Shimla: Kalon Karma Gelek Yuthok, Department of Religion and Culture, CTA today attended the cremation ceremony of late Kyabje Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche, the spiritual head of Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism at Thupten Dorjedrak Monastery, Shimla.
The program started early in the morning with prayer service by Khenpos and monks before the holy body. The cremation ceremony was marked with offering of Tibetan scarfs to the holy body of Kyaje Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche by the representatives from various monasteries, official dignitaries and monks and performed religious rituals.
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Cremation ceremony of Kyabje Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche at Thupten Dorjedrak Monastery, Shimla. Photo/Department of Religion and Cutlure
Others present were speaker of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, Khenpo Sonam Tenphel, Representative of Gaden Phodrang, Members of Tibetan Parliament from Nyingma tradition, Lamas from various Tibetan Monasteries, Khenpos and representatives of monasteries and organizations.
Kyabje Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche was born in 1926 near the famous Yamdrok Lake in central Tibet. Rinpoche was ordained at the Taklung Tse monastery when he was five years old and was recognized as an incarnation of the great master Ngok Chöku Dorje. He fled Tibet in 1959 and came to Sikkim where he spent two years at the Rumtek moastery then later travelled to a Tibetan refugee settlement in Shimla. Rinpoche received the highest Dzogchen teachings from Polu Khenpo Dorje, a direct disciple of Khenpo Ngakchung and in 2012 was appointed the head of the Nyingma tradition. He passed away in Bodh Gaya on 23 December 2015.
-Report filed by Department of Religion and Culture-