Dewa Nimbo in the Herald
Princess Dewa Nimbo
In 1989, The Herald Times Online featured an article about a down-to-earth Mongolian princess from Xinjiang who was pursuing her doctorate at the Indiana University in Bloomington. She is H.E. the 25th Tsem Rinpoche’s biological mother, Mongolian Princess Torghut Noyen, Dewa Nimbo.
Xinjiang is an autonomous region in the northwest of China. In the 18th Century, the northern part of this region used to be known as Dzhungar Khanate (kingdom). The Mongol Oirat people from the Altai region of Xinjiang used to rule over this Khanate. Historically, the Mongol Oirat consisted of the following tribes: Dorbet, Torghut, Dzhungar, and Khoshut. Dewa Nimbo belongs to the Torghut tribe.
Dewa Nimbo is the daughter of Mingyur Wang and his wife, Dechen Minh. Mingyur Wang was the eldest son of Prince Palta, the administrative ruler of Xinjiang Province in the 20th Century. Mingyur Wang’s ancestry can be traced back to the courts of Genghis Khan in the 1200s.
Princess Dewa Nimbo and her mother Queen Dechen… H.E. Tsem Rinpoche’s mother and grandmother.
In 1949, Mingyur Wang and his family fled China during the civil unrest. At first, he sought refuge in Tibet, then in India before finally settling down in Taiwan where he served briefly in parliament. His wife, Dechen Minh, was a respected figure among the Mongolian community in Taiwan. Due to her privileged family background, Dewa Nimbo was often referred to as the Princess of the Torghut people (Torghut Noyen).
In the early 1960s, the young Dewa Nimbo became acquainted with a Tibetan man named Lobsang Gyatso. He was a disciple of H.H. the Panchen Lama and was managing a Tibetan school for refugees in Taiwan when he met her. They soon became romantically involved. Unfortunately, he was already married with three children, which he only revealed to her after knowing she was pregnant with child. Dewa Nimbo was deeply hurt by Lobsang Gyatso’s deception and immediately cut off all contacts with him. Bearing a child without a husband brought great shame to her life, and she has never truly recovered from this wound.
Despite her unfortunate situation, Dewa Nimbo experienced many auspicious signs during her pregnancy. Every day, she dreamt of a white elephant entering her courtyard and then she would tie it to a tree (this is similar to the experience of Buddha Shakyamuni’s mother before Lord Buddha was born). On the last night of her pregnancy, Dewa Nimbo dreamt of a grand puja being performed at her house by high lamas. Her mother, Dechen Minh, arranged for her to have a discreet delivery at the General Hospital of Taipei. On October 24, 1965, Dewa Nimbo gave birth to Prince Iska Minh, who would later be known as H.E. Tsem Rinpoche.
H.E. Tsem Rinpoche and his grandmother Queen Dechen. She used to visit Rinpoche and they had a very close relationship. She loved Rinpoche very much and Rinpoche misses her tremendously.
Several months after the baby was born, Dewa Nimbo put him under the care of Shi Mama, a Taiwanese lady for USD50 per month. Unfortunately, he was not properly taken care of by Shi Mama and her family. Rinpoche was often left undernourished and physically abused. In 1966, Dewa Nimbo immigrated to the United States.
Several years later, Queen Dechen Minh arranged for Rinpoche to be adopted by a Kalmyk couple from Howell, New Jersey and accompanied her grandson on a long-haul flight to the United States. When they arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport, they were greeted by Dewa Nimbo, who was by then married with two sons. Rinpoche spent the night at her house in Philadelphia. The next day, Rinpoche was introduced to his new family, the Bugayeffs, and taken to his new home.
Dewa Nimbo would visit him occasionally in New Jersey and sometimes brought him over to Philadelphia to stay at her house. Rinpoche would often wonder who this beautiful and intelligent lady from Philadelphia was. He later found out from his cousin, Gaga Toktun, that the lady was his biological mother. Despite knowing this, he continued to call her Auntie Dewa. Rinpoche remembered these visits fondly. Over the years, he maintained a good relationship with Dewa Nimbo and they often talked and wrote about many things. Rinpoche also learnt that Guru Deva Rinpoche was Dewa Nimbo’s spiritual teacher.
H.E. Tsem Rinpoche’s uncle, Prince David Minh and Rinpoche when Rinpoche met him in Taiwan where he shared a lot of about their family history with Rinpoche. He is the only sibling of Rinpoche’s mother, Dewa Nimbo.
