The Treasury of Lives

Chogye Trichen, Tubten Lekshe Gyatso (bco brgyad khri chen thub bstan legs bshad rgya mtsho) was born in 1919 into a prominent central Tibetan family, the Zhalu Kuzhang (zhwa lu sku zhang). As described by scholar David Jackson, whose biography of Chogye Trichen, Lama of Lamas, serves as the main source for this essay, the family traced its lineage back to Tibetan imperial days and was a major patron of Zhalu (zhwa lu), Ngor Ewaṃ Choden (ngor e waM chos ldan), and Nalendra (na len dra), providing its sons to leadership positions at all three monasteries. Chogye Trichen was born at the family estate, known as Zhitse Gyashar (gzhi rtse rgya shar), south of Shigatse near Zhalu. He was given the name Kunzang Chime Wangpo by his paternal uncle Ngawang Khyenrab Jampel Nyingpo, who served as the Sixtieth Ngor Khenchen (ngor mkhan chen 60 ngag dbang mkhyen rab 'jam dpal snying po, 1871–1952).

His father was Sonam Sengge Wangchuk (bsod nam seng ge dbang phyug, 1873–1928), the son of a man named Kuzhang Dawa Dondrub (sku zhang zla ba don grub) and the nephew of Ngawang Lodro Nyingpo (ngag dbang blo gros snying po, d. 1905/1906), the Fifty-Ninth Ngor Khenchen. Sonam Sengge Wangchuk's older brothers were the Seventeenth Chogye Trichen, Jampa Rinchen Khyentse Wangpo (bco brgyad khri chen 17 byams pa rin chen mkhyen brtse dbang po, c. 1869–1927); and Zhalu Tripa Wangdu Norbu (zhwa lu khri pa dbang 'dus nor bu, 1885–c. 1954). Sonam Sengge Wangchuk had two sisters: a nun named Tashi Chodron (bkra shis mchod sgron) and a laywoman named Yudron (g.yu sgron).

Sonam Sengge Wangchuk was married twice and sired eleven children. The first four of these, Chogye Trichen's half-brothers and sister, were also his cousins, as their mother was the aunt of Sonam Sengge Wangchuk second wife. The eldest son was Trinle Wangdu ('phrin las dbang 'dus, 1894–c. 1946), who became head of the family upon his father's death. The second son was Won Rinpoche Khyenrab Jigme Gyatso (dbon rin po che mkhyen rab 'jigs med rgya mtsho, 1897–1957), who was briefly a candidate for the office of Chogye Trichen. His eldest daughter was Kelzang Chodron (bskal bzang chos sgron, 1901–1963), who married the king of Mustang, Jampel Tenzin Dradul ('jam dpal bstan 'dzin dgra 'dul, 1900–1964). The third son was Jampa Kunzang (byams pa kun bzang, 1907–1940), who served as the Seventy-First Ngor Khenchen.

Sonam Sengge Wangchuk's second wife, Chogye Trichen's mother, was Chime Dolkar ('chi med sgrol dkar, 1895–1966), who came from a long line of Sakya patrons as well. Like her husband she was a Dzogchen practitioner, but more advanced, according to Jackson.^[1] Only three of their seven children survived to adulthood: Dechen Yundrun (bde chen g.yu sgron), who married a man from a prominent family in Dakpo; Chogye Trichen; and Kunzang Tendron (kun bzang bstan sgron), a nun who served as abbess of Rinding (rin sding/gding dgon) and later, in exile, as a teacher.^[2]

Chogye Trichen spent his first seven years with his parents at the family estate. From 1924 to 1926 the family went on pilgrimage to western Tibet, stopping over with his elder half-sister, the queen of Mustang, and meeting with their Dzogchen teacher, Deshek Gyelpo (bde gshegs rgyal po), a disciple of Dudjom Lingpa (bdud 'jom gling pa, 1835–1904). The lama gave the child the name Tsering Namgyel Dorje (tshe ring rnam rgyal rdo rje) and, in a verse blessing, prayed that his activities would be equal to the sky.^[3] On their return from pilgrimage the family resided at their retreat hermitage, Lashar Labrang Khangsar (la shar bla brang khang gsar), where Chogye Trichen was tutored by his father and elder brother, Jampa Kunzang.

He received lay vows from his maternal great-uncle, the Sixty-Third Ngor Khenchen, Jamyang Kunzang Tenpai Gyeltsen ('jam dbyangs kun bzang bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan, died circa 1929), with the name Jamyang Namkha Gyeltsen ('jam dbyangs nam mkha' rgyal mtshan). This uncle, who wished to claim him for his own lama household at Ngor, proposed that the boy be identified as the reincarnation of Wara Zhabdrung Namkha Gyeltsen (wa ra zhabs drung nam mkha' rgyal mtshan, born 1830s, died before 1919), but the designation was rejected, as other plans for the child were being laid.^[4]

 

Nalendra Monastery

Chogye Trichen's elder brother, Won Rinpoche, who had been sent to Nalendra Monastery as an abbatial candidate of the Chogye lama household—or Chogye zhabdrung (bco brgyad zhabs drung) as the position was titled. But he was determined to be unsuitable for the position and in the mid to late 1920s was sent home. Either shortly before or after the seventeenth Chogye Trichen passed away in 1927, his younger brother was hastily chosen for the position, a selection confirmed by letter from the Thirteenth Dalai Lama (ta la'i bla ma 13, 1876–1933). To bolster the child's qualifications, it was decided that the seventeenth Chogye Trichen—the child's paternal uncle—had made certain cryptic remarks indicating that he had emanated into the person of his nephew prior to his own death, a claim that the Thirteenth Dalai Lama would later echo when he gave the boy novice ordination a few years later.^[5]

Thus, in March, 1929, the child who was to be the next Chogye Trichen was escorted from his home in Tsang to Nalendra Monastery, in the Penpo valley north of Lhasa. For the next several years his tutor was Jampa Ngawang Kunga Chopel (byams pa ngag dbang kun dga' chos 'phel, 1884–1951/52), while he also joined the monastic classes. Kunga Chopel transmitted the Konchok Chidu cycle of revelations (dkon mchog spyi 'dus) that was his parents' main practice. A disciple of Kunga Chopel named Geshe Tsechok (dge bshes tshe mchog), who was a master of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, gave him instructions on the bodhisattva path.^[6]

