ON THE PASSING AWAY OF TSHERING RIGZING

Letter:
It was really a touching moment to be able pay my last respect to my late friend Tshering Ringzing who was killed in the USA by a young-man who was driven by negative forces on April 2 2012. An accomplished personality who would have been a significant asset to all of us in Sikkim, express my satisfaction to His Holiness the present Shamarpa Rinpoche who happened to be close by on that fateful day to have personally come and performed Phowa, Transference of mind for the deceased as required under our Sikkimese traditions as soon as one dies. It so happened that when His Holiness first tried see the corpse, he could not do so because of some formalities going on there at the hospital. However, he somehow managed a photo of the deceased and offered some prayers. Not before too long, and driven by the karma of both the deceased and the lama, Rinpoche could make it to his dead body where he elaborately performed Phowa and instructed his resident monks and students to perform necessary prayers and rites. Kudos to the Sikkim Bhutia Lepcha Apex Committee and its team to have quickly corresponded and exerting maximum pressure with the US authority as did the Governments of India and Sikkim for immediate handing over of the mortal remain of the deceased for performing necessary prayers and funeral as per Buddhist tradition in Sikkim. Courteous enough on the part of the US administration for sending its two senior official representatives to see off the dead body, nicely put up in a nicely placed casket at the Airport.
May the deceased, driven by his own merit and virtues, conveniently find bliss in one of the pure realms of the lotus family.
Chewang Pintso, Gangtok