Kalu Rinpoche
Encyclopedia
Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche
(1905 - May 10, 1989) was a Buddhist
meditation
master, scholar and teacher. He was one of the first Tibetan masters to teach in the West.
in the district of Treshö Gang chi Rawa in the Hor region of Kham
, Eastern Tibet
.
When Kalu Rinpoche was fifteen years old, he was sent to begin his higher studies at the monastery of Palpung, the foremost center of the Karma Kagyu
school. He remained there for more than a decade, during which time he mastered the vast body of teaching that forms the philosophical basis of Buddhist practice, and completed two three-year retreats.
At about the age of twenty-five, Rinpoche left Palpung to pursue the life of a solitary yogi
in the woods of the Khampa countryside. For nearly fifteen years, he strove to perfect his realization of all aspects of the teachings and he became renowned in the villages and among the nomads as a representative of the Bodhisattva
path.
, where for many years he gave empowerments and teachings.
During the 1940s, Kalu Rinpoche visited central Tibet with the party of Situ Rinpoche, and there he taught extensively. His disciples included the Reting Rinpoche
, regent
of Tibet during the infancy of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.
Returning to Kham
, Kalu Rinpoche became the abbot of the meditation center associated with Palpung and the meditation teacher of the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa
. He remained in that position until the situation in Tibet forced him into exile in India
.
, founder of Japan's controversial Buddhist group Aum Shinrikyo
, Kalu Rinpoche lectured to his followers in a number of Japanese cities. The group was more mainstream at that time and had casual ties to a number of prominent Tibetan lamas, including the Dalai Lama
.
spiritual practice. She raises the same theme in a number of interviews, including one with Tricycle
magazine in 1996.
was born in Darjeeling, India to Lama Gyaltsen and his wife Drolkar. Lama Gyaltsen, the nephew of Kalu Rinpoche, had served since his youth as his secretary.
Chamgon Tai Situ Rinpoche officially recognized Kalu Rinpoche’s yangsi (young reincarnation) on March 25, 1992, explaining that he had received definite signs from Kalu Rinpoche himself. Situ Rinpoche sent a letter of recognition with Lama Gyaltsen to the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
, who immediately confirmed the recognition.
On February 28, 1993, Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche was enthroned at Samdrup Tarjayling. Chamgon Tai Situ Rinpoche and Goshir Gyaltsap Rinpoche presided over the ceremony, assisted by Kalu Rinpoche’s heart-son, Bokar Rinpoche. Situ Rinpoche performed the hair-cutting ceremony and bestowed on the young tulku
the name Karma Ngedön Tenpay Gyaltsen —Victory Banner of the Teachings of the True Meaning. He is now known as the Second Kalu Rinpoche. (Note that the USA Kagyu organization, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, recognizes Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche (1990 to present) as the THIRD Kalu Rinpoche; and Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche is listed as the SECOND Kalu Rinpoche.)
Monasteries and centers founded by Kalu Rinpoche:
Rinpoche
Rinpoche or Rinboqê is an honorific used in Tibetan Buddhism. It literally means "precious one," and is used to address or describe Tibetan lamas and other high-ranking or respected teachers. This honor is generally bestowed on reincarnated lamas, or Tulkus, by default...
(1905 - May 10, 1989) was a Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
master, scholar and teacher. He was one of the first Tibetan masters to teach in the West.
Early life and teachers
Kalu Rinpoche was born in 1905 during the Female Wood Snake year of the Tibetan lunar calendarTibetan calendar
The Tibetan calendar is a lunisolar calendar, that is, the Tibetan year is composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon. A thirteenth month is added every two or three years, so that an average Tibetan year is equal to the solar year.The Tibetan New Year...
in the district of Treshö Gang chi Rawa in the Hor region of Kham
Kham
Kham , is a historical region covering a land area largely divided between present-day Tibetan Autonomous Region and Sichuan province, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces of China. During the Republic of China's rule over mainland China , most of the region was...
, Eastern Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
.
When Kalu Rinpoche was fifteen years old, he was sent to begin his higher studies at the monastery of Palpung, the foremost center of the Karma Kagyu
Kagyu
The Kagyu, Kagyupa, or Kagyud school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" or Whispered Transmission school, is today regarded as one of six main schools of Himalayan or Tibetan Buddhism, the other five being the Nyingma, Sakya, Jonang, Bon and Gelug...
school. He remained there for more than a decade, during which time he mastered the vast body of teaching that forms the philosophical basis of Buddhist practice, and completed two three-year retreats.
At about the age of twenty-five, Rinpoche left Palpung to pursue the life of a solitary yogi
Yogi
A Yogi is a practitioner of Yoga. The word is also used to refer to ascetic practitioners of meditation in a number of South Asian Religions including Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.-Etymology:...
in the woods of the Khampa countryside. For nearly fifteen years, he strove to perfect his realization of all aspects of the teachings and he became renowned in the villages and among the nomads as a representative of the Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...
path.
Teaching activity in Tibet
Kalu Rinpoche returned to Palpung to receive final teachings from Drupon Norbu Dondrup, who entrusted him with the rare transmission of the teaching of the Shangpa Kagyu. At the order of Situ Rinpoche, he was appointed Vajra Master of the great meditation hall of Palpung MonasteryPalpung Monastery
Palpung is the name of the congregation of monasteries and centers of the Tai Situpas as well as the name of the monastic seat in Tibet in Dege. Palpung means "glorious union of study and practice"...
, where for many years he gave empowerments and teachings.