When Rinpoche was 21 or 22 years old, he went to Indianapolis to attend a teaching by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. As Dewa Nimbo was living in Indianapolis at that time, Rinpoche wanted to meet her as he was about to leave for India to become a monk. Unfortunately, she couldn’t meet him as she had to attend to an urgent engagement. However, Dewa Nimbo told Rinpoche, “You’re going to India, you’re going to Nepal, and it’s quite far and you’ll be alone. But if you need any help, if you need any assistance, if you’re in trouble in any way, contact Guru Deva Rinpoche and tell him that Dewa Nimbo said so.” Several years later, Rinpoche eventually met with Guru Deva Rinpoche who then explained about his family background and introduced him to his biological father, Lobsang Gyatso.
The article from The Herald Times Online below described Dewa’s life and ancestry. It also shows her deep appreciation for her Mongolian roots and culture.
Princess’s heritage brings her to Bloomington
By Mike Leonard | October 1, 1989
The Princess of Torgut says she’s really no different from anyone else walking down the streets of Bloomington.
“I dress just like everyone else. I live in university housing. I eat hamburgers, spaghetti, roast beef,” she says.
And when she does get the urge to cook foods from her native Mongolia, she says her two teen-aged sons take one look and say, “Mom, let’s go to McDonald’s.”
One would never know that single mother and doctoral candidate Dewa Nimbo is a Mongolian princess who can trace her lineage back to the 1200s and the court of Genghis Khan. “This is a different time and a different place,” she said in an interview last week.
Yet Nimbo’s heritage has everything to do with her being in Bloomington and studying at Indiana University.
In the 1200s, her Mongol ancestors put together the largest land empire in history, encompassing most of Asia and stretching from eastern China to eastern Europe. In later years, native Mongolian lands between Russia and China fell under the control of various tribal chiefs and warlords. Nimbo’s people, in the western Mongol lands, fled the warfare in the early 1600s and migrated to central Russia for a 150-year period. Most returned to their Chinese-controlled homeland in a 1771 journey which 170,000 started and 70,000 or fewer completed.
Nimbo’s grandfather, Prince Palta, was considered a prince of the first rank by the Chinese and her father, Prince Minjuur, was the last to be recognized by the Chinese Manchu dynasty. Just prior to China’s communist revolution of 1949, however, Minjuur received word that he should flee or be killed.
The Mongolian tribes, although accepting of the dominant forces in their part of the world, nonetheless wanted to remain self-governing. The Chinese were determined to wipe out resistance, which logically meant getting rid of the leaders.
Dewa Nimbo was 3 years old when she started with her family on an arduous, nearly two-year escape through the wilds of China and Tibet to India. “By day we’d hide in caves and the bushes and by night we’d travel by camel,” she said. Young Dewa was strapped to a camel and instructed to never cry or make a sound. “My (older) brother and I never knew we were running for our lives,” she recalled.
The Dalai Lama gave the family refuge in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, but he, too, would have to leave his homeland under Chinese pressure. Nimbo’s family spent a couple of years in India, she said, until Prime Minister Nehru advised them that their presence was upsetting the Chinese.
Nimbo’s family then settled in Taiwan, where Dewa received her junior high and high school education. She traveled to the United States in 1966 to unite with the large Mongolian sect which had emigrated from Russia to the Philadelphia area and to New Jersey. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Temple University before coming to IU and the nation’s only Mongolian studies program in 1985.
“I’d like to research and teach Mongolian language,” Nimbo said. “I’d also like to go back and collect oral history, and then return to the U.S. and compile it.”
She was able to return to her homeland in 1981, visiting Dzungaria, Mongolia’s westernmost province, and Chinese Turkistan, where she was born. “It is still a very backward area,” she said. “The place for women there is basically no place.”
Despite her place in a ruling family, Nimbo learned humililty at an early age. “My grandfather said, ‘You must suffer with the people to know the people.’ So we were never permitted to think we were better or above the people. My father would never allow people to kowtow to us.”
A part of that philosophy came from her Torgut tribe’s belief in Lamaism, the form of Buddhism also practiced in Tibet, which emphasizes compassion. Yet Nimbo said she’s always taken aback when she gets together with the old-line Mongols from the Philadelphia area who are descended from the Torguts who did not return to China in the 1700s and are accustomed to old ways. “I’ll start to help do something and they’ll say, ‘Oh, no, you can’t do that.’ It really makes me uncomfortable,” she said.
