- Pabongka Rinpoche
Pabongka Rinpoche (bo|t=ཕ་བོང་ཁ་|w=Pha-bong-kha; also spelt Phabongkha), Jampa Tenzin Trinlay Gyatso, (1878-1941) was one of the great
Gelug lamas of the modern era ofTibetan Buddhism . He was the root lama of bothLing Rinpoche andTrijang Rinpoche , the two tutors of the presentDalai Lama .Early life
Pabongka Rinpoche was born north of
Lhasa ,Tibet . His root guru wasDagpo Lama Rinpoche (sometimes spelt Tagpo or Thagpo).Teaching
In 1921 at
Chuzang Hermitage near Lhasa, Pabongka Rinpoche gave a historic 24-day exposition on theLam Rim , or "stages of the path," that was attended by some seven hundred Tibetan monks, nuns and lay people. These teachings were recorded and edited by one of his main students,Trijang Rinpoche , who later became the Junior Tutor of the 14thDalai Lama . Published in Tibetan in 1958 they were translated into English and published as "Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand" in 1991. Pabongka Rinpoche was the firstGelug teacher who taught lay persons outside the monasteries and became very influential.Controversies
Pabongka Rinpoche was at times at odds with the 13th
Dalai Lama over Pabongka's antagonism toward theNyingma lineage, which arose from a bout of serious illness he believed stemmed from his adoption of Nyingma practices as a young man. His related advocacy of theDorje Shugden protector practice was also a divisive issue in the Tibetan Buddhist world. Fact|date=September 2008According to
Stephen Batchelor Pabongka inherited the practice of Dorje Shugden from his mother’s family, and as a young man also received transmissions from Nyingma lamas. After a serious illness he became convinced that the disease was a sign from Shugden to stop practicing Nyingma teachings, which he did. Fact|date=September 2008Bibliogaphy
* "Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand", Wisdom Publications
External links
* [http://www.lamayeshe.com/otherteachers/pabongka/index.shtml Index of Teachings]
* [http://community.palouse.net/lotus/tsp3.htm Lama Zasep Tulku Rinpoche discusses Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand]
* [http://www.dorjeshugden.com/lineagemasters.htm Photographs of the three incarnations of Kyabje Pabongka Dorje Chang] taken from DorjeShugden.com
* [http://www.tricycle.com/feature/letting-daylight-magic-the-life-and-times-dorje-shugden Letting Daylight into Magic: The Life and Times of Dorje Shugden By Stephen Batchelor] from Tricycle, Spring 1998
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