Chogye Trichen had two main teachers at Nalendra. The first was the Fifth Zimwok Rinpoche, Jampa Ngawang Kunga Tenzin Trinle (gzim 'og rin po che 05 byams pa ngag dbang kun dga' bstan 'dzin phrin las, 1884–1963), one of the major lamas of Nalendra and a close disciple of the previous Chogye Trichen. The Zimwok lama household (gzim 'og bla brang) was one of two such estates, alongside the Chogye household. Not long after Chogye Trichen's arrival at Nalendra, Zimwok Rinpoche gave him the Lamdre Lobshe transmission in the Tsarpa Sakya tradition. Lamdre (lam 'bras), meaning "path and fruit," is the central tantric system of the Sakya tradition, and has two exegetical traditions: the Lobshe (slob bshad), "explanation for disciples," which originally was reserved for the Khon (khon) family that controlled Sakya Monastery; and the Tsokshe (tshogs bshad), "explanation for the assembly," which was intended for the the monastic community. Starting in 1935 Zimwok Rinpoche transmitted the Compendium of Sādhana (sgrub thabs kun btus), which he had received from Jetsun Pema Trinle (rje btsun pad ma 'phrin las, born circa 1872); she had received it from Jamyang Loter Wangpo ('jam dbyangs blo gter dbang po, 1847–1914), who helped Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo ('jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse'i dbang po, 1829–1892) create it. Together with another Nalendra monk, Rinchen Pelgon (rin chen dpal mgon), Zimwok Rinpoche gave him the initiation of Guhyasamāja Mañjuvajra. Twenty years later, in 1949, Zimwok Rinpoche gave Chogye Trichen the Lamdre Lobshe transmission a second time, as well as the Hundred Instructions of Jonang (jo nang khrid brgya) and other teachings.^[7]

His second main teacher at the monastery was Lama Ngawang Lodro Nyingpo (bla ma ngag dbang blo gros snying po, 1892–circa 1959), known as Lama Ngaklo (bla ma ngag blo), who taught grammar and the Bodhicaryāvatāra, the classic scripture on the bodhisattva path, as well as the tantric yogic practices of the subtle body. On his tutor Kunga Chopel's recommendation Lama Ngaklo moved into the room next to Chogye Trichen and lived beside his disciple for the next eight or ten years.^[8]

In 1931, at the age of twelve, Chogye Trichen requested novice ordination from the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. The ceremony took place at Norbulingkha (nor bu gling kha), during which the Dalai Lama gave him the name Lobzang Tubten Rinchen (blo bzang thub bstan rin chen), and a slip of paper on which he asserted that the boy was the reincarnation of the previous Chogye Trichen. He was enthroned on December 12, 1931, becoming the head of Nalendra Monastery and of the Tsarpa tradition of Sakya. The following year he went into retreat on Amitayūs, Hayagriva, and Vajrapāṇi.^[9]

In the early 1930s Nalendra's Chogye Labrang was deeply in debt. As Jackson explains, about one hundred people were dependent on the household, and they had run up considerable debts under the previous Chogye Trichen and in the years since his death. The new throneholder was responsible for this financial burden, and so was compelled to go on a fundraising tour. Over the course of 1933 and 1934 he visited the Namru (gnam ru) and Engo (e/n rgod) nomadic regions north of Nalendra, where the leading families were patrons of the previous Nalendra abbots. He returned for further fundraising in 1937 and again in 1947 to pay for the renovation of Nalendra's assembly hall.^[10] A son of a chieftain described one of the visits:

The visit from a lama that I remember most clearly was the visit to Namru by Chogye Trichen Rinpoche of Nalendra Monastery. He was a very handsome young man wearing grand headgear and unforgettable red and gold robes. He rode a huge, proud and majestic horse, and as [he] came into the view of the waiting masses, a welcoming group rode off to meet them. The riders dismounted and prostrated before Rinpoche. Then they got back onto their horses shouting, "Victory to the gods!" and three times circled Rinpoche and his entourage before trotting back to us ahead of Rinpoche's retinue.^[11]

With money raised from such sponsors Chogye Trichen continued to sponsor renovations and expansions of Nalendra; in 1952 he added a gilt roof to the assembly hall, and installed about seventy gilt images, and he purchased books from the famous Printing House in Derge (sde dge par khang).^[12]

Over the course of about five years, from 1933 to 1938, in addition to the lamas mentioned above, Chogye Trichen received teachings from multiple teachers. An elderly lama named Nyendrak Tarpa (snyan grags thar pa) transmitted the collected works of Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (ngor chen kun dga' bzang po, 1382–1456). Ngawang Kunga Gyeltsen (ngag dbang kun dga' rgyal mtshan), the son of Thirty-Ninth Sakya Trizin, Drakshul Trinle Rinchen (drag shul 'phrin las rin chen, 1871–1935), gave Chogye Trichen Vajrakīla empowerments. He studied grammar and poetics with Gepel Tulku Jamyang Kunga Chokyi Nyima (dge 'phel mchog sprul 'jam dbyangs kun dga' chos kyi nyi ma, 1900–1948). He learned astrology from an abbot of Dorje Drak Monastery (rdo rje brag dgon). He received further instructions on grammar from the Fifth Tsedong Tulku Pelden Ngawang Nyendrak Wozer (rtse gdong sprul sku 05 dpal ldan ngag dbang snyan grags 'od zer, 1902–1965) and from Minling Chung Rinpoche, Ngawang Chokyi Drakpa (smin gling chung rin po che ngag dbang chos kyi grags pa, 1908–1980), the younger brother of Dondrub Wanggyel (don grub dbang rgyal), the tenth throne holder of Mindroling Monastery (smin grol gling dgon).^[13]

 

Teachings in Western Tibet

In 1938 and 1939 Chogye Trichen and his mother went on pilgrimage to western Tibet. At Sakya he received teachings from the two brothers who were the heads of the Dolma Palace (sgrol ma pho brang), Dakchen Kunga Rinchen (bdag chen kun dga' rin chen, 1902–1950) and Ngawang Kunga Gyeltsen (ngag dbang kun dga' rgyal mtshan, 1905–c.1940). He requested several teachings from the Fortieth Sakya Trizin, Ngawang Tutob Wangchuk (sa skya khri 'dzin ngag dbang mthu stobs dbang phyug, 1900–1950) but received only an initiation for Vajrakīla.

