Rongtha Rinpoche

RONGTHA LOBSANG THUBTEN JIGMED NAMGYAL
A short Biographical profile


Introduction
The Rongtha incarnations, as documented in the lineage invocation, are traced back to the Bodhisattva Avalokeshwar.Kalzang Trinlay Lhundrub, the first Rongtha reincarnation, lived at the Ra-Nyag Monastery. He was a Tsan-zhab (consultant) to the Seventh Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Kalsang Gyatso (1708-1757). The second Rongtha Trinlay Gyaltsen, and Third Rongtha Lobsang Dhamchoe Gyatso, entered the Sera Jhe Monastery near Lhasa for his formal religoius and philosophical studies and where they obtained their Doctor in Divinity degrees.His collected works cover Four Volumes and are the text books of Gyumed Tantric Collage.Rongtha Rinpoche taught extensively as he advanced in age and thereafter spent the rest of there live in the service of there people

Early Life
Lobsang Thubten Jigme Namgyal, the present Rongtha Rinpoche, was born on the 10th day of the seventh Tibetan month, 1916, in Kham . The fact that he was the reincarnation of the previous Rongtha Rinpoche was confirmed by the Great Thirteenth Dalai Lama himself and numerous honorable Rinpoches and Lamas.The Ninth Panchen Lama send his representative to the family where Rongtha Rinpoche has taken rebirth. At the age of four the child was formally named in a ceremony performed by the Ninth Panchen Lama Panchen Choekyi Nyima, and thereafter handed over to the native monastery of his predecessor. From this point on Rinpoche would no longer live the life of an ordinary child. His training and education for monastic life had begun. He was placed under the guidance and care of his esteemed and most kind uncle, Yeshe Choephel, and his able tutor, the Venerable Yongzin Thabkhe.

At the tender age of ten, Lobsang Thubten Jigme Namgyal(Rongtha Rinpoche)left his native province and journeyed across the vast expanses of Tibet to the Sera Jhe Monastery in Lhasa where he received his novice ordination from the 13th Dalai Lama. Rinpoche’s formal entry to the Sera Jhe Monastery and his ordination were solemnized with elaborate traditional ceremonies, after which he returned to his native monastery to begin his formal education. Unfortunately whilst crossing the highlands of the Jangthang (nomad land), the Venerable Yongzin Thabkhe, Rinpoche's guardian and tutor passed away. So a new teacher was appointed to teach the child the vast curriculum currently being taught at the Gyumed Tantric College along with courses in astrophysics, linguistics and poetry. At the age of nineteen he received his full ordination vows from Panchen Choekyi Nyima, the ninth Panchen Lama.

Seven years later he set out to pursue his formal studies at Sera Monastery under the guidance of a number of outstanding scholars. Outside the scope of a formal monastic curriculum in addintion to studing in five major areas of buddhist philosophy and numerous practices pertaining to Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara, Yamataka, Sarvavidya Vairocana and Amitayus , to name only few.Rinpoche also studied the additional course in Astrophysics, Linguistics,and poetry complemented these main study programs.Rinpoche also receive extensive instructions, detailed linage information,empowerments, initiations,practical related to the sutras and tantras that areoutside the scope of the formal monastics curriculam at the feet of some outstanding spiritual masters.These includes Kyabje Khangser Dorje Chang (b.1848), Je Phabonkha Rinpoche (b1878), Dagri Dorjee Chang, Lhatsun Dorjee Chang, Regent Tagdrag Rinpoche (b.1874), Kyabje Trichang Dorje Chang(b.1901), Yongdzin Lingtrul Rinpoche, and His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama (b.1935). With the blessing of these Unique masters ,Rinpoche subsequently undertook extensive retreats.

In the year 1950, at the annual Prayer Festival at Lhasa, Rinpoches formal studies came to an end. Thirty four (34) years had passed since the day that he had entered the Sera Jhe Monastery as a novice monk. He received the coveted Geshe Lharampa degree, the equivalent of a Doctorate of Divinity. Rinpoches journey from Sera to his native monastery was a long and eventful one. The caravan stopped numerous times on the way, so Rinpoche could give readings and ordination vows; advice and initiations as requested by the patrons and supplicants that approached him. In Tibet, after establishing a dan-sa (seat of spiritual learning) the spiritual master began his work. The next five years were quiet and productive. There was no dearth of monasteries claiming his attention. Rinpoche made it a habit to give Lam Rim (Graded Path to Liberation) teachings and instructions at all monastic assemblies. His contribution to helping all travelers that set out on the spiritual path to transform their attitudes towards life in all its myriad forms. After his thirty seventh (37) birthday Rinpoche embarked upon a pilgrimage to the holy sites of Tibet. A few years later (1949), upon the advice of Kyabje Trijhang Rinpoche, the second tutor of His Holiness the present Dalai Lama; he continued this pilgrimage into India.
Arriving in Kalimpong, the small group first went entrained to Bodh Gaya and Varanasi; and then proceeded to Kushalnagar, Sravasti, and Rewalsar. Then to Nepal, to the mystical Boudha Stupa and onto Swayambhunath, Lumbini and other sites connected to previous lives of the historical Buddha; then via Kalimpong back to Tibet. In Lhasa Rinpoche revived his spiritual bond with his mentors, requested and received more teachings and empowerments and again in 1958 started back towards India stopping at Tashi Lhunpo where he met with the 10th Panchen Lama and his preceptor who offered him extensive advice and observations that accurately described the conflicts and turmoil of the present world. It was to be his last contact with an era, an ancient civilization that would soon be gone forever. In Kalimpong news about the simmering unrest in Tibet trickled in spreading a pall of gloom amongst the small Buddhist community. The gloom turned to joy when His Holiness the 14 Dalai Lama and his two tutors arrived on Indian soil. Upon meeting with them Rinpoche knew that the Buddha’s Legacy would remain preserved and find a new lease on life in the land of their exile. More and more Tibetans crossed the Himalayan ranges, died in their plight and struggles, and poured into India as refugees. Through persistent inquiries and effort Rinpoche was able to bring many members of his native monastery to Kalimpong. He was actively involved in the training and education of the exiled monks and in keeping the precious Tibetan Mahanaya Buddhist teachings alive.

In 1962, Phunkhang Kungno a relative of His Holiness feel gravely ill Rinpoche went to Gangtok to attend to the ailing man. Here Rinpoche met with many monks from
his native land. Working as road construction labour to support themselves they had fled Tibet and were gravely in need of teachings. Rinpoche gave them the Yamantaka empowerment and stayed on in Gangtok to fulfill the requests of many more exiled monks ; not only to give teachings but to share their story of anguish and tears.
Years after the tumultuous events in Tibet , Rinpoche now spends the summers in small Tibetan monasteries in Shimla and Manali and the winters in New Delhi making his own individual effort to share in the preservation and diffusion of the pristine legacy of the Buddha, as he had vowed to in the monastery of his predecessors more than eight decades ago.