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Gangchen Tulku Rinpoche

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Gangchen Rinpoche
གངས་ཅན་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་
Personal
Born(1941-07-07)July 7, 1941
Drakshu, Tibet
DiedApril 18, 2020(2020-04-18) (aged 78)
Verbania, Italy
ReligionTibetan Buddhism
NationalityTibetan

Lobsang Thubten Trinley Yarphel (Tibetan: གངས་ཅན་བློ་བཟང་ཐུབ་བསྟན་འཕྲིན་ལས་ཡར་འཕེལ་, Wylie: gangs-can blo-bzang thub-bstan 'phrin-las yar-'phel, 7 July 1941 – 18 April 2020), was the 5th Gangchen Tulku Rinpoche of Tibet. He was a Tibetan-Italian lama of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.

5th Gangchen Tulku Rinpoche was born in Drakshu, a small remote village which was about 55 kilometers from the city of Shigatse in 1941.[1][2] His secular name was Wangdu Gyelpo. He was later recognized as the new incarnation Gangchen Sapen-la. He was enthroned at Gangchen Choepeling Monastery [it] at the age of five. When he was twelve years old, he received the “kachen” degree, Tashi Lhunpo's equivalent of the “geshe” degree. Later, he studied medicine, astrology, meditation, and philosophy in Sera Monastery and Tashi Lhunpo Monastery.[3][4]

After the Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China, Gangchen Tulku Rinpoche was imprisoned and forced to labor, he went into exile to India in 1963.[2][5] He continued his studies for the following seven years at Varanasi Sanskrit University in Benares. He received Geshe Rigram degree from Sera Monastic University in 1970.[3] Gangchen Tulku Rinpoche took his first visit to Europe, later he immigrated to Italy and took Italian citizenship in 1983. In 1989, he founded Kunpen Lama Gangchen Institute in Milan, aiming to promote and preserve the Tibetan medicine tradition.

Gangchen Tulku Rinpoche was considered an important master of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition: he had adapted the teachings and techniques of meditation to the mentality and modern Western culture.[2] He also practiced Vajrayana, he considered Dorje Shugden as one of several protectors of the Gelug school, thus he came into conflict with 14th Dalai Lama. Since 1990s, he had visited China several times. He was well treated by Chinese government, according to Dalai Lama's supporters, he was used as a tool for Chinese political propaganda against Dalai Lama;[6] Lama Tseta even accused him of "trying to murder Dalai Lama".[7]

Gangchen Tulku Rinpoche died from COVID-19 in Verbania on 18 April 2020, aged 78.[2]

References

  1. ^ Lama Gangchen Rinpoche
  2. ^ a b c d "Morto per coronavirus a Verbania il Lama Gangchen Rinpoche: il monaco tibetano aveva 78 anni" (in Italian). 19 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b His Eminence Drubwang Gangchen Rinpoche
  4. ^ The Healing Lama: Lama Gangchen Tulku Rinpoche
  5. ^ "Biography of T.Y.S. Lama Gangchen Tulku Rinpoche". Archived from the original on 2013-02-11.
  6. ^ "路透社称凶天领袖刚坚"在中国享有重要人物的待遇"" (in Chinese). Radio Free Asia. 10 April 2016.
  7. ^ "次扎喇嘛:中国资助并指使境外藏人"消灭"达赖喇嘛" (in Chinese). VOA. 17 December 2015.

See also