The Treasury of Lives

For Buddhists of the Tibetan tradition, when a high lama dies, a search for a reincarnation may be initiated in order to complete or extend their spiritual legacy. The search for one such lama, the Sixth Ling Rinpoche, was initiated to discover the reincarnation of a particularly prestigious incarnation, that of the Fifth Ling, Lobzang Lungtok Tenzin Trinle (blo bzang lung rtogs bstan 'dzin 'phrin las, 1856–1902). The Ling incarnations are closely connected to the Dalai Lamas and often served as personal tutors (yongs 'dzin) to them. The First Ling, Dondrub Gyatso (gling 01 don grub rgya mtsho, 1655–1727), was tutor to the Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso (tA la'i bla ma 06 tshangs dbyangs rgya mtsho, 1683–1706); the Fourth Ling, Ngawang Lungtok Yonten Gyatso (gling 04 ngag dbang lung rtogs yon tan rgya mtsho, 1811–1853) had been tutor to the Eleventh Dalai Lama, Khedrub Gyatso (tA la'i bla ma 11 mkhas grub rgya mtsho, 1838–1856); and the Fifth Ling himself had been tutor to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tubten Gyatso (tA la'i bla ma 13 thub bstan rgya mtsho, 1876–1933).

Following the death of the Fifth Ling Rinpoche, divinations conducted by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and the Gadong (dga' gdong) oracle shortlisted a boy named Sonam Wangden (bsod nams dbang ldan) as one of the three reincarnation candidates. Sonam Wangden  was born to his father Kunga Tsering (kun dga' tshe ring) and mother Sonam Dekyi (bsod nams bde skyid) in the Karbok (dkar bog) family of Pangpu (spang phu, also listed as Yabpu, yab phu) in Penpo ('phan po) on December 25, 1903, as the eldest of three children. Despite the treasurer (phyag mdzod) of his labrang (bla brang), or monastic estate, favoring another candidate, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama examined Sonam Wangden closely and confirmed him as the Sixth Ling Rinpoche. He then gave him the name Tubten Lungtok Namgyel Trinle (thub bstan lung rtogs rnam rgyal 'phrin las).

At age four the young Ling Rinpoche was brought to Garpa Ritro (sgar pa ri khrod), where he was looked after by a caretaker (gsol dpon) named Jampa Lobzang (byams pa blo bzang), and later by one named Dondub (don grub). He trained in reading and writing under Karda Ngawang Lhundrub (skar mda' pa ngag dbang lhun grub). Karda was one of the eight monks who undertook a three-year Vajrabhairava retreat with the young Ling Rinpoche's predecessor at Garpa Ritro, where of the latter composed The Eighteen Great Steps on Vajrabhairava [Tantric Meditation] ('jigs byed thems chen bco brgyad).

The following year, the British army invaded Tibet and the Thirteenth Dalai Lama fled to Mongolia and then to China. When the Thirteenth Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa from China and Mongolia in 1909, Ling Rinpoche received his first audience. At that time Ling Rinpoche was residing alternately between Garpa Ritro and his incarnation's residence in Lhasa, Lingtsang Labrang (gling tshang bla brang). Ling Rinpoche then began his formal education under Nyakre Tenpa Chodzin (nyag re bstan pa chos 'dzin) at age nine. He enjoyed reading biographies, making dough figurines, and playing pebble (rde'u) games for leisure. Years later, he would learn to use a camera and develop films.

In 1912, the ten-year-old Ling Rinpoche joined Drepung Loseling Monastery ('bras spungs blo gsal gling) as a resident monk of the Ling regional house (gling khams tshan). This was a time when Lhasa was under an unsettling atmosphere due to the Water-Mouse Sino-Tibetan conflict during which a Manchu army under General Zhong Ying (d. 1915) marched on Lhasa and the Thirteenth Dalai Lama was forced to flee to India. The situation at the monastery was volatile due to dissenting monastic groups allying with aristocrats who held opposing views in regard to the invading Qing troops. The leader of the anti-Qing group, the Third Takdra, Ngawang Sungrab Tutob (stag brag 03 stag brag ngag dbang gsung rab mthu stobs, 1874–1952), would later rise in importance and become the regent (sde srid).

