Lhundub Sopa (born Tsang, 1923 – August 28, 2014) was a Tibetan monk.

Biography

Sopa was born in

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, ...

. He became a novice monk and entered Gaden Chokor Monastery in 1932. In 1941, he joined

Sera Monastery Sera Monastery ( "Wild Roses Monastery"; ) is one of the "great three" Gelug university monasteries of Tibet, located north of Lhasa and about north of the Jokhang. The other two are Ganden Monastery and Drepung Monastery. The origin of its n ...

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...

. He was chosen as one of the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

's debate examiners during the annual Prayer Festival in 1959. Geshe Sopa went in exile in India following the

1959 Tibetan uprising The 1959 Tibetan uprising (also known by other names) began on 10 March 1959, when a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which had been under the effective control of the People's Republic of China since the Seventeen Point Agreemen ...

. In 1962, he was awarded the degree of Lharampa Geshe. At the request of

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

, he moved to the USA with three other monks ( Sharpa Tulku, Khamlung Tulku and Lama Kunga) that same year to learn English and to study American culture. In 1967, Sopa was invited by Richard Robinson to join the faculty of the pioneer Buddhist Studies Program at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

. Sopa was the first Tibetan to be tenured at an American university. Holding various positions through the years, when he retired in 1997, he became

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in the Department of South Asian Studies. During that time, Sopa trained many of the first generation of respected Buddhist scholars and translators in the USA, including Jeffrey Hopkins, José Cabezón, John Makransky, Edward W. Bastian, and

Zorba Paster Robert Zorba Paster is a physician and radio show host. Paster was born on August 19, 1947, and raised in Chicago. He hosts a weekly radio call-in show on personal health issues called ''Zorba Paster on Your Health''. The show is produced by ...

. To meet the request of students for Buddhist teachings, Sopa founded the Deer Park Buddhist Center in

Oregon, Wisconsin Oregon is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, Dane County, Wisconsin. As of the census of 2020, the population was 11,179. Oregon is part of the Madison, Wisconsin, Madison Madison, Wisconsin metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The ...

in 1976. The

Kalachakra ''Kālacakra'' () is a polysemic term in Vajrayana Buddhism that means "wheel of time" or "time cycles". "''Kālacakra''" is also the name of a series of Buddhist texts and a major practice lineage in Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. The ta ...

Tantra initiation was given in the West for the first time at Deer Park July, 1981. He was a trustee on the International Committee for Peace Council. Sopa died of natural causes at Deer Park Buddhist Center in August 2014, age 92.

Bibliography

* ''Cutting through appearances: Practice and Theory of Tibetan Buddhism'', co-authored with Jeffrey Hopkins * ''Wheel of Time: the Kalachakra in Context'', co-authored with Roger Jackson and John Newman * ''Peacock in the Poison Grove: Two Buddhists Texts for Training the Mind'' * ''Steps on the Path to Enlightenment: A Commentary on the Lamrim Chenmo'' **Volume 1: The Foundation Practices **Volume II Karma **Volume III Way of the Bodhisattva **Volume IV Śamatha **Volume V Insight * ''Teachings from Tibet: Guidance from Great Lamas'', co-authored * ''Like a Waking Dream: the Autobiography of Geshe Lhundrub Sopa'' * ''The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems: A Tibetan Study of Asian Religious Thought''

References

External links

FPMT on Geshe SopaDeer Park Buddhist CenterJames Blumenthal interviews Geshe Sopa on the three types of spiritual beings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sopa, Lhundub 2014 deaths Geshes Tibetan Buddhism writers Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet Chinese emigrants to India Indian emigrants to the United States 1923 births People from Oregon, Wisconsin