Kundeling Monastery
Shree Choephel Kundeling Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Lhasa. It was established by Mehame Ghukoling Youngen’s father Lama Choedrub Dewal Doungen Rinpoche in 1663 AD; the building was renovated by the offspring’s of 8 grandfathers of Lisunkhu Youngens afterwards in 1951 AD. The head of the Monastery is known as the Kundeling Tagtsha Jetung Rimpoche, of which there have been thirteen since the Monastery's establishment.
The 13th Kundeling Tatsak Rinpoche
The recognition of the 13th Kundeling Tatsak Rinpoche is presently in dispute.
- Lobsang Yeshi Jampal Gyatso (born 1959 in Kolkata), who is not officially recognized by the Dalai Lama.
- Tenzin Chokyi Gyaltsen (born 1983 in Lhasa), officially recognized by the Dalai Lama in 1993. Presently he studies at Drepung Gomang Monastery in Mundgod, India.
Dorje Shugden controversy
The current Rinpoche of Kundeling Monastery, Lobsang Yeshe, who lives in South India, has filed a complaint against the Dalai Lama at the Indian High Court on the grounds of religious persecution. The lawyer Shree Sanjay Jain says:
- “It is certainly a case of religious discrimination in the sense that if within your sect of Religion you say that this particular Deity tought not to be worshipped, and those persons who are willing to worship him you are trying to excommunicate them from the main stream of Buddhism, then it is discrimination of the worst kind.”
The Tibetan Government in Exile accuse Lobsang Yeshe of being paid by the Chinese and state that he has visited China at least twice. He however denies working for the Chinese, but does confirm that he has Chinese friends and he praises the Chinese "for what they are doing In Tibet", claiming that if Tibetans who followed Dorje Shugden had to live under the Dalai Lama In Tibet, they "would have possibly been crucified". He has also made similar comparisons to that of the WSS about the treatment of Dorje Shugden practitioners and the treatment of Jews in 1930s Germany as well as religious apartheid.
Kundeling Monastery, most of whose members are based in India, is allied with the Dorje Shugden.
List of Rinpoches
- 1. Baso Je Chokyi Gyaltsen (first Rinpoche)
- 12. Lobsang Thupten Jigme Gyaltsen (died 1957)
- 13. Lobsang Yeshi Jampal Gyatso (born 1959 in Kolkata)
- 13. Tenzin Chokyi Gyaltsen(born 1983 in Lhasa)
