Author: Luis Andres Hernau
Associated Press
On Monday, July 19, 2021, at the ceremony to pay tribute to the Indian Buddhist master Padmasambhava who brought Tantric Buddhism to Tibet in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, Jalu Dorje was recognized as the eighth reincarnated Lama Tetchin Pagoda Kesen Rinpoche… After graduating from high school in 2025, Jalue will travel to northern India and join the Mindrolling Monastery, which is more than 7,200 miles (11,500 kilometers) away from his home. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Columbia Heights, Minnesota (Associated Press)-In most cases, Jalue Dorje is a typical American teenager-he grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis and loves football, Pokemon and rap music.
However, a few years later, he is looking forward to bidding farewell to his family and his motherland and joining a monastery at the foot of the Himalayas. From a very young age, he was recognized as a reincarnated lama by the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist leaders.
Since then, he has spent most of his life training to be a monk, reciting sacred scriptures (his father often rewards him with Pokemon cards), practicing calligraphy and learning the teachings of the Buddha.
He is now 14 years old and is about to enter the first grade of high school. After graduating in 2025, he will travel to northern India to join the Mindrolling Monastery, more than 7,200 miles from his home in the Columbia Heights.
After a period of contemplation and asceticism, he hopes to return to the United States and teach in the Buddhist community in Minnesota. His goal? “Become a leader of peace,” he said. “Like the Dalai Lama, Gandhi or Nelson Mandela.”
On a recent day, he and his father and other monks were reciting ancient prayers for several hours. They gathered in the prayer room at home, ringing bells, drums and playing conch shells near the altar decorated with fruits, flowers and tolma ceremonies. . cake.
The annual ceremony suspended last year due to the coronavirus pandemic was to pay tribute to the Indian Buddhist master Padmasambhava who brought Tantric Buddhism to Tibet. For more than two days this year, the group prayed for the victims of natural disasters, wars and COVID-19, and prayed for the peace and happiness of people all over the world.
During a break, Jalu sat in the yard for lunch in the summer sun. He was the youngest among the monks. Then he walked upstairs in a maroon and golden robe to meet with his 13-year-old Delek Topjere. Topgyal) Play NBA 2K video games. Old cousin and best friend.
The young lama would lose to Kyrie Irving, who later explained that LeBron James was “in fact unparalleled.”
The process of identifying lamas is based on mental signs and vision. When Jalu was about 4 months old, he was recognized by the distinguished master of Tibetan Buddhism and leader of the Nyingma school, Gyaltsie Chusi Rinpoche. Later, he was confirmed by several other lamas as the eighth Taichen Takshan Rinpoche-the first one was born in 1655 under the name of Takshan Nuden Dorje.
After the Dalai Lama admitted that he was the reincarnation of his master in 2010, when he visited Wisconsin in 2010, his parents took him to meet the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lama cut off a lock of his hair during the ceremony. He also advised the parents to keep their son in the United States so that he could perfect his English, and then send him to the monastery when he was 10 years old.
Jalue is now fluent in English and Tibetan, and often gets an A in class. Although he officially ascended the throne in a ceremony held in India in 2019, he still lives in Columbia Heights, and his parents decided that he will stay there until graduation.
“It is a lot of things to watch him grow up to be a teenager, because he is a Buddhist guru and at the same time he is also an ordinary person,” said his uncle Tashi Lama. “We can see two aspects of it.”
In Jalu’s room, a photo of the Dalai Lama is placed on the DVD collections of “The Simpsons,” “Family Members,” and “South Park,” next to “Buddha.” This is a series of comic novels by Japanese manga artist Osamu Tezuka.
On his bedside table, Jalue wrote a diary in which he drew a football strategy that he wanted to try on the court as a defensive tackle and offensive guard to play with his school team.
He loves sports, especially the Atlanta team.
“You always see me wearing this hat outside,” he said of his favorite Falcons hat. “Unless I wear my robe.” Would it be easier if he was just an ordinary teenager?
“I didn’t expect such a thing,” he said with a smile. “It has always been religious first.”
When he grew up, he reached an agreement with his father, and his father would give him a Pokemon card in exchange for keeping the Buddhist scriptures in mind. He collected hundreds of them, sometimes secretly hidden in his robes during ceremonies.
Every morning he wakes up to recite the sacred scriptures. Then he went to school, then football practice, and then went home to take lessons in Tibetan history and Buddhism. Late at night, he might practice calligraphy in the basement or run on a treadmill while listening to rappers such as Drake and Polo G.
“He is naturally enlightened and sincere to the world. … He doesn’t have these preconceived notions of who he is,” said Kate Thomas, a tutor and teaching coordinator at the Minneapolis Bodhisattva Sangha Enlightenment Center. .
“He knows he is Tibetan. He also knows he is American,” Thomas said. “But like young people today, he is also a global citizen. Because of his age, his generation, he started like this.”
