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Venerable
Ribur Rinpoche
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Ribur
Rinpoche was born in the Kham region of Tibet in 1923, and was
recognized by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of
the head lama of Ribur Monastery. After studying at Sera Me
monastery, where he received numerous teachings from his root
guru, Pabongka Rinpoche, Rinpoche received his geshe degree in
1948. Rinpoche was then confined in Lhasa from 1959 until 1976,
during which time he experienced relentless interrogation and
torture during thirty-five of the infamous struggle sessions.
"If I told you what happened on a regular basis, you would
find it hard to believe."
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At
the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, Ribur Rinpoche spent
more than 10 years in Chinese labor camps and was given a job
with the Religious Affairs Office in Tibet. On one of his trips
to China, he worked with the Panchen Lama and recovered holy
objects – including the famous Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the
Ramoche temple – that had been dismantled and shipped to
China. He also re-established the destroyed stupa of Lama Tsong
Khapa, which contained some of Lama Tsong Khapa's bodily relics.
After his exile to India in
1985, Ribur Rinpoche wrote numerous biographies of great lamas
such as the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and an extensive history of
Tibet, which includes his autobiography. He spent the last years
of his life in northern California where he gave teachings and
led retreats.
To download a copy of
Rinpoche’s returning prayer, please go to the following
address:
http://www.fpmt.org/teachers/ribur/return_prayer.asp
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