Losar Cards from Gaden & Pukhang Khangtsen
Gaden Monastery is split into two colleges, Shartse and Jangtse. This is done for administrative purposes and it takes places with all of the larger monasteries. For example, Drepung Monastery is split into Loseling and Gomang, while Sera Monastery is split into Sera Mey and Sera Jey.
Reincarnated lamas of Gaden Pukhang Khangtsen, from left to right: Gyenpa Rinpoche, myself, Gyalkangtse Rinpoche, His Eminence Kensur Jampa Yeshe Rinpoche, His Eminence Kyabje Lati Rinpoche, Zong Rinpoche, Khentrul Rinpoche, Trinley Rinpoche
Then within each college the monks are further subdivided into khangtsens (fraternity house) based on which region they come from in Tibet. Back in Tibet, the language, customs and culture could vary greatly from region to region. So when monks who lived in distant or remote places would travel to one of the great monasteries of Gaden, Sera or Drepung to further their education, it was just easier for monks of the same region to live together so they could communicate and receive teachings in their dialect. Each khangtsen is responsible for providing accommodation and, to some extent, food for their monks and other basic living necessities.
His Eminence Kyabje Lati Rinpoche who insisted that I travel to Malaysia to teach and raise funds for the monks of Pukhang Khangtsen
Gaden Shartse Monastery has 11 khangtsens, and so Pukhang Khangtsen is the fraternity house that I belong to. Each year during Losar, which is the Tibetan New Year, it is tradition for monasteries and Ladrangs (a lama’s household and private office) to receive Losar greeting cards. I usually receive greeting cards from Gaden Shartse Monastery, since that is the monastery I am from, and also from Pukhang Khangtsen, which is the regional ‘fraternity’ house that I belong to.
When I was living in the monastery, there was a meeting in Pukhang Khangtsen. We had an influx of newly-arrived monks from Tibet who needed a place to stay. It was the rainy season and they were getting sick and being bitten by snakes because there were not enough rooms, and they had to sleep on the verandahs. It really worried and pained His Eminence Kyabje Lati Rinpoche and my teacher His Eminence Kensur Jampa Yeshe Rinpoche to see this. So a meeting was called and it was decided that because I could speak English, I would be the one to travel abroad to teach in order to raise funds to build new living quarters.
I had spent so many years trying to get to the monastery from the USA, even enduring beatings and abuse my parents. It had taken me such a long time to get to the monastery and I loved living there. And once I finally got there and I was living in the house of my guru His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, I never wanted to leave again. So of course when I was asked to leave and teach, I respectfully protested and asked Kyabje Lati Rinpoche why I had to go. I said I didn’t know anyone outside the monastery so I didn’t know where to go and teach, and then politely suggested that Lati Rinpoche would be a more appropriate candidate because next to Lati Rinpoche who was such a great master, I really knew nothing. I really believed I did not know enough to teach.
The monks’ quarters were constructed using funds I had raised on my very first trip to Malaysia.
Kyabje Lati Rinpoche insisted that I travelled and eventually, his decision was confirmed by the Oracle of Gaden Shartse Monastery in trance of the Protector. When Lati Rinpoche heard about this, he laughed and laughed because he already knew what the Protector would say. Thus began a few months of preparation under my guru Kensur Jampa Yeshe, who taught me many pujas and rituals that he felt people would benefit from. In the end, I travelled to Malaysia because it was the only place outside of India where I had a connection. I went with two suitcases, one which was filled with ruels and chakras to give to people I would meet there.
I was in Malaysia for three months and was able to raise thousands of dollars and when I returned to the monastery and offered this to Kensur Lati Rinpoche and Kensur Jampa Yeshe in front of all of the monks, as is tradition, these great masters had tears in their eyes as they received the offering. They were so moved and happy that the monks would no longer have to suffer sleeping outdoors and exposed to the elements.
That was my first trip to Malaysia. After that, many Malaysians came to visit me in Gaden and requested me to return to their country to teach, and so I did. Eventually, I settled in Malaysia permanently but my love for the monastery and the monks has never diminished. My Protector has always told me to help the monks and said that the merit accumulated from serving the Sangha is equivalent to if I were to do retreats. So even after that, my students and I continued to raise funds and support the monks of Shartse and Pukhang Khangtsen, who have sent me the cards below. I thank them for their New Year’s wishes and greetings to me.
The above is a nice Happy New Year’s card (Losar) from Gaden Shartse Monastery to me. Of course most of you know I come from Gaden Shartse Monastery.
A Losar card from Pukhang Khangtsen, the fraternity house I belong to in Gaden Shartse Monastery. Each monk as a Khangtsen they originate from in their monastery. In Gaden Shartse, there are 11 Khangtsens.
