A Biography of Rechungpa

by Khenchen Thrangu

Milarepa, Tibet's greatest saint, had two major disciples: Gampopa, who established the monastic foundation of the Kagyu lineage and Rechungpa, who traveled to India and brought back profound teachings which were absorbed into several lineages.

Rechungpa's biography stands out because of the unorthodox unfolding of his realization. His pride and arrogance caused him to go against Milarepa's advice three times, putting his practice at risk. Even with this obstacle, Rechungpa's undying devotion to Milarepa served as the cause for his enlightenment as evidenced by Rechungpa's achievement of rainbow body at his death.

"At this time, as the precious teachings of the incomparable Buddha spread throught the world, the numbers of the faithful grow daily. These various people want to know fo the great learned and accomplished holy beings that arose impartially in the past--the chronicles of their legacy of good activity for the doctrine, their deeds, their songs, and so forth."

"With these needs and aspirations in mind, Namo buddha Publications and Kamtsang Sherab Choling have collaborated to translate and publish this essential summary of the activities of Jetsun Rechung Dorje Drakpa. I rejoice in their efforts in this virtuous activity for which they have the highest altruistic intentions." -- His holiness, The 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje

Genres: Buddhism

130 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2002

About the author

Very Venerable Ninth Khenchen Thrangu Tulku, Karma Lodrö Lungrik Maway Senge (Tibetan: ཁྲ་འགུ་, Wylie: khra 'gu) is a prominent tulku (reincarnate lama) in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.

At the age of four he was formally recognized by His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa and Eleventh Tai Situpa as the ninth incarnation of the great Thrangu tulku, the abbot of Thrangu Monastery, whose root incarnation was Shüpu Palgyi Sengé, one of the twenty-five disciples of Guru Rinpoche. Forced to flee to India in 1959, he went to Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, where the Karmapa had his seat in exile. Thrangu Rinpoche then served as the main teacher of the four principal Karma Kagyü tulkus of that time—the four regents of the Karmapa (Shamar Rinpoche, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and Gyaltsab Rinpoche). In 1976 he began to teach in the West and became the abbot of Gampo Abbey—a Buddhist monastery in Nova Scotia, Canada—as well as to take charge of the three-year retreat centre at Samyé Ling in Scotland.

He is also the author of the widely studied The Practice of Tranquility and Insight, a commentary on the eighth chapter of Jamgön Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge, on shamatha and vipashyana.