Thartse Khen Rinpoche

Ngor Thartse Khen Rinpoche and Sogyal Rinpoche

Ngor Thartse Khenpo Sonam Gyatso Rinpoche aka Hiroshi Sonami (1930-1988) — a disciple of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö. Khen Rinpoche was born into a noble family in Lhasa. His father, Tsipon Shuguba, was Treasurer of the central government of Tibet under HH the Dalai Lama and father of four tulkus. Tsipon Shugba, after 19 years of imprisonment, was brought to America by his sons in 1980. During the Tsipon's imprisonment time he also endured the death of his daughter and also that his beloved wife, who departed this life by means of Phowa on the eve of her 'show trial' by the Communist authorities. Tsipon Shugba wrote an important record of the fall of Old Tibet and life under the Chinese regime, In the Presence of My Enemies: Memoirs of Tibetan Nobleman.

Sonam Gyatso was recognized by the 39th Kyabgön Sayka Trizin Dragshul Thinley Rinchen as the incarnation of the previous Great Abbot of Ngor Monastery and so he was subsequently enthroned as well as the Great Abbot of Ngor Thartse Monastery. One of Khen Rinpoche's brothers, Tenshab Rinpoche, who was recognized as a Gelugpa tulku, today lives in Switzerland. His younger brother, Lama Kunga Rinpoche, who is founder and resident lama of Ewam Choden (Sakyapa) Tibetan Buddhist Center in Berkeley, California, was born in 1935 and recognized as the tulku of Sevan Repa, one of the heart-sons of Milarepa, and initially lived in a Kagyu monastery but found Ngor Thartse Monastery more congenial and became a Sakyapa lama. The two brothers escaped from Tibet in 1958, with Khen Rinpoche managing to save Ngor Monastery's famed collection of mandala thangkas.

Subsequently, Khen Rinpoche worked in the Tibetan section of the National Library of Japan (hence the alternate name of Hiroshi Sonami, a Japanese rendering of Sonam Gyatso) and authored a book on the Ngor Collection. The complete and accurate catalogue raisonne of the famed Ngor monastery collection of 139 painted mandalas is a record of the famed rGyud sde kun btus, which was a visual treasury of esoteric tantric knowledge which is now unique of its kind in the world today.

Khen Rinpoche's analytical text represents the authoritative and completely comprehensive analysis as well as an explanation of the system of the rGyud sde kun btus. Appended as well is a complete list of the meditational deities of each thangka as well as with their Sanskrit root texts and rGyud sde kun btus text for each respective teaching. As a result of the extensive vandalism of the so-called 'Cultural Revolution' carried out by the Chinese in Tibet the collection of mandalas rescued by Khen Rinpoche is the only surviving complete set of the mandalas of one of the four principal schools of Tibetan Buddhism in existence, and represent an irreplaceably precious contribution to the religious history of humanity. Only 300 copies of Khen Rinpoche's authoritative book on the Ngor Mandala Collection exist, and when one came to market in 2008 its price was in the region of $8000US.

Khen Rinpoche subsequently relocated to Berkeley, California, where he lived until he departed this realm due to stomach cancer. A deeply humble and compassionate man, he lived quietly, engaged in his studies and meditation. At the time of his death, Khen Rinpoche was translating an important Tibetan Abhidharma text, Three Experiences: The Jewel That Pleases, an esoteric text of Tibetan detailing psychology and metaphysics on the path and attainment of Buddhahood.

Khen Rinpoche sometimes casually remarked that there must have been a mistake when he was enthroned as one of the highest ranking tulkus in the Sakya School. However, this observation was seen by his devoted friends and followers as yet one more example of his profound realization by putting himself below others since he was, in fact, a remarkable lama.

Publications

• Ngor Thartse Khenpo Sonam Gyatso (bSod nams rgya Mtsho), Tibetan Mandalas: The Ngor Collection, Tokyo, Kodansha, 1983