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The 102nd Ganden Tripa Rizong Rinpoche. Photo courtesy of Drepung Loseling Monastery Facebook page.
The 102nd Ganden Tripa Rizong Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus, passed away on December 8, 2022 at Drepung Monastery, Karnataka, India, at age 94.
Ganden Trisur Rizong Sras Rinpoche was born in Ladakh, India in 1928, to an aristocratic family, his father being a prince of Ladakh. At age four, he was recognized as the previous Sras Rinpoche by the thirteenth Dalai Lama, who had founded the well-known Rizong retreat hermitage. After being recognized, Rinpoche entered monastic life. In 1948, Rinpoche moved to Tibet to continue his studies at Drepung Loseling Monastery in Lhasa. He remained there in Tibet until the Chinese invasion in 1959, when he fled back to India.
Back in India, Rizong Rinpoche would later be named the abbot of the Drepung Loseling Monastery in India by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in 1984. Rinpoche later became abbot of Gyume Tantric Monastery, and then served as Ganden Choje, the position held before becoming Ganden Tripa (Ganden Throneholder). In 2009, Rinpoche was appointed as the 102nd Ganden Tripa, the spiritual head of the Gelug lineage, and served the traditional full-term of seven years, retiring from the position in 2016.
The 102nd Ganden Tripa Rizong Rinpoche. Photo courtesy of Voice of Tibet Facebook page.
The Central Tibetan Administration offers some of Rinpoche’s biography:
“Rinpoche …made the practice of meditation his principal focus in life, and has conducted numerous extensive retreats, including a three-year tantric retreat on the Yamantaka mandala in a remote hermitage in Ladakh. Through his achievements in practice and scholarship, he represents the pinnacle of the Sutra and Tantra traditions.
Rinpoche was renowned for his Tantric powers, and [was] frequently called upon by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to lead ceremonies for healing and other similar purposes.”
His Holiness the Dalai Lama shared some words on December 9, 2022, the morning after Rizong Rinpoche’s passing, while at a conference on secular education:
His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Ganden Trisur Rizong Rinpoche. Photo courtesy of Drepung Loseling Monastery Facebook page.
“Today, many old friends have gathered here. It’s with sadness that I’ve heard this morning that Kyabje Rizong Rinpoche, the former Ganden Throneholder, passed away last night. Although his passing away is a natural part of life, I’m sad because he was one of my teachers.
“I once visited him in Ladakh at a time when he was completing a long meditation retreat. He received me sitting on the very seat where he had been meditating so long and gave me the transmission of Nagarjuna’s Six Collections of Reasoning. His death reminds me of the Four Seals:
All conditioned phenomena are transient.
All polluted phenomena are unsatisfactory or in the nature of suffering.
All phenomena are empty and selfless.
Nirvana is true peace.
“Unless we cut the chains of ignorance, we will be unable to stop the cycle of suffering. We have to understand that no matter how they appear, things have no independent or absolute existence.”
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, and the Kopan Lama Gyupa monks offered Yamantaka self initiation upon the news of this great lamas passing.
We are profoundly sad at the incredible loss of this remarkable meditation master, scholar, and teacher, who was one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s gurus. We hope this outline of his life will be cause of rejoicing in his many good deeds and deep impact.
While reading obituaries we can also reflect on our own death and impermanence prompting us to live our lives in the most meaningful way. More advice from Lama Zopa Ripoche on death and dying is available, see Death and Dying: Practices and Resources (fpmt.org/death/).
To read more obituaries from the international FPMT mandala, and to find information on submission guidelines, please visit our new Obituaries page (fpmt.org/media/obituaries/).