At Sakya he met Dampa Rinpoche Ngawang Lodro Zhenpen Nyingpo (dam pa rin po che ngag dbang blo gros gzhan phan snying po, 1876–1953), who had recently served as the abbot of Ngor. Chogye Trichen went with him to Tanak Tubten Namgyel Monastery (rta nag thub bstan rnam rgyal dgon), where the master gave him the transmission and empowerments for the Compendium of Tantras (rgyud sde kun btus), Jamyang Loter Wangpo's great collection of Sakya liturgical literature. Lama Dampa had received it from Loter Wangpo himself in 1909. Among those present at the ceremony were the Seventieth Ngor Khenchen Ngawang Khedrub Gyatso (ngor mkhan chen 70 ngag dbang mkhas grub rgya mtsho, 1917–1969), and Chogye Trichen's teacher Lama Ngaklo, Ga Lama Gendun Zangpo (sga bla ma dge 'dun bzang po, 1880–1938).^[14]

On September 28, 1938, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month of the earth rabbit year, Chogye Trichen received full monastic ordination from Dampa Rinpoche, who was assisted by Ngawang Khedrub Gyatso, Tanak Khenpo Ngakgi Wangchuk (rta nag mkhan po ngag gi dbang phyug), Ngaklo Rinpoche, and Ga Lama. The name he was given was either Ngawang Khyenrab Lekshe Gyatso Pelzangpo (ngag dbang mkhyen rab legs bshad rgya mtsho dpal bzang po) or Ngawang Khyenrab Lekshe Gyatso Tashi Drakpa Gyeltsen Pelzangpo (ngag dbang mkhan rab legs bshad rgya mtsho bkra shis grags pa dpal bzang po).^[15] To receive the complete set of vows in the lineage of Sakya Paṇḍita (sa skya paN Di ta, 1182–1251), Chogye Trichen first returned the novice vows he had received from the Thirteenth Dalai Lama.

Chogye Trichen also visited Ngor Monastery, arriving soon after the death of his elder elder half-brother, Jampa Namkha Kunzang Tenpai Gyeltsen, who passed away after only a few months in office. His replacement, Chogye Trichen's maternal uncle, Jamyang Kunzang Tubten Chokyi Gyeltsen, gave him a Hayagrīva initiation. Also at Ngor was his paternal uncle, Ngawang Khyenrab Jampel Nyingpo, from whom he received the transmission of the collected writings of Zhuchen Tsultrim Rinchen (zhu chen tshul khrims rin chen, 1697–1774).^[16]

 

Teaching

Chogye Trichen taught for the first time in 1941 at the age of twenty-two, giving the Lamdre Lobshe over the course of two months at Nalendra. Roughly one hundred fifty people attended the teachings, which were sponsored by Khartak Tulku (mkhar stag sprul sku) from Khartak Monastery (mkhar stag dgon), a branch of Nalendra in Tsarong, Kham. A year later he gave the Lamdre Tsokshe initiations at the request of a wealthy lama from western Tsang named Dra Lama Dhipuwa (grwa bla ma dhi phu ba). He used the manuals of Ngawang Chodrak (ngag dbang chos grags, 1572–1641) as a guide.^[17]

He continued to study with Ngaklo Rinpoche, receiving instructions on the Abhidharmakośa of Vasubandhu, using the commentary of the famous Khenpo Zhenga (mkhan po gzhan dga', 1871–1927), as well as the Madhyamakāvatāra and the Abhisamayālaṃkāra. In 1944, however, Lama Ngaklo was summoned to Sakya Monastery by Dakchen Kunga Rinchen, who tasked the lama with performing rituals to produce a son for the family. Lama Ngaklo was credited with helping the family produce Ngawang Kunga Tekchen Pelbar (ngag dbang kun dga' theg chen dpal 'bar, b. 1945) who would become the Forty-First Sakya Trizin.^[18]

He also received teachings, in 1949 or 1950, from the famous Shukseb Jetsunma, Choying Zangmo (shug gseb rje btsun ma chos dbying bzang mo, 1853/65–1951), who gave him a Dzogchen teaching called the Single Golden Letter of the Black Quintessence (yang thig nag po'i gser gyi 'bru gcig), revealed in the fifteenth century by Dungtso Repa (dung mtsho ras pa). In 1951 he requested Maksorma (dmag zor ma) teachings from the Geluk lama Lhatsun Tulku Lobzang Tubten Gelek Rabgye (lha btsun sprul sku blo bzang thub bstan dge legs rab rgyas, 1884–1967), staying with that lama at his residence near Pabongkha Hermitage (pha bong kha) above Sera Monastery (se ra dgon). Lhatsun Tulku had been a disciple of the previous Chogye Trichen.^[19] In 1956 he received Dzogchen teachings from Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro ('jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse chos kyi blo gros, 1893–1959), who was in Lhasa after fleeing the Communist takeover of Kham. These included the Jetsun Nyingtik (rje btsun snying thig), Nyingtik Yabzhi (snying thig yab bzhi) and several others.^[20]

During the 1950s, as Tibet was gradually taken over by the Communist Chinese, Chogye Trichen traveled several times to Lhokha, in south-central Tibet, to participate in ceremonies and teach. In 1953 he joined a consecration of the newly renovated Jasa Lhakhang (bya sa lha khang). This eighth-century temple had been expanded into a Tsarpa Sakya monastery in the sixteenth century by Khenchen Zhonnu Lodro (mkhan chen gzhon nu blo gros, 1527–1599). From there he went to Yarlung Tashi Chode (yar klung bkra shis chos sde) where, at the request of his disciple, the Tashi Chode Wontrul Rinpoche (bkra shis chos sde dbon sprul rin po che), he performed the Kālacakra initiation for the first time. He gave the Kālacakra again in 1954, at Nalendra, at the request of the Nalendra lama Jampa Rinchen Chogyel (byams pa rin chen chos rgyal). Some six thousand people attended that event. He gave other large teaching ceremonies, as was customary for his office, such as the Lamdre Lobshe at Nalendra in the fall of 1956, an event attended by his sister Jetsun Kunzang Tendron, who was by then the abbess of the nearby Rinding Monastery, his mother, and his recently widowed sister, Dechen Yundrun. Also present was Chogye Trichen's paternal cousin Tenzin Nyingpo (bstan 'dzin snying po), the Chogye Zhabdrung.

He gave the Kālacakra a third time in 1959, at Nalendra, at the request of Jekar Choktrul Jampa Kunga Rinchen (rje dkar mchog sprul byams pa kun dga' rin chen, 1919–2001/02) of Dhipu Choje Monastery (d+hi phu chos rje dgon) in Amdo.^[21] Like a Vajrakīla rite he performed in Lhasa in 1951 and a Mahākāla Pañjaranātha rite in 1955, the Kālacakra ceremonies were in part ritual responses for the loss of Tibetan autonomy.

