Gangteng Monastery - Throne Holders of Gangteng

Throne Holders of Gangteng

The nine 'Successive Throne Holders of Gangteng Monastery' starting with Gyalsé Pema Thinley to the present Kunzang Rigdzin Pema Namgyal, are listed below.

1. Gyalsé Pema Thinley (རྒྱལ་སྲས་པདྨ་ཕྲིན་ལས) — (1564–1642). He was the grand son of the famous Tarton Pema Lingpa. He built the Gonpa in 1613 and was the first Trilku or religious leader of the monastery.
2. Tenzin Legpé Döndrup (བསྟན་འཛིན་ལེགས་པའི་དོན་གྲུབ) — (1645–1727). He succeeded Gyalsé Pema Thinley, as the second Trilku and was responsible for enlarging the monastery substantially. He built it when he was 59 years old. It was built aesthetically like a Dzong or fortress with help of divine forces, as also local people.
3. Kunzang Thinley Namgyal (ཀུན་བཟང་ཕྲིན་ལས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ) — (1727–1758). He was made the third Trilku when he was very young and he was very accomplished in the canonical texts (Kanjur), Nyingma Lineage Teachings (Nyingma Gyudbum). However, he died at an young age of 32.
4. Tenzin Sizhi Namgyal (བསྟན་འཛིན་སྲིད་ཞི་རྣམ་རྒྱལ) — (1759–1790). He was the fourth Trilku. He was proficient in all the rituals, teachings and dances of the Palden Drukpa tradition, which are observed even now at the Gangteng Gönpa. He died at an young age of 31.
5. Ugyen Gelek Namgyal (ཨོ་རྒྱན་དགེ་ལེགས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ) — (1791–1840). As the fifth Trilku, he acquired complete knowledge of the sutras, tantra and grammar from the 6th Peling Sungtrul who was then a renowned master. He taught the Buddha Dharma extensively to a large group of monks. He died at the age of 49.
6. Tenpai Nyima (བསྟན་པའི་ཉི་མ) — (1838–1874). He was the sixth Trilku and he belonged to Dungkar Chöje family while his younger brother belonged to the lineage of the Bönbi Chöje of Mangde in Trongsa. He perfected several dance forms for the Dungkar Tsechu dance festival, which is even now linked to Dungkar Chöje. He was also instrumental in finding religious treasures in eastern Bhutan. He introduced many innovations in the annual tradition of performing Tsechu rituals and mask dances at the Gangteng Gönpa.
7. Tenpai Nyinjé (བསྟན་པའི་ཉིན་བྱེད) — (1875–1905). He became the seventh Trulku of the Gonpa at an young age and was tutored in advance Buddhist scriptures by masters in the field. He diverted all the gifts and donations he received for improving the monastery. He was responsible for fixing a gilded spire on the central tower (Utse) of the monastery. He was also responsible for adding many treasures and freshly painted frescoes to the Gonpa. When the monastery was damaged by an earthquake, he and his brothers tirelessly and with all their resources restored the Gonpa to a better state. He died at an young age of 30.
8. Ugyen Thinley Dorji (ཨོ་རྒྱན་ཕྲིན་ལས་རྡོ་རྗེ) — (1906–1949). He was the son of Thimphu Dzongpon Kunzang Thinley and belonged to the Peling and the Nyö lineages. He was enthroned as the eight Trulku of the Gonpa at a young age. He introduced the practice of wearing the national dress gho among his disciples. He succeeded his father as the Thimphu Dzongpon. During this tenure, he constrcuted the Guru Lhakhang in Thimphu. He died in 1949 at Wangdue Phodrong. However, his body was cremated in Gangteng Gonpa.
9. Kunzang Rigdzin Pema Namgyal (རིག་འཛིན་པདྨ་རྣམ་རྒྱལ) — (b.1955). He is the ninth Trilku of the Gonpa. He has royal lineage; his father belonged to the Bönbi Chöje: while his mother belonged to the Tibetan King Trisong Deutsen's lineage. He is western educated and stated to be the reincarnation of the mind of Pema Lingpa. His specialization and lineage are also in the spiritual orders of the Nyingma and Kargyu traditions. In addition to Gangteng Monastery, he is in charge of 35 other monasteries, temples, hermitages and universities in Bhutan. A study and meditation centre for women and girls, the first of its kind in Bhutan, is also to his credit. He has disciples throughout the Himalayan countries, India, Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.