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GREAT TIBETAN LAMAS
KYABJE TRIJANG RINPOCHE
Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche (1900-1981) was a disciple of Je Pabongka. He was the junior tutor and spiritual guide of the 14th Dalai Lama for forty years. He is also the root lama of many Gelug Lamas who teach in the West including Zong Rinpoche, Geshe Rabten, Lama Yeshe, Lama Gangchen Rinpoche and Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.
In 1907, aged 6, he went to Gepel Ling Monastery at Reteng, the birthplace of the Kadampa teachings. There he took the five lay Pratimoksha vows and the ten novice vows of a monk, receiving the name Losang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso Pelsangpo.
He then memorized many Buddhist texts, including over half of Madhyamakavatara by Chandrakirti, and analyzed their meaning. Later that year he visited Ganden monastery, and was received by the Shartse and Jangste abbots, whom he apparently recognized, along with the main temple, without introduction.
He spent the next 12 years studying the classical texts for the Geshe degree -- Pramanavartika, Madhyamaka, Prajnaparamita, Vinaya and Abhidharmakosha -- principally according to the textbooks by Panchen Sonam Dragpa. He also studied the collected works of Je Tsongkhapa, the 1st Dalai Lama, and the Panchen Lama Chokyi Gyaltsen.
Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand
In 1938, when Trijang Dorjechang was 37, Pabongka Rinpoche was invited to Ganden monastery to teach the Lamrim Chenmo, the Great Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, which he did over a four-week period to over 2000 monks and many lay people. During that time, Je Phabongkhapa gave his chief disciple Trijang Rinpoche a copy of the text in gold lettering, along with ritual substances and other precious items. Later, Trijang Rinpoche was responsible for editing this classic Lam Rim text by his root Guru, Pabongka Rinpoche, which is entitled Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand.
Music Delighting the Ocean of Protectors
Like his teacher, Pabongka Rinpoche, Trijang Rinpoche was an adherent of the practice of the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden and widely promoted it. He wrote Music Delighting the Ocean of Protectors, a commentary to a praise of Dorje Shugden called Infinite Aeons, written by Dagpo Kalsang Khedrup, who was the guru of Pabongkha's guru, Dagpo Jampel Lhundrup. Trijang Rinpoche stated, on many occasions, that Dorje Shugden was an emanation of the wisdom Buddha Manjushri. He also stated that in order for someone to become convinced that Dorje Shugden was a worldly spirit "A mountain of absurd consequences, previously non-existent distorted ideas, would have to be accepted."
Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche (1900-1981) was a disciple of Je Pabongka. He was the junior tutor and spiritual guide of the 14th Dalai Lama for forty years. He is also the root lama of many Gelug Lamas who teach in the West including Zong Rinpoche, Geshe Rabten, Lama Yeshe, Lama Gangchen Rinpoche and Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.
In 1907, aged 6, he went to Gepel Ling Monastery at Reteng, the birthplace of the Kadampa teachings. There he took the five lay Pratimoksha vows and the ten novice vows of a monk, receiving the name Losang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso Pelsangpo.
He then memorized many Buddhist texts, including over half of Madhyamakavatara by Chandrakirti, and analyzed their meaning. Later that year he visited Ganden monastery, and was received by the Shartse and Jangste abbots, whom he apparently recognized, along with the main temple, without introduction.
He spent the next 12 years studying the classical texts for the Geshe degree -- Pramanavartika, Madhyamaka, Prajnaparamita, Vinaya and Abhidharmakosha -- principally according to the textbooks by Panchen Sonam Dragpa. He also studied the collected works of Je Tsongkhapa, the 1st Dalai Lama, and the Panchen Lama Chokyi Gyaltsen.
Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand
In 1938, when Trijang Dorjechang was 37, Pabongka Rinpoche was invited to Ganden monastery to teach the Lamrim Chenmo, the Great Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, which he did over a four-week period to over 2000 monks and many lay people. During that time, Je Phabongkhapa gave his chief disciple Trijang Rinpoche a copy of the text in gold lettering, along with ritual substances and other precious items. Later, Trijang Rinpoche was responsible for editing this classic Lam Rim text by his root Guru, Pabongka Rinpoche, which is entitled Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand.
Music Delighting the Ocean of Protectors
Like his teacher, Pabongka Rinpoche, Trijang Rinpoche was an adherent of the practice of the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden and widely promoted it. He wrote Music Delighting the Ocean of Protectors, a commentary to a praise of Dorje Shugden called Infinite Aeons, written by Dagpo Kalsang Khedrup, who was the guru of Pabongkha's guru, Dagpo Jampel Lhundrup. Trijang Rinpoche stated, on many occasions, that Dorje Shugden was an emanation of the wisdom Buddha Manjushri. He also stated that in order for someone to become convinced that Dorje Shugden was a worldly spirit "A mountain of absurd consequences, previously non-existent distorted ideas, would have to be accepted."
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Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984) was a Tibetan lama who, while exiled in Nepal, co-founded Kopan Monastery (1969) and the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (1975). He followed the Gelugpa tradition, and was considered unconventional in his teaching style.
Lama Yeshe was born near the Tibetan town of Tolung Dechen. From a very early age he expressed the desire to lead a religious life. Whenever a monk would visit their home, he would beg to leave with him and join a monastery.
Finally, when he was six years old, he received his parents' permission to join Sera Je, a college at one of the three great Gelug monastic centers located in the vicinity of Lhasa. He was taken there by his uncle, who promised the young boy's mother that he would take good care of him. The nuns offered him robes and the other necessities of life he required at Sera, while the uncle supervised him strictly and made him study very hard.
