| Jigme Phuntsok | |||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 晋美彭措 | ||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 晉美彭措 | ||||||||
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| Tibetan name | |||||||||
| Tibetan | འཇིགས་མེད་ཕུན་ཚོགས་ | ||||||||
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Kyabje Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok, (Tibetan: འཇིགས་མེད་ཕུན་ཚོགས་འབྱུང་གནས།, Wylie transliteration: 'jigs med phun tshogs 'byung gnas) (1933 – 7 January 2004), was a Nyingma lama and Terton from Sertha Region. His family were Tibetan nomads. At the age of five[1] he was recognized "as a reincarnation of Lerab Lingpa (las rab gling pa, 1856-1926). Known also as Nyala Sogyel (nyag bla bsod rgyal) and Terton Sogyel (gter ston bsod rgyal), Lerab Lingpa was an eclectic and highly influential tantric visionary from the eastern Tibetan area of Nyarong (nyag rong)."[1] He studied Dzogchen at Nubzor Monastery, received novice ordination at 14, and full ordination at 22 (or 1955). In 1980, he founded Larung Gar, the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastic academy.
Jigme Phuntsok was the most influential lama of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism in contemporary Tibet (according to Khenpo Samdup who was his disciple). A Tibetan Buddhist meditation master and renowned teacher of Great Perfection (Dzogchen), he established the Sertha Buddhist Institute in 1980, known locally as Larung Gar, a non-sectarian study center with approximately 10,000 monks, nuns, and lay students at its highest count. He played an important role in revitalizing the teaching of Tibetan Buddhism following the liberalization of religious practice in 1980.
Jigme Phuntsok was also an extraordinary Terton (Buddhist treasure revealer), uncovering many treasures texts in Tibet, as well as other parts of China, and India. In the 1990s, he began an appeal to traditional Tibetan yak herders to refrain from commercial sale of their livestock for spiritual and cultural reasons that has grown into the Anti-Slaughter Movement.
- ^ a b Terrone, Antonio (October 2013). "Khenpo Jigme Puntsok". The Treasury of Lives. Archived from the original on 29 April 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
In 1938 when he was five years old, Terton Wangchuk (gter ston dbang phyug) and Mura Tulku Pema Norbu (nub gzur sprul sku padma nor bu, 1918-1958) recognized him as a reincarnation of Lerab Lingpa (las rab gling pa, 1856-1926). Known also as Nyala Sogyel (nyag bla bsod rgyal) and Terton Sogyel (gter ston bsod rgyal), Lerab Lingpa was an eclectic and highly influential tantric visionary from the eastern Tibetan area of Nyarong (nyag rong).