Speech by David Spiekerman
In the high country of eastern Tibet known as Kham over 80 years ago, a baby girl was born who eventually would be absolutely instrumental in transforming the spiritual lives of thousands of human beings across Mother Earth. With the loving guidance of her husband and root guru, the great Sakya throne holder His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen Dorje Chang, this baby girl would become a powerful Tibetan Buddhist lama who would accomplish in countless ways the qualities and activities of a bodhisattva.
Dear Dagmo Kusho, today we celebrate your birthday in order to acknowledge the profound and generous contributions that you have made to all of us in our Buddhist-inspired quest for enlightenment.
Dagmo Kusho, we truly thank you for being the closest and most faithful and fearless disciple of His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen Dorje Chang. You are an embodiment and inspiration of the powerful merit accumulated as the direct karmic result of serving a great Buddhist master. Especially, you always have encouraged girls and women to be fearlessly determined to practice the holy Dharma and have taught them that the karmic benefits of their active devotion to the holy Dharma are identical to the devotion and practice of boys and men.
Dagmo Kusho, we thank you for giving birth and raising to maturity five sons and fathers of the next generation of Sakya throne holders. We can not emphasize enough how essential and vital have been your loving kindness, compassion, and wisdom in nurturing and protecting your Sakya Dungseys.
As Dagmo Kusho’s great uncle Ngawang encouraged and protected her when she was a small child in Kham, and as His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen Dorje Chang instructed her in the Dharma as an adult over THEIR long and fruitful lives together, so now Her Eminence Dagmo Kusho offers us her guidance and protection with the essential caveat that the power of this protection depends entirely on our faithful devotion to the practice of the holy Dharma that she has magnificently demonstrated over eighty years.
Dagmo Kusho, in your self-effacing, modest, and charming disposition that is grounded in the diamond-like clarity of your mind, you have become a supreme and shining example of what a realized human being looks like.
We are eternally grateful that you, Dagmo Kusho, for your willingness to share your hard-earned wisdom with so many of us. Although your dear Great Uncle Ngawang prophesized great things for you, let’s make no mistake, it was your tireless and warm service and diligent practice of the Holy Dharma that allowed you to fulfill your dreams and promise.
Dagmo Kusho, may your life continue to bless and benefit countless sentient beings. Mother Tara, we love you forever!