After the Thirteenth Dalai Lama returned from India, in 1913, Ling Rinpoche received the śrāmaṇera, or novice vows (dge tshul). At Drepung Loseling, he began his formal education in Buddhist religion, philosophy, and practice, specializing in the five major fields—logic (tshad ma, pramāṇa), soteriology (phar phyin, pāramita), philosophy (dbu  ma, madhyamaka), metaphysics (mngon pa, abhidharma), and ethics ('dul ba, vinaya). He studied under great masters, including the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Buldu Lobzang Yeshe Tenpai Gyaltsen ('bul sdud blo bzang ye shes bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan, 1839–1918), and the Second Pabongkha, Dechen Nyingpo (pha bong kha 02 bde chen snying po, 1878–1941).

Ling Rinpoche received his bhikṣu, or full monastic (dge slong) vows, in 1922, during an ordination ceremony at the Potala Palace, where the Thirteenth Dalai Lama officiated as both abbot (mkhan po) and preceptor (slob dpon).

In 1924 he completed his Geshe Lharampa (dge bshes lha rams pa) degree examination on the five major treatises (gzhung chen dpa' pod lnga) in sūtra studies during the Great Prayer Festival (smon lam chen mo) in Lhasa.  He then joined Gyuto Tantric College (rgyud stod grwa tshang) and passed the Ngakrampa (sngags rams pa) examination in tantric studies in the following year.

In 1926, Ling Rinpoche was appointed the chief disciplinarian (dge bskos) of Gyuto, which positioned him as a potential candidate to advance towards the pontifical position of Ganden Tripa (dga' ldan khri pa), Throne-holder of Ganden and titular head of the Geluk tradition.

The Thirteen Dalai Lama had initially desired to bestow all the initiation, transmission, and instruction (dbang lung man ngag) lineages that he held to Ling Rinpoche and to the Fourth Purchok, Jampa Tsultrim Tenzin (phur lcog byams pa tshul khrims bstan 'dzin, b.1902), the reincarnations of his junior and senior tutors respectively. However, his trips to China and Mongolia following the British invasion of 1904, the Qing military intrusion and the concurrent exile to British India in 1910, the dissension among Tibetan officials, and the years of heightened administrative engagements following his assertion of Tibetan independence precluded any extensive transmissions. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama, therefore, advised the two young monks to approach Pabongkha, who was considered a living repository of all Geluk transmissions. Accordingly, Ling Rinpoche sought teachings, initiations, and transmissions, as well as lessons on liberal arts such as linguistics and grammar from Pabongkha. For the remainder of his life, Ling Rinpoche considered Pabongkha as his principal teacher and always carried a small photograph of him in his amulet. Nonetheless, Ling Rinpoche did also receive transmissions from the Thirteenth Dalai Lama that he later passed on to the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (tA la'i bla ma 14 bstan 'dzin rgya mtsho, b.1935).

When the Thirteenth Dalai Lama passed away, in 1933, Ling Rinpoche participated in the post-death rituals, including blessing, cleaning, embalming, consecrating, and interring the body in a reliquary stūpa under the supervision of Takdra Rinpoche. During this process he exhibited his knowledge of thanatology, as well as his penchant for sculpture, wood crafting, and metalwork.