 

Exile

As part of the establishment of their rule in Tibet in the 1950s, the Chinese Communist government set up multiple committees across Tibetan regions to enlist residents in the new regime. Chogye Trichen was invited to join a Buddhist committee in Penpo, but he declined. He was in retreat, practicing Mañjuśrī in the form of Vādisiṃha, when the March 1959 Lhasa uprising broke out. The Sakya Khon family, which had been in Lhasa, narrowly escaped to Nalendra on March 11. The group consisted of Dagchen Rinpoche Kunga Sonam (bdag chen rin po che kun dga' bsod nams, 1929–2016), his wife Jamyang Sakya ('jams dbyangs sa skya, b. 1934), their children, and her brother, Dezhung Rinpoche (sde gzhung rin po che, 1906–1987). Chogye Trichen broke retreat to welcome them and to plan for their escape from Tibet. Chogye Trichen took the opportunity to request certain Lamdre instructions from Dezhung Rinpoche, who had been a close friend of his elder brother, the Tartse Zhabdrung Jampa Namkha Kunzang Tenpai Nyima, when the two of them were together in Kham.

Chinese airplanes—either searching for the Khon family or acting on intelligence that Khampa resistance fighters had stored weapons at Nalendra—flew over the monastery a few days later, firing machine guns into the monastic compound. No one was hurt, but the lamas all decided that they needed to leave immediately. While the Khon family went south, through Chonggye, Chogye Trichen, after performing a divination, decided to go north and west, to Mustang. He convinced Zimwok Rinpoche and Tsedong Tulku Pelden Ngawang Nyendrak Wozer (rtse gdong sprul sku dpal ldan ngag dbang snyan grags 'od zer, 1902–c.1964) to accompany him, and included his mother as well, thus adding three elderly people to the group of thirty-two men and women that would have to travel by horse and on foot. They left in secret, but a group of about seventy monks noticed their departure and hurried after them, turning back only when they were confronted by one of Zimwok Rinpoche's attendants who pointed out that the Chinese would be much more likely to capture them all if they traveled as a large group. They crossed the wide-open grasslands of Dam by night, narrowly avoiding Chinese troops. The trip to Mustang, which normally would have needed only one month, took two and a half months.^[22]

At the beginning of June 1959, still a few days from the Nepali border, a party of horsemen sent by the king of Mustang met and escorted them to the capital, Montang. The king and queen welcomed them at their residence, the Trekhar Palace (khred mkhar pho brang).

Chogye Trichen stayed in Mustang for nearly three years. He was in high demand among the communities at the ancient Sakya monasteries of the kingdom and surrounding areas, most of which had fallen into disrepair. These included Tsarong (rtsa rang dgon), Montang Chode (smon thang chos sde), Kak Chode in Kagbeni (skag chos sde), and Gemi (gad smad), performing religious ceremonies and returning all donations to the monasteries for their repairs. In 1961 he gave the Lamdre Lobshe at Dzong Chode (rdzong chos sde) in Muktinath.^[23] He would continue to visit Mustang for the rest of his life, restoring the Vinaya there and growing the monastic communities. He also reluctantly agreed to head a relief program run by the Swiss Red Cross in the region, which by the early 1960s was being inundated with Tibetan refugees.

In 1962, as the refugees had mostly left the region and the Red Cross work wound down, Chogye Trichen went south on pilgrimage. In Lumbini he met the famous itinerant master Khunu Lama (khu nu bla ma, 1895–1977), who noted to Chogye Trichen that of the four major Buddhist holy places, Lumbini was the most precious, as it was the site of the Buddha's birth, without which none of his other activities would have occurred. Chogye Trichen continued to Dharamsala where he reunited with Zimwok Rinpoche, who had left Nepal earlier, and agreed to settle there with his guru and several of his attendants from Nalendra.

In Dharamsala Chogye Trichen requested Vajrabhairava teachings from the Sixth Ling Rinpoche, Thupten Lungtok Namgyel Trinley (gling rin po che 06 thub bstan lung rtogs rnam rgyal 'phrin las, 1903–1983). It is said that when Ling Rinpoche taught him, Chogye Trichen saw him as Vajrabhairava, his head in the form of a massive buffalo.  

 

Government Service

In early 1963 Chogye Trichen was asked to help with the publication of the Tibetan-language version of the Dalai Lama's autobiography, My Land and My People (nga'i yul dang nga'i mi mang), and so went by train first to Darjeeling and then to Calcutta, in the company of Tibetan bodyguards, to oversee the printing. While he was executing this task, the Tibetan government in exile appointed him to the position of general secretary of the Council on Religious Affairs, which he accepted with considerable hesitation, having hoped instead to return to his religious practice. His master Zimwok Rinpoche passed away while he was in Darjeeling, and he was unable to attend the funeral.^[24]

In September he went to Chennai for an all-India meeting of religious leaders, and then returned to Dharamsala to attend a meeting of major Tibetan lamas. On the agenda of this assembly were the goals of preserving the Tibetan religious traditions as well as forging a common Tibetan Buddhist identity to better unite the otherwise fractured Tibetan refugee community in South Asia.^[25]

Chogye Trichen worked for the Tibetan government in exile, as a government minister of the fifth rank, until 1968. His supervisor was Kazur Shezur Gyurme Sonam Tobgye (bka' zur bshad zur 'gyur med bsod nams stobs rgyas, 1894–1967), who was a kalon (bka' blon) in the Lhasa government until it was dissolved. Chogye Trichen initially sat in a converted cow barn and was paid one hundred rupees a month, a salary too low to prevent the slow depletion of his resources. From 1965 to 1967 he rented in a small house in McLeod Ganj that he shared with his attendant Pelden (dpal ldan), who had come with him from Nalendra, and his mother and sister, who shared the second bedroom. His mother passed away there in 1966. In 1968 Chogye Trichen moved down to Gangjen Kyishong district of Dharamsala.^[26]

His duties included attending religious and Buddhist conferences on behalf of the government, such as the World Buddhist Seminar in Mumbai in early 1965, and the World Congress of Buddhist Monks in Columbo, in May, 1966. He accepted the Young Lamas School that had been established in 1961 by Freda Bedi (1911–1977) and was given to the government in 1965. Chogye Trichen's team moved it to Dalhousie and reorganized it as a monastic institution, renamed the Mahayana Monastic House, or Thubten Shedrub Ling (thub bstan bshad grub gling).^[27] He was also charged with helping publish Tibetan language textbooks. In 1960 Lobsang Lhalungpa (blo bzang lha lung pa, 1926–2008) had supervised the first editions, printed by hand-set press in 1963. Chogye Trichen served as the Sakya representative on the committee that published a revised edition in 1967.

