Kyabje Pabongkha Choktrul Dorje Chang

[beggar]

One thing I realized a while ago is that you rarely hear people on the internet talking about Kyabje Pabongkha Choktrul Dorje Chang. He is one of our most illustrious Gurus, yet you do not hear much about his activities. He seems to be remarkably low-key! 

I find this very refreshing! Such a high Lama yet to all appearances is not concerned about making a big name for himself. I hear he is still teaching in Nepal and Tibet, and has contact with many of our lineage Lamas. I know some monks who received their Dharma names from him.

Very inspiring to hear about the humble nature of such high Lamas as Kyabje Yongya Rinpoche and Kyabje Pabongkha Rinpoche.

Does anyone have any pictures to post of Je Pabongkha Choktrul Dorje Chang?

Thanks for bringing attention to this great lama. I remember there have been various discussions and threads about DS lamas, but not many discussions on Pabongkha Rinpoche - who made it all possible for us in the first place, when he wrote down and disseminated his Guru's direct visions of Dorje Shugden himself!

The humility aspect and practice is very interesting - it is a cornerstone of the Gelugpa lineage, which places so much more emphasis on learning and the individual merit gained through a lifetime of study, hard work and effort. Mysticism is not encouraged, which is why I am sure the Lamrim and Pabongkha's "Liberation" has has such a profound effect on practitioners today - there is no hocus pocus or mystical practice that you must rely on only with faith. Instead, the teachings are presented logically and in clear, graduated steps that appeal and resound with the reasoning thinking mind.

The previous Pabongkha Rinpoche also showed us the stunning example of humility when he first manifested "dullness" and allowed himself to be subjected to teasings and being frequently put down by his peers for being "dull" and not very bright in his studies. It was only later, under Dagpo Rinpoche that he studied the Lamrim, excelled and became among the most renowned Lamas of the whole of Tibet. Looks like a little humility goes a long way!

The current Pabongka, as I understand, lives very simply and with little public exposure. He is still considerably young though, I think only in his mid thirties. But the might of his teachings and realisations will soon be shown to the world, I'm sure. We can support his good works, teachings and the benefit he will bring to countless others by helping in our own way to lift the ban. Once this is lifted, it would enable great Lamas like Pabongka Rinpoche, Trijang Rinpoche, Gangchen Rinpoche and so, so many others to do their work unhindered. By our efforts to lift the ban, bring awareness of Dorje Shugden's practice and benefits to the world, we can help not only DS practitioners directly, but also these DS lamas, so that they can help even more beings everywhere that we may not be able to reach in our current limited capacities.

[beggar]

I can imagine the HHDL's ban have much less effect in Tibet. Is DS being practiced in the original Gaden, Drepung, Sera and other Monasteries? If so then Tibet is really blessed.

How strange that HHDL's ban is benefitting China so much. What is even more amazing is that the ban is benefitting Tibet the most.

That's a good point - actually the ban has brought so much more exposure and awareness to the world about Dorje Shugden. There is no other deity who is as talked about as DS now. No other Buddha makes it onto prime time international news!

And yes, the practice is still very much alive in Tibet and now starting to grow in China. There's an extensive and beautiful list of DS monasteries in the world listed here: http://dorjeshugden.com/wp/?category_name=monastery-with-dorje-shugden

You'll be most interested to know that many of these monasteries are in Tibet. In fact, some of the most prominent monasteries which house some of the largest and most spectacular historical DS statues in the world are in Tibet. so what you say is indeed very true my friend!

[DharmaSpace]

Thank you Mana for sharing information that other web resources do not have as well. Makes us practitioners feel happy and to know the Guru of Gurus is well and spreading the doctrine of Lama Tsongkhapa in China once more.

Zen seemed too anti-intellectual and never really explained what the final goal was.

if the final goal is not nirvana, then Zen can't even be considered a Buddhist practise? But I think the point is that we cannot use our intellect to become enlightened, you can out think your delusions? What you mentioned is already pointing to the fact that people who dont practise and just do a lot of intellectual thinking or just a scholar without a balanced practise/meditation, enlightenment is not possible. If intellect is all that is required we will have many Buddhas appear in the libraries?   

[DharmaSpace]

Pabongka Rinpoche was the first Gelug teacher who taught lay persons outside the monasteries and became very influential. In his memoir of his root Guru, Rilbur Rinpoche said:
When he taught he would sit for up to eight hours without moving. About two thousand people would come to his general discourses and initiations and fewer to special teachings, but when he gave Bodhisattva vows, up to ten thousand people would show up.[8]

The Lharampa Geshe Khen Rinpoche described attending Pabongka Rinpoche's teachings thus:
His voice was incredibly powerful. On many occasions he would address gatherings of many thousands of people, yet everyone could hear him clearly (in those days in Tibet we had never heard of microphones or loudspeakers)... Pabongka Rinpoche had an uncanny ability to relate to his audience, and for this reason he became a teacher for the common man as well as for us monks. The Rinpoche’s great accomplishment was that he found a way to attract and lead listeners of every level. His most famous weapon was his humor. Public discourses in Tibet could sometimes go on for ten hours or more without a break, and only a great saint could keep his attention up so long. Inevitably part of the audience would start to nod, or fall into some reverie. Then Pabongka Rinpoche would suddenly relate an amusing story or joke with a useful moral, and send his listeners into peals of laughter. This would startle the day-dreamers, who were always looking around and asking their neighbors to repeat the joke to them.”[9]

I got this from the the Pabongka Rinpoche wikipedia. I do think Pabongka Rinpoche had started a trend that was emulated by many other lamas after that, teaching the lay people. It is certainly not easy to teach lay people who have worldly concerns their top priority over buddhadharma.

[Ensapa]

I got this from the the Pabongka Rinpoche wikipedia. I do think Pabongka Rinpoche had started a trend that was emulated by many other lamas after that, teaching the lay people. It is certainly not easy to teach lay people who have worldly concerns their top priority over buddhadharma.

Yes it did and it also influenced other lineages as well. Dharma teachings were no longer for monks only but was also taught to the general public. It was after his teaching that Dharma teachers start to give teachings to laypeople not just as a blessing, but to really make them understand and practice to the best of their ability. Buddhist teachings were always regarded as precious and sacred and laypeople were not allowed to learn them, lest they misintepret them or do not understand, and this is practiced in all cultures where Buddhism has taken root in.

Pabongkha's famous discourse changed that for Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet, which in turn started the trend of allowing laypeople to study the Dharma around the world, when it reached America during the 1960s-1970s and set an example for other Buddhist traditions there to teach Dharma to the laity.