Chimé Rigdzin Rinpoche (, 1922-2002), popularly known as C. R. Lama, was an Indian lama of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

who was the lineage holder of the Northern Treasures () tradition in the

Nyingma Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and transl ...

school of

Biography

At the age of four he was recognized and enthroned as the 4th incarnation of Khordong Terchen Nüden Dorjé Dropen Lingpa () the main re-incarnate lama of Khordong Monastery in Kham,

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

, located in today's Sichuan province. At seven years old he had already started discovering spiritual treasures ( terma) hidden by

Padmasambhava Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...

He was mostly trained by Tülku Tsurlo (, 1895-1954Chos dbying 015 , (p. 786-814 for the biography of ), vol. 62 in the 63-vol. collection (2015, publisher, etc., unknown).) and completed his education at the age of 19 with the degree of Dorje Lopön Chenpo (). Shortly after he left the monastery to enter into a traditional three-year retreat at Tsö Pema (Rewalsar) in India. Following that he visited many Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Tibet,

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Silig ...

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

and India as a wandering

ngakpa In Tibetan Buddhism and Bon, a Ngagpa (male), or a Ngagmo (Female) (; Sanskrit ''mantrī'') is an ordained non-monastic practitioner of Dzogchen and Tantra. The Ngagmapa are widely credited with protecting the Nyingma school and its teachings ...

. Later he settled with his family in Kalimpong,

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

and became an Indian citizen. From 1954 to 1987 C. R. Lama was head of the Department for Indo-Tibetan studies at

Visva-Bharati University Visva-Bharati () is a public central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which means the communion of the ...

Santiniketan Santiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by his son ...

, West Bengal. In the late 1950s he was invited by Giuseppe Tucci to teach in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. During that time he met

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

. In the following year he was invited to teach at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich by Helmut Hoffman. During the 1970s he had a number of American and European students at

, including James Low and Ngakpa Chögyam, who also became his religious disciples. After his retirement in 1987, C.R. Lama regularly visited Europe, where he guided a small groups of pupils in different countries.

Literature

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References

External links

H.H. Khordong Terchen Tulku Chhimed Rigdzin Rinpoche: Short Biography
at Khordong.de

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rigdzin, Chime 1922 births 2002 deaths 20th-century lamas Nyingma lamas Nyingma tulkus People associated with Santiniketan Rinpoches Tertöns Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet Tibetan emigrants to India Tibetologists Academic staff of Visva-Bharati University

Biography

Literature

References

Further reading

External links