A more challenging task was the Buxa Duar camp where tens of thousands of Tibetan refugees were processed in the early 1960s. Buxa Duar, in the high jungle of West Bengal on the border with Bhutan, was captured by the British in 1865 and used to inter independence activists in the early twentieth century. Most Tibetan refugees who arrived there moved on, but the Tibetan government decided to use it as a monastic educational center where monks of different religious traditions maintained the scriptural studies under extremely challenging conditions.^[28] In 1965 the Dalai Lama initiated a program of modern education there, and Chogye Trichen was tasked with locating the famous scholar Khunu Lama to train teachers. This project led to the creation of the Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS), which started in Buxa and moved to Sarnath in 1968.^[29]

Even as he worked on religious and educational matters for the government, Chogye Trichen continued to request teachings from lamas he encountered. He spent a month in Varanasi in 1964 receiving Lamrim teachings from Trijang Rinpoche (khri byang rin po che, 1901–1981); in 1966, in Dharamsala, he received teachings on Tsongkhapa's (tsong kha pa, 1357–1419) Lamrim Chenmo (lam rim chen mo) from the Dalai Lama, and Guhyasamāja from Ling Rinpoche.^[30]

At the end of his tenure with the government Chogye Trichen was visited there by the famous Trappist monk Thomas Merton, who was visiting Tibetan lamas while in Asia for religious conferences. Merton later wrote in his journal of the visit:

I had a fine visit with Chobgye Thricchen Rimpoche, a lama, mystic, and poet of the Sakyapa school, one of the best so far. Sonam [Merton's guide] says Chobgye Thricchen is very advanced in Tantrism and a great mystic. He even knows how to impart the technique of severing one's soul from the body. He taught this to another lama who was later captured by the Communists. The lama, when he was being led off to prison camp, simply severed soul from body—pfft!—and that was the end of it. Liberation!^[31]

The lama Merton references here was likely Chogye Trichen's master, Lama Ngaklo, who is said to have performed powa ('pho ba) when being taken into Communist interrogation, ending his own life.^[32]

Merton asked Chogye Trichen questions about the Mahāyāna path, and he explained Christianity for him. Chogye Trichen told Merton that of all the concepts, bodhicitta was the most important. He gave him three metaphors for the bodhisattva: the "kingly," who saves himself and then others; the "boatman," who brings everyone together to liberation; and the "shepherd," who makes sure everyone goes to liberation before him. Chogye Trichen noted that the last one is "the most perfect." When they parted, they each wrote a poem for the other. Merton preserved Chogye Trichen's composition, an aspiration that Merton would absorb the Buddhist teachings he was receiving and spread them in his homeland:

 

Lumbini

The Sakya tradition, with far fewer monasteries and monks in Tibet or Himalayan regions of India, Bhutan, and Nepal, than the other Buddhist traditions of Tibet, struggled in the early years of exile to preserve its traditions. The young Forty-Fifth Sakya Trizin, who had gone into exile at the age of fourteen, established small centers in Ghoom and Moussourie to continue his studies, and in 1964 established his seat in Rajpur, at what would become Sakya Centre, ultimately giving the Sakya monks and lamas still at Buxar a place to finally settle. At the end of 1967 he gathered some three hundred and fifty Sakya monks at the Tibetan monastery in Sarnath to give Lamdre teachings for the first time in exile. Chogye Trichen was able to attend several days of these teachings.^[34]

Chogye Trichen was, as abbot of Nalendra, the leader of the Tsarpa branch of the Sakya tradition. Over the course of the 1960s he had continued to travel to Mustang and minister to the Sakya monasteries there, but he had declined requests from the handful of Nalendra lamas who had come into exile to reestablish the monastery. In 1968, however, he accepted land in the Mungod settlement in Karnataka that had been offered by the Tibetan government in exile, and officially reestablished the Chogye household there, not far from the reestablished Zimwok household. But the location proved too difficult to work with, either for him or the attendant he had brought with him, and in early 1969 he left, and pursued his other, more promising opportunity in Lumbini.

When visiting his brother-in-law and then his nephew Jigme Pelbar ('jigs med dpal 'bar, 1930/1932–2016), the new king of Mustang, they had both urged him to return to Nepal. In 1967, in the face of Chogye Trichen's disinclination to return in Mustang, Jigme Pelbar suggested Chogye Trichen settle in Lumbini, where a small government-run Theravada monastery then existed. Chogye Trichen was not eager to share the monastery with the resident monk but was interested in the potential of building a new center.

Lumbini in the late 1960s was a small village built around an historical site that had only been rediscovered in the late nineteenth century, by Nepali archeologists. In the 1956 both India and Nepal, jointly celebrating the Buddha Jayanti, the 2,500th anniversary of the Buddha's birth, took an interest in developing the site, and the Nepali king Mahendra (1920–1972) built the small temple beside the Ashoka Pillar and the tank where the Buddha's mother is said to have bathed before giving birth to the Buddha. In 1967 the UN secretary general, U Thant (1909–1974) visited Lumbini and set in motion the Lumbini Development Project, which would later hire the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange (1913–2005) to create a design for the wholescale redevelopment of the site. When Chogye Trichen requested permission from the Dalai Lama to resign his position he explained that he was leaving in order to establish a Tsarpa Sakya monastery in Lumbini. The Dalai Lama enthusiastically gave permission, telling him that doing so would be of even greater service than what he had been doing for the government.^[35]

Taking ownership of the land in Lumbini was a complicated process. Chogye Trichen initially stayed with two attendants, Ngawang Tobgyel (ngag dbang thob rgyal, b, 1938) and Kelzang Chopel (bskal bzang chos 'phel), in the government Theravada temple. The resident monk was Bhikkhu Aniruddha Mahathera (1915–2003), a Newar who had lived in Lhasa and knew Tibetan. Over the following decades the two Buddhist monks developed a strong bond of respect and affection. Jigme Pelbar brought the director of the Nepali Department of Archeology and several other government administrators down to the site and they paced off the ten-kattha site to be donated—roughly eight tenths of an acre. He secured the title to the land around February, 1969.^[36]

He then returned to Rajpur to observe the New Year's celebrations, during which he composed a short history of the Sakya tradition. He based this on the histories of Konchok Lhundrub (dkon mchog lhun grub, 1497–1557), Khyentse Wangchuk (mkhyen brtse dbang phyug1524–1568), Jamyang Loter Wangpo, and Tanak Khenpo Cho Namgyel (rta nag mkhan po chos rnam rgyal, sixteenth century). It was translated into French and then into English, in 1983, as The History of the Sakya Tradition: A Feast for the Minds of the Fortunate.^[37]

On January 12, 1970, the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, Chogye Trichen began construction of the new monastery. As he describes in his books Fortunate to Behold (1986) and Gateway to the Temple (1979) he first performed an earth ritual (sa chog) in which the resident nāgā is traced on the ground in a complex diagram made according to astrological calculations. The nāgā is venerated with offerings and is subjugated with a kīla dagger, both acts designed to ensure prosperity and protection from harm. He then dug a trench outlining the walls of the temple, eighty feet long and fifty feet wide. Donations from many places: from monks in Mustang, his nephew the king of Mustang, and individuals such as Trungpa Rinpoche paid for the brick, concrete and other materials needed, all of which was brought by oxcart from the nearest town, as there was, as yet, no paved road to the site. King Jigme Pelbar also sent monks from Mustang to help with construction, and he donated holy objects such a three-foot-tall gilt statue of Lowo Khenchen Sonam Lhundrub (glo bo mkhan chen bsod nams lhun grub, 1456–1532), that was about five hundred years old. By 1971 twenty monks were in residence.^[38]

