HE Thrangu Rinpoche IXth

This thangka shows Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Yongdzin Maway Senge, the ninth incarnation (‘Tulku’ in Tibetan) of that line who is my Root Guru. He displayed his passing into Parinirvana on 4th June 2023, the full moon day of the fourth Tibetan month, Saga Dawa. A short biography of Thrangu Rinpoche can be found here.

In this thangka, Thrangu Rinpoche is surrounded by the figures of the short Mahamudra lineage as practiced in the Karma Kagyü tradition. At the top left is the Indian Mahasiddha Tilopa who received the teachings directly from Buddha Vajradhara (top centre). His main disciple Naropa (top right) passed the instructions to the Tibetan translator Marpa (middle left), who in turn passed them to the greatly renowned yogi Milarepa (middle right). One of Milarepa’s main disciples was the “Physician-Monk” Gampopa (bottom left) who was the source of many of the lineages that comprise what has become known as the Kagyü tradition. His disciple Düsum Khyenpa (bottom right) became known as the first in the Karmapa lineage which continues to this day with the present 17th Karmapa Orgyen Trinley Dorje for whom Thrangu Rinpoche is also his precious guru. After Rinpoche’s passing, His Holiness Karmapa composed a very special Guru Yoga practice - Invoking Compassion Swiftly so that practitioners can continue to connect with Thrangu Rinpoche’s love, compassion, wisdom and skilful means.

The gurus in this thangka are also invoked in the Vajradhara Lineage Prayer (the Dorje Chang Tungma) which is available here.

I gratefully acknowledge the kindness of Chöje Lama Wangchuk, regent to Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, for his assistance in producing this thangka.