Expert: Alex Wilding - 12/2/2010

Question
What takes place when something happens to the lineage holder? What
happens if he separates from the main group and/or passes away, or stops
being a lama?
If he has already chosen his lineage holder, what happens if that person
separates, also.  How about all the others who do not agree with him, both
Lama, monk, nun and sangha?
Thank you. Adele

Answer
Adele, the fact is that these are good questions with no clear answers. Sometimes people get hurt in all this. Handing on a lineage generally occurs through reaching some kind of consensus, partly based on the personalities, charisma and learning of the people involved, with input from visions, miraculous signs and so on. Sometimes the consensus is hard to reach, sometimes it is not reached and there is a more or less severe split. This is all because people are people.
Often the Nyingma system is semi-hereditary; so often, the tulku of a recently deceased high lama is found as - guess what? - his nephew, grandson or other family child. (Yes, it's almost always male.) Now nepotism has a bad name, but when we look at the infighting that can occur when things are not clear, selecting a family member to be educated and trained for the job may not be such a bad way forward.
In the end, we just have to learn to see it as part of the kaleidoscopic display of appearance.