The Great Collector of the Kangyur and Tangyur

Next in the line of Dorje Shugden’s previous incarnations is the prolific scholar Butön Rinchen Drub from Zhalu Monastery. He was born in western Tibet in the same area where Tashi Lhunpo Monastery would later be built.

As a child, Butön Rinchen Drub displayed all the extraordinary behavior of a high incarnated Lama. He was particularly noted for being able to perceive the holy face of Manjushri directly and to engage in conversation with him.

As a young man, Butön Rinchen Drub learned the ancient Sanskrit language with relative ease. From the time he began his education as a very young boy, he had a string of great masters as his tutors.

At the age of 18, he took ordination from the Abbot Rinchen Senge Pel, Sri Singharatna and Master Tseme Kyebu. He had numerous other teachers who were the greatest masters and Abbots of his time, and under their tutelage, he studied and mastered the breadth and width of Sutra and Tantra, thereby establishing himself as a learned scholar. After completing his studies, Butön Rinchen Drub began to translate sacred Sanskrit texts and correct many existing translations. Slowly, he also became well known as a Lama.

Butön Rinchen Drub embarked on the ambitious project of compiling 500 years’ worth of translated teachings into the encyclopaedic Kangyur and Tangyur collections. These comprise the spoken teachings of Lord Buddha and the written commentaries by Buddha’s spiritual heirs. He did this because many of the great Buddhist centers of learning in India were destroyed during the onslaught of the Muslim invasion.

The remaining translations and various surviving scriptures were all that was left for Buddhism to survive on in Tibet. Butön Rinchen Drub’s contribution by compiling these translations was therefore a most monumental one which helped to preserve and propagate the teachings throughout Tibet. In addition to this, Butön Rinchen Drub also composed 26 prolific volumes of commentaries in the course of his life.

His Kangyur and Tangyur collections have become well-known by all the schools of Buddhism in Tibet, and continue to serve as an excellent reference for the vast breadth of Lord Buddha’s teachings. Along with his many accomplished disciples, this is the amazing legacy Butön Rinchen Drub left behind when he passed into clear light at his home in Zhalu Monastery.