Kyabje Choden Rinpoche's Visit to CGC

Kyabje Choden Rinpoche will be visiting Chokyi Gyaltsen Centre (CGC) on 13th - 18th December 2010 (Monday - Saturday).

This is the 2nd year the highly-realised lama will be visiting CGC. Last year, Choden Rinpoche had mentioned that Cittamani Tara grants realisation faster than other deities, and that is why she is called Supreme.

It seems our good karma has ripened because Kyabje Choden Rinpoche has accepted our request and agreed to give us the Cittamani Tara Initiation plus commentary this year. This is a very rare opportunity to receive such a special initiation from the Great Master. So don’t miss out this opportunity because we may not know when our karma will get this chance again.

Cittamani Tara is a highest yoga tantra (HYT), so to receive the full initiation, one must have already received a HYT before. The commitment for taking the full initiation is to do the Cittamani Tara Guru Yoga sadhana/meditation prayer daily.

However, those who have not taken hyt, can still attend the initiation, only that they will receive blessings from Cittamani Tara.

For those who want to attend the Cittamani Tara Initiation, please register by contacting CGC's Spiritual Co-ordinator, Ms. Stephanie Teoh before Thursday, 09/12/2010.

Kyabje Choden Rinpoche will also give commentaries on Cittamani Tara Initiation over two days, which is fundamental in doing the practice properly. The 2 days commentary is only restricted to those who have taken Cittamani Tara Initiation, and made the commitment to do the daily practice of Cittamani Guru Yoga.

Below is the schedule of Kyabje Choden Rinpoche’s visit to CGC:

13/12/2010 (Monday) - Kyabje Choden Rinpoche is scheduled to arrive at CGC in the afternoon.

14/12/2010 (Tuesday) 7.30pm–10.30 pm - Cittamani Tara Initiation.

15/12/2010 (Wednesday) - REST DAY.

16/12/2010 (Thurday) 7.30pm–10.30 pm - Cittamani Tara Commentary – Day 1
** Restricted for those who have taken Cittamani Tara Initiation and made the commitment to do the daily practice of Cittamani Guru Yoga.

17/12/2010 (Friday) 7.30pm–10.30 pm - Cittamani Tara Commentary – Day 2
** Restricted for those who have taken Cittamani Tara Initiation and made the commitment to do the daily practice of Cittamani Guru Yoga.

18/12/2010 (Saturday) - Kyabje Choden Rinpoche leaving CGC.


Information on Kyabje Choden Rinpoche

Renowned as a great yogi, scholar and teacher of our fortunate times, Choden Rinpoche was born on a very auspicious day, 15 of Fourth Month of the lunar calendar in 1931. This day also marked the full moon day of Saka Dawa that commemorates Buddha Shakyamuni’s birth and enlightenment.

Choden Rinpoche is the reincarnation of the previous great Mahasiddha Lama Choden of Rongpo Rabten Monastery in Kham region who was then instructed by the Eleventh Dalai Lama to establish the 1000 Offering Puja of Buddha Namgyalma (a long life deity) and a debate system for learning the Buddhist Philosophy at his Monastery. Having completed only the first instruction, the Mahasiddha passed into the sphere of Dharma. Coincidentally, when the late Mahasiddha’s brother Gongpo Nyisher took on and established the debate system at the Monastery, on the very same auspicious day, Choden Rinpoche was incarnated.

Born as one of seven children in a noble family from Dahi, the Khampa region of Eastern Tibet, Rinpoche’s connections to past spiritual masters were evident from early childhood in his exemplary conduct and superior intelligence as well as in the miraculous signs often witnessed in his presence. Reting Rinpoche, the Regent of Tibet, officially recognized the small boy as the living reincarnation of the previous Mahasiddha Lama Choden, who had been one of the finalists in the search for the Thirteen Dalai Lama’s reincarnation.

At the age of seven, Rinpoche took novice ordination from His Holiness Pabongka Rinpoche who named the child Losang Gyalten Jikdrel Wangchuk. Rinpoche traveled to Central Tibet at the age of seventeen and enrolled in Sera Je Monastery where he was trained in the Five Canons of Buddhist philosophy. While mastering this twenty-five year course of study, Rinpoche became an outstanding student of His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche and His Holiness Pabongka Rinpoche as well as numerous other prominent lamas. Under their tutelage, he received empowerments, oral transmissions and personal instruction. He was given complete pith instructions and ear-whispered transmissions as well, which led him to an internalized understanding of the teachings. By virtue of this lengthy apprenticeship with many renowned lineage masters, Rinpoche mastered the Five Canons and earned the title Pandita.

During the 60s, Rinpoche undertook a solitary retreat, relying on the metok chuelen practice for sustenance. Rinpoche states unequivocally that his productive practice, his accumulation of merit and his accomplishment of clarity of mind are directly attributable to his metok chuelen practice. In 1985, Rinpoche left Tibet, traveling through Nepal to India. In Dharamsala, as his paramount wish, Rinpoche finally met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama: it was as if he had met with Buddha Shakyamuni himself.

Rinpoche spent twenty years of his youth studying Buddhist logic, the Perfection of Wisdom sutras, Middle Way philosophy, Treasury of Knowledge treatises, and monastic code and conduct at Sera Je Monastery. Subsequently, he dedicated another two decades to contemplation, meditating on the Five Canons in order to internalize the teachings. Most recently, he has devoted a third span of twenty years to teaching in South India and worldwide, and at the FPMT Centers at Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s request.

Kyabje Choden Rinpoche is regarded as one of the great masters of our day, and is particularly famed for his pure moral conduct. His great insights in the dharma and his peerless and compassionate conduct have inspired many students in the West to follow on his example to take ordination vows.