads and major Nyingma figures took teachings and empowerments from various schools and lineages.

The movement's name is derived from two Tibetan words: Ris (division, border) and Med (refutation), which combined expresses the idea of openness to other Buddhist traditions, as opposed to sectarianism. The Rimé movement therefore is often mistaken as trying to unite the various sects through their similarities, which was not the case. Rimé was intended to recognize the differences between traditions and appreciate them, while also establishing a dialogue which would create common ground. It is considered important that variety be preserved, and therefore Rimé teachers are generally quite careful to emphasize differences in thought, giving students many options as to how to proceed in their spiritual training.

Rimé's founders

Two of the founding voices of Rimé were Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, both from different schools. Jamgon Kongtrul was from the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions, while Wangpo had been raised within the Sakya order. At the time, Tibetan schools of thought had become very isolated, and both Wangpo and Jamgon Kongtrul were instrumental in re-initiating dialogue between the sects.

The movement was sparked by a tragic incident that occurred after a prominent Sakya sponsor began supporting a Nyingma Lama. Some Sakya students retaliated, resulting in deaths of virtually the entire family of the sponsor. But the movement began within a larger context of increasing domination by the Gelug lineage. Beginning in the 17th century, the Gelug view and politics increasingly dominated in Tibet and the minority lineages were at risk for losing their traditions.

Rimé was, in its idealized presentation, the re-establishment of a rule or principle that had always been present in Tibetan Buddhism, but that had been de-emphasized or forgotten. That is: to ignorantly criticize other traditions was wrong, and that misunderstandings due to ignorance should be immediately alleviated.

Rimé seeks to preserve the historic tradition of taking teachings and practice instructions across varying traditions, appreciating their differences and emphasizing the need for variety as well as harmony. Rimé was initially intended to counteract the novel 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.

One of the central tenets of Buddhism is that practitioners have the freedom to make their own spiritual choices, so any use of power to forbid this freedom of choice is therefore in violation of basic Buddhist principles. The Rimé ideal would hold that each practitioner is able to practice in the way of their choosing. Some practitioners may choose to mix the instructions from different traditions together and some may choose to rely exclusively upon the instructions of one tradition, but in either case practitioner respect each other's spiritual choices. This is the meaning of non-sectarianism.

Rimé has become an integral part of the Tibetan tradition, and continues to be an important philosophy in Tibetan Buddhism.

Other notable Rimé founders were Patrul Rinpoche and Orgyen Chokgyur Lingpa. Shabkar Tsodruk Rangdrol, Dudjom Lingpa and the Fifteenth Karmapa Khakyab Dorje who was a student of Kongtrul and other lineage leaders gave their blessing to the movement and its founders who were considered extremely realized.

The Rimé approach

Tibetan Buddhism has a long history of vigorous debate and argumentation between schools and within one's training. This can lead a practitioner to believe that one's school has the best approach or highest philosophic view and that other lineages have a lower or flawed understanding. The Rimé approach cautions against developing that viewpoint, while at the same time appreciating that the debate and discussion is important and that arguing which views are higher and lower is still valid discourse.

The practitioner may take empowerments from the numerous handed down lineages and living masters, though it is not a requirement to do so.

Present-day Rimé movement

The movement's achievements have been very successful in the 20th Century where taking teachings and transmissions from different schools and lineages has become the norm amongst many monastic students, lamas, yogis as well as lay practitioners. This has mainly been due to the proactive support of many lineage holders and various leaders such as the 13th and 14th Dalai Lamas, the 15th and 16th Karmapas, Sakya Trizin, Dudjom Rinpoche as well as the Rimé founders whose practice cycles and reincarnations have been very influential and popular. The 14th Dalai Lama has composed a prayer for the movement praising various historic figures and lineages of Vajrayana from India and Tibet, part of which says:

In short, may all the teachings of the Buddha in the Land of Snows

Flourish long into the future— the ten great pillars of the study lineage,

And the chariots of the practice lineage, such as Shijé (‘Pacifying’) and the rest,

All of them rich with their essential instructions combining sutra and mantra.

May the lives of the masters who uphold these teachings be secure and harmonious!

