10. In Memory of Two Khandrolas: Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche’s Visit to Sikkim (2005)

(20 min. 2022) Sikkim Ritual Video Archive Project, NIT Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910-1991), one of the greatest realized masters of the 20th century, was tutor to the 14th Dalai Lama and to the Bhutanese Royal Family. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was reborn in 1993 in Nepal and is now known as Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche. In 2005, Yangsi Rinpoche visited Sikkim for the first time to pay his respects to the Kudung (reliquary) of his predecessor’s teacher, Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (1894-1959), one of the greatest masters to have emerged from Tibet. In the course of his visit, Yangsi Rinpoche meets three revered Buddhist figures who greatly marked the religious life of Sikkim in the second half of the 20th century: Dodrubchen Rinpoche (1927-2022), Khandrola Tsering Choden (1929-2011) and Khandrola Pema Dechen (1923-2006). This short film is both a record of Yangsi Rinpoche’s 2005 visit and that of the revered Buddhist figures he met on the occasion. Cinematography: Dawa T. Lepcha Editing: Phurba Tshering Bhutia Anthropologist and Project Coordinator: Dr Anna Balikci-Denjongpa Produced by the Director, Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok, Sikkim, India With the financial assistance of the Ministry of Culture, Govt of India