| His Holiness’s Official Biography
The astounding life of His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, Konchog Tenzin Kunsang Tinle Lhundup, began in a world that today must already seem to him as lifetimes away. Born on August 1st, 1946 into the aristocratic Tsarong family, His Holiness spent his first years in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, during a period of brief calm before the stormy years to follow. While the rest of the world was emerging from the trauma of a second World War, Tibet was enjoying relative peace then.
When His Holiness was still very young, his parents received into their house several monks who announced that numerous signs pointed to their young son as the seventh reincarnation of Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, one of the two co-heads of the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Reluctantly, but also with pride, his parents handed over their four-year old son to be raised and trained as an important reincarnate lama.
In 1950, the young Rinpoche was formally enthroned at Drikung Til Monastery as the 37th Throne Holder of the Drikung Kagyu lineage. At Drikung, His Holiness received a traditional education which included conventional subjects like writing, reading and grammar and unconventional ones, like astrology. He also received the lineage’s basic empowerments, transmissions and teachings.
In 1956, at age 10, His Holiness gave his first public teaching: a Phowa Transmission to thousands of lay and monastic followers. The Drikung Kagyu tradition of Phowa (a practice that ensures a good death and rebirth at the end of one’s life) is famed throughout Tibet. His Holiness’ life as a young head-lama, however, did not last long.
By 1958, His Holiness’ grandfather saw that Tibet’s worsening political situation meant that His Holiness could no longer remain safely there. He arranged a plan to bring his grandson out of Tibet but this plan was discovered by the monastery which ultimately did not let the boy go. All the leaders of the Drikung district, religious as well as secular, refused to allow the departure of their beloved young Rinpoche.
In 1959, the People’s Liberation Army emptied Drikung Til monastery, leaving the 13-year-old Chetsang Rinpoche along with the 17-year-old Kyabgon Chungtsang Rinpoche (the other co-head of Drikung Kagyu who was a few years older) to fend for themselves. Eventually, Gyabra Tritsab Rinpoche was able to bring His Holiness back to Lhasa.
In 1960, His Holiness was granted permission to enroll in the Secondary Primary School of Lhasa. School life, however, was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution, during which His Holiness was assigned to work at an agricultural commune West of Lhasa in 1969 where he lived in the attic of a sheep barn and endured hard physical labor. Seeing his fellow workers eventually promoted to easier jobs, he knew that as an important reincarnate lama and son of an aristocratic family he would always be marked and that his lot would likely not improve as long as communist Chinese authorities were the ones to determine it.
So, in the spring of 1975, after years of careful planning, His Holiness left Tibet for Nepal. First, he took a sick leave and returned to his relatives’ home in Lhasa. There, he hitched a ride to Tingri, a county in southwestern Tibet boardering with Nepal; he then walked south over the rugged Himalayan mountains, meeting up almost miraculously with two experienced Nepalese mountain travelers. With their guidance, His Holiness safely hiked through cliffs and glaciers. Arriving at last in Kathmandu in Nepal, he still had to worry about spies and informers. Eventually, however he found someone to accompany him to the Indian border where, miraculously, both were allowed to pass without any questioning from the border authorities. His Holiness then took a third-class train to Dharamsala. Soon, news reached many Drikung followers living in exile in India that their beloved Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche had arrived in India. Many disciples assembled there to celebrate his successful flight. Although they begged him to
remain in India, His Holiness’ father came a week later from the United States to take his son back with him there.
As physically challenging as fleeing Tibet had been, His Holiness now had to navigate the immense bureaucratic challenges of establishing a legal identity in India and of securing a passport and visa that would allow him to leave for the United States. After three months, all obstacles faded away. As His Holiness waited at the holding area in Newark Airport for U.S. immigration officials to approve his entry into the U.S., an official appeared and presented him with a green card for permanent residence, still warm from the printing machine—just hours after landing in Newark. After eighteen years of separation, he was finally with the rest of his family. His Holiness fearlessly navigated his way through America and its culture. He spent the greater part of the next three years with his parents in Houston, Texas, learning English both from tutors as well as on his own in libraries. To improve his spoken English, he also worked afternoons at a local McDonald's for six months.
While in the U.S., His Holiness received many requests from disciples to return to India and resume his duties as head of the Lineage. He did so in October 1978. In 1979, His Holiness conducted a grand celebration on the 800th anniversary of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage’s founding. This event marked the lineage’s rescue from the edge of extinction. Besides handling the many bureaucratic and financial challenges that confronted this undertaking, His Holiness also had to contend with the spiritual and intellectual challenges of resuming his formal training as a monk and heading up the lineage after an eighteen-year hiatus. Amidst all his other duties, he embarked on a three-year retreat in Ladakh and, over the course of the next seven years, received teachings and transmissions from many eminent lamas, including Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and the 16th Karmapa.
Recognizing the need to gather in one place the resources needed for rebuilding the lineage outside of Tibet, His Holiness secured after much effort lands and funds to build the Drikung Kagyu Institute (DKI) at Dehra Dun in 1985. In 1992, His Holiness Kyabgon Chungtsang Rinpoche arrived from Tibet and together the two of them inaugurated the Drikung Kagyu Institute, which then consisted of Jangchubling Monastery and Samtenling Nunnery. DKI continued to grow and expand over the years. In 2003, His Holiness established there Songsten Library—which houses rare texts on Tibetan, Himalayan and Buddhist Studies—and in 2005 Kagyu College, where Drikung Kagyu monks can study Buddhist Philosophy. Finally, in 2018, His Holiness inaugurated the Great Shravasti Center in Shravasti, India, one of Buddhism’s holiest sites. This 13,000-square-meter, non-sectarian Buddhist center is dedicated to promoting inter-Buddhist understanding and cooperation.
Seeing the importance of cultivating the Drikung Kagyu tradition outside the Tibetan and Himalayan context, His Holiness began a teaching-tour of Europe, the United States and other parts of Asia in 1986. Over the past 30 years, His Holiness has traveled to and taught all over Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania. Under His Holiness’ leadership, more than 200 Buddhist centers have been established worldwide. The Drikung Kagyu lineage and its teachings are thriving again.
In 2015, Mountain Partnership, a United Nations voluntary alliance, appointed His Holiness as one of its goodwill ambassadors, recognizing his commitment to the environment, education, historical research and cultural preservation, as well as his pragmatic approach to sustainable development projects in the Himalayan region. As a spiritual leader, His Holiness believes that caring for our mountains’ fragile environment, history, culture, and education is a powerful way to practice love and compassion in modern times. His Holiness has inspired many innovative sustainable development projects in remote Himalayan communities. These projects include the Go Green & Go Organic Initiative, the Ice Stupa, and the Ice Dripping projects.
Finally, amidst this vast array of activities, His Holiness takes every opportunity he can to pursue his personal interest in researching, writing and publishing on a wide range of subjects. He has authored, translated, and edited many volumes on such topics as traditional Tibetan Buddhist spiritual texts, ancient Tibetan history, and early Chan/Zen traditions in Tibet. These works have appeared in Tibetan, Chinese, and English. His Holiness anticipates publishing more volumes in the years to come.
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