May the sangha preserve these teachings through their study, meditation and activity!

May the world be filled with faithful individuals intent on following these teachings!

And long may the non-sectarian teachings of the Buddha continue to flourish!

Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche are recent Rimé masters, known for their public influence and as being advisers and teachers to the 14th Dalai Lama. Other modern adherents include the late 16th Karmapa and Dudjom Rinpoche, both of whom gave extensive teachings from the works of Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro, as well as Akong Rinpoche who, with the late Chogyam Trungpa helped establish Tibetan Buddhism in Britain. The lineage of the late Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche, also a venerable master of the Rimé tradition, is represented today in the teachings of Lama Surya Das. They are viewed as collaborators with the occupying Chinese forces by Tibetans inside and outside Tibet. The lamas appointed by the ruling Communist party as 'official reincarnations' propagate the divisive sectarian Shugden practice.

Sectarian Opponents

Major Gelug figures like Shabkar, the Dalai Lamas, Panchen Lamas and Reting Rinpoche supported the movement. The practice of Dorje Shugden has been associated with promoting sectarian purity within the Gelug lineage but this is not how the Gelug founder Je Tsongkhapa behaved nor practiced. However while Shugdenpas maintain taking any teachings out of the lineage of Je Tsongkhapa is not permitted, Tsongkhapa himself had a Nyingma as one of his main gurus as did other historic figures within the Gelug. Also despite misrepresentations from the beginning many of the victims of Shugden sectarians were Gelugs.

Prior to the current Dalai Lama and his predecessor, many of the Dalai Lamas died very young as did many of their parents in suspicious circumstances. The 14th dalai Lama's mother has made comments regarding the early and suspicious death of her husband too. They also destroyed the Gelug Reting Monastery and killed many of the monks. Reting Rinpoche who is one of the highest figures in Gelug and the traditional regent to the Dalai Lamas and was responsible for finding the current Dalai Lama and one of his senior tutors was jailed and murdered in jail by the Shugdenpas. The Shugden supporters are also hostile to the other traditional senior figure within Gelug, the Panchen Lama whose current holder was abducted as a child by the Chinese security forces and has not been seen for years. The Chinese government has appointed an official Panchen Lama who is the son of two communist party members and unlike the abducted Pnachen Lama who supported the Dalai Lama fully, promotes the sectarian practice of Shugden. The head of all Gelug monasteries have denounced Shugden and its sectarian practitioners. These include the Gelug head Ganden Tripa, abbots and leaders of Sera Jey and Sera Mey as well as other Gelug monasteries. The head of Shugden sectarian movement in the west, Kelsang Gyatso expelled by his monastery, now calls his group the New Kadampa Tradition which is regarded by all these leaders of Gelug as a breakaway sect. His followers are mainly westerners and there are many controversies regarding his group.

More recently according to Indian Police multiple murders of Gelug figures who were against orthodoxy in Dharamsala were traced to pro-orthodoxy practitioners who then fled over the border. Prithvi Raj, Chief Police officer in charge of Kangra District, characterized the murder of the Rimé supporting Gelug lama — the Principal of Tibetan Institute of Buddhist Dialectics — and his two disciples as an assassination by a specific Dorje Shugden related organization. The Dorje Shugden controversy is an escalating concern as the western organization's growing number of former members come forward with disturbing accounts.

References

• The Ri-Me Philosophy of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great: A Study of the Buddhist Lineages of Tibet by Ringu Tulku, ISBN 1-59030-286-9, Shambhala Publications
• Dreyfus, Georges B.J. & Sara L. McClintock (eds). The Svatantrika-Prasangika Distinction: What Difference Does a Difference Make? Wisdom Publications, 2003.

External links

• Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, a short introduction by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
• Video clip of Ringu Tulku on the Rimé Approach
• The Rimé Movement an article by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
• "A Prayer for the Flourishing of the Non-Sectarian Teachings of the Buddha" by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• Buddhism without Sectarianism by the Venerable Deshung Rinpoche
• Rimé Buddhist Center
• Rimé Foundation Chicago
• Lotsawa House
• Rimé Foundation A non-profit organization specializing in the translation of Tibetan literature, particularly from the Rimé movement.