Synopsis: A personal exploration of what it means to be a Western tulku and the Tibetan tradition of recognizing reincarnated lamas, directed by Gesar Mukpo, son of Chogyam Trungpa.
At the age of three years old, Gesar Tsewang Arthur Mukpo, son of world famous Tibetan Buddhist master Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his British wife Diana, was identified as the reincarnation of the late Jamgon Kongtrul of Sechen, one of his father's own teachers in Tibet. Living in Boulder, Colorado, and Halifax, Novia Scotia, Gesar balanced competing cultures and strikingly different definitions of self. His life was far from that of an ordinary contemporary American or Canadian - but there was no monastery upbringing like that of perhaps other well known tulkus and even of his father. And after his father's untimely death, he was on his own with this challenge...
Inspired by renowned Tibetan master and filmmaker Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche (the Cup, Travellers and Magicians), Gesar Mukpo has documented his own story and those of several other Western tulkus in this personal and thoughtful film that asks the questions, "What does it mean to be identified as a tulku? and more broadly, "How does one live in this world, and fulfill one's destiny?"
Filmed on location in North America, Nepal and India. It features rare archival footage from Tibet, with appearances by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Rabjam Rinpoche, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Lady Diana Mukpo. The Western tulkus featured are Gesar's brother Ashoka Mukpo, plus Dylan Henderson, Wyatt Arnold (recognized by Chagdud Tulku), and Dutch tulku Ruben Adrian Derkson.
Extras: 60 minutes of bonus features: an extended interview with Gesar Mukpo, and an extended interview with Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche - who explains the tulku system and the crucial difference between "yangtse" and "tulku", between a full reincarnation of a realized master and just a manifestation. " There are tulkus who are not necessarily a reincarnation. They are manifestations".
NTSC free zone, all regions.
"Intensely personal." Shambhala Sun. |