He stayed at Sera until he was twenty-five years old. There he received spiritual instruction based on the educational traditions brought from India to Tibet over a thousand years ago. From Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, the Junior Tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he received teachings on the Lam-rim graded course to enlightenment which outlines the entire sutra path to buddhahood. In addition he received many tantric initiations and discourses from both the Junior Tutor and the Senior Tutor, Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, as well as from Drag-ri Dorje-chang Rinpoche, Song Rinpoche, Lhatzün Dorje-chang Rinpoche and many other great gurus and meditation masters.
Such tantric teachings as Lama Yeshe received provide a powerful and speedy path to the attainment of a fully awakened and purified mind, aspects of which are represented by a wide variety of tantric deities. Some of the meditational deities into whose practice Lama Yeshe was initiated were Heruka, Vajrabhairava and Guhyasamaja, representing respectively the compassion, wisdom and skilful means of a fUlly enlightened being. In addition, he studied the famous six yogas of Naropa, following a commentary based on the personal experiences of Je Tsongkhapa.
Among the other teachers who guided his spiritual development were Geshe Thubten Wangchug Rinpoche, Geshe Lhundrub Sopa Rinpoche, Geshe Rabten and Geshe Ngawang Gedun. During all this training one of Lama Yeshe's recurring prayers was to be able some day to bring the peaceful benefits of spiritual practice to those beings ignorant of the dharma.
I hope more people can post here too to share about great lamas of Tibetan Buddhism. Why not? Learning inspirational stories of great lamas will help to strengthen our faith in Buddhism.
Besides, the heading for this thread is: Arts & Writings Things we create, things we find. Share it all!
So I am sharing these great bios of the Lamas that I've read and hope others will do the same too here.
Is that your aim?
DEAR FORUM FRIENDS,
PLEASE SHARE THE STORIES OF YOUR GURU OR OTHER TIBETAN LAMAS SO THAT WE CAN BE INSPIRED BY THE STORIES OF THESE GREAT BEINGS MANIFESTING TO HELP US LEARN & UNDERSTAND THE DHARMA.
ALSO, I HOPE THIS CAN BE A PLACE OF SHARING INFORMATION OR ANY DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE GREAT TIBETAN LAMAS OF ANY CENTURY.
SINCERELY,
PATHSEEKER
It is interesting that while Lama Zopa advocates abandoning Shugden practice, he simply expresses it as an extension of his loyalty to HH Dalai Lama rather than being critical of Shugden:
In the FPMT (Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition) Handbook, Lama Zopa says:
“All those who offer service or teach in FPMT centers are committed to follow the advice of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. As an example, His Holiness has prohibited the practice of the so-called protector, Do Gyel (Shugden), so teachers or others affiliated with the FPMT should not engage in this practice.”
in his advice book (which is posted on this website too http://dorjeshugden.com/wp/?p=1166), he states that he has imposed not engaging in Shugden practice because HH the Dalai Lama said so and NOT because of anything wrong with Shugden practice as a whole:
Hi Pathseeker. I'm always inspired from reading bios of Lamas and students commenting about their Guru's kindness. Thanks for posting this and it doesn't have to be a wikipedia if we don't want it to be.
This would be followed by an equally successful examination at Gyuto Tantric College. After these crowning achievements, which marked the completion of his studies, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche’s name as an accomplished scholar became firmly established. Some months following his studies, Zong Rinpoche was appointed abbot of Ganden Shartse Monastery, the seat of which he held for nine years.
In the following year he went to the Tantric College of Gyutö for further studies and in 1937 he became abbot of the Shartse college, putting special emphasis on the art of debate, monastic disciplin and the performance of tantric rituals. In 1946, he resigned from the abbot’s throne to work as a magician against black magic, disturbances caused by various ghosts (Pretas) and lower gods, became a ‘weather-maker’, performed many fire rituals and lived in different parts of Tibet, being on a kind of continuous pilgrimage.
So his name spread all over the country of being a powerful tantrician and he gave many empowerments and teachings on those subjects with a special emphasis on the tantras of Heruka, Hayagriva, Yamantaka, Gyelchen Shugden, Guhyasamaja, Vajrayogini, White Tara, Vaishravani and others. As a philosopher he was a follower of the Middle-Way school and gave many teachings on Madhyamika and Abhidharma.
In 1959 following the Chinese invasion he went to India and worked there as a teacher at Serme College, in 1965 as principal of a college in Mussoorie, 1967 as principal of the Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies and in 1970 he settled at Mundgod in South India. He was also know as a talented astrologer and artist. Since 1978, on the request of Lama Yeshe he travelled together with Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa on several world tours to give tantric teachings, empowerments as well as sutra teachings.
Zong Rinpoche passed away the 15th of november 1984. His new incarnation was born in the Kullu valley (place in Northern India), later on duly recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and enthroned at Ganden Shartse monastery in India. Like his previous incarnation he also shows many heart moving signs confirming that he is the real Zong Rinpoche and has only changed his physical outlook. The present Zong Rinpoche is currently fully engaged in the study of Sutra and Tantra at Ganden Shartse Monastic University under the care of Khensur Lati Rinpoche.
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May Zong Rinpoche's work flourish and spread far to benefit multitudes!
No, this doesn't have to be a Wikipedia if WE don't want it to be.
Which we don't.
This is a discussion forum.
You might just as well simply post links, rather than fill the forum with endless posts eulogising great masters.
I would take this viewpoint, whatever Lama, Guru or teacher, from whichever tradition was involved.
If you wish to discuss the teachings of these Lamas, which points you agree with, which you don't, then fine.
But there is little value in simply filling great tracts of forum with endless paragraphs about what really amounts to a biography.
Buy the book, or post links, FOR DISCUSSION.
Arts and Writings it may be, but only from the viewpoint of giving an assessment, critique or evaluation.
I hope that makes it clearer.
Thank you.
cheers
steve