Before the temple was even finished other lamas arrived to request teachings. Sakya Trizin came in early 1971 to request the Compendium of Tantra, which Chogye Trichen started bestowing several months later in Rajpur and finished in the summer of 1972. In 1971 Chogye Trichen was the only lama in exile who held the transmission lineage, which he had received from Dampa Rinpoche, who had received it from Loter Wangpo. Over the next few years Chogye Trichen gave almost all transmission lineages he held to Sakya Trizin. That summer, at Rajpur, they enthroned the newly recognized Sixth Zimwok Rinpoche, Ngawang Tenzin Trinle Norbu (b. 1964).^[39] This established a pattern for Chogye Trichen's teaching: he would reside in Lumbini in the winter months, and leave in the heat of the summer, usually going to Rajpur, Mustang, or Kathmandu where he would give transmissions and empowerments, or perform personal retreats.

The temple buildings were largely completed by the end of 1972, when master artist Lekdrub Gyatso (legs grub rgya mtsho, 1927/1928–1984) began work on the murals, which he completed in 1974. That summer the main images were installed, and the kitchen, bathrooms, and offering chapel buildings completed. The road was also paved that year. Multiple consecration rituals were performed by Sakya Trizin (1975), the Karmapa (1978) and the Dalai Lama (1981). Khunu Lama came unannounced in 1975, accompanied by his disciple the Drigung Khandroma Sherab Tarchin ('bri gung mkha' 'gro ma shes rab mthar phyin, 1927–1979). Chogye Trichen installed Khunu Lama in the best room and asked him for teachings on Rongton's Stages of Meditations of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra.^[40] The initial name of the monastery, New Buddha Mandir, was changed in 1978 to Dharma Swami Buddha Vihara. Chogye Trichen eventually expanded his land holdings there, building a second large temple there, Yangon Tashi Rabten Ling, which was completed in 2004.

The entire complex was in danger of being removed almost from the day it was finished, as it conflicted with the master plan Tange had drawn for the sacred site. Chogye Trichen, however, skillfully advocated for the preservation of his buildings. He quickly printed his book on Lumbini, Fortunate to Behold, in which his temple was described alongside the other architectural features and passed them out to attendees of the World Buddhist Conference in Lumbini in 1986.^[41]

He was also able to draw on his strong relationship with the Nepali royal family. King Mahendra of Nepal had been interested in developing Lumbini since before the 1956 Buddha Jayanti, and he was the one who had first permitted Chogye Trichen to take possession of the land there. His successor, Birendra (1945–2001), was considered pro-Chinese and less willing to help the Tibetan refugees, but Chogye Trichen forged a positive relationship with him, nonetheless. This was in part thanks to a highly influential lama named Drukpa Tsechu ('brug pa tshe bcu, 1918–2003). Drukpa Tsechu was born in Bhutan and came to Nepal as a small child with his parents. He was instrumental in helping the initial wave of Tibetan refugees who came to Nepal, and, as he was close to both kings, he was able to help Chogye Trichen with government matters. He helped Chogye Trichen secure his Nepali passport and brought Chogye Trichen to the royal palace several times to perform long-life ceremonies and protective rituals for the state. Birendra in turn paid his respect to Chogye Trichen by attended several events at both of Chogye Trichen's temples, including the consecration of the Maitreya Temple in Boudhanath. A Chogye Trichen is also said to have performed purification rituals at the palace after the royal family's murder in 2001.^[42]

 

Western Disciples

Two of Chogye Trichen's western disciples were instrumental in distributing Fortunate to Behold in 1986: Cyrus Stearns, who did the initial translation, and David Jackson, who brought it down from the printers in Kathmandu and helped pass it out to the dignitaries. Jackson later retranslated the book for a second edition. Both men had already spent years studying with Chogye Trichen. Other disciples included Jared Rhoton (1941–1993), who opened a Sakya center in New York City under the auspices of Dezhung Rinpoche; Jay Goldberg, who ordained under Chogye Trichen in Sarnath; and Maruta Kalnins. Stearns and Jackson in particular served as interpreters and translators for the growing community of westerners who came to the large initiations and teachings. As early as 1972 Chogye Trichen had given the Kālacakra and other initiations from the Compendium of Tantra to the Canadian lama Namgyel Rinpoche (born Leslie George Dawson, 1931–2003) and a group of his students.^[43] Namgyel Rinpoche, who had been ordained by the Sixteenth Karmapa (kar ma pa 16, 1924–1981) at Rumtek in 1969, had initially, in 1958, been ordained in the Theravada tradition as Ananda Bodhi; he had established the Johnston House Contemplative Community in Scotland that Trungpa Rinpoche took over in 1967 and renamed Samye Ling. Chogye Trichen explained the Kālacakra mythology to author Edwin Bernbaum, who later published The Way to Shambhala. His western students requested, multiple times, for him to compose his autobiography, which he did in 1976, after the great Tibetan biographer Khetsun Sangpo (mkhas btsun bzang po, 1920–2009), who was compiling his Biographical Dictionary of Tibet, requested it.^[44] A book drawn from his oral teachings to western disciples, Parting from the Four Attachments: Jetsün Drakpa Gyaltsen's Song of Experience on Mind Training and the View, was published in 2003 by Snow Lion Press.

 

Three-Year Retreats

In the fall of 1976 Chogye Trichen received the Kālacakra initiation from the Dalai Lama in Leh. Sakya Trizen was also in Ladakh, giving the Compendium of Sādhana at Matro Monastery. Chogye Trichen met with both of them to discuss his desire to start a three-year retreat program at Lumbini. They were both enthusiastic, and the Dalai Lama committed to funding four monks. A fifth participant, a novice monk, was sponsored by two American disciples. The retreat began in November, 1976. Chogye Trichen's sister, Kunzang Tendron, who had resigned her teaching position and moved to the monastery in 1975, participated in the retreat as well, staying in a separate room.^[45] The intention behind the retreat was to train lamas from all three branches of the Sakya tradition—Sakya, Ngor, and Tsarpa—who would then lead retreats of their own, thereby preserving the full Sakya tradition in exile. They began with Lamdre, proceeded on to Hevajra, Khecharī, a choice of Hayagrīva, Vajrakīla, or Vajrapāṇi Bhūtadāmara, and concluded with subtle body (rtsa lung) practice. The retreat ended in the early spring of 1980.^[46]

The extreme heat of summers in Lumbini—temperatures could reach into the 120 degrees fahrenheit—made a second retreat there impractical. Back in 1960 Chogye Trichen had been given an old house at the stūpa in Boudhanath, Nepal, by a Nepali woman named Goma Devi (1919–2006), the niece of Punyavajra (1886–1982), the Chini Lama of Boudhanath, an incarnation line that had been the stūpa's caretakers since the nineteenth century. Only in 1981 did Chogye Trichen take ownership of the building, and that year he installed five monks in the house to begin a second three-year retreat.^[47] A third three-year retreat ran there, from June 1989 to February 1993.

