A grand lineage

Birth and early childhood

Receiving ordination, teachings and tantric initiations

Giving teachings and initiations

Tutoring Kundun

A prolific author

A practice fit for a King

An new generation of disciples

What they say

Bringing Buddhism to the West

Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche

Recognized as an emanation of Vajrayogini, Trijang Rinpoche is one of the world’s most renowned Lamas. Almost every Gelug Lama in the world will have received teachings from him, directly or indirectly, and therefore, almost all Gelugpas today hold him as their lineage Lama. It was because his extensive teachings throughout his life that we now have so many of the lineages and practices in all corners of the globe.

Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche rose to great renown as the current Dalai Lama’s Junior Tutor for 50 years. Many of the practices that the Dalai Lama is now conferring to people all around the world would have come from Trijang Rinpoche. He as also the root Lama of many Gelug Lamas who have taught around the world, including Zong Rinpoche, Geshe Rabten, Lama Yeshe and Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Geshe Kelsang has likened Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche to "a vast reservoir from which all Gelugpa practitioners of the present day received ‘waters’ of blessings and instructions," and the FPMT describes him as "one of the foremost Tibetan Buddhist masters of our time." In turn, these other highly respected Lamas brought the practice global in their respective centers.

It is widely acknowledged that without his guidance, the situation of Tibetan Buddhism in general and in particular of the tradition of Master Je Tsongkhapa would be in quite a different state. A great number of present-day Tibetan Buddhist masters are his students and whatever they have accomplished, they owe it directly or indirectly to the great kindness of this master, who stands out as one of the most influential figures in the history of Tibet and its Buddhism.

A grand lineage

Trijang Rinpoche’s first incarnation was that of the chariot driver Chandra. It was Chandra who escorted Buddha Shakyamuni out of the palace for the final time, to renounce his worldly position to become a Buddha. Chandra exchanged his clothes with Shakyamuni before bidding him goodbye, thus leaving him to begin his spiritual path.

Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche is also recognized as the incarnation of the great Chandrakirti, the great expounder of Nagarjuna’s view of emptiness. Then, he also incarnated as Atisha, the Indian master who started the Kadampa tradition and author of the seminal text, the Lamrim, that combined the entire breadth of Lord Buddha’s Sutra teachings.

Birth and early childhood

Trijang Rinpoche’s father, Tsering Dondrub, was descended from the uncle of the 7th Dalai Lama, Losang Kelsang Gyatso and he was knowledgeable in the Dharma. His mother, Tsering Drolma, came from the village of Gungtang Nanggong, which is also where Trijang Rinpoche was born in the winter of 1901, the "Year of Increase" or the "Iron Bull year".  An apricot tree mystically flowered and 30 apricots bloomed at his birth even though it was deep in winter. Before he could walk, he already showed great interest in religious paintings, statues, and tantric ritual implements; and would make as if he was reciting prayers.

When news of his precocious actions reached Ngarampa Losang Tendar and Geshe Gendun Dragpa Chen, who were responsible for finding the reincarnation of Losang Tsultrim Palden, the 85th Ganden Tripa and former Trijang Rinpoche, they travelled to his birthplace of Gungtang. When the child saw them, he yelled out: "Gendun Dragpa!" and later asked him to wash his feet. Gendun Dragpa used to wash the feet of Losang Tsultrim Palden when he had rheumatism. The child also correctly identified the former Trijang Rinpoche’s private Buddha statue, rosary and bowl from among a selection. This and other signs led the search party to conclude that they had probably found the correct incarnation.

Upon being given a list of names of several boys who had shown encouraging signs, the 13th Dalai Lama said, "It would be best to recognize the boy born to the Gungtang girl Tsering Drolma in the Iron Bull year as the reincarnation of the former occupant of the Ganden throne."

The 13th Dalai Lama invited him in 1904, when he was three, to the Lhasa Trijang residence. He quickly and easily learnt to read, study and comprehend, from the alphabet onward, whatever he was taught.

