Ritrö Rechen Sangyé Sengé

རི་ཁྲོད་རས་ཆེན་སངས་རྒྱས་སེང་གེ

ri khrod ras chen sangs rgyas seng+ge

Ritrö Rechen Sangyé Sengé was born in Eastern Tibet, the oldest of five children, into a very virtuous family who lived in the mountains practicing yoga.
He took the vows at the age of nine and was given the name Ritrö Rechen by Sengé Dra. He received instructions from Sengé Dra and was able to practice them in his dreams. Ritrö Rechen spent time in retreat in the plains below the village and by the age of twelve could teach the transmission of the Hevajra Tantra. At the age of eighteen, he gave commentaries on Engaging in the Bodhisattva’s Path and knew the Prajnaparamita teachings by heart. At nineteen he spent about a year in Tshurpu practicing Chö and studied the Sakya branch of buddhism with the 6th Kenchen Abbot. When he was twenty-eight, he expounded on the commentaries and traveled to many monasteries throughout Tibet.

Ritrö Rechen met the great Shangpa adept Khyungpo Tsültrim Gönpo and practiced the Six Yogas of Niguma under his guidance. After six years of practice, he asked for further meditation instructions and Khyungpo Tsültrim Gönpo granted his request and gave him many more teachings.
Later, he presented himself to Lama Shönu Drub who gave him the responsibility for the Shangpa lineage.

Ritrö Rechen took over Dechen monastery and maintained the teachings there before he passed away at the age of sixty-nine. During his passing the sky was filled with a rain of flowers and rainbows were seen above.

Ritrö Rechen is the third of the Later Seven Jewels of the Shangpa Kagyü.

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Adapted from: ras chen sangs rgyas senge’i rnam thar, shangs chos, vol. 1, pp. 617-640. (translation from Tibetan by Lama Shérab Drimé)

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