A couple of days ago I read on a Facebook friend, Niraj Kumar's post that Captain Sonam Yongda. who had been Captain of the ADC of the 12th King of Sikkim, Palden Thondup Namgyal had passed away on 4th April 2026. He was also a witness to Sikkim’s transition in 1975, passed away on April… Continue reading Captain from the Golden Sikkim Era: the passing of Captain Sonam Yongda (age 90) and a personal meeting in Bhutan 2022
Tag: sikkim
“UNCHANGING BLISS-EMPTINESS”: New website section on H.E. 9th Gyalton Rinpoche
Happy to announce another new website section (created a few weeks ago) for articles and translations connected to HE 9th Khyungpo Gyalton Rinpoche (whom I first personally met in May 2025 in Hanoi, Vietnam) and whose teachings I then also attended in Taiwan and Europe: https://dakinitranslations.com/khyungpo-gyalton-rinpoche/ According to the Palpung Sherab Ling biography: "The previous… Continue reading “UNCHANGING BLISS-EMPTINESS”: New website section on H.E. 9th Gyalton Rinpoche
Sign The Petition: Support Karmapa’s Return To Sikkim
The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje is recognised by the vast majority of Karma Kagyu teachers, monastics, laypeople in Tibet and in exile. Yet, despite the 17th Karmapa taking the hazardous risk of leaving in year 2000 the Karmapa's main seat, Tsurphu Monastery, Tibet (where he was enthroned by the two main Karma Kagyu… Continue reading Sign The Petition: Support Karmapa’s Return To Sikkim
A BIRTHDAY PRAISE AND A BLESSED REUNION OF TWO RED-HAT ‘HEART SONS’. 71st Birthday poem to Kenting Tai Situpa by 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, and historic meeting after many years of Tai Situpa and Gyeltsab Rinpoche and visit to Sikkim
May the cooling camphor droplets of benefit and well-being drip down, and སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཚ་གདུང་མ་ལུས་རབ་འཇིལ་བའི། ། Eliminate completely without exception heated suffering, སྔོན་མེད་དམ་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བསིལ་ངད་ཀྱིས། ། May the cooling of the unprecedented sacred Dharma, ལན་གཅིག་མིན་པར་འགྲོ་རྣམས་བརླན་པར་མཛོད། ། making all beings moist, not only once! --Lines from the 17th Karmapa's new praise to 12th Tai Situpa (February 2024) On the 17th… Continue reading A BIRTHDAY PRAISE AND A BLESSED REUNION OF TWO RED-HAT ‘HEART SONS’. 71st Birthday poem to Kenting Tai Situpa by 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, and historic meeting after many years of Tai Situpa and Gyeltsab Rinpoche and visit to Sikkim
Part III: The private quarters and sacred ritual items of Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro and Khandro Tsering Chodron
Here is Part III of my Dharma pilgrimage travelogue series on Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro and the places in Sikkim he is connected to. On Guru Rinpoche day, the 10th day of the lunar month, 5th January 2020, I paid another visit to the Royal Palace, Gangtok (having visited there a few days prior, see… Continue reading Part III: The private quarters and sacred ritual items of Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro and Khandro Tsering Chodron
Part I: Images on the Sikkimese trail of Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro
As part of my own personal pilgrimage and research interest in the great Tibetan Buddhist master, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and his later incarnation, Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro (1893-1959), am writing a short series of posts of the places he stayed at in Sikkim during my visit on the Sikkimese New Year Day (Losum) 27th December… Continue reading Part I: Images on the Sikkimese trail of Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro