On Saturday, November 4, Kyabje Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche was cremated at his monastery at Namo Buddha in Nepal. Recordings of the event can be viewed on the Thrangu Media YouTube channel, under the Live tab. A description of the ceremony and many photographs can also be viewed on Thrangu Rinpoche’s website.

Open House and meditation Sunday November 19 at our shrine room (State Street Church, 159 State St, Portland, 2nd floor, 9:00 am – 10:30 am). This will include an introduction to basic Buddhist sitting meditation, to Vajra Vidya, our shrine room, Q & A and social time with tea and snacks. All are welcome.

Contact Peter Comas with any questions. pcomas12@gmail.com

We are pleased to announce that we have published a complete YouTube playlist for Khenpo David Karma Choephel’s 10 talks (May and September) on Chapter 9 – Prajna of Shantideva’s Entering the Way of the Bodhisattva, available for viewing here.

You may also peruse other recordings given by Khenpo David, and other teachers who have visited Vajra Vidya Portland, on our Audio and Video Teachings page.

Lama Lodro Lhamo will be teaching at Vajra Vidya Portland from January 5-7, 2024 on Milarepa’s songs of renunciation. Program and registration information and registration will be posted soon.

Lama Lodro Lhamo is currently the president of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in Woodstock, New York. She completed three three-year retreats at Karme Ling under the direction of Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche and became the women’s retreat master. She received full monastic ordination in 2008. She also has a master’s degree in Buddhist Studies from Columbia University.

Khenpo David Karma Choephel will conclude his teachings on the Wisdom chapter of Shantideva’s Entering the Way of the Bodhissattva. Please visit our Special Teachings & Events page for more information, including how to register and donate. Update: The life release practice following Khenpo’s afternoon teaching WILL BE PERFORMED AT A NEW LOCATION. Click the link above for more info, and to donate to the life release.

From Thrangu Tashi Choling Monastery, Nepal:

Dear Friends,

Our precious teacher, the Lord of Refuge Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche passed into parinirvana on a very holy day, the anniversary of day when the Buddha Shakyamuni himself passed into parinirvana. As is traditional, all of the Thrangu Monasteries are observing Rinpoche’s parinirvana by conducting seven weeks of pujas. We are now observing the fourth week; the seventh week will end on the forty-ninth day, Saturday July 22, the fifth day of the sixth Tibetan month.

On the suggestion of the Gyalwang Karmapa, in order for Rinpoche’s students who live far away to have an opportunity to pay their respects to his kudung (precious remains) and gather the accumulation of merit by making offerings to it, the kudung will be preserved until November. At the end, there will be a week-long Chakrasamvara Grand Puja, starting on October 29, 2023, and ending on Saturday, November 4, the festival of the Buddha’s Descent from Heaven, the 22nd day of the ninth Tibetan month. On that day, Rinpoche’s kudung will be cremated at the sacred site of Namo Buddha. All of Rinpoche’s students and everyone who has faith in or any connection with Rinpoche is welcome to attend.

To anyone planning to go to Nepal at this time, please contact the Vajra Vidya Retreat Center at vajravidyacrestone@gmail.com, or call (719) 256-5539.

NOTE: Although the post below was made in June 2023, we’re linking to it from our main menu so those who wish to continue reciting the prayers can access them easily.

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For the 49-day period following Rinpoche’s parinirvana on June 4, our regular Monday and Wednesday night gatherings will be devoted to practices for Rinpoche: guru yoga and supplications for his swift return. We will also gather on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 9:00 to practice.

Below is a list of the practices we will be reciting. Click the link for each list item to open a downloadable PDF file. Please note: copies of these texts will not be available in the shrine room, so please download them to your device and bring it to practice.

We will continue to post new texts to this page as they are composed and translated.

གདོད་ནས་རྣམ་དག་ཆོས་དབྱིངས་བདེ་བ་ཆེ། །​
སྣང་སྟོང་ཟུང་འཇུག་སྒྱུ་མའི་རོལ་གར་གྱིས། །
​
སྲིད་ཞིི་ཡོངས་ཀྱི་ཁྱབ་བདག་རྡོ་རྗེ་འཆང་། །
​མཉམ་མེད་བླ་མའི་ཞབས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། །​

dö ne nam dak chö ying de wa che
nang tong sung juk gyu may röl gar gyi
si shi yong kyi khyap dak dor je chang
nyam me la may shap la chak tsal lo

Through the primal, pure great bliss of the dharma expanse
And illusory play of appearance and emptiness unified,
Vajradhara, you are the lord of all existence and peace.
Incomparable guru, I prostrate at your feet.

