Duojie jueba 多杰覺拔

Dorjé Chöpa (Duōjié juébá 多杰覺拔) (1874-19??)

Accurate Tibetan name: Rdo rje gcod pa Alternate Names[1]: Usually known as Dorjé Chöpa Geshé (Duōjié juébá gèxī 多杰覺拔格西), also Dorje Tsripa Gegen (as he is known in Welch, Holmes. The Buddhist Revival in China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968.), Rdo rje rtis/rtis pa dge dgen, Born 1874 Died 19??

Notable Associates: The Ninth Panchen Lama 班禪

Article editor: Erik Hammerstrom

Dorjé Chöpa (Duōjié juébá 多杰覺拔) (1874-19??) was the first fully ordained Tibetan monk to teach Chinese students about Tibetan Buddhism in the Republican period.

Biography

Dorjé Chöpa trained at Drepung Monastery for two decades and earned his was a Geshé (Tib. dge bshes, Ch. gèxī 格西) degree there. He lived in Mongolia and made five trips to Mt. Wǔtái 五台山 in the first decades of the 20th century. Dorjé Chöpa moved to Běijīng 北京 in 1925 after the ninth Panchen Lama 班禪 relocated there.

In Běijīng, Dorjé Chöpa became acquainted with Dàyǒng 大勇 and began teaching him and his students at the Buddhist Tibetan Language College 藏文學院. That same year, the school closed when Dàyǒng, inspired by Dorjé Chöpa, turned the College into the Residing-in-Tibet Dharma Studies Group 留藏學法團 and departed for Tibet. After this, Dorjé Chöpa traveled to Hángzhōu 杭州, where he taught Tibetan Buddhism and gave initiations.

The following year he traveled to Hànkǒu 漢口 and started the Tantrayana Study Society 密乘學會 in Wǔchāng 武昌.

Notable Students

• Dàyǒng 大勇
• Dàgāng 大綱
• Fǎzūn 法尊
• Fǎfǎng 法舫
• Guānkōng 觀空
• Yándìng 嚴定

Notes

1. ↑ Various back-transliterations have been made into Tibetan from this Lama's Chinese Name. See Tuttle, 265-266f.53.

References

• Tuttle, Gray. Tibetan Buddhism and the Making of Modern China. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. Pp. 84-85.