In 1906, at the age of five, he moved to the Trijang Residence at Chuzang Ritroe, where he met Pabongka Rinpoche. From him, he received his first teaching, the set of initiations into Manjushri from the Secret Lineage of Tsongkhapa. Pabongka Rinpoche took great delight in caring for the young child. Their strong connection was to last a lifetime and he became Pabongka Rinpoche’s closest disciple.

Receiving ordination, teachings and tantric initiations

In 1907, aged six, he went to Gepel Ling Monastery at Reteng, the birthplace of the Kadampa teachings. There, he took the five lay Pratimoksha vows and the ten novice vows of a monk, receiving the name Losang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso Pelsangpo. He memorized many Buddhist texts while studying there, including over half of the Madhyamakavatara by Chandrakirti, and analyzed their meaning. Later that year, he visited Ganden monastery, and was received by the Shartse and Jangste abbots, who he apparently recognized, along with the main temple, without introduction.

He spent the next 12 years studying the classical texts for the Geshe degree — Pramanavartika, Madhyamaka, Prajnaparamita, Vinaya and Abhidharmakosha — principally according to the textbooks by Panchen Sonam Drakpa. Before he was even eight years old, he had already received the Kalachakra initiation from Serkong Rinpoche, as well as empowerments into Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani.  He also studied the collected works of Je Tsongkhapa, the 1st Dalai Lama, and the Panchen Lama Chokyi Gyeltsen. At Ganden, he would debate all night outdoors in the bitter cold, even though it meant his hands would chap so badly that they would crack and bleed. He was the top student in his class.

Later, he also received empowerments of Guhyasamaja, Yamantaka, Heruka and Vajrayogini. He continued to receive countless instructions and initiations from Pabongka Rinpoche, including the Collected Works of Gyalwa Ensapa, the Collected Works of Panchen Chokyi Gyaltsen and the Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa called Ganden Lha Gya Ma. He received the "Empowerment into the Six Ways to Revolve the Chakras of Heruka" as well as all the Action Tantra empowerments from Khyenrab Yonten Gyatso, the 88th Ganden Tripa, in 1915, when he was only 14. When he was 15, he studied the complete Tibetan grammar and from then on, composed thousands of acrostic verses, such as:

“Ah Friends! While the spittle drools from the Death Lord’s smile
Bleaching your head as white as falling snow
Could this tedious life yield aught but chaff?
Dharma from my Guru is what I’ll practice!”

He also composed chants for spiritual practices and ceremonies, and scores for their music for use by Ganden Shartse monastery. He was a learned scholar and master debater. In 1919, when he was only 18, he debated before the Geshes of the three major Gelugpa monasteries for his final examination. They had wondered if he would be intellectually up to the task because he was so young and had not studied for very long, but they ended up "praising him to the skies" for the answers he gave. The 13th Dalai Lama awarded him third place, and he received the highest Geshe degree, the Lharampa.

Shortly afterward, he received the 253 ordination vows of a fully ordained monk from the 13th Dalai Lama. He was then admitted to the Upper Tantric College, Gyuto, in 1919, where he studied the Root Tantra of Heruka and its commentary by Je Tsongkhapa, Illuminating all Hidden Meanings.

From the ages of 20 to 22, Trijang Rinpoche received many further teachings and empowerments from his root Guru Je Phabongkhapa, including the initiation into the sindhura mandala of Vajrayogini according to Naropa, the Heruka body mandala empowerment according to Ghantapa, teachings on Lama Chopa, Gelugpa Mahamudra, the Lamrim Chenmo by Je Tsongkhapa and Seven Points of Training the Mind by Geshe Chekhawa. At this young age, Trijang Rinpoche had already begun to engage in his preliminary practices of purifying the mind and accumulating merit in conjunction with Lama Chopa; he also meditated on Lamrim and Lojong (training the mind).