Such limitless compassion
"Once, in Lama Ling in Kongpo, Düdjom Jigdrel Yéshé Dorjé was giving a teaching in a large open tent, with the surrounding mountains visible along the horizon. As we sat listening, we suddenly heard the anguished cry of an animal. A hunter had shot an arrow at a deer not far from the tent. The poor creature collapsed to the ground, clearly visible from where we were sitting, and the incident immediately drew everyone’s attention. Inside the tent, people became agitated. Some began criticizing the hunter, saying things like, ‘That foolish man shot the deer—someone should stop him’, and ‘How terrible that the deer has been killed’. At that moment, Düdjom Jigdral Yéshé Dorjé paused in the middle of his teaching. Then he said, ‘You should feel even greater compassion for the hunter. He is the foremost object of compassion. By harming another sentient being, he has created karma whose consequences he himself will later have to endure.’ Hearing this, I was deeply shocked. Until that moment, such a thought had never occurred to me. In my own mind I had been thinking, ‘The hunter is a bad person—he is the object of my anger—while the deer is the object of my compassion’. When Düdjom Jigdral Yéshé Dorjé spoke in this way, it overturned my assumptions entirely. Experiences like this happened many times in his presence, revealing the depth of his compassion and the clarity of his insight."
Since the early 8th century, Tibetans and Himalayan people have treasured "Namtars" as written or spoken narratives that demonstrate the realization of the Buddhist path by exceptional practitioners. These namtars, or spiritual biographies, serve as inspirational guides on the path to enlightenment.
Today, Namtars Foundation aims to record, preserve, and freely offer the world a written and electronic treasury of the oral wisdom of Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhism.
