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100th Ganden Tripa Lobsang Nyima passes away

Tibet Sun Bureau report | Tibet Sun

A file photo of the 100th Gaden throne holder Lobsang Nyima, who passed away on 15 September in southern India after a brief illness.File photo/Drepung Loseling Monastery/India

Lobsang Nyima, the 100th holder of Ganden Tripa, the highest position in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, passed away on 15 September after a brief illness at Kles Hospital and MRC at Belgaum in southern India. He was 79.

The offices of the Tibetan Government-in-exile remained closed after the staff members held an hour-long prayer session to pay their tribute to the late spiritual master, according to the website of the exile government.

Lobsang Nyima was born in 1929 in Tsawa in Kham, eastern Tibet. At age 12 he became a monk at his native monastery. In 1945, when he was 17, he set off for central Tibet and enrolled himself in Drepung Loseling monastery. He studied under some of the greatest masters of his time. He fled Tibet in 1959 after the Chinese occupation of the country.

He suffered from lung tuberculosis during his early life as a refugee in Buxar, in North-east India. The illness brought him to a Christian Hospital in South India for treatment. During his two years at the hospital, he also learned some basics of English.

Returning to Buxar after full treatment, he was selected among an Elite Group of young monks for further studies at Sampuranand Sanskrit University, Varanasi and received his Archarya Degree (Equivalent to M.A.).

In 1972, he was conferred the Geshe Lharampa degree in Dharamshala by the Dalai Lama. He became the abbot of Namgyal monastery (the Dalai Lama’s private monastery) in 1976.

He ascended to the throne of Ganden in 1994. Upon his retirement from the post in 2002, the current 101st Ganden Tripa Lungri Namgyel succeeded him in 2003.

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