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Exile government mourns Penor Rinpoche's demise

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Penor Rinpoche (1932-2009), passed away on 27 March 2009 at his monastery in Bylakuppe, South India.File photo/Photographer unknown

The Tibetan government-in-exile today mourned the demise of Penor Rinpoche, who passed away on 27 March. He was 77.

All the departments and offices of the exile government remained closed in the afternoon, after an hour-long prayer session. Senior officials, including the ministers, attended the prayer session.

Penor Rinpoche spent his last moments in meditative state at his residence at the Palyul Namdroling monastery in Bylakuppe, South India.

Rinpoche was admitted to Columbia Asia Hospital in Banglore to cure a chronic illness on 24 March. Many Nyingma Lamas visited him at the hospital.

Devotees have reportedly seen a full circle rainbow at the monastery on the day Rinpoche passed away.

The 11th Throneholder of the Palyul Lineage of Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, Pema Norbu Rinpoche was born in 1932 in the Powo region of Kham, eastern Tibet. He was trained at the Palyul monastery in Tibet, studying and receiving teachings from numerous masters and scholars.

After coming into exile, he first made a base in Pema Köd in North-East India. He moved to Bylakuppe in 1961. Rinpoche initially built a bamboo temple to train a small handful of monks in 1963. Today, the Namdroling monastery has grown into one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist instituition in the world, housing over 6000 monks and nuns.

Rinpoche has followers around the world with a few major centres in Hong Kong, Macau, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and the US.

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