In 1936, the incumbent regent, the Fifth Reting Tubten Jampel Yeshe Gyaltsen (rwa sbreng 05 thub bstan 'jam dpal ye shes rgyal mtshan, 1912–1947), appointed Ling Rinpoche to the position of monastery provost (bla ma dbu mdzad) at Gyuto, the second-highest administrative office at the monastery. Even as a provost and a senior Geluk lama, Ling Rinpoche attended the extensive annual government tantric prayer, ritual, and meditation sessions that required strict observance of tantric regulations, such as sleeping on one's seat mat (gding ba) in a curled "lion's pose" (seng ge nyal stabs) alongside other monks in the assembly hall at the end of late-night sessions. When the incumbent abbot, whose name is given as either Ngawang Zopa (ngag dbang bzod pa) or Tashi Namgyel (bkra shis rnam rgyal) died in 1938, Reting Rinpoche appointed Ling Rinpoche as the 103rd abbot of Gyuto.

In 1939, as an incumbent abbot, Ling Rinpoche was a member of the reception party welcoming the young Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso on his arrival at Dogu Thang ('dod rgu thang) from Amdo. When the young Dalai Lama was enthroned as the political leader of Tibet on February 22, 1940, Ling Rinpoche joined the ceremony as the new assistant tutor (mtshan zhabs). Later, in 1941, when the regent Reting left for a meditation retreat and temporarily entrusted the regency to Takdra Rinpoche, the latter appointed Ling Rinpoche as the junior tutor (yongs 'dzin gzhon pa). The Third Trijang Rinpoche, Lobzang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (khri byang 03 blo bzang ye shes bstan 'dzin rgya mtsho) joined as an assistant tutor the same year. The following year, when the young Dalai Lama received his novice vows from Takdra Rinpoche, Ling Rinpoche served as the timekeeper (thob dus go ba).

The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, in his biography of Ling Rinpoche titled Jeweled Necklace (nor bu'i do shal), reminisced how two whips—braided-silk and braided-leather— hung on a wall of his classrooms in Potala (po ta la) and Norbulingkha (nor bu gling kha), supposedly meant to be used on the young Dalai Lama and his brother Lobzang Samten (blo bzang bsam gtan, 1932–1985), respectively. As the boys took their seats, an attendant would visibly place a cane near Ling Rinpoche's side. Only once did Ling Rinpoche take the Dalai Lama's brother outside the room and pretend to cane him, while his attendants pleaded the master for forgiveness. The Dalai Lama remembers how this alone was sufficient to scare him into obedience. In his autobiography, the Dalai Lama wrote that the display of whips and a cane and the pretend caning of the brother resonated with the Tibetan idiomatic expression: "Flogging the goat to scare the sheep!" He further writes that Ling Rinpoche rarely reprimanded him; and when he did, he did it with not a speck of anger or displeasure.

In 1949, Ling Rinpoche was appointed "the Dharma master of the Eastern Peak" or Shartse Choje (shar rtse chos rje), an administrative post at Ganden Shartse College (dga' ldan shar rtse grwa tshang) that positioned him as next in line to the office of Ganden Tripa. That same year regent Takdra Rinpoche honored him by composing a long-life prayer to ward off the hindrances looming over his fourth obstacle year (skeg), a period of danger that befalls a person every twelve years.

The same year, the Communist China began invading eastern Tibet and captured Chamdo, the headquarters of the Governor-General (mdo spyi) of Kham (khams), on October 19, 1950. Immediately, on November 17, 1950, the Dalai Lama, who was then sixteen, assumed political leadership and a Tibetan delegation to Beijing signed the Seventeen-Point Agreement on May 23, 1951, to avert military invasion. Despite this, Chinese troops marched into Lhasa a year later and have maintained its military presence in Lhasa thereafter.

In 1953, the Tibetan Cabinet, or Kashak (bka' shag) appointed Ling Rinpoche as the senior tutor (yongs 'dzin 'dres pa) to the eighteen-year-old Dalai Lama, and Trijang Rinpoche, the junior tutor (yongs 'dzin gzhon pa). The following year, Ling Rinpoche bestowed full monastic vows to the Dalai Lama.

