Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok
Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok (Wyl. 'jigs med phun tshogs rin po che) (1933-2004) was an incarnation of Tertön Sogyal Lerab Lingpa and an emanation of Mipham Rinpoche. He revealed a number of termas in Tibet, Bhutan, China, Nepal and India. He played an extremely important role in the revival of Buddhism in Tibet after the Cultural Revolution. In the later part of his life more than 10,000 students gathered around him at Larung Gar in Sertar in Eastern Tibet.
Biography
Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok was born in 1933, the third day of the first month of the year of the Water Bird, in the Golok Sertar region of Kham. He is said to have come out of his mother’s womb in meditation posture, reciting the mantra of Manjushri, “Om a ra pa tsa na dhi” as soon as he was born. (He would later go on to recite this mantra more than 13 billion times in the course of his life.)
At the age of five, Khenpo was recognized as the reincarnation of Tertön Sogyal, and became a monk at Nubzur Gonpa, a branch of Palyul monastery in Sertar. At nine he took ordination from Khenpo Sonam Rinchen of Drakdzong.[1]
He studied with the great Khenpo Thubga Rinpoche at Changma Hermitage in Dzachukha and was selected to become abbot of Nubzur at the age of twenty-four. During the time of the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet, starting in 1950, Khenpo withdrew increasingly from normal monastic life until in 1959 he took to the remote mountains, herding a small flock of goats and sheep. There he engaged in meditation and taught small numbers of people and was able, through legendary exploits and means, to elude the Chinese authorities.
He founded Larung Gar in 1980. In 1987, Khenpo led hundreds of his disciples from the Institute on a pilgrimage to the sacred mountains of Wu Tai Shan in China's Shaanxi Province. En route in Beijing, he met the Tenth Panchen Lama and gave teachings on the Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattvas to a crowd of over 5,000 people, including Tibetans, Chinese, Mongolians, and other Buddhist practitioners. At Wu Tai Shan, the audience for his teachings swelled to 10,000 on occasions. He also undertook retreats at sacred locations and caves. There are accounts of many extraordinary occurences during this pilgrimage.
Khenpo made extensive travels across Tibet and China, teaching and revealing terma. In 1990, at the invitation of Kyabjé Penor Rinpoche, he visited India, where he taught at various monasteries, including the Nyingma Institute in Mysore. At Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama resumed the connections he and Khenpo had in their previous lives by receiving teachings from Khenpo for two weeks. In the summer of 1993, he visited various Dharma centres throughout America and Europe, including Lerab Ling, where he gave empowerments and teachings including the empowerments of Tertön Sogyal’s termas, Tendrel Nyesel and Vajrakilaya, as well as his own terma treasures of Manjushri and Vajrakilaya and Dzogchen teachings.
Notes
- ↑ This is according to Khenpo Namdrol. Nyoshul Khenpo says Khenpo Sonam Chödrup
Further Reading
- Karma Phuntso, H.H. Khenpo Jigme Phuntsho: A Tribute and a Translation, Journal of Bhutan Studies, 2004, Volume 11 Winter '04 Issue 11, pp. 129-136
- Nyoshul Khenpo, A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems: Biographies of Masters of Awareness in the Dzogchen Lineage, Padma Publications, 2005, pp.475-476
- Lopön Sonam Tsewang et al, 5th Anniversary of Chöje Jigme Phuntsok Jungne: Prayer Ceremony for World Peace, Bodh Gaya, India, 2nd - 6th January 2008