Tenzin Jigme (Thutob Wangchuk) (

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

, 1948 – February 13, 1997) was a

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

tulku A ''tulku'' (, also ''tülku'', ''trulku'') is an individual recognized as the reincarnation of a previous spiritual master (lama), and expected to be reincarnated, in turn, after death. The tulku is a distinctive and significant aspect of Tibet ...

and the sixth

Reting Rinpoche Reting Rinpoche () was a title held by abbots of Reting Monastery, a Buddhist monastery in central Tibet. History of the lineage Historically, the Reting Rinpoche has occasionally acted as the selector of the new Dalai Lama incarnation. It is ...

. His reincarnation is recognized by the

Tibetan government in exile The Central Tibetan Administration (, , ) is the government-in-exile of Tibet, based in Dharamshala, India. It comprises a judiciary branch, a legislative branch, and an executive branch, and offers support and services to the Tibetan exile ...

. His recognition is being challenged by another sixth Reting Rinpoche who acts by the title of Reting Hutukthu; ''hutukthu'' equal to ''rinpoche'' and mainly in use in

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Life

Tenzin Jigme was identified as the reincarnation of the fifth Reting Rinpoche

Jamphel Yeshe Gyaltsen (Thubten) Jamphel Yeshe Gyaltsen or Thupten Jampel Yishey Gyantsen, (; Dagpo, 1912 – Lhasa, 1947) was a Tibetan tulku and the fifth Reting Rinpoche. Life Gyantsen played a significant role in Tibetan history as the one-time regent of the ...

in 1951 and enthroned in 1955. In 1956 (eight years old) he was the first to be assigned to the Tibet Committee of the

Buddhist Association of China The Buddhist Association of China (BCA, zh, 中国佛教协会) is the official government supervisory organ of Buddhism in the People's Republic of China. The association has been overseen by the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the Centra ...

. Jigme stayed in Tibet when the Tibetan government went in exile in 1959 during the

Tibetan diaspora The Tibetan diaspora is the relocation of Tibetan people from Tibet, their land of origin, to other nation states to live as exiles and refugees in communities. The diaspora of Tibetan people began in the early 1950s, peaked after the 1959 Tibe ...

. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

(1966–1976) he was publicly denounced by the authorities because of his religious position. Next he was imprisoned for one year. Later he was rehabilitated and at the end of the 1970s he was appointed to several official posts. Comparably with the tenth

Panchen Lama 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 la ...

he was married and lived as a layman. His next reincarnation was appointed by the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. This reincarnation is not recognized by the (itself unrecognized) Central Tibetan Administration in exile.

References

*Klieger, P. Christiaa
''Tibet, self, and the Tibetan diaspora''
Brill, Leiden, *

World Tibet Network News World Tibet News (WTN) as well as World Tibet Network News, is a website created in 1992 by Thubten Samdup and the NGO Canada Tibet Committee.Gyaltsen Gyaltag, ''Exiled Tibetans in Europe and North America'' (translated by Susanne Martin), iExil ...

(January 11, 2000
''Beijing Discovers Another "Living Buddha" (AFP)''
*World Tibet Network News (June 19, 2000
''Reting monks detained following protest over reincarnation''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jigme, Tenzin 1948 births 1997 deaths Reting Rinpoches Gelug tulkus Gelug Lamas