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Spritual Director and Teacher: Gankar Tulku Rinpoche

 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Gankar Rinpoche 

 

The Spiritual Director of Khacholing Center is the Venerable Gankar Tulku.  

Gankar Tulku Lobsang Kunchok Tenzin was recognized as the 3rd incarnation of the Gankar tulku of Dzindu monastery (Dzindu-gon), Eastern Tibet.

Kyabje Yongdzin Trijang Dorjee Chang, junior tutor of His Holiness, took personal interest in finding his rebirth. In 1969 at the age of 5, Rinpoche, was ordained as a novice monk by Kyabje Rinpoche. He was entrusted to the great Buddhist master Tara Tulku Rinpoche, and renowned teacher Khenzur Yeshi Thupten, who were distinguished scholars of Buddhism in the 20th century. At the age of 10 he entered Tsulkhang Khamtsen, Drepung Loseling Monastery, in India.

He was fully ordained as a monk, Tulku, and Rinpoche in 1985 after traditional training and apprenticeship at Drepung Loseling. In 1996 he received the highest test of the monastery with distinction, the Geshe degree (equivalent to Ph.D from schools of divinity within the Judeo Christian tradition).  Furthermore, Tulku indicates he is a recognized “Reincarnate Lama,” which acknowledges his current status as the continuation of a lineage within the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition over an extended period of time.   He has traveled extensively to the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe, and India, in response to increasing requests for his teachings, spiritual guidance, performing of rituals, and has led tours of monks.

Dzindu monastery was founded by the renowned sage Kyabje Rinchen Drak, a main disciple of Tsongkhapa, the founder of Gelupa lineage. Dzindu Monastery was the principal Gelugpa Monastery in the Charshay region of Tibet. Affiliated with Tshulkhang Khangtsen of Drepung Loseling Monastery and also with the Sera and Gaden Monasteries, it served as a center for training and education in Tibetan Buddhist practice in Kham (eastern Tibet).

Drepung Monastery, one of the four "Central Seats" of the Gelugpa School (Yellow Hat School) was founded in 1416. At its peak, it housed over 10,000 monks, thus gaining the recognition as the world's greatest monastery.

Before the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959, the previous incarnation of Gankar Tulku was the head Lama of the Dzindu Monastery in the Eastern Tibetan Province of Kham.  When Tibetan refugees began to stream into India as a result of the Chinese Invasion, it became of paramount importance to re-establish the monastic institutions in exile, in order to prevent the unbroken lineage's of Buddha-Dharma from becoming severed.  As a result, the major monastic institutions were in fact re-established, yet it was not feasible for many of the smaller monasteries to do so.  This meant smaller monastic institutions such as Dzindu Monastery had to be absorbed into the re-established monasteries in the form of Khamtsen’s, or houses, within those major monasteries.  

In the case of Dzindu Monastery, the monks belonging to it are presently represented by Khamtsen’s (Houses) within all three of the major Gelugpa Monasteries re-established after 1959, namely Drepung, Sera, and Gaden.  It is such that the lineage of Gankar Tulku presided over the welfare of the monks of Dzindu in his previous incarnation in Tibet , and continues to do so in his present incarnation born in South India .

 
                   
                  
    Gankar Tulku Rinpoche 

 

Gankar Tulku Rinpoche with students 



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