Pabongkhapa Déchen Nyingpo (; 1878–1941) was a Gelug lama in the modern era of Tibetan Buddhism. He obtained his Geshe degree at Sera Mey Monastic University in Lhasa and later became a teacher in Tibet, providing his services to laypeople and clergy alike. Pabongkha was offered the regency of the present Dalai Lama but declined the request, reportedly because "he strongly disliked political affairs."Mullin, Glenn, & Shepherd, Valerie (2001). The fourteen Dalai Lamas: A sacred legacy of reincarnation. Santa Fe, NM: Clear Light, p. 475.
Practice of Buddhism
Ribur Rinpoche described how Phabongkhapa met his root Guru: His root guru was Dagpo Lama Rinpoche Jampel Lhuendrub Gyatso, from Lhoka. He was definitely a bodhisattva, and Pabongkha Rinpoche was his foremost disciple. He lived in a cave in Pasang, and his main practice was bodhichitta; his main deity was Avalokiteshvara and he would recite 50,000 manis [the mantra, Om mani padme hum] every night. When Kyabje Pabongkha first met Dagpo Rinpoche at a tsog offering ceremony in Lhasa, he cried out of reverence from beginning to end.Rilbur Rinpoche, Pabongkha Rinpoche: A Memoir quoted in Liberation in the palm of your hand: A concise discourse on the path to enlightenment (2006). Boston: Wisdom Publications, p. xiii
According to Ribur Rinpoche:Dagpo Lama Rinpoche would teach him a Lamrim topic and then Pabongkha Rinpoche would go away and meditate on it. Later, he would return to explain what he'd understood: if he had gained some realization, Dagpo Lama Rinpoche would teach him some more, and Pabongkha Rinpoche would go back and meditate on that. It went on like this for ten years.Pabongkha Rinpoche was a renunciate. His attendant once demolished the small old building inhabited by Pabongkha Rinpoche while he was away on a long tour, and constructed in its place a large ornate residence trying to rival the private quarters of the Dalai Lama. When Pabongkha Rinpoche returned, he said, "I am only a minor hermit Lama, and you should not have built something like this for me. I am not famous, and the essence of what I teach is the renunciation of worldly life. Therefore, I am embarrassed by rooms like these."Rilbur Rinpoche, Pabongkha Rinpoche: A Memoir quoted in Liberation in the palm of your hand: A concise discourse on the path to enlightenment (2006). Boston: Wisdom Publications
According to Rilbur Rinpoche, any of Phabongkhapa's anger "had been completely pacified by his bodhichitta."
He would ask everyone in a line how they were and tap them on the head. Sometimes, he dispensed medicine.
His two main spiritual qualities, according to his disciples, were, from the Tantric point of view, his realization and ability to present Heruka, and from the Sutra point of view, his ability to teach Lamrim. He attributed all his qualities to his own Spiritual Guide.
According to one 'reincarnated' lama who attended his teachings: "He was an exceptionally learned and gifted scholar, and his interpretation of the Doctrine adhered to the meaning of the Lord Buddha's words exactly. He was short, broad-faced, and of rather heavy build, but when he opened his mouth to speak, his words had such clarity and sweetness that no one could help being moved."Rato Kyongla Nawang Losang, My Life and Lives, p 98, published by Dutton.
In his memoir of his root Guru, Rilbur Rinpoche said: When he taught, he would sit for up to eight hours without moving. About two thousand people would come to his general discourses and initiations, and fewer to special teachings, but when he gave Bodhisattva vows, up to ten thousand people would show up.Rilbur Rinpoche, Pabongkha Rinpoche: A Memoir quoted in Liberation in the palm of your hand: A concise discourse on the path to enlightenment (2006). Boston: Wisdom Publications, p. xvi
The introduction to Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand noted that:Pabongkha Rinpoche was probably the most influential Gelug lama of this century, holding all the important lineages of sutra and tantra and passing them on to most of the important Gelug lamas of the next two generations; the list of his oral discourses is vast in depth and breadth. He was also the root guru of the Kyabje Ling Rinpoche (1903–83), Senior Tutor of the Dalai Lama, Trijang Rinpoche, and many other highly respected teachers. His collected works occupy fifteen large volumes and cover every aspect of Buddhism. If you have ever received a teaching from a Gelug lama, you have been influenced by Pabongkha Rinpoche.Michael Richards, from the translator’s introduction, Liberation in the palm of your hand: A concise discourse on the path to enlightenment (2006). Boston: Wisdom Publications, p. x
In Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey's commentary to the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, he says:Wheel of Sharp Weapons, with Commentary by Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, page 55. Published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives - Second revised edition 1994 Likewise, Lama Trijang Dorje Chang, Junior Tutor to His Holiness the present Dalai Lama, folds his hands upon the crown of his head whenever he mentions Kyabje Pabongkha Rinpoche. He was such a great lama, unsurpassed by any, that hardly any lamas or geshes of the Three Pillars (the monasteries of Ganden, Sera and Drepung) had not been his disciples.