For more interesting information:
- Making Offerings to Shar Gaden Monastery
- Offerings to the Sangha in India
- Manjushri Initiation in Gaden Shartse
- The Abbot of Gaden Shartse Supports Us
- Great Masters Speak about Tsem Rinpoche
- Geshe Yeshe of Jangtse Monastery speaks about his conclusions on Tsem Rinpoche
- Murder in Drepung Monastery: Depa Norbu
- Venerable Geshe Namgyal Wangchen of Drepung Loseling Monastery and Tsem Rinpoche | འབྲས་སྤུང་བློ་གསལ་གླིང་གྲྭ་ཚང་གི་དགེ་བཤེས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་དབང་ཆེན་མཆོག་དང་ཚེམས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་སྐུ་ཕྲེང་ཉི་ཤུ་རྩ་ལྔ་པ་རྗེ་བཙུན་བསྟན་འཛིན་བཟོད་པ་མཆོག
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- His Holiness Sharpa Choeje Rinpoche Jetson Lobsang Nyima
- Dorje Shugden’s Advice for the New Year 2018 | 多杰雄登护法2018年新春开示 | ཆོས་སྐྱོང་ཆེན་པོ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤུགས་ལྡན་གྱི་ལོ་གསར་བཀའ་སློབ་ཕྱི་ལོ་༢༠༡༨
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1984 Los Angeles-Left to right: Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen, His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, monk assistant to Zong Rinpoche and the 18-year-old Tsem Rinpoche prior to ordination. Read more- https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/category/me
I was walking past a second hand shop on Western Ave selling old things. They had a Japanese-style clay Buddha which was beige in colour on the floor, holding the door open. I thought the shopkeeper would collect a lot of negative karma without knowing if he kept such a holy item on the floor as a doorstop. So I went in to talk to him, but he didn’t look like he wanted to talk or that he even cared. So I asked him the price and he said US$5. I purchased it so he did not collect more negative karma. I was 17 years old and that was in 1982.
I escorted my new Buddha home and washed it lightly and wiped it. I placed it on my altar and was happy with the Buddha. I would do my meditations, prayers, sadhanas, mantras and prostrations in front of this shrine daily. When I left for India in 1987, I could not bring this Buddha along and gave it to a friend. It was a nice size and I made offerings to this Buddha for many years in Los Angeles. In front of the Buddha I placed His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s photo. I remember I was so relieved that the price was affordable. But US$5 that time was still expensive for me but worth it I thought. But I was happy to have brought the Buddha home. Tsem Rinpoche
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Tsem Rinpoche at Kechara Forest Retreat, Bentong, Malaysia
The monastery never fails to send greeting cards to our Rinpoche, remembering him as one of the most generous sponsors of the monastery and one of the most influential teachers.
Again, just recently, the monastery have sent another Losar greeting to Rinpoche for the Losar 2013. See it here, with a nice commentary from Seng Piow (Rinpoche’s personal attendant): http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151350014483785&set=a.10150226829158785.317591.51838068784&type=1
Indeed, even though Rinpoche has been based in Malaysia for so many years, the monastery has never forgotten him. Even when we go back to the monastery to visit these days, almost all the monks still know who Rinpoche is and recount in detail all the things he has done for the monastery. His contribution to the monastery has been no small feat; and his guru devotion is so exemplary that the monks and teachers continue to cite Tsem Rinpoche to younger monks, as an example of perfect service to the Guru.
Do also watch the very touching video of Rinpoche returning to Gaden to visit back in 2006, and the huge hero’s welcome he receives from his fellow Sangha, for indeed, he is one of the greatest heroes we will know. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZoxHRjJO5g
I hope Rinpoche can go back to visit Gaden Monastery again and I would love to be able to follow him and serve him. Tsem Rinpoche’s root Guru’s reincarnation, HH. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche is in Gaden now. Would be great to pay respect to him and get his blessings. Picture of Tsem Rinpoche to Gaden can be found here: http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/me/my-short-bio-in-pictures1.html#11
It’s the Losar period now and I wish Rinpoche Happy Losar and may all your wishes come true.
Ganden Shartze Pukhang Khangtsen will definitely not forget Rinpoche. I know for sure whatever Rank the Sanghas are in and also the lay people will remember how much Rinpoche has tirelessly help them raise funds for the Monastery. He has also assisted the individual Sanghas find sponsors for their monthly sustenance. The little monks that has been under the care of Rinpoche has grown to be young adults by now. Tsem Rinpoche’s Ladrang in Mundgod is the only house that monks learn to speak English taught by Rinpoche. They are also taught discipline, cleanliness and manners.
I’m sure Pukhang Khangtsen misses Rinpoche. When we had the honour to visit Gaden Shartse Monastery in 2006, I remember all the monks were so happy to see Rinpoche and so respectful. I’ve watched the “Journey To Gaden” video so many times and it never fails to touch me how much the monks love Rinpoche! I especially liked it when the whole Khangtsen presented Rinpoche with the pandit’s hat. It really shows how highly they hold Rinpoche in their esteem. Thank you for sharing these cards!
Love, Sharon