Dharamshala: The Central Tibetan Administration today organised a prayer service to mourn the demise of Gaden Trisur Rizong Sras Rinpoche Thubten Nyima Lungtok Tenzin Norbu, who passed away around 9:15 pm yesterday at Drepung monastery in Mundgod, Karnataka.

The prayer service was attended by acting Chief Justice Commissioner Pema Damdul, Sikyong Penpa Tsering, Deputy Speaker Dolma Tsering Teykhang, Education Kalon Tharlam Dolma Changra, Security Kalon Dolma Gyari, DIIR Kalon Norzin Dolma, Election and Public Service Commissioner Wangdue Tsering Pesur, Auditor General Pema Dadul Arya, standing committee members of the 17th TPiE, Secretaries and staff of Central Tibetan Administration.

Tashi Gyaltson, the Chief Executive Councillor and Chairman of the 6th Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, and Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, a Member of Parliament from Ladakh (India) also attended the prayer service to pay their respect to the late Rinpoche.

Brief Bio of Kyabje Rizong Rinpoche:

Born in Ladakh in the late 1920s, Kyabje Rizong Rinpoche: a nephew of the 19th Bakula Rinpoche, was recognised and enthroned as the reincarnation of the founder of the illustrious Rizong Hermitage by His Holiness the 13th Dalai Lama in early 1930s.

In the mid-1940s Rinpoche joined Drepung Loseling Monastery in Lhasa for his higher training and later joined His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and the Tibetan exile community in India following China’s takeover of Tibet. He was appointed by His Holiness as Abbot of both Gyumed Tantric Monastery and Drepung Loseling, two of the greatest seats of Tibetan spiritual knowledge. Rinpoche also carried the title Jangtse Choje (Dharma Master of the Northern Peak), one of the three highest spiritual positions in the Gelug Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

Rinpoche have made the practice of meditation his principal focus in life, and has conducted numerous extensive retreats, including a three-year tantric retreat on the Yamantaka mandala in a remote hermitage in Ladakh. Through his achievements in practice and scholarship, he represents the pinnacle of the Sutra and Tantra traditions.

Rinpoche was renowned for his Tantric powers, and is frequently called upon by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to lead ceremonies for healing and other similar purposes.