“When I go to Philadelphia, I still have to dress a certain way and act a certain way,” Nimbo said. “I have to be the way people want me to be.
“Here I dress the way I want and act the way I want. People here like me for me – not who they expect me to be. And I like that.”
Copyright: HeraldTimesOnline.com 1989
公主的身世把她带到布鲁明顿
作者：Mike Leonard | 1989年10月1日
这位土尔扈特公主说，走在布鲁明顿的街头上的她，跟其他人并没有两样。
她说： “我穿着一般人的衣着，住在大学社区内，吃的是汉堡包、意大利面和烤牛肉。”
她说，当她拥有烹煮蒙古家乡食物的冲动时，她的两名十多岁的儿子就会看她一眼说：“妈，我们去麦当劳吧！”
没有人知道作为单亲妈妈和准博士的蒂娃宁波是一位蒙古公主，其家族传承可追溯到公元1200年左右的成吉思汗王朝时代。“这是另一个时代，另一个地点。”她在上周的访问中这么说。
然而，宁波的身世却跟她在布鲁明顿和在印地安娜大学学习有着密切的关系。
公元1200年左右，她的蒙古先人统治了史上最大的领土，领地范围包括亚洲多数地方，并从中国东部延伸及东欧地区。后来，位于俄罗斯和中国之间的蒙古地区落入不同部落首领手中。为了避开战事，居住在蒙古西部的宁波家族在17世纪初期迁移到俄罗斯中部，并在当地居住了约150年。公元1771年，许多蒙古人返回中国统治下的家园，170,000人展开旅程，只有70, 000人成功抵达。
在中国，宁波公主的祖父帕勒塔郡王被视为地位最尊贵的王子，而她的父亲清明王则是中国满清王朝承认的最后一位王子。然而，1949年中国共产党革命之前，清明王收到消息说，他若不逃亡，就会遭遇被杀的命运。
蒙古部族尽管接受了自己的领土已被其他力量主导的事实，却依然想要维持自治权。中国决定消除这些阻力，这意味着他将会把这些领袖一一剔除。
当蒂娃宁波公主跟家人展开一场艰苦，穿山越岭从中国到西藏，再到印度的逃亡生涯时，她才只有3岁。她说：“我们白天藏身洞穴和灌木丛中，夜晚才骑着骆驼赶路。”年轻的蒂娃公主被绑在骆驼背上，并被命令不准哭泣或发出任何声音。“我和哥哥并不知道我们正在逃亡。”她回忆说。
在西藏，达赖喇嘛给予这个家庭庇护，但在中国的压力下，他本身也必须逃离自己的家园。宁波公主说，她及家人在印度居住了几年，直到印度总理尼赫鲁告诉他们说，他们的存在造成中国的不快为止。宁波公主一家随后在台湾定居，她也在那里接受初中及高中教育。1966年，她搬迁到美国，与大批从俄罗斯迁至费城和新泽西的蒙古大部族会合。她在坦普尔大学取得学士及硕士学位后，前往全美唯一提供蒙古研究课程的印地安娜大学继续深造。
“我想要研究和教授蒙古文”宁波说。“我也想回去收集口述历史，再回到美国进行资料整理。”
她在1981年成功返回家园，拜访了蒙古最西部的地区准噶尔和她的出生地中国突厥斯坦。“那是一个十分落后的地区。”她说：“这地方的女性完全没有地位。”
尽管出生在统治者世家，宁波公主自小就学会谦虚。“我祖父说，‘你必须跟人民共同经历苦难，才能了解人民。’所以，我们不能认为自己比别人高一等。我的父亲决不允许人们向我们磕头。”
这种人生哲学部分来自土尔扈特族的信仰，他们笃信强调慈悲的西藏佛教。然而，宁波公主说，当她跟那些现居费城的旧派蒙古人（他们是不在1700年间返回中国的土尔扈特族的后裔，）相处时，她总是相当惊讶。“当我帮手做些什么时，他们总会说‘哦，你不能这么做。’这实在令我感到不自在。”她说。
“在费城，我依然必须遵从某种衣着打扮和行为模式来生活。”宁波公主说：“我必须根据人们想要的方式来生活。”
“在这里，我可以自由穿着，做自己想做的事。这里的人们喜欢我活出自己，而不是成为他们想要的样子。我喜欢这样。”
版权：HeraldTimesOnline.com 1989
Source（来源）: http://ww.heraldtimesonline.com//stories/1989/10/01/archive.19891001.00fd6c7.sto?code=64fc1a4e-6bf8-11e4-9350-101f742c1d2e
Source: http://ww.heraldtimesonline.com//stories/1989/10/01/archive.19891001.00fd6c7.sto?code=64fc1a4e-6bf8-11e4-9350-101f742c1d2e. Click on image to enlarge.
