Thubten Nima
Biography of Konchok Thubten Nima
(Ven. Lama Gape)
(continued)
At Drikung Thil, Lama Gape studied with the very venerable Drupon Tenzin Nyima and received some of the most profound teachings of the Drikung Kagyu linage, including the Fivefold Mahamudra and the Six Yogas [of Naropa]. He studied the Gong Chig (Single Intention), Essence of Mahayana, The Bodhisattva Way of Life, and the Thirty-Seven Bodhisattva Practices with Drikung Khenpo Namzig.
Under the elder Drikung Chantmaster Konchok Samten, he trained in the ritual practices of Chakrasamvara, Varahi, the Yangzab, Sarvavid and Akshobhya. Lama Gape also received empowerment, teachings and pith instruction on the Yamantaka practice from the great Yanga Rinpoche.
Thereafter, H.E. Garchen Rinpoche asked Lama Gape to undertake a series of assignments to help reorganize and reestablish Buddhist practice and monastic discipline in monasteries throughout the region – after, in some cases, a twenty-five year breach in the Buddhist practice tradition.
Some of the monasteries Lama Gape helped reestablish include: Hlo Miyel Monastery, Khargo Monastery and later Tseri Monastery in Sichuan -- where he reestablished the Great Accomplishment (Drupchen) practice of Yamantaka and gave other teachings.
He next served (again at the request of H.E. Garchen Rinpoche) as Lama (religious teacher and minister) for two years at Tamgo Monastery in Central Tibet, the former dwelling place of Chung Dorje Dragpa -- the fourth lineage holder of the Drikung Kagyu.
There Lama Gape established the summer retreat, set up a yearly teaching schedule and appointed a chant master, disciplinarian and shrine master. Subsequently, at Gar Monastery, Lama Gape took responsibility for instructing the nuns at the Fivefold Mahamudra Meditation Center of Gargon Nunnery.
In the year 2000 Lama Gape went to India and received the complete Drikung Kagyu empowerments, transmissions and teachings during the Drikung Snake Year teachings. There he received teachings directly from His Holiness Chetsang Rinpoche, His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche, Drubwang Konchok Norbu Rinpoche, and many other high Lamas.
Thereafter, Lama Gape went to Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan. He then came to America to do a Yamantaka Retreat with H.E. Garchen Rinpoche. At present, he serves as a Resident Lama and Chant Master for the Garchen Institute in Arizona, as well as continuing to serve as Resident Lama for the Mercy and Treasure Buddhist Foundation (southern California).
H.E. Garchen Rinpoche has also requested Lama Gape to serve as Chant Master at all the Garchen Buddhist Dharma centers in the West. Click the "next" link below to see the letter H.E. Garchen Rinpoche wrote about Ven. Lama Gape.