In the late 1980s Chogye Trichen renovated Lo Gekar Temple (glo ge dkar) in Mustang and established a retreat center there. This was to fulfill a request by the Sakya Trizin to establish a Tsarpa monastery in the region—all other Sakya monasteries there belonged to the Sakya proper or the Ngor subsect.^[48] He installed as abbatial candidate—a position he titled Gonkar Zhabdrung—his grandnephew, the son of his niece Tshejin Wangmo (tshe byin dbang mo), who was the daughter of his sister, the previous queen of Mustang. The boy, named Rinchen Peljor (rin chen dpal byor) was already a monk at Lumbini.^[49] Five other nephews were also appointed to abbatial candidate positions: Tashi Wanggyel (bkra shis dbang rgyal), the son of his niece Tongdrol, was named Ngor Tartse Zhabdrung, while his grandnephew Tenzin Tsultrim (bstan 'dzin tshul khrims, b. 1981), the grandson of Chogye Trichen's eldest brother, was named Chogye Zhabdrung.^[50] Chogye Trichen performed a eight- or nine-month long personal Mahākāla retreat at Lo Gekar in 1990, and gave the Kālacakra initiation there in the summer of 1991.

He established a fourth retreat center at Bagdwar, on the hills above Kathmandu, at a site donated to him by a lama named Drukpa Tulku ('brug pa sprul sku), and which he had blessed by the Sakya Trizin in 1994.^[51] Chogye Trichen also had a personal retreat house in Budanilakantha in Naranthan called Nyengyü Samtenling.

 

Maitreya Temple

Soon after initiation of the second retreat Chogye Trichen accepted an invitation to teach in Singapore and Malaysia. He flew out of Kathmandu in September, 1981, with Lama Wangdu as his only attendant. Cyrus Stearns flew with them, and translated on the trip with Jay Goldberg, who met them there. He taught first at the Singapore Sakya Center. He gave four initiations there: Mahākāla, Hevajra, Amitāyus, and Parṇaśabarī, after which he was delighted to have his disciples pour the maṇḍala sand into the ocean as the scriptures instruct one to do.^[52] They went next to the home of Joseph Ling, a patron who lived in Kuching, on the island of Borneo, and stayed for four weeks to teach Nāropa's practice of Khecarī and other topics. They returned to Singapore and gave ten further initiations over the course of a month and a half.^[53]

The visit to Malaysia and Singapore—he would return multiple times—was financially beneficial. Disciples there donated upwards of twenty thousand dollars, which he used to construct his next project, in Boudhanath, the Great Maitreya Temple—also known as Trikal Maitreya Buddha Vihara and Jamchen Lhakhang Monastery—on the site of the house donated by Goma Devi. Construction began in 1983, in what had been the rear courtyard of the house; as soon as the retreat ended in 1984 the house itself came down. The statue of Maitreya, at thirty feet, is one of the largest in the world. At the consecration ceremony in 1985, presided over by Sakya Trizin, the former US president Jimmy Carter showed up. In 1988 he gave the Kālacakra initiation there, in the tradition of Buton.^[54]

As one of the few Sakya masters trained in pre-Communist Tibet, Chogye Trichen was in great demand across the exile community and abroad, traveling frequently to give major transmissions even as he also continued to receive teachings from his colleagues. He gave the Lamdre Lobshe in the Tsarpa tradition over ten times, three times in Tibet and at least seven times in exile, including for the Sakya Trizin in 1982 and the Dalai Lama in 1985.^[55]

 

Seventeenth Karmapa

In the mid 1980s Chogye Trichen played a small role in a major controversy, that of the recognition of the Sixteenth Karmapa's reincarnation. The chain of events began in 1984 or 1985 when an elderly monk from Dhipu Monastery in Amdo,[56] came to Kathmandu. This monk, named Gendun Gyatso (dge 'dun rgya mtsho), would later give assistance to Alak Jekar Rinpoche Jampa Kunga Rinchen (lce dkar, 1919–2001/2), the main incarnation from Dipuk Choje Monastery, who came for teachings from Chogye Trichen. When Gendun Gyatso first arrived in Nepal he went to Chogye Trichen and told him that he knew of a boy in Lhasa who claimed to be the Karmapa. News of the Sixteenth Karmapa's rebirth was at that time eagerly awaited across the Tibetan cultural sphere, and Chogye Trichen took the information seriously, having had a dream the night before of the Sixteenth Karmapa smiling as he circumambulated the Boudhanath stūpa. He told Gendun Gyatso to inform the Twelfth Tai Situ (ta'i si tu 12, b. 1954), one of the lamas in charge of finding the new Karmapa. Situ Rinpoche, however, dismissed the claim, stating they had already begun a promising search for the reincarnation.^[57]

When Gendun Gyatso returned to Chogye Trichen and related what Tai Situ had told him, Chogye Trichen decided to travel to Delhi and inform the Fourteenth Shamar (zhwa dmar 14, 1952–2014).^[58] Shamar Rinpoche eventually investigated the child brought to his attention by Gendun Gyatso, and ultimately declaring him to be the Seventeenth Karmapa, and presenting him in public at the end of February, 1994, in Delhi, and again on March 17, at an event marred by violent protests.^[59] In March 1996, Shamar Rinpoche enthroned the child as the Seventeenth Karmapa, with the name Thaye Dorje (mtha' yas rdo rje, b. 1983), and released an account of his selection.^[60]

Situ Rinpoche and Gyeltsab Rinpoche (rgyal tshab 12, b. 1954) had, in 1992 already selected and enthroned at Tsurpu Monastery (mtshur phu) Orgyen Trinle Dorje (o rgyan 'phrin las rdo rje, b. 1985) as the Seventeenth Karmapa. In justifying his actions, Shamar Rinpoche wrote to the Dalai Lama and referenced an unnamed person as having provided crucial information, and the Dalai Lama inferred that this was Chogye Trichen. When asked about his role in the matter in 1996, Chogye Trichen wrote to both the Tibetan Government in Exile and to Shamar Rinpoche to explain that he claimed no privileged knowledge other than the visit from Gendun Gyatso back in 1986, which he reported to all members of the search committee and asserted that he would not presume to advise on the matter of the Karmapa's identity. In response Shamar wrote to the Dalai Lama to clarify that Chogye Trichen was not the man who held the key or who had advised him over the years.^[61]

