Guru Vajradhara His Holiness Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa, popularly known as His
Holiness Kenting Tai Situ Rinpoche is proclaimed in number of sacred texts as the
incarnation of Bodhisattva Maitreya in Tushita Heaven who was crowned as the future
Buddha by Buddha Sakyamuni when he descended to the Earth in 623 BC, as well as
subsequent incarnations as Guru Padmasambhava.
In 1012 AD His Holiness was born in Tibet as Marpa the Great, the Enlightened
Translator who introduced sacred Kagyu lineage from India. The lineage was continued
by his disciple Milarepa, passed onto Gampopa and then Gampo Tsultrim Nyingpo who
was an incarnation of Marpa. In 1148, Marpa incarnated as the first Situ Drogon
Rechen. In 1407 the enlightened Chokyi Gyaltsen received the title (ཀྭན་ཏིང་དབེན་ཐོང་མེའུ་ཙི་གོ་སཱི།) "Kuan Ting Yuan Thong Miao Tsi Guo Shi."
In 1727 His Holiness the 8th Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa the Great, popularly known
as Situ Panchen founded the Mount of Excellence, a non-sectarian, multidisciplinary
Palpung Institution which he established as Palpung Monastic Seat.
As the Supreme Head of Palpung Monastic Seat, His Holiness Chamgon Kenting Tai
Situpa oversees 180 monasteries of Kagyu lineage, 300 Bon and Buddhist monasteries,
over 1000 affiliated branch temples and eighteen monastic estates throughout Tibet.
The current Guru Vajradhara His Holiness Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa was born to a
farming and nomadic dual family in the east Tibetan Kingdom of Dege in 1954. He was
enthroned to the Palpung Monastic Seat shortly afterwards.
In 1959 at age of 5 he was brought to safety by senior lamas of the Palpung Monastic
Seat to the Kingdom of Bhutan and then to India following His Holiness the 14th Dalai
Lama to take refuge.
Until 22 years of age, He grew up in Sikkim, Bhutan and West Bengal. He received
ordinations from His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa and from a great number of
eminent masters. During the time, he received the entirety of basic and advanced
studies and transmissions.
In 1976 at age of 23, Guru Vajradhara H.H. Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa established
the Palpung Sherabling Monastic Seat in Himachal Pradesh, India where he trains,
educates, ordains and transmits precious teachings to the next generation of Buddhist
Masters of present and future time across and beyond all denominations and ethnicity
to this very day.
In 1984 Guru Vajradhara H.H. Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa founded the Maitreya
institute dedicated to interfaith and interdisciplinary harmony based on love, kindness,
compassion and wisdom through exchanges and exposure.
He Holiness has great concerns for the disharmony among people, religion, ideology
throughout the world and environmental degradation. He initiated a program “Pilgrimage
for ACTIVE PEACE - ONE WORLD - ONE HUMANITY” where he embarked on a
world-wise journey in 1989. Pilgrimage for ACTIVE PEACE - ONE WORLD - ONE
HUMANITY celebrated its silver jubilee in 2014.
His Holiness is a great scholar, philosopher, poet, artist, architect and geomancer. He is
the author of more than 20 books in English. His compilation in Tibetan language
reaches over 200 volumes and his writing reaches over 15 volumes to date.
He continues to teach and transmit the sacred lineage of Dharma to disciples from all
over the world diligently and tirelessly.
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