For more interesting information:
- The Promise – Tsem Rinpoche’s inspiring biography now in ebook format!
- My Short Bio in Pictures
- I Like This Picture of My Mother
- Tsem Rinpoche’s Torghut Ancestry | 詹杜固仁波切的土尔扈特血统
- My Childhood in Taiwan…Revisiting…
- My Great Aunt the Princess
- My Father
- My Uncle
- My Grandmother
- My Grandfather the Ruler of Xinjiang
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1984 Los Angeles-Left to right: Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen, His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, monk assistant to Zong Rinpoche and the 18-year-old Tsem Rinpoche prior to ordination. Read more- https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/category/me
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A poem inspired by seeing a picture of my teacher, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche…
In the sport of correct views,
all that is correct is just a view,
without permanence or substance.
As long as we hold onto views,
our sufferings are gathered
to be experienced without end.
Without the strong methods of emptiness
and compassion, bereft of merit,
we sink deeper without respite.
To arise from this samsara is but
a dreamscape on the deluded mind.
Therefore seek the guru, who confers the yidam,
hold your vows and fixate on liberation
free of new creations. Free of new experiences as
there are none.
~ Tsem Rinpoche
Composed in Tsem Ladrang, Kuala Lumpur on July 7, 2014
I was walking past a second hand shop on Western Ave selling old things. They had a Japanese-style clay Buddha which was beige in colour on the floor, holding the door open. I thought the shopkeeper would collect a lot of negative karma without knowing if he kept such a holy item on the floor as a doorstop. So I went in to talk to him, but he didn’t look like he wanted to talk or that he even cared. So I asked him the price and he said US$5. I purchased it so he did not collect more negative karma. I was 17 years old and that was in 1982.
I escorted my new Buddha home and washed it lightly and wiped it. I placed it on my altar and was happy with the Buddha. I would do my meditations, prayers, sadhanas, mantras and prostrations in front of this shrine daily. When I left for India in 1987, I could not bring this Buddha along and gave it to a friend. It was a nice size and I made offerings to this Buddha for many years in Los Angeles. In front of the Buddha I placed His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s photo. I remember I was so relieved that the price was affordable. But US$5 that time was still expensive for me but worth it I thought. But I was happy to have brought the Buddha home. Tsem Rinpoche
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com
Tsem Rinpoche at Kechara Forest Retreat, Bentong, Malaysia
Thank you Rinpoche for your sharing this short and beautiful story of your mother. Glad to know more of her. May Rinpoche met up with his mother in future and offer her with a beautiful image of Tara.
This article gives us a little bit more insight of who Princess Dewa Nimbo is. And also probably gives some comfort to Rinpoche. Till today Princess Dewa still does not acknowledge Rinpoche as her son which is from the deep anger she has with Rinpoche’s father. Hope that the Princess will have peace and let go of her hatred.
H.E. the 25th Tsem Rinpoche is very devoted to his root guru, H.H. Zong Rinpoche.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing the story of you mother. May you be able to meet you mother very soon and to present her the Tara that you have drawn for her.
Thank you Rinpoche for your sharing.We certainly hope you could reunite with your mother in the near future.Your work at the US certainly help a lot of people there and to bring the precious Dharma and its true application, to the awareness of many .Hopeful she would be touch by this and make a point to meet up with you….
Seeing how Rinpoche still cherishes his own real mother whom he hasn’t met for over two decades, and who has almost given him up, is truly an infinite “love without an end” which no human beings can have! Of course, cherishing all our mother beings, past and present as described in the practice of the holy Dharma of sciptures, is the foundation of all goodness, happiness and virtue, rather than cherishing ourselves, which is the doorway leading to all torments, a chronic sickness and selfishness, and a cause giving rise to unsought sufferings! As said in the Lama Chopa Guru puja, “The mind that cherishes all mother beings, and would secure them in bliss is the gateway leading to infinite virtue.” We shall pray hard and earnestly hope that one day, Rinpoche will meet her again to pay her all his due respects and fulfill all that he has promised her. With heartfelt thanks for the sharing of your very touching and incredulous story, Rinpoche. Om mani padme hung.
