Book Review: The Monk Without Dharma by Thukten Yeshi

This is the story of two young men, Kathog and Tompo. Kathog was a brilliant son of a powerful landlord while Tompo was a bondservant to Kathog’s family. One day, reluctantly, they were sent to pursue dharma in a monastery, far far away. 

Kathog was a dharma prodigy. In no time, he rose to the golden seat of a Lama due to his unchallengeable mental prowess in learning spiritual dharma texts. Tompo was otherwise. Firstly, he was denied monkhood since he had nothing to offer to lama and was made to run errands instead. But he was sincere, hardworking and virtuous and worked with utmost dedication. He wanted to exhaust the bad karma that was barring him from pursuing dharma.

Mysteriously, the wind would cease to blow leaves on the courtyard, weeds would not grow and pastureland would easily become lush green as he led the cattle.

However, despite his purest heart and unwavering faith in the dharma, he could never grasp even the simplest concept. His dumbness infuriated his gurus. He flees the monastery out of anguish, and tries to kill himself off the cliff as he says, “I am the poor monk without dharma and an orphan without a home”

As his karmic tapestry of fate unfolds, he surrenders robes to become a layman only to be ridiculed by the local people. Yet again, upon Jadelma’s insistence, he was enrolled in a monastery but his dull-wittedness continued

Completely dejected by the death of his guru, thinking that it was due to his bad karma, he gave up the pursuit of dharma once again. But his muse Dakini Jadelma would not listen. Soon he saw himself wandering through the mountains and valleys towards the North against cold, shine and rain for years. 

Worn out, but one day, he reached an unusual monastery and a different sense of feeling started to engulf him. At the same time, rainbows began to appear, birds began to hover and flowers of rain began to shower at the monastery. 

Soon, he was ushered into the shrine room by the Rinpoche of the monastery. Everything began to change in him immediately. He could understand every teaching and even could comprehend the highest level of the dharma, the ultimate realization.

Returning back to the village, Kathog became a famous Lama and his fame spread widely while Tompo still was ridiculed, disapproved and mistreated by the people, unaware that he had now become the greatest Tokdhenpa, until one day. 

The last part is for you to explore. 

For me, this book shows the essence of dharma in simplest terms, written for layman's understanding. The story of Tompo demonstrates that Dharma is a path that leads to Buddhahood and we can attend it even without this path as long as we have a bodhisattva heart and mind. A man needs no robes and volumes of dharma texts if one has pious intentions, aspirations and actions.

Disclaimer: This book review is the original story of the author but every detail is not covered. So, this review would not sufficiently do justice in understanding the whole content of the novel, especially the religious excerpts and their meanings. Therefore, please grab and copy and start reading yourself. it is a moderate read and would not take long.

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