གཏིང་རིང་འཁོར་བའི་རྒྱ་མཚོ་འཇིགས་རུང་བར། །
ལས་ཉོན་ཆུ་སྲིན་འབུམ་གྱིས་གཙེས་པ་ཡི། །
ཉམ་ཐག་འགྲོ་ཀུན་སྐྱོབ་པའི་དཔའ་བོ་ཆེ། །
ཕ་གཅིག་རྗེ་བཙུན་བླ་མ་དེ་རིང་དྲན། །

ting ring khor way gya tso jik rung war
le nyön chu sin bum gyi tse pa yi
nyam tak dro kün kyop pay pa wo che
pa chik je tsün la ma de ring dren

Great hero who protects all helpless beings
Tormented in the deep oceans of samsara
By the hundred thousand sharks of afflictions and karma,
Sole father, venerable guru, I miss you now.

མཁྱེན་ནོ་མཁྱེན་ནོ་དྲིན་ཅན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྗེ། །
གཟིགས་ཤིག་གཟིགས་ཤིག་ཡོངས་འཛིན་སྨྲ་བའི་སེང་། །
བསྟན་འགྲོའི་བདེ་སྐྱིད་མར་མེ་སྣུམ་ཟད་ལྟར། །
གྱུར་པའི་དུས་འདིར་བརྩེ་བས་དགོངས་སུ་གསོལ། །

khyen no khyen no drin chen chö kyi je
sik shik sik shik yong dzin ma way seng
ten droy de kyi mar me num se tar
gyur pay dü dir tse we gong su söl

Think of us! Think of us, kind lord of dharma!
Look at us! Look at us, O teacher, Lion of Speech!
The lamp of happiness for the teachings and beings
Has run out of oil—now think of us with compassion!

མཁས་བཙུན་བཟང་པོའི་ལུས་སྟོབས་རབ་རྒྱས་ཤིང་། །
ཐོས་བསམ་སྒོམ་པའི་གཡུ་རལ་དགུང་དུ་གཟེངས། །
འཆད་རྩོད་རྩོམ་པའི་གད་རྒྱང་མཐོན་པོ་ཅན། །
སྨྲ་བའི་སེང་གེ་སླར་ཡང་མྱུར་འབྱོན་གསོལ། །

khe tsün sang poy lü top rap gye shing
tö sam gom pay yu ral gung du seng
che tsö tsom pay ge gyang tön po chen
ma way seng ge lar yang nyur jön söl

Your body of learning, venerability,
and goodness grew to full strength;
Your mane of listening, contemplation, and meditation touched the sky.
Loud was your roar of teaching, debate, and composition.
Lion of Speech, we beg you, return soon!

བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་རྣམས་ལས་དྭགས་པོའི་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་དང་། །
སྒྲུབ་བརྒྱུད་ཡོངས་ལས་ཀརྨ་ཀམ་ཚང་གི །
བཤད་དང་སྒྲུབ་པའི་རྒྱུན་བཟང་གསེར་གྱི་ཕྲེང་། །
མི་ཉམས་སྤེལ་བའི་སྐྱེས་བུ་མྱུར་འབྱོན་གསོལ། །

ka gyü nam le dak poy ka gyü dang
drup gyü yong le karma kam tsang gi
she dang drup pay gyün sang ser gyi treng
mi nyam pel way kye bu nyur jön söl

Come back soon, great being who preserves and spreads
The golden thread of the fine traditions of teaching and practice
Of the Dakpo Kagyu among all the Kagyu
And the Karma Kamtsang among all practice lineages.

འོག་མིན་ཞིང་ནས་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་ཚོགས། །
ཏིལ་གྱི་གང་བུ་ཕྱེ་བ་ལྟ་བུ་ཡིས། །
རྗེ་བཙུན་བླ་མའི་ཐུགས་རྗེ་རབ་བསྐུལ་ཏེ། །
སྤྲུལ་པའི་ཟླ་ཞལ་མྱུར་དུ་འཆར་བར་མཛོད། །

ok min shing ne ka gyü la may tsok
til gyi gang bu che wa ta bu yi
je tsün la may tuk je rap kül te
trül pay da shal nyur du char war dzö

O hosts of Kagyu gurus in the realm of Akanishta,
Come forth like seeds spilling from a bushel of sesame
And invoke the venerable guru’s compassion—
Make the moon of his emanation rise soon!

དཔལ་ཆེན་མ་ཧཱ་ཀཱ་ལ་ལྕམ་དྲལ་དང་། །
དྲེགས་པ་བདུན་ཅུ་རྩ་གཉིས་ཕོ་ཉར་བཅས། །
མཆོག་གི་སྤྲུལ་སྐུའི་ཉི་མ་གཞོན་ནུ་གང་། །
ཞིང་འདིར་འདྲེན་པའི་སྲུང་མ་ཉེར་མཛོད་ཅིག །

pal chen ma hā ka la cham dral dang
drek pa dün chu tsa nyi po nyar che
chok gi trül kuy nyi ma shön nu gang
shing dir dren pay sung ma nyer dzö chik

Great glorious Mahakala and Mahakali,
Seventy-two haughty spirits, and your messengers,
Be the protectors who bring the young sun
Of the supreme nirmanakaya back to this realm.

