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Thubten Yeshe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1935 (1935) Tolung Dechen,Tibet |
| Died | March 3, 1984(1984-03-03) (aged 48–49) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Education | Sera Monastery |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Tibetan Buddhism |
| School | Gelugpa |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Kopan Monastery Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition |
Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984) was aTibetanlama who, while exiled inNepal, co-foundedKopan Monastery (1969) and theFoundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (1975). He followed theGelug tradition, and was considered[by whom?] unconventional in his teaching style.[citation needed]
Lama Yeshe was born near the Tibetan town of Tolung Dechen, and was sent toSera Monastery inLhasa at the age of six. He received full ordination at the age of 28 from KyabjeLing Rinpoche. Jeffrey Paine reports that Lama Yeshe deliberately refused to complete hisgeshe degree, despite having studied for it:
Many years later, when pressed why he had shunned this prestigious degree, he would laugh: "And beGeshe Yeshe?"[1]
With the Chinese invasion in 1959 Lama Yeshe made his way toBhutan and thence to the Tibetan refugee camp at Buxaduar,India. There his teacherGeshe Rabten entrusted to his care a younger monk,Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. The two would work together throughout Lama Yeshe's life.
In 1965 Lama Yeshe began teaching Western students, beginning withZina Rachevsky, who sought him out at theGhum Monastery inDarjeeling. The number of students continued to grow, eventually resulting in the founding of the several institutions mentioned above. At this time, the Tibetan religious community considered the teaching of Westerners to be undesirable. Paine reports criticism from other Tibetans calling Lama Yeshe a "paisa lama," i.e., one interested primarily in money.[2]
In 1977 - 1978 Lama Yeshe taught at University of California Santa Cruz. There he taught one class, "Tibetan Buddhism", appropriately. During that time, he also attended courses at the University in Western Philosophy.[3][4]
Thubten Yeshe and his main student,Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, founded Kopan Monastery inKathmandu, Nepal for the western seekers in the 1960s. The first annual ‘One-Month Meditation Course’ was held there in November 1971. Responding to the growing demand from their Western students, the lamas decided to open a sister centre to be used for retreats. In 1972, along with a few of their Western students, Lamas Yeshe and Zopa bought an old colonial house on a hill aboveMcLeod Ganj in Dharamkot inHimachal Pradesh, andTushita Meditation Centre was founded.[5]
A number of books have been compiled from Lama Yeshe's lectures. His books includeIntroduction to Tantra,Wisdom Energy,The Bliss of Inner Fire,Becoming Vajrasattva: The Tantric Path of Purification,When the Chocolate Runs Out, andBecoming the Compassion Buddha, all of which are available fromWisdom Publications. In 2020 theLama Yeshe Wisdom Archive published an extensive biography of Lama Yeshe written by Adele Hulse.[6] The LYWA also has many free books of Lama Yeshe's (and Lama Zopa Rinpoche's) teachings, which are also available as ebooks. The Archive also has several DVDs of Lama Yeshe's talks and teachings, maintains an active presence on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.), publishes a free monthly eletter of which more than 200 back issues are available, and offers a free monthly podcast and many free videos on its YouTube channel.
In 1974 Lama Yeshe entered into a celibate marriage with an Australian disciple, apparently for the purpose of obtaining an Australian passport which, it was thought, might have allowed him to visit Tibet.[7] His intended journey took place in 1982.
Lama Yeshe died 20 minutes before dawn on the first day ofLosar, the Tibetan New Year, and was cremated at the Vajrapani Institute inBoulder Creek, California,[8] where there is astupa honoring him.
In 1986 his reincarnation was identified in the person of aSpanish boy, Ösel Hita Torres, who is now known asTenzin Ösel Hita (b. 1985). This makes Yeshe the first in a line oftulkus. After spending his childhood and youth in Nepal receiving a traditional education for a Gelugpa tulku, Ösel subsequently chose to attend a western secondary boarding school in Canada and is currently afilmmaker in Spain.
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