The 3rd Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso ; (1543–1588) was the first in the tulku lineage to be entitled formally as the Dalai Lama. In 1578 Altan Khan presented the spiritual title of Dalai Lama, in honor of Sonam Gyatso's profound teachings conferred in Mongolia, which soon became a Tibetan Buddhist country. He founded Kumbum Monastery, Lithang Monastery, and Namgyal Monastery. The spiritual title was retrospectively given to his two tulku lineage predecessors, the 1st Dalai Lama and the 2nd Dalai Lama.
The Gelug is the newest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded by Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), a Tibetan philosopher, tantric yogi and lama and further expanded and developed by his disciples.
The Panchen Lama is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to the Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas, he is in charge of seeking out the next Dalai Lama. Panchen is a portmanteau of Pandita and Chenpo, meaning "great scholar".
A tulku is a distinctive and significant aspect of Tibetan Buddhism, embodying the concept of enlightened beings taking corporeal forms to continue the lineage of specific teachings. The term "tulku" has its origins in the Tibetan word "sprul sku", which originally referred to an emperor or ruler taking human form on Earth, signifying a divine incarnation. Over time, this term evolved within Tibetan Buddhism to denote the corporeal existence of highly accomplished Buddhist masters whose purpose is to ensure the preservation and transmission of a particular lineage.
Altan Khan of the Tümed, whose given name was Anda, was the leader of the Tümed Mongols de facto ruler of the Right Wing, or western tribes, of the Mongols, and the first Ming Shunyi King (顺义王). He was the grandson of Dayan Khan (1464–1543), a descendant of Kublai Khan (1215–1294), who had managed to unite a tribal league between the Khalkha Mongols in the north and the Chahars (Tsakhars) to the south. His name means "Golden Khan" in the Mongolian language.
Thubten Choekyi Nyima (1883–1937), often referred to as Choekyi Nyima, was the ninth Panchen Lama of Tibet.
The 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso was recognized as the 5th Dalai Lama, and he became the first Dalai Lama to hold both Tibet's political and spiritual leadership roles. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being the key religious and temporal leader of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibet. He is credited with unifying all of Tibet under the Ganden Phodrang, after Gushri Khan's successful military interventions. As an independent head of state, he established priest and patron relations with both Mongolia and the Qing dynasty simultaneously, and had positive relations with other neighboring countries. He began the custom of meeting early European explorers. The 5th Dalai Lama built the Potala Palace, and also wrote 24 volumes' worth of scholarly and religious works on a wide range of subjects.
Tibetan Americans are Americans of Tibetan ancestry. As of 2020, more than 26,700 Americans are estimated to have Tibetan ancestry. The majority of Tibetan Americans reside in Queens, New York.
Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje was known simply as Dudjom Rinpoche. He is considered by many Tibetan Buddhists to be from an important Tulku lineage of Terton Dudul Dorje (1615–1672), and was recognized as the incarnation of Terton Dudjom Lingpa (1835–1904), a renowned treasure revealer. He was a direct incarnation of both Padmasambhava and Dudjom Lingpa. He was a Nyingma householder, a yogi, and a Vajrayana and Dzogchen master. According to his secretary Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal and many others, he was revered as "His Holiness" (Kyabje) and as a "Master of Masters".
Nagqu, Nagchu in original Tibetan or Naqu, also known as Nagchuka or Nagquka, is a town in northern Tibet, seat of the prefecture-level city of Nagqu, approximately 328 km (204 mi) by road north-east of the capital Lhasa, within the People's Republic of China.
Losang Chö kyi Gyaltsen (1570–1662) was the fourth Panchen Lama of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism and the first to be accorded this title during his lifetime.
Taktser or Tengtser or Hongya Village is a village in Shihuiyao Township, Ping'an District, Haidong, in the east of Qinghai province, China. Tibetan, Han and Hui Chinese people populate the village which is notable as the birthplace of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.
Taktser Rinpoche was born in 1922 in "the small village of Taktser, meaning 'roaring tiger,' located in the Amdo region of eastern Tibet." He became a lama of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism and was named Thubten Jigme Norbu, the oldest brother of Tenzin Gyatso—the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. Soon after birth, he was recognized by the 13th Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the previous Taktser Rinpoche, who was "one of the thirty or so reincarnated lamas who were a part of Kumbum's tradition." On September 5, 2008, Norbu, 86, died at his Indiana, US, home after illness for many years. He was survived by his wife Kunyang Norbu, and 3 sons.
Kumbum Monastery, also called Ta'er Temple, is a Tibetan gompa in Lusar, Huangzhong County, Xining, Qinghai, China. It was founded in 1583 in a narrow valley close to the village of Lusar in the historical Tibetan region of Amdo. Its superior monastery is Drepung Monastery, immediately to the west of Lhasa. It is ranked in importance as second only to Lhasa.
Lobsang Tubten Jigme Gyatso (བློ་བཟང་ཐུབ་བསྟན་འཇིགས་མེད་རྒྱ་མཚོ་), officially the 8th Arjia Hotogtu(ཨ་ཀྱཱ་ཧོ་ཐོག་ཐུ།), born 1950 in Haiyan County, Qinghai) is one of the most prominent Buddhist teachers and lamas to have left Tibet. At age two, Arjia Rinpoche was recognized by Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama as the 20th Arjia Danpei Gyaltsen, the reincarnation of Je Tsongkhapa's father, Lumbum Ghe, the throne holder and abbot of Kumbum Monastery. He has trained with lineage teachers, such as the 14th Dalai Lama, the 10th Panchen Lama, and Gyayak Rinpoche—from whom he received many sacred teachings and ritual instructions.
Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa was a Tibetan nobleman, scholar, statesman and former Finance Minister of the government of Tibet.
Norbu is a Tibetan name meaning "jewel". It may refer to:
The International Tibet Independence Movement (ITIM) is a non-profit organization, founded on 18 March 1995, that supports Tibetan independence from the People's Republic of China:
Diki Tsering was a 20th-century Tibetan woman, known as the mother of three reincarnated Rinpoches/Lamas: Lhamo Thondup, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th reincarnated Dalai Lama; Thubten Jigme Norbu, the 6th reincarnated Taktser Rinpoche; and Tendzin Choegyal, the 16th reincarnated Ngari Rinpoche. In article The Discourse of Lama, the Qianlong Emperor stated the invention of Golden Urn is to eliminate selfish family with multiple reincarnated Rinpoches/Lamas.