Ling Rinpoche traveled to many parts of Tibet. He accompanied the Dalai Lama during the latter's visit to China in 1954 on the invitation of Mao Zedong. He also went to India in November, 1956 alongside many other prominent lamas for the 2500th Buddha Jayanthi, celebrating the birth of the Buddha. During that time he also undertook a pilgrimage to Nepal, visiting each of the three main stūpa there: Namo Buddha  (stag mo lus sbyin mchod rten), Boudhanath (bya rung kha shor), and Swayambhunath ('phags shing mchod rten). He returned in February 1957.

In 1959, after Tibetans rose up against the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Lhasa on March 10, and an increase of military convoys and activities were sighted in the following days, the Dalai Lama left the Norbulingka Palace in disguise on the night of March 17. Ling Rinpoche left with the entourage, and like the Dalai Lama and the younger tutor, he changed into a layman's robe and a fur hat and escaped to India.

He reached Mussoorie with the Dalai Lama on April 20, 1959 and lived at the Birla House until they moved to Chopra House, which he also named Lobzang Chokyi Kyetsel (blo bzang chos kyi skyes tshal), in Dharamsala, in April 1960. He resided there for most of the remainder of his life, only temporarily residing at his reestablished monastic residence at Drepung in South India.

During the early decades in exile, Ling Rinpoche visited and gave teachings and counsel at many Tibetan rehabilitation camps and monastic communities, most importantly Tosam Tardo Ling (thos bsam thar 'dod gling) in Buxa Duar. Unprecedented in Tibetan history, Thosam Thardö Ling was a community of Tibetan monastics from all Buddhist traditions, headed by eight abbots. This community would educate numerous future masters. In Buxa, Ling Rinpoche restored monastic vows for monks and nuns who had been forced to violate them during the armed resistance and flight from Tibet.

In 1963, Ling Rinpoche participated in the first meeting of Tibetan religious leaders in India, which was organized to deliberate on how to preserve Tibetan religion and culture in exile. The meeting was presided by the Dalai Lama and was attended by the Forty-Second Sakya Tripa, Ngawang Kunga Tekchen Pelbar (sa skya khri pa 42 ngag dbang kun dga' theg chen dpal 'bar, b.1945); the Sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rikpai Dorje (karma pa rang byung rig pa'i rdo rje, 1924–1981); Dudjom Rinpoche Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje (bdud 'joms 'jigs bral ye shes rdo rje, 1904–1987); the Nineteenth Bakula Ngawang Lobzang Thubstan Choknor (ba ku la 19 ngag dbang blo bzang thub bstan mchog nor, 1918–2003); Trijang Rinpoche, and others. Since the Nyingma school did not have a system of long-established centralized leadership like the Sakya, Kagyu, and Geluk schools, the meeting subsequently saw the Fourteenth Dalai Lama recognize Dudjom Rinpoche as the head of the Nyingma school, a position which later changed into a tenure-based elected title.

In 1964 the Ninety-Sixth Ganden Tripa, Tubten Kunga (dga' ldan khri pa 96 thub bstan kun dga', 1891–1964)—who had not been able to escape from Tibet due to his age and health—died in Lhasa. As the Shartse Choje, Ling Rinpoche was appointed the next Throne-holder of Ganden. The tradition of Ganden Tripa began in the spring of 1420, when Gyeltsab Je Darma Rinchen (rgyal tshab rje dar ma rin chen, 1364–1432) ascended the throne of Ganden Monastery (dga' ldan) to succeed Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa (rje tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa, 1357–1419), the founder of the monastery. Since then, over one hundred Ganden Tripas have provided leadership to one of world’s most extensive and centralized networks of Buddhist monasteries from their office at Tripa House, or Tritok Khang (dga' lda khri thog khang), at Ganden Monastery. In addition to their monastic responsibilities, some Ganden Tripas have simultaneously served as tutors and regents for the Dalai Lamas.

Ling Rinpoche held the position of Ganden Tripa for twenty years, far beyond the conventional seven-year term. He was also simultaneously appointed the abbot of Ganden Pelgye Ling Monastery (dga' ldan 'phel rgyas gling) in Bodh Gaya (rdo rje gdan).

