NEWS

His Holiness the 103rd Gaden Tripa, Head of the Gelug School, Passes Away

By Craig Lewis | | Buddhistdoor Global

The 103rd Gaden Tripa, His Holiness Jetsun Lobsang Tenzin, the spiritual head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, has passed away at the age of 80, the Central Tibetan Administration announced. Rinpoche had recently been admitted to the intensive care unit of Max Hospital in New Delhi after several months of illness. “We deeply regret to inform everyone that the 103rd Gaden Tripa Kyabje Jetsun Lobsang Tenzin Rinpoche passed away at 11:45pm on 21 April 2017,” Geshe Lharampa Atuk Tseten and Ven. Gowa Phendey, both of whom are members of Tibetan parliament-in-exile and represent the Gelug tradition, said in a statement on Saturday. “He has been taken ill since last few months and breathed his last in Max Hospital in [New] Delhi last night,” they said, urging followers to perform special prayers. (Central Tibetan Administration) His Holiness Kyabje Sharpa Chojey Jetsun Lobsang Tenzin, a noted scholar, was born in 1937 in Yara village in eastern Tibet, southeast of Yagra Tsem Monastery. At the age of nine he joined the monastery, where he received his basic education, before traveling overland to Lhasa to attend Drepung Loseling Monastic University. Here he received teachings from a number of renowned spiritual masters, including Venerable Khensur Pema Gyaltsen, Shakor Khen Rinpoche Nyima Gyaltsen, Kyabje Denma Lochoe Rinpoche, and Tehor Gen Lobsang Dhondup. He also received teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.