བླ་མ་རྩ་གསུམ་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་བདེན་མཐུ་དང་། །
བདག་ཅག་སློབ་འབངས་དད་གདུང་རྩེ་གཅིག་པས། །
ཇི་ལྟར་གསོལ་བའི་དོན་རྣམས་མ་ལུས་པ། །
འགྲུབ་པའི་རྒྱུ་འབྲས་བསླུ་བ་མེད་གྱུར་ཅིག །

la ma tsa sum gya tsoy den tu dang
dak chak lop bang de dung tse chik pe
ji tar söl way dön nam ma lü pa
drup pay gyu dre lu wa me gyur chik

By the power of the truth of the ocean of gurus and three roots,
And the fervent, one-pointed faith of us disciples,
May there be the unfailing cause and effect
That fulfills all we ask for, in its entirety.

བསྟན་པ་སྤྱི་དང་བྱེ་བྲག་ལ་བཀའ་དྲིན་མཚུངས་པ་མེད་པ། བསྟན་པ་ཡོངས་རྫོགས་ཀྱི་དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན། གསུམ་ལྡན་རྡོ་རྗེ་འཛིན་པ། ༧ སྐྱབས་རྗེ་ཡོངས་འཛིན་ཁྲ་འགུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཆོག་རེ་ཞིག་ཞི་བ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་སུ་གཤེགས་པའི་ཚུལ་བསྟན་པ་ལ། བསྟན་འགྲོའི་དོན་དུ་མཆོག་གི་སྤྲུལ་སྐུའི་ཡང་སྲིད་འཁྲུལ་པ་མེད་པ་མྱུར་དུ་འཆར་བའི་སླད་དུ་ཀརྨ་པའི་མཚན་ཙམ་འཛིན་པ། ཨོ་རྒྱན་ཕྲིན་ལས་སུ་འབོད་པའི་སློབ་འབངས་ཐ་ཤལ་དེས་འདས་ལོ་ ༢༥༦༦ སྤྱི་ལོ་ ༢༠༢༣ ཟླ་ ༦ ཚེས་ ༨ ལ་སྦྱར་བ་དོན་དང་ལྡན་པར་གྱུར་ཅིག །

The Lord of Refuge Thrangu Rinpoche, a spiritual friend of all Buddhist teachings and vajra holder with all three vows, gave incomparable service to all the teachings and to the Karma Kagyu in particular. Upon his passing into parinirvana, the least of his disciples, Ogyen Trinley, who has the mere title of Karmapa, wrote this on June 8, 2023, the Buddhist year 2566. May it be meaningful.

Translated by David Karma Choephel.

[Click here for a PDF version of the prayer.]

With sadness, we share the following statement, released June 8, 2023, by Thrangu Rinpoche’s monastery in Nepal.

To all those around the world who have a connection, direct or indirect, with the Lord of Refuge, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche:

With great regret, we would like to share some sad news with you. On May 5, 2023, the fifteenth day of the third Tibetan month of the Water Hare Year, at the age of ninety-one, the Lord of Refuge Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, tutor to the Gyalwang Karmapa, displayed the appearance of ill health. When his disciples requested him to go to the hospital, he refused at first but relented when asked again, and was brought to the hospital.

At that time, His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa, out of his immeasurable compassion, spontaneously wrote a powerful long life prayer, instructed all the Kagyu shedras to perform long life practices on Rinpoche’s behalf, and kindly gave much advice and guidance. The sanghas of all lineages and in particular the Kagyu monasteries inside and outside Tibet as well as many faithful students put great effort into long life practices. Chamgön Kenting Tai Situ Rinpoche, Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche, Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche, and other great lamas came specifically to see Rinpoche in the hospital. They showed inconceivable kindness by performing long life empowerments and life summoning practices as well as offering representations of body, speech, and mind and making extensive prayers.

Even so, Rinpoche was unable to recover, so he returned to his monastic seat, Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery in Namo Buddha. Finally, on June 4, the full moon day of the fourth Tibetan month, Saga Dawa—the sacred anniversary of the Buddha Shakyamuni, our incomparably kind teacher, passing into parinirvana—Rinpoche decided that he had completed his activity for this life. At 1:30 pm, he lay down in the same posture as the Buddha Shakyamuni had lain in when passing into parinirvana and then displayed the appearance of his mind dissolving into the undefiled, luminous dharma expanse and passing into peace. Immediately, Kyabje Lodrö Nyima Rinpoche offered Rinpoche a reminder of the tukdam meditation.

The Gyalwang Karmapa instructed that, as Rinpoche needed to be in a peaceful environment, this news should not be announced for four days. This is the reason why no announcement has been made until now.

Thrangu Tashi Chöling Monastery
June 8, 2023