During the 1940s, Kalu Rinpoche visited central Tibet with the party of Situ Rinpoche, and there he taught extensively. His disciples included the Reting Rinpoche
Reting Rinpoche
Reting Rinpoche is the title held by abbots of Reting Monastery, a Buddhist monastery in central Tibet. The identity of the present Reting Rinpoche is contested.-History of the lineage:...
, regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
of Tibet during the infancy of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.
Returning to Kham
Kham
Kham , is a historical region covering a land area largely divided between present-day Tibetan Autonomous Region and Sichuan province, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces of China. During the Republic of China's rule over mainland China , most of the region was...
, Kalu Rinpoche became the abbot of the meditation center associated with Palpung and the meditation teacher of the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa
Karmapa
The Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu, the largest sub-school of the Kagyupa , itself one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism....
. He remained in that position until the situation in Tibet forced him into exile in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
In exile
In the late 1960s Kalu Rinpoche began to attract Western disciples in India. By the 1970s, he was teaching extensively in the Americas and Europe, and during his three visits to the West he founded teaching centers in over a dozen countries. In France, he established the first retreat center to teach the traditional three-year retreats of the Shangpa and Karma Kagyu lineages to Western students. On request of Shoko AsaharaShoko Asahara
, born on March 2, 1955, is a founder of the controversial Japanese new religious group Aum Shinrikyo. He was convicted of masterminding the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway and several other crimes, for which he was sentenced to death...
, founder of Japan's controversial Buddhist group Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese new religious movement. The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway....
, Kalu Rinpoche lectured to his followers in a number of Japanese cities. The group was more mainstream at that time and had casual ties to a number of prominent Tibetan lamas, including the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
.
Controversy
June Campbell, a former Kagyu nun who is an academic feminist, acted as Kalu Rinpoche's translator for several years. In her book Traveller in Space: Gender, Identity and Tibetan Buddhism she writes that he subjected her to an abusive sexual relationship which he told her was tantricTantra
Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
spiritual practice. She raises the same theme in a number of interviews, including one with Tricycle
Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
Tricycle: The Buddhist Review is an independent, nonsectarian Buddhist quarterly magazine established in 1991 by Helen Tworkov. Published by The Tricycle Foundation out of New York City, most issues have interviews with Buddhist teachers, articles or essays on Buddhism and contemporary issues, book...
magazine in 1996.
Second Kalu Rinpoche
At 3:00 P. M., Wednesday, May 10, 1989, Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche died at his monastery in Sonada. On September 17, 1990 Rinpoche's TulkuTulku
In Tibetan Buddhism, a tulku is a particular high-ranking lama, of whom the Dalai Lama is one, who can choose the manner of his rebirth. Normally the lama would be reincarnated as a human, and of the same sex as his predecessor. In contrast to a tulku, all other sentient beings including other...
was born in Darjeeling, India to Lama Gyaltsen and his wife Drolkar. Lama Gyaltsen, the nephew of Kalu Rinpoche, had served since his youth as his secretary.
Chamgon Tai Situ Rinpoche officially recognized Kalu Rinpoche’s yangsi (young reincarnation) on March 25, 1992, explaining that he had received definite signs from Kalu Rinpoche himself. Situ Rinpoche sent a letter of recognition with Lama Gyaltsen to the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
, who immediately confirmed the recognition.
On February 28, 1993, Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche was enthroned at Samdrup Tarjayling. Chamgon Tai Situ Rinpoche and Goshir Gyaltsap Rinpoche presided over the ceremony, assisted by Kalu Rinpoche’s heart-son, Bokar Rinpoche. Situ Rinpoche performed the hair-cutting ceremony and bestowed on the young tulku
Tulku
In Tibetan Buddhism, a tulku is a particular high-ranking lama, of whom the Dalai Lama is one, who can choose the manner of his rebirth. Normally the lama would be reincarnated as a human, and of the same sex as his predecessor. In contrast to a tulku, all other sentient beings including other...
the name Karma Ngedön Tenpay Gyaltsen —Victory Banner of the Teachings of the True Meaning. He is now known as the Second Kalu Rinpoche. (Note that the USA Kagyu organization, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, recognizes Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche (1990 to present) as the THIRD Kalu Rinpoche; and Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche is listed as the SECOND Kalu Rinpoche.)
External links
- Biography of H. E. Kalu Rinpoche
- When two masters meet Kalu Rinpoche of Tibet and the Korean Zen master Seung SahnSeung SahnSeung Sahn Haeng Won Dae Soen-sa , born Dok-In Lee, was a Korean Jogye Seon master and founder of the international Kwan Um School of Zen—the largest Zen institution present in the Western world. He was the seventy-eighth teacher in his lineage...
- International Shangpa Kagyu Network
Monasteries and centers founded by Kalu Rinpoche:
- Kagyu Tekchen Choling, Argentina
- Kagyu Pende Gyamtso, Brazil
- Kagyu Kunkhyab Chuling, BC Canada
- Kagyu Thubten Chöling Monastery, Wappingers Falls, NY, USA
- Kagyu Dzamling Kunchab, New York, NY, USA
- Kagyu Droden Kunchab, CA, USA
- Dashang Kagyu Ling, France
- Karma Ling Institute, France
- Centro Milarepa, Italy
- Kagyu Changchub Chuling, Portland, Oregon, USA
- Kagyu Tenjay Choling, Vermont, usa
- Karma Rimay O Sal Ling, Maui, HI, USA
- Dag Shang Kagyu, Spain