As a Ganden Tripa, Ling Rinpoche led the Geluk tradition at a time when thousands of monks had fled Tibet and were re-establishing their monasteries in the different states of India and Nepal. Similarly, in 1969, he presided over the first conference focused on the preservation of Gelukpa tradition, which later culminated in the founding of Geluk International Foundation and the standardization of the Geluk educational system with the guidance and assistance of the Fifth Samdhong, Lobzang Tenzin (zam gdong 05 blo bzang bstan 'dzin, b. 1939).

Ling Rinpoche spent most of his life giving teachings, transmissions, and initiations to devout followers. He was not only an expert in the Guhyasamāja Tantra, a requisite skill that his proctorial and abbatial positions at Gyuto required, but was also, like his predecessor, he was an adept practitioner of Vajrabhairava. Many even considered him a living embodiment of this wrathful manifestation of Mañjuśrī who was one of the three main deities of the Geluk tradition— Guhyasamāja, Vajrabhairava, and Cakrasaṃvara. He gave counsel on matters relating to the preservation of Buddhist teachings and practice, and bestowed monastic ordinations to hundreds of novices and monastics, including the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and the Sixth Reting, Tenzin Jigme Tutob Wangchuk (rwa sgreng 06 bstan 'dzin 'jigs med mthu stobs dbang phyug, 1948–1997).

Ling Rinpoche is remembered for his avoidance of direct involvement in government administration; he is said to have taken no pleasure in matters relating to politics or the management of his monastic estate. His treasurers remember him intervening only when an issue concerned the lending of books from his private collection. He was very particular with his books as well as those of others. For example, librarians at the Norbulingkha Palace in Lhasa remembered him as a senior official who maintained a clean borrowing record and considerately retained and produced a receipt for each book that he borrowed. He had an amicable personality and shared good relations with masters of other traditions, especially with the Sixteenth Karmapa. He had received teachings of all Tibetan Buddhist traditions from Pabongkha, as well as from masters of those traditions. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama recounts how Ling Rinpoche always referred to his teachers equally as Master Vajradhara, or Lama Dorje Chang (bla ma rdo rje 'chang). He also imparted teachings to members of other traditions, the most prominent ones being the Forty-second Sakya Tripa and Dilgo Khyentse Tashi Peljor (dil mgo mkhyen brtse bkra shis dpal 'byor, 1910-1991).

Ling Rinpoche's relation with his teachers, colleagues, and students evinces the fluid nature of the teacher-disciple relationship and the nuanced sense of hierarchy within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. For example, while he and Trijang Rinpoche had taught the Dalai Lama, they both received many higher tantric initiations, including Kālacakra, in return. Similarly, while Ling Rinpoche was the senior tutor, he shared a mutual respect with Trijang Rinpoche, who was senior in both age and pupilage in relation to their teacher, Pabongkha. These complex factors facilitated the formation of a symbiotic spiritual triad known popularly as the Gyelwa Yongzin Namnyi (rgyal ba yongs 'dzin rnam gnyis), meaning "The Victor [i.e., the Buddha] and the Two Tutors"—referring to the Dalai Lama and his two teachers.

The symbolism of this triad was particularly potent in exile. Given that Tibet was ruled by the Dalai Lama, ensuring his safety as a political leader was no less important than safeguarding the nation in the minds of the Tibetans. Also, considering the 'monkey and ogress' divine origin narrative behind the formation of the Tibetan state and Tibetans' regard for Buddhism, the safety of the Dalai Lama as an incarnation of Avalokiteśvara and of the two tutors, whose role was indispensable in the growth of the Dalai Lama, became paramount. As the masters fortuitously hailed from the three traditional regions of the Tibetan cultural sphere—U-Tsang, Kham, and Amdo—the concept of the triad became a vital factor that contributed to regional unity among the Tibetans.

