The Dungkar Gonpa Society (DGS) was founded by Kyabje Domo Geshe Rinpoche in 1976 in New York State, shortly after he arrived in the United States. It is the North American branch of his organizations in India and Tibet. The DGS was involved in the search for Rinpoche’s reincarnation, and in 2006 announced the selection of a child. You can learn more about their selection process and the child at their website.

In 2004, while the selection process was still underway, the DGS sent the following letter to Tara and the White Conch Dharma Center board. It details why they – and the larger Gelug community – reject Tara’s claim, before reiterating the request for her to stop using their teacher’s name.

A few days after receiving this letter, Tara sent an incredible, unedited personal response.

The following letter expresses the position of the Dungkar Gonpa Society about the woman who calls herself Domo Geshe Rinpoche:

December 1, 2004

White Conch Dharma Center
33 Estrella Drive
Santa Rosa, California 95403

To: Marjorie Quinn, also known as Tara Dadak, and the Members of the White Conch Dharma Centers:

We, the Board of Directors and members of the Dungkar Gonpa Society; the residents of Gangjong Namgyal, the North American seat of Kyabje Domo Geshe Rinpoche; the monks of Kyabje Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s monasteries in India and Tibet; and the disciples of Kyabje Domo Geshe Rinpoche throughout the world, collectively declare that we do not accept the claims of Ms. Quinn-Dadak to be the authentic reincarnation of the late Domo Geshe Rinpoche, our revered guru.

In response to Ms. Quinn-Dadak’s allegations we want to state the following:

1. The Gelug Tradition to which Ms. Quinn-Dadak purports to belong as Domo Geshe Rinpoche does not allow and does not recognize self-proclaimed reincarnations like her own. According to the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, all reincarnations must be officially recognized by other incarnate lamas. This has not been her case. Consequently, neither her assumed identity nor any of her acts performed as Domo Geshe Rimpoche in this country or abroad, including the ordination of monks and nuns, can be regarded as having any legitimacy.

2. The monasteries and followers of Kyabje Domo Geshe Rinpoche in India and in Tibet, as well as his followers in the United States and all around the world, have unanimously requested H.H. Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche, the reincarnation of Kyabje Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s root guru, to be solely responsible for the formal recognition of the next incarnation of our revered guru. H.H. Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche has informed us that the incarnation has already been born and is now a small child. This means that in due course that child will officially be recognized as Domo Geshe Rinpoche.

3. Therefore, H.H. Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche, his followers, and all the followers of the late Kyabje Domo Geshe Rinpoche, categorically reject any claim by anyone else, whether man or woman, American or Tibetan, to be the true incarnation.

In May, 2003, a lawyer retained by the Dungkar Gonpa Society wrote to Ms. Quinn-Dadak to instruct her to cease representing herself as Domo Geshe Rinpoche. We have waited for more than a year for her to comply, but to no avail. We now demand for the reasons stated above that:

1. Ms. Quinn-Dadak must cease using the name of Domo Geshe Rinpoche.
2. Ms. Quinn-Dadak must cease her claims to be the incarnation of Domo Geshe Rinpoche.
3. The White Conch Dharma Center must remove from its website all statements purporting Ms. Quinn-Dadak to be the incarnation of Domo Geshe Rinpoche.
4. The phrase “female incarnation of Domo Geshe,” which the White Conch Dharma Center added to the lineage prayer Wonderful Golden Rosary, must be deleted and the prayer itself must be removed from the White Conch Dharma Center website.

If within twenty-one days from the date of this letter these demands are not met, we will make copies of this letter publicly and widely available. Whatever Ms. Quinn-Dadak does or teaches under her own name is not our concern. However, she may not use the name “Domo Geshe Rinpoche” nor may she continue to pretend to be his true incarnation.

Sheila K. Hixon, Philip Glass, and Ann Ogburn | Dungkar Gonpa Society
cc Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche
White Conch Dharma Center, Madison WI