Rinchen, Gendun

Rinchen, Gendun on the DRL

Khenpos • Authors of Tibetan Works

དགེ་འདུན་རིན་ཆེན་

Wylie	dge 'dun rin chen
English Phonetics	Je Khenpo Gendun Rinchen
Sort Name	Gendun Rinchen

Other names

• བྲག་ཕུག་དགེ་ཤེས་

• brag phug dge shes

Dates

Birth:	1926
Death:	1997
Place of birth:	Paro, Bhutan

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender	Male
Element	Fire
Animal	Tiger
Rab Jyung	15

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender	Female
Element	Fire
Animal	Ox
Rab Jyung	17

About

Religious Affiliation

Drukpa Kagyu

Other Biographical info:

Links

Wiki Pages

• Rinchen, Gendun on the DRL
• Rinchen, Gendun on the LIB
• Rinchen, Gendun on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

Gendün Rinchen was born in a small cave by the side of the path to Paro Tagtsang, so as a child he was nicknamed "Dragphugpa" (Cave Man).

At a young age he showed great interest in the Buddhist religion and at seven he received novice ordination at Tashichö Dzong in Thimphu and was given the name Gendün Rinchen.

When he was twenty-seven he travelled to Lhodrak Lhalung, center of the tradition of Padma Lingpa in Southern Tibet. There he studied the Thirteen great texts of Mahayana Buddhist Philosophy from Khatok Khen Rinpoche. At the age of twenty-nine he went to Drigung in Central Tibet where he studied classical Tibetan orthography, grammar and poetry; the works of Mipham Rinpoche and Khenpo Shenga and received many tantric teachings including those on the Mañjuśrīnāmasamgīti. Afterwards he went to Samye Monastery where he received the empowerments and instructions of the Rinchen Terdzö; the Nyingthig and Longchenpa's Dzödun from Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje.

After returning to Bhutan, he entered a three-year meditation retreat at the Tagsang Palphug hermitage, which was followed by another three year retreat he entered when he was forty at Kungachöling in Paro. From Lopon Sonam Zangpo, a disciple of Drubwang Shakya Shri, he received teachings on the Six Yogas of Naropa, Mahāmudrā, and so on.

For ten years he was the abbot of Tango Monastery where he wrote many commentaries on Buddhist philosophy, sutra and tantra.

In 1990 he was enthroned as the 69th Je Khenpo of Bhutan and subsequently travelled throughout the country giving religious teachings. At the age of 61 he resigned from the post of Je Khanpo and retired to a life of prayer and meditation at Jangchub Ding in Yangchenphug. In 1997, on the ninth day of the third month according to the Bhutanese calendar, he died sitting in a straight meditation posture. It is reported that his body remained sitting thus for more than a week or eleven days during which time his body remained flexible and showed no signs of decay.

His physical remains are now preserved in a gold and silver reliquary stupa in the Shabdrung Chapel of Tashichö Dzong, Thimphu. (Source: Wikipedia)

Expand to see this person's philosophical positions on Buddha-nature.

Is Buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
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All beings have Buddha-nature
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If "Qualified", explain:
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Which Wheel Turning
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Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
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Zhentong vs Rangtong
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Promotes how many vehicles?
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Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
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What is Buddha-nature?
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Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
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Causal nature of the vajrapāda
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Names

Tibetan: དགེ་འདུན་རིན་ཆེན།
Wylie: Dge 'dun rin chen
Dge bshes brag phug dge 'dun rin chen
'brug rje mkhan po 69 dge 'dun rin chen

Other Transliterations in use:
Gendun Rinchen
Lama Gendun Rinpoche
Brag phug Dge bshes
Dge-bśes Brag-phug Dge-ʼdun-rin-chen
Brag-phug Dge-bśes Dge-ʼdun-rin-chen

Dates

birth 1926
death 1997

Affiliation

Served as the 69th rje mkhan po of bhutan

Other Biographical Information

Lama Gendun Rinpoche and the Dakpo Kagyu Mandala

Main Teachers

• Ngag dbang 'phrin las

The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa.

The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases.

Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā.

Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism.

Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.

Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.