Well this is the first I've heard of him. But looking him up, it says he was recognized as a Tulku.
Just to say a bit about being recognized as a Tulku. That just means that someone has recognized him from a previous life. There are many kinds of tulku. The kind of "lowest level" is that you were human in a previous life. If someone recognizes you and says "Oh - you were human in your previous life also" - that makes you a tulku. But it's hardly such a very big deal in Buddhist traditions to be human in two lifetimes in succession.
In his case, he was recognized as a tulku of a person who was a great teacher in a previous life.
But we've all been special in previous lives, or will be in future lives. We've also all been awful people in previous lives as well, and probably will be in the future. And probably many of us were human in our previous life, though nobody can point and say who we were, and maybe it is just as well that we don't know who we were (or many of us would be living in the past, regretting long forgotten lives or trying to fulfill long out of date and impossible objectives). What matters is how you are in this life.
It's easy for any of us to waste this life in frivolous pursuits, or to actually do harmful things to others in this life. Being a tulku doesn't make you immune to that. And certainly doesn't mean you can't make any mistakes. So whether he is or will become a great teacher in this life is kind of independent of what happened in the last life. Even the likes of the Dalai Lama has talked about the possibility of a future "foolish Dalai Lama" for instance.
So, you'd look to his present life - does he seem to be using it sensibly and productively? Then perhaps he is still following the path in an unconventional way. Or does he seem to have gone off the rails and especially does he seem to be harming others? Then he may have lost his way. Tulku's can lose their direction like anyone else.
But it is also hard for others outside to say. Sometimes for instance a bodhisattva or great teacher may find they can help others most by doing things that to people around you seem idiotic or at least, not very sensible. Including expressing what seem like bad human emotions also like vanity, arrogance, lack of humility, miserly, aggressive, jealous, vain or whatever. Or just plain silly. Because at a certain point, bodhisattvas don't really care what anyone thinks of them - they are just interested in helping others. They don't mind being totally at the "bottom of the heap". So someone doing idiotic things doesn't necessarily mean they have lost their way. And not necessarily that htey have worked it out either. Maybe they are really being rather idiotic, but at some level, it is all motivated by the strong and deep wish to benefit others. If so, then it may actually be skillful action, even though not in a way that even the person doing it themselves can see.
Can't say anything about him specifically. Those are just general points about all tulkus.
Just to say a bit about being recognized as a Tulku. That just means that someone has recognized him from a previous life. There are many kinds of tulku. The kind of "lowest level" is that you were human in a previous life. If someone recognizes you and says "Oh - you were human in your previous life also" - that makes you a tulku. But it's hardly such a very big deal in Buddhist traditions to be human in two lifetimes in succession.
In his case, he was recognized as a tulku of a person who was a great teacher in a previous life.
But we've all been special in previous lives, or will be in future lives. We've also all been awful people in previous lives as well, and probably will be in the future. And probably many of us were human in our previous life, though nobody can point and say who we were, and maybe it is just as well that we don't know who we were (or many of us would be living in the past, regretting long forgotten lives or trying to fulfill long out of date and impossible objectives). What matters is how you are in this life.
It's easy for any of us to waste this life in frivolous pursuits, or to actually do harmful things to others in this life. Being a tulku doesn't make you immune to that. And certainly doesn't mean you can't make any mistakes. So whether he is or will become a great teacher in this life is kind of independent of what happened in the last life. Even the likes of the Dalai Lama has talked about the possibility of a future "foolish Dalai Lama" for instance.
So, you'd look to his present life - does he seem to be using it sensibly and productively? Then perhaps he is still following the path in an unconventional way. Or does he seem to have gone off the rails and especially does he seem to be harming others? Then he may have lost his way. Tulku's can lose their direction like anyone else.
But it is also hard for others outside to say. Sometimes for instance a bodhisattva or great teacher may find they can help others most by doing things that to people around you seem idiotic or at least, not very sensible. Including expressing what seem like bad human emotions also like vanity, arrogance, lack of humility, miserly, aggressive, jealous, vain or whatever. Or just plain silly. Because at a certain point, bodhisattvas don't really care what anyone thinks of them - they are just interested in helping others. They don't mind being totally at the "bottom of the heap". So someone doing idiotic things doesn't necessarily mean they have lost their way. And not necessarily that htey have worked it out either. Maybe they are really being rather idiotic, but at some level, it is all motivated by the strong and deep wish to benefit others. If so, then it may actually be skillful action, even though not in a way that even the person doing it themselves can see.
Can't say anything about him specifically. Those are just general points about all tulkus.
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Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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