Thrangu Tashi Choling

Thrangu Rinpoche ( ) was born in 1933
/ref> in Kham, Tibet. He is deemed to be a prominent tulku (reincarnate lama) in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, the ninth reincarnation in his particular line. His full name and title is the ''Very Venerable Ninth Khenchen Thrangu Tulku, Karma Lodrö Lungrik Maway Senge''. The academic title ''Khenchen'' denotes great scholarly accomplishment (English-language analogues include the titles Distinguished Professor and Academic Fellow), and the term ''Rinpoche'' ("Precious" or "Precious One") is a Tibetan devotional title which may be accorded to respected teachers and exemplars.

Biography

Early life and exile

Thrangu Rinpoche was installed at Thrangu Monastery in Kham (eastern Tibet) after his identification by the Sixteenth Karmapa and the previous Tai Situpa at age five. He is one of the principal lamas there, although Traleg Rinpoche is the supreme abbot of the complex. He fled to India following the Chinese invasion in 1959.

At the age of thirty-five Thrangu Rinpoche took the geshe examination in Bengal and was awarded the degree of ''Geshe Lharampa'', the highest degree conferred in the Gelug transmission (it is not uncommon for monks of other lineage to pursue studies in that tradition). He was subsequently awarded the ''Khenchen'' degree of the Kagyu tradition. He played a critical role in the recovery of important Buddhist texts that had been largely destroyed by the Chinese Communists. He was named Abbot of Rumtek monastery, the home monastery in exile of the Karmapa, and also of the Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies trained all the younger tulkus of the lineage, including the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, who was in the first class. He was also the personal tutor of the four principal Karma Kagyu tulkus: Shamar Rinpoche, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and Gyaltsab Rinpoche. Thrangu Rinpoche established the fundamental curriculum of the Karma Kagyu lineage taught at Rumtek. In addition, he taught with Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, who had been a teacher at Thrangu Rinpoche's monastery in Tibet before 1959, and who is now head of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in Woodstock, New York, the seat of Karmapa in North America.

In 1976, after 15 years at Rumtek, Thrangu Rinpoche founded the Thrangu Tashi Choling monastery in Boudhanath, Kathmandu, Nepal, and later also founded a retreat centre and college at Namo Buddha; Tara Abbey, which offers a full dharma education for Tibetan nuns leading to a khenpo degree; a school in Boudhanath for the general education of Tibetan children and young monks in Western subjects and Buddhist studies; and a free medical clinic in an impoverished area of Nepal.

Thrangu Rinpoche recently completed a large monastery in Sarnath, India, overlooking the deer park where the Buddha gave his first teaching on the Four Noble Truths.__The_monastery_is_named_Vajra_Vidya_in_honor_of_the_Rangjung_Rigpe_Dorje.html" ;"title="Vajra_Vidya.html" ;"title="Four Noble Truths: BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY Encycl ...