Kunga Rinchen Gyatso

Kunga Rinchen Gyatso (kun dga' rin chen rgya mtsho) was born in the hereditary line of the Nartang rulers (sde pa snar thang pa) in the Tsang region. He met the great Jetsun Taranata (rje btsun tA ra nA tha) when he was a young man and received both novice and complete ordination from him. He also received many teachings of both sutra and tantra, and is said to have mastered the meaning of them all. In particular, he received from Taranata the complete Kalacakra initiation, the Kalacakra Tantra, and the esoteric instructions of the six-branch yoga. He gained deep experience and realization from the practice of the six-branch yoga. Rinchen Gyatso was extremely intelligent and able to memorize about eighteen folios (i.e. thirty-six pages) of Tibetan text every day.

When Jetsun Taranata's successor, Sanggye Gyatso, passed away in 1635, Rinchen Gyatso came to Taranata's monastery of Tagden Damcho Ling (rtag brtan dam chos gling), was enthroned on the monastic seat, and led the Jonang tradition for the next fifteen years. During this period he maintained the ancient Jonang traditions of explication and practice without decline. Then, in 1650, for largely political reasons the monastery was converted from Jonang to Gelug by order of the Tibetan government of the fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Losang Gyatso (ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho), and Rinchen Gyatso fled. In later life Rinchen Gyatso lived at the monastery of Sang-ngak Riwo Dechen (gsang sngags ri wo bde chen), where he alternately taught and did meditation retreats. Two of his main disciples were Lodro Namgyel (blo gros rnam rgyal) and Drokge Kunga Pelsang ('brog dge kun dga' dpal bzang).

Sources

Ngag dbang blo gros grags pa. 1992. Dpal ldan jo nang pa'i chos 'byung rgyal ba'i chos tshul gsal byed zla ba'i sgron me. Koko Nor: Krung go'i bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang, 1992, pp. 60–61.

Cyrus Stearns
August 2008