Lochen Dharmashri
Khenpo Shenga, Shenpen Chökyi Nangwa (Tib: mkhan po gzhan dga'; gzhan phan chos kyi snang ba) 1871-1927
The renowned scholar and adept Khenpo Shenga was the reincarnation of Gyalsé Shenpen Thayé, an influential Nyingma master of the early 19th century associated with the Longchen Nyingthik teachings and Dzogchen monastery. His predecessor's works greatly impacted Nyingma study and practice. Shenpen Thayé founded Dzogchen Monastery's Sri Singha Monastic College, a famed center of Nyingma scholarship. He helped establish an emphasis on monastic discipline within the Nyingma, which has historically been less grounded in monasticism than Tibet's other three lineages. He also gathered the Kama teachings, the Nyingma lineage's canonical scriptures, into one collection. Khenpo Shenga followed in his predecessor's footsteps by further strengthening the Nyingmapa traditions of scholarship and monastic discipline.
Khenpo Shenga’s main achievement was the large body of commentarial literature he composed. His most important works concern the Thirteen Great Treatises, texts composed by Indian Buddhist masters concerning core Buddhist topics, from the Vinaya to Madhyamaka. These treatises comprise the main curriculum of Nyingma monastic colleges. Khenpo Shenga's commentaries on these texts remain amongst the most widely studied texts in these institutions.
Literary Works
Main Teachers
Main Students
- Tai Situ Pema Wangchok Gyalpo
- Khenpo Jamgyal
- Khenpo Lhagyal
- Pathur Khenpo Thubten Chöpel
- Khenpo Tsewang Rigdzin
- Khenpo Yonten Gonpo