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Dalai Lama's older brother Taktser Rinpoche passes away

By Lobsang Wangyal

A file photo of Taktser Rinpoche, the eldest brother of the Dalai Lama, who has passed away on Saturday around 1.30 a.m. India time at his Bloomington home, in Indiana state of the US. He was 87.File photo/Herald Times/Jeremy Hogan

Rinpoche had not been keeping well since one year, and had been in and out of hospital due to old-age-related diseases, according to sources.

As a mark of respect and gratitude for dedicating his entire life to the revival of the rights of the Tibet people, the departments and offices of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala will remain closed this afternoon, following an hour-long prayer session at 2 p.m.

Tibetans in Dharamshala offered prayers for the departed soul at the Environment Hall in Mcleod Ganj.

Taktser Rinpoche (given name Thupten Jigme Norbu) was born in 1922 in Taktser, a small village in Amdo, eastern Tibet.

At age three, he was recognised by the 13th Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of Taktser Rinpoche. He was taken to the nearby Kumbum monastery when he was eight to begin his monastic life.

After the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1949, Taktser Rinpoche was held under house arrest in the monastery. He was ordered to denounce the Tibetan Government in Lhasa and kill the Dalai Lama. In return for these actions, the PRC promised that he would become the Governor of Tibet of the People’s Republic of China.

Sensing Chinese vicious designs, Rinpoche escaped from his Chinese captors and travelled to Japan in 1950 to start his campaign to educate the world about the atrocities in Tibet and seek international support for restoration of Tibetan independence.

Unlike his brother, the Dalai Lama, who is seeking autonomy within the People’s Republic of China to resolve the Tibetan issue, Rinpoche stands for independence for Tibet.

In 1995 Rinpoche co-founded the International Tibet Independence Movement along with Larry Gerstein.

He has led three walks for Tibet’s independence — a week-long walk from Bloomington to Indianapolis in Indiana in 1995, a 45-day walk from the PRC embassy in Washington, D.C. to the United Nations Headquarters in New York in 1996, and a 600-mile walk from Toronto to New York City in 1997.

Rinpoche has served as the Representative of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile to Japan and North America. He has worked as a Professor of Tibetan Studies at Indiana University.

He settled in the United States in the 1950s, becoming the first Tibetan to settle there.

He is survived by his wife Kunyang Norbu and three sons.

Copyright © 2008 Tibet Sun

Published in Tibet Sun