Dhardo Rinpoche (1917-1990), born Thubten Lhundup Legsang, was the 12th in a line of tulkus from Dhartsendo on the eastern border of Tibet who hailed from the Nyingma Gompa in Dhartsendo called Dorje Drak (not to be confused with Dorje Drak in Central Tibet). The 11th tulku rose to the Abbot of Drepung and during the 1912 invasion of Tibet by China was the most senior of the retired abbots in the National Assembly. He died in 1916 and the 12th Tulku was born in 1917. Dhardo Rinpoche was educated in the traditional

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

an monastic style, taking his Geshe Degree and graduating at the Lharmapa level at

Drepung Monastery Drepung Monastery (, "Rice Heap Monastery"), located at the foot of Mount Gephel, is one of the "great three" Gelug university gompas (monasteries) of Tibet. The other two are Ganden Monastery and Sera Monastery. Drepung is the largest of all ...

, and doing further study at Gyud-med Tantric College. In 1951 he was appointed abbot of the Tibetan monastery at

Bodh Gaya Bodh Gaya is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous as it is the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained Enlightenment ( pi, ...

, and from 1954 onwards combined this with a few months per year stay in

Kalimpong Kalimpong (Hindi: कलिम्पोंग) is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The re ...

near the India-Tibet border.

was to become an important staging post for Tibetans fleeing the Chinese invasion. Dhardo Rinpoche founded the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Cultural Institute (ITBCI), in 1952 which then opened an orphanage and school for Tibetan refugees. He was abbot of

Yiga Choeling Monastery Old Ghoom Monastery is the popular name of Yiga Choeling. The monastery belongs to the Gelukpa or the Yellow Hat sect and is known for its -high statue of the Maitreya Buddha. The external structure of the building was established in 1850 by th ...

Ghoom Ghum (also spelt Ghoom) is a small hilly neighbourhood in the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region of West Bengal, India. It comes under ward number one of the Darjeeling Municipality. Ghum railway station of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is the ...

from 1964 till his death in 1990. During the 1950s and 1960s Dhardo Rinpoche was friend and teacher to

Sangharakshita Sangharakshita (born Dennis Philip Edward Lingwood; 26 August 192530 October 2018) was a British spiritual teacher and writer, and the founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, which in 2010 was renamed the ''Triratna Buddhist Commun ...

, an English Buddhist who spent 14 years based in Kalimpong before returning to England to found the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO), now the

Triratna Buddhist Community The Triratna Buddhist Community (formerly the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO)) is an international fellowship of Buddhists and others who aspire to its path of mindfulness. It was founded by Sangharakshita (born Dennis Philip Edward ...

. Sangharakshita considered Dhardo Rinpoche to be a living

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...

and he is still revered as such in the Triratna Community. In the 1980s the FWBO's charity Aid For India (now known as the Karuna Trust (UK)) undertook to provide funding for the ITBCI School. Portions of Dhardo Rinpoche's relics, the ashes from his cremation, have been installed in several

stupa A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circumamb ...

s in the West: at Sudarshanaloka Retreat Centre (near

Thames, New Zealand Thames () ( mi, Pārāwai) is a town at the southwestern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. It is located on the Firth of Thames close to the mouth of the Waihou River. The town is the seat of the Thames-Coromandel (di ...

), at

Padmaloka Buddhist Retreat Centre Lesingham House is a country house in Surlingham, Norfolk, England, part of which was supposedly built in 1655. History Lesingham House was supposedly built in 1655, and parts of the original structure may be included in the building we see tod ...

(near

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

), at Guhyaloka Retreat Centre, (near

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

), at Tiratanaloka Retreat Centre in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, at Vimaladhatu Retreat Centre in

Sauerland The Sauerland () is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited. The Sauerland is the largest tourist region in ...

, Germany, and at Aryaloka Buddhist Center in New Hampshire, USA. Dhardo Rinpoche's motto was: "Cherish the doctrine; live united; radiate love", which also became the motto of the school he founded. He was concerned especially to teach the children at his school that "actions have consequences". The thirteenth in the line of Tulkus, Tenzin Legshad Wangdi, was born in 1991 and still goes by the name of Dhardo Tulku.ITBCI - information on founder
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References

External links

Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Cultural Institute

Meetings with Dhardo Rinpoche (video)

Audio talks about Rinpoche

- an account of meeting Dhardo Rinpoche by a Western Buddhist

Another photo of Dhardo's Stupa at Padmaloka

Karuna, charity work in india

{{Authority control 1917 births 1990 deaths Scholars of Buddhism from Tibet Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet Gelug Lamas Gelug tulkus Nyingma lamas Nyingma tulkus

References

Further reading

External links