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 ...
in
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