Lama Shenphen Rinpoche - What is a Lama Tongo

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition some beings having shown some specific abilities or behaviour are sometimes recognized from one life to another. According to the importance they had, the Wisdom they expressed and their different realizations they can be called Tulkus (meaning litterally "truth body", a sign of spiritual attainment of the beings having realized Bodhicitta and Emptiness, therefore being Bodhisattvas), or Yangsi (the one who comes back in the Samsara, an acknoledgement of knowing who the person was in his previous life, but not necesseraly that he was a realized master). The Lamas being recognized as Tulkus have the title Rinpoche (more about titles).

When a Lama of one specific monastery dies, a comitee is usually created to look after the rebirth of this Lama. The search can start soon after the death, or after one or two years. According to their own Wisdom, the people in charge of finding the rebirth of the Lama will ask more help from other Lamas, for prediction, signs, some time the approximate date and area of birth, as well as in some cases, the parents names and child name. All these elements restrain the number of candidates being the possible rebirth.

When one or more children are elligible for being the possible Tulku they usually pass a serie of tests, more observations are done, melongs or oracles can be requested to give their opinion, and finally to conclude a high Lama can be asked for confirmation. In the Gelugpa lineage His Holiness the Dalaï Lama is sometimes requested to perform a confirmation, although not always officially, and only in some specific cases, for higher Lamas, or Lamas connected specifically with His Holiness or having had a certain connection in their past lives.

After all tests are performed and there is no more doubt, the Tulku can be officially enthroned in his monastery. This is the first and very important step. It doesn't always occur immediately due to circomstances (the monastery is in Tibet and difficult to access due to Chinese invasion, the karma of the disciples isn't ripe, etc...). This official enthronement gives an official status to the Tulku, he can then be linked to a certain lineage. It is possible to know from which place he is coming, who he was in his life before, who is the responsible of the monastery, etc... as many elements who are important to define the guenuiness and seriousness of a recognition.

Finally if the Tulku is linked by his activities to a bigger monastery, or monastic university (such as Ganden, Drepung or Sera in the Gelugpa lineage), he can be given a seat in this monastery. A second enthronement can then follow the first one, in the khamtsen to which he belongs (a big monastery is divided in quarters, by geographical locations of origin of the monks). It is also possible that the enthronement is performed after this for the whole monastery, where all the monks would join. This third enthronement gives to the Tulku a seat in the monastery assemblies where all khamtsen are joining, it is more of a formality.

In the Tibetan tradition these two enthronement are very important. in the first one the monastery of origin is responsible and engages his name, in the second one, it is the administration of a quarter of a bigger monastery, therefore regrouping members of many different monasteries who engage their own responsibilities. Not well known in the West, this procedure usually follows these traditional steps, like a "certificate of authenticity".

Lama Shenphen Rinpoche was enthroned in Kharnang monastery of Tibet, and recognized by Jadrel Khamtsen of Sera-Jhe monastery (third in size).