Somehow, the sight of him as an older lama now with white beard makes me feel sad and makes me realize that all of our Lamas of this current generation wont be with us forever. They will grow old and if nobody takes up the lineages and the teachings from them, it will all be lost. Therefore, it is very important for them to actually have good students who hold their samaya clean and who are loyal to the lineage to learn up from them so that their teachings and lineages will not be lost in time. fortunately, studying under Lama Gangchen is Lama Michel, who is also a tulku himself and he will hopefully carry on Lama Gangchen's lineage. Lama Gangchen is the lineage holder of so many tantric practices as well as so many unique practices that he has devised that are meant specifically to heal the people of today, such as the NgalSo practices. I will always remember Gangchen Rinpoche as a grand, tantric, black bearded mahasiddha. These pictures really gave me a really sound lesson on impermanence!
What is more is, Gangchen Rinpoche is proficient in Chinese, meaning that he can spread Dharma to the masses in China without much problems. He can go in and out China as much as he wants. Many CTA aligned lamas cannot do that and they are unable to reach the people within China but Gangchen Rinpoche can. There are more people in China than anywhere else, so no matter how anyone wants to see it, Gangchen Rinpoche can benefit more people than any other CTA aligned Gelug Lama simply because there is just so many people in China.