Ling Rinpoche traveled to many countries in Asia, Europe, and North America, and also to Australia and Mexico. His first trip outside of India following his exile was with Trijang Rinpoche to Switzerland in 1968, when they consecrated the Kloster zum Rad der Lehre or Chokhor Ling Monastery (chos 'khor gling), more popularly known as Tibet-Institut Rikon. In June 1980 Ling Rinpoche made an extensive tour of the West to teach at various centers. He began in France, where he had been invited by the Third Dakpo Bamcho, Lobzang Jampel Lhundrub Gyatso (dwags po bam chos 03 blo bzang ’jam dpal lhun grub rgya mtsho, b.1932) and he taught at his centers and also those of Sogyal Rinpoche (bsod rgyal rin po che, 1947-2019). He then went to Italy and on to Switzerland, where he taught at Rikon. He next flew to America,  where he was greeted upon his arrival at JFK by Rato Khyongla Rinpoche (rwa stod skyong bla rin po che, 1923-2022), Geshe Wangyal (dge bshes dbang rgyal, 1902-1983), and representatives of local dharma centers. He taught at Geshe Wangyal's monastery Labsum Shedrub Ling in New Jersey, and giving the Vajrabhairava initiation in New York City, where he also caught a screening of The Empire Strikes Back. He visited Montreal, where he met with the Karmapa, who was there teaching, then on to Toronto and back to New York where he departed for France. He returned to India in November, 1980.

The Fourteenth Dalai Lama has often mentioned that in 1975, when he decided to renounce his practice of Dorje Shugden (rdo rje shugs ldan) and to discourage his followers from propitiating the controversial protector deity, he consulted the state oracles and secured prior consent for his decision from Ling Rinpoche. More importantly, he has stated that he also secured consent for his decision from Trijang Rinpoche, perhaps the most prolific author of Shugden-related liturgies and texts in the history of the Gelug tradition.

In 1980, the Nechung oracle advised the Dalai Lama to extend his religious and spiritual activities by receiving initiations, transmissions, and instructions from masters of other Tibetan Buddhist schools. Both Ling Rinpoche and Trijang Rinpoche were instrumental in the Dalai Lama's espousing of ecumenism. Further divinations favored that the Dalai Lama begin this process by receiving the teachings of the Nyingma tradition's Vajrakīla Tantra from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Thenceforth, the Dalai Lama would receive dozens of sacred teachings from masters of all Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Although the Dalai Lama had previously received Nyingma teachings, including oral transmission of Clearing the Obstacles on the Path (bar chad lam sel) and Spontaneous Fulfillment of All Wishes (bsam pa lhun grub) from Trijang Rinpoche, this was the first time he received a major Tantric teaching from a non-Gelukpa master.

Although Ling Rinpoche was generally healthy, he had a chronic thyroid problem that was detected during a consultation at Woodland Nursing Home in Calcutta (now Kolkatta) in 1960. There, he was also diagnosed with a heart problem, which eventually led to a stroke on September 5, 1983. Despite rituals and prayers, Ling Rinpoche died on December 25, 1983. It was maintained that Rinpoche remained in a post-death meditative equipoise or tukdam (thugs dam) for the next fourteen days. As per the Dalai Lama's advice, the body was mummified in a sculpture created by American sculptor Lisa Heath and sponsored by Tica Broch. The post-death embalming and consecration rituals were conducted under the supervision of his disciple Zangra Jampa Rinpoche (zangs ra byams pa rin po che, b.1936), Labrang treasurers Lobzang Lungrik (blo bzang lung rigs, d.u.), and Pelden Tsering (dpal ldan tshe ring, d.u.), who had served Ling Rinpoche all their lives. The three were also instrumental in search of the young reincarnation.

The Seventh Ling, Tenzin Lungtok Trinle Choephak (btsan 'dzin lung rtogs 'phrin las chos 'phags, b.1985) was identified by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama in 1987.

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Publication of this biography was made possible through support of National Endowment for the Humanities.

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