1. Thubten Yeshe was a Tibetan lama who, while exiled in Nepal, co-founded Kopan Monastery and the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition.
10 Facts About Thubten Yeshe
1. 2.
Thubten Yeshe followed the Gelug tradition, and was considered unconventional in his teaching style.
3.
Lama Yeshe was born near the Tibetan town of Tolung Dechen, and was sent to Sera Monastery in Lhasa at the age of six.
4.
Thubten Yeshe received full ordination at the age of 28 from Kyabje Ling Rinpoche.
5.
Jeffrey Paine reports that Lama Thubten Yeshe deliberately refused to complete his geshe degree, despite having studied for it:.
6.
In 1965 Lama Thubten Yeshe began teaching Western students, beginning with Zina Rachevsky, who sought him out at the Ghum Monastery in Darjeeling.
7.
In 1977 - 1978 Lama Thubten Yeshe taught at University of California Santa Cruz.
8.
Thubten Yeshe's books include Introduction to Tantra, Wisdom Energy, The Bliss of Inner Fire, Becoming Vajrasattva: The Tantric Path of Purification, When the Chocolate Runs Out, and Becoming the Compassion Buddha, all of which are available from Wisdom Publications.
9.
In 1974 Lama Thubten Yeshe entered into a celibate marriage with an Australian disciple, apparently for the purpose of obtaining an Australian passport which, it was thought, might have allowed him to visit Tibet.
10.
Lama Thubten Yeshe died 20 minutes before dawn on the first day of Losar, the Tibetan New Year, and was cremated at the Vajrapani Institute in Boulder Creek, California, where there is a stupa honoring him.