Chogye Trichen took no position on the Karmapa controversy. During a visit to France in 2000, at the invitation of the Fourteenth Shamar Rinpoche, Chogye Trichen gave empowerments and teachings on the Parting of the Four Attachments at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling, the Karma Kagyu center in Dordogne. Shamar Rinpoche and Karmapa Thaye Dorje were the main recipients. He had met with Karmapa Orgyen Trinle Dorje for the first time in Dharamsala only a few months earlier and would do so again in 2004. In 2001 Chogye Trichen participated in the consecration ceremonies of Shamar Rinpoche's monastery in Lumbini, Drubgyud Choeling, where Karmapa Thaye Dorje played a central role. Thaye Dorje visited Chogye Trichen's temple and offered a maṇḍala, which Chogye Trichen accepted and returned, as was customary.^[62]

 

Visit to the United States and Japan

Chogye Trichen continued his international travel with a lengthy trip to North America in 1988, less than a year after his second visit to Southeast Asia. He was invited by Dezhung Rinpoche's center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Shakya Shei-Drub Ling, to perform the Kālacakra initiation and give related empowerments and teachings, all of which began on October 4, 1988. Only Lama Wangdu and Cyrus Stearns, who served as one of the interpreters, traveled with him from Nepal. During the month-long teachings in Cambridge Chogye Trichen gave private initiations, assisted by Lama Pema Wangdu from the Sakya Center in New York City. The Kālacakra was preceded with a teaching on "parting from the four attachments," a central Sakya teaching on the Buddhist view and practice that was said to have been given by Mañjuśrī to Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (sa chen kun dga' snying po, 1092–1158) via visionary encounter. Chogye Trichen visited the Sakya center's recently purchased land in Barre where they hoped to establish a retreat center, and also the nearby Insight Meditation Center. One of that meditation center's founders, Jack Kornfield (b. 1945), attended the Cambridge teachings. Following the initiation, over the course of two weeks, Chogye Trichen gave instructions on the Six-Branch Yogas of Kālacakra.^[63]

From Boston Chogye Trichen went to New York City, where he gave teachings in the art gallery of Moke Mokotoff (1950–1922), a disciple of Kalu Rinpoche (kar lu rin po che, 1905–1989) and the Sixteenth Karmapa, among other lamas. Translator Susanne Fairclough, one of the hosts in Boston, traveled to New York to manage the teachings there. After New York Chogye Trichen traveled to Minnisota; San Francisco, where he taught at Ewam Choden in Kennsington; Vancouver, where he visited Kalu Rinpoche's Jetsun Chime Luding center; Seattle, to teach at the new Sakya Monastery of Dagchen Rinpoche. He returned to Nepal in January, 1989.^[64]

Chogye Trichen went to Japan in 1993 at the invitation of the new Japanese religious tradition called Agon Shu, which, although ostensibly based on the earliest Pāli sūtras, or āgamas (agon in Japanese), also included tantric practices. Chogye Trichen was invited to give Vairocana initiations. The wealthy founder of the tradition, Kiriyama Seiyu (1921–2016) hosted Chogye Trichen and his attendants in luxury, and Chogye Trichen accepted his invitation for a physical exam, which found the seventy-four-year-old lama in excellent health. Chogye Trichen ascribed his physical wellbeing to having faithfully observed his monastic vows for his entire life.^[65]

 

Sakya Monlam

In 1993 Chogye Trichen first sponsored what would become an annual new year's tradition, the Sakya Monlam in Lumbini. Sakya Trizin and his two sons, Ratna Vajra (b. 1974) and Gyana Vajra (b. 1979) were the guests of honor; Gyana Vajra took novice vows during the event. The two-week prayer festival, from March 1 to March 15, was sponsored by Tarthang Tulku (dar thang sprul sku, b. 1935), who sponsored similar festivals for the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Geluk traditions at the four main holy Buddhist sites. Chief among the prayers recited by the assembly was the Litany of Mañjuśrī's Names (Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃigīti), and Samantabhadra's Aspirations to Noble Deeds (kun tu bzang po smon lam). Tarthang Tulku provided seed funding to enable the prayer festival to continue each year in Lumbini.^[66]

 

Passing

Chogye Trichen passed away on January 22, 2007. Other than breaking his hip in 1994, he remained in excellent health until September, 2006, when he fell ill with pneumonia in Hong Kong. Although he recovered once he returned to Nepal, at the fifteenth annual Sakya Monlam, in November, 2006, he declined to accept long-life prayers, which had been a feature of all previous festivals. In January he began making references to leaving for the western pure land of Sukhāvatī and had visions of lineage lamas visiting him in his quarters in Lumbini. He flew to Kathmandu on January 18, and on January 20 thanked all his attendants for their years of kindness. That night he fell ill with pneumonia and was taken to a clinic for oxygen. Early in the morning on January 21 his attendants called Sakya Trizin, who performed a divination that produced unfavorable results. When Chogye Trichen's oxygen levels did not rise despite the treatment, his attendants brought him to his retreat house at Budanilakantha. He passed away there at 6:45 the next morning.

Chogye Trichen remained in tukdam (thugs dam) for sixteen days, during which disciples came to pay homage. On February 8, when there were clear signs that he had completed his postmortem meditation, his remains were washed and anointed, and on February 9 they were brought to the Maitreya Temple in Boudhanath in a massive motorcade, with thousands of people lining the streets. The television broadcast on Channel Nepal caught the massive rainbow that circled the sun when Chogye Trichen's body arrived at the Boudhanath stūpa and which remained in the sky until the body was installed in Chogye Trichen's chambers. His body remained there until the cremation, during which time it is said to have shrunk to roughly seventy percent of its size. The cremation took place on March 3, the fifteenth day of the fourth Tibetan month. Sakya Trizin, his son Ratna Vajra, Luding Khenchen, and Luding Khenchung presided over the four ceremonies held in the cardinal directions. Reliquary stūpas have been constructed in the Maitreya Temple, at Narayanthan, and at Nalendra in Tibet.^[67]

True to tradition, no reincarnation of Chogye Trichen has been identified. His successor, the current Chogye Trichen, Tendzin Tsultrim (bstan 'dzin tshul khrims), serves as the head of the Lumbini and Boudhanath monasteries.

 

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