In 1921, at Chuzang Hermitage near Lhasa, Pabongkha Rinpoche gave a historic 24-day exhibition on the Lamrim, or "stages of the path," that was attended by around 700 people. About 30 lamas and reincarnations of lamas came from the three major monasteries in Lhasa, and many more travelled weeks from the Central Province, from U-Tsang, and from as far away as Amdo and Kham. There were also many lay people present. Rato Khyongla Rinpoche, who was present, noted: During that summer session, several traders and at least two high government officials found their lives transformed by his eloquence: they forsook their jobs to study religion and to give themselves to meditation.My Life and Lives, p 98, Rato Khyongla Nawang Losang, published by Dutton.
Zong Rinpoche said: Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Kyabje Ling Rinpoche were tutors to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. They taught His Holiness everything from basic teachings to advanced levels. Kyabje Phabongka passed all of his lineages to Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang. He often said this in discourses. The purpose of this detailed exposition is to affirm the power of the lineage. If we lose faith in the lineage, we are lost.Chod in the Ganden Tradition: The Oral Instructions of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, by Kyabje Zong Rinpoche. Snow Lion, 2006
According to Kyabje Zong Rinpoche: Once Kyabje Phabongka invoked the wisdom beings of Heruka's mandala to enter into a statue of Heruka Chakrasamvara. Heruka then offered nectar to Kyabje Phabongka and prophesied that seven generations of his disciples would be protected by the body mandala of Heruka. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche is cared for by Heruka Chakrasamvara, as are his disciples.
Position on politics and religion When the regency of the 14th Dalai Lama was offered to Pabongkha Rinpoche, he declined the opportunity, saying, "If one cannot give up the worldly dharma, then you are not a true religious person."Goldstein, Melvyn C., and Gelek Rimpoche. A History of Modern Tibet, 1913-1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989, p. 363. According to Goldstein, Pabongkha was quite well known for saying that "lamas should not become involved in politics."Goldstein, Melvyn C., and Gelek Rimpoche. A History of Modern Tibet, 1913-1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989, p. 362.
Attempted alliance with Liu Wenhui In 1935, Pabongkha attempted an alliance with Chinese warlord Liu Wenhui, who controlled the opium trade as well as the Kham region. Liu Wenhui had invaded Kham in the early 1930s, and by breaking a truce with Lhasa, had pushed his own territory all the way to the Yangtse river. This part of Kham was now known as the Chinese province of Xikang and, when he first met Pabongkha, Liu was fighting against a self-rule movement called 'Kham for Khampas', led by a popular Nyingma lama. In meeting him and attempting to form a relationship, Pabongkha believed it would ensure the success of the Gelug school in Kham, believing the warlord might become a patron.Schaik, Sam van. Tibet: A History. Yale University Press 2011, page 202.
Deviations from Tsongkhapa's teachings Dreyfus notes Pabongkha's deviations from Tsongkhapa's teachings:
Sectarianism
Position on the other schools Pabongkha stated that the other schools go to hell:
Phabongkhapa actively opposed the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism."The Purificatory Gem and Its Cleansing: A Late Tibetan Polemical Discussion of Apocryphal Texts" by Matthew Kapstein. History of Religions, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Feb., 1989), pp. 231 note 4 Stephan Beyer writes:
Buddhist scholar Matthew Kapstein writes, "There has been a great deal of sectarian dispute among Tibetan refugees in India. Much of this has its roots in the works of Phabongkhapa Dechen Nyingpo (1878–1937), whose visions of the Gelugpa protective deity Dorje Shugden seem to have entailed a commitment to oppose the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism and the Bönpo."
Regarding Pabongkha Rinpoche's attitude toward the Bön, he said that "The dharmas of Bönpos, tirthikas, and so forth are non-Buddhist and should not be taken as our refuge."Liberation in the palm of your hand: A concise discourse on the path to enlightenment (2006). Boston: Wisdom Publications, p. 371. In his famous work Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, he calls it an "evil system", "false dharma", "not worthy of being a refuge", "plagiarized", and "invented".Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand by Pha-boṅ-kha-pa Byams-pa-bstan-ʼdzin-ʼphrin-las-rgya-mtsho Wisdom Publications, 2006 , Although the Bön religion was originally highly hostile to Buddhists,Chryssides, George (1999). Exploring New Religions. London: Cassell. p. 242. Phabongkhapa never advocated intolerance towards them: "Bön is not a refuge for Buddhists; it is not worthy of being a refuge. All the same, Buddhists and Bönpos say things to each other out of attachment or hostility, and this hardly makes for honest debate. You must know the sources of the Bön religion."Liberation in the palm of your hand: A concise discourse on the path to enlightenment (2006). Boston: Wisdom Publications, p. 372. To support his claim that Bön is not a fitting refuge for Buddhists, Phabongkhapa quoted several Buddhist scholars, including Milarepa, who said, "The source of Bön is perverted Dharma. A creation of nagas and powerful elementals, it does not take one to the ultimate path."Liberation in the palm of your hand: A concise discourse on the path to enlightenment (2006). Boston: Wisdom Publications, p. 373.
Persecution of the Rimé movement David Kay notes that Shugden was a key tool in Phabongkha's persecution of the Rimé movement:
The Rimé movement, composed of the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma schools, came about in the first place as a result of Gelug persecution.Schaik, Sam van. Tibet: A History. Yale University Press 2011, pages 165-9.
Controversy