希望仁波切與您美麗的母親團聚，並給她繪一幅度母畫像盡快成真。感叹胜彪讲法师费盡心思将这篇難得的文章与我们分享。感谢您！
Great find Pastor Seng Piow!
Nice article.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing.
Thank you Rinpoche ‘ s sharing . Wishing one day Rinpoche able to meet his mother and offer her the Tara picture. OM Maha YakCha Tsa Soha _/\_
Princess Dewa are not like other Princess. She has come a long way fram leaving her own country since she was 3 until she became who she is today. Although she has to face all the difficulties in her very young age made her a tough, strong and humble lady. Reading the article above knowing that Rinpoche misses His mother very much. To me this is not just an article to share but to remind us to treasure and be grateful for having our mother close to us always. I am very blessed because I can serve and take care of my mother. May Rinpoche meet Princess Dewa again very soon.
Great adventure and amazing story about Rinpoche’s mom. Thanks for sharing.
Dear Rinpoche,
What an incredible story. I really hope Rinpoche will be reunited with your mother again and offer her the Tara picture.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing the story of your biological mother. It is surprising that Rinpoche’s family lineage can be traced back all the way to the Mongols. I was particular struck by what her grandfather said that royalty must suffer with the people to know the people. There is much wisdom in what he said and it is much needed today as in the past.
Hope Rinpoche’s wish to be reunited with your beautiful mother and to offer her a painting of Tara will come true soonest possible. What an interesting find by Pastor Loh, thank you for sharing.
Thank you for sharing this article of your mom. May your wish of meeting her be fulfilled. It would be wonderful if you could offer Buddha Tara to her.
Dear Rinpoche, may it be not long before you have your wish fulfilled and you meet your mother. How joyous that will be.
Thank you Pastor Seng Piow for finding this wonderful article in the Herald. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing it. I too like Rinpoche’s great-grandfather’s words on humility.
尊贵的仁波切, 你好 !
看到这篇报导,仁波切一定很高兴和惊喜,我也很高兴有这篇报导描述关于您的母亲当年的生活,勾起了您对母亲的思念。您肯定有此机会亲手将度母的画交到您母亲的手中,我希望,度母与诸佛菩萨也永远为您母亲加持与庇佑!
也祝尊贵的仁波切 健康 快乐 !
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article. I like to read history of Princess Dewa Nimbo. Rinpoche may just visit, draw and send a Tara picture to Rinpoche’s mother. But these actions will bring sadness back to her. Rinpoche deeply concern and caring towards his mother’s feeling is so great. Maybe Rinpoche still draw a Tara picture as offering to mother. I believe both of you will meet up one day when ‘times’ ripe.
Thank you to for sharing this. This is such an amazing find. Very interesting. I hope that Rinpoche will be reunited with Rinpoche’s mother soon.
May Rinpoche be able to meet Rinpoche’s mother and personally offer her a picture Tara. Thanks to Pastor Seng Piow. Rinpoche must be very happy for this surprise news!
Dear Rinpoche, I pray that your wish to be united with your mother again will happen in the near future. From what I gathered reading this write-up here and the stories I heard of her, she must have an extremely strong personality.
So beautiful. ‘You must suffer with the people to know the people.’ This is so true. Thank you for sharing Rinpoche
I’ve been to Bloomington, so that made a nice personal tie in. Impressive program, intriguing comments about her. I don’t understand your exact relationship with the other two boys. Also, I know your case is confusing but I would feel it might be closest to the truth to call this lady your birth mother and the other women who raised you also your mothers or adoptive mothers. The article was interesting. Thank you for letting me comment. I hope I am not annoying. I have been both liked and disliked – so it could be anything.
Dear Rinpoche, what a lovely surprise! Great find Pastor Loh. Wow Rinpoche’s mother sounds very down to earth and kind. I like the last thing she said “Here I dress the way I want and act the way I want. People here like me for me – not who they expect me to be. And I like that.” I am sure there is a lot of expectations being a royal blood hence explains why she was probably scared and pressured to give Rinpoche up. I hope she will forgive herself and her past and meet with Rinpoche one day.
Dear Rinpoche, I really hope that the two of you meet again.