Like a Waking Dream

The Autobiography of Geshe Lhundub Sopa

Lhundub Sopa, Paul Donnelly

• Publisher: Wisdom Publications
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9780861713134
• eBook ISBN:
  9781614290360
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Biographies

Among the generation of elder Tibetan lamas who brought Tibetan Buddhism west in the latter half of the twentieth century, perhaps none has had a greater impact on the academic study of Buddhism than Geshe Lhundub Sopa. He has striven to preserve Tibetan religious culture through tireless work as a professor and religious figure, establishing a functioning Buddhist monastery in the West, organizing the Dalai Lama's visits to the U.S., and offering countless teachings across the country. But prior to his thirty-year career in the first ever academic Buddhist studies program in the United States - a position in which he oversaw the training of many among the seminal generation of American Buddhist studies scholars - Geshe Sopa was the son of peasant farmers, a novice monk in a rural monastery, a virtuoso scholar-monk at one of the prestigious central monasteries in Lhasa, and a survivor of the Tibetan uprising and perilous flight into exile in 1959.In Like a Waking Dream, Geshe Sopa frankly and observantly reflects on how his life in Tibet - a monastic life of yogic simplicity - shaped and prepared him for the unexpected. His is a tale of an exemplary life dedicated to learning, spiritual cultivation, and the service of others from one of the greatest living masters of Tibetan Buddhism.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Publisher’s Acknowledgment
• Title
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• Editor’s Preface
• Introduction: A Brief History of Tibet
• 1. Life in Tsang
• 2. Early Memories
• 3. The History of Ganden Chönkhor
• 4. The Beginning of My Life as a Monk
• 5. My Relative the Ritual Specialist
• 6. Living the Religious Life at Ganden Chönkhor
• 7. A Young Monk’s First Two Teachers
• 8. Daily Assemblies and Classes
• 9. Running Away from the Monastery
• 10. Completing One’s Basic Education
• 11. My Uncle and His Position in the Monastery
• 12. Sustenance in the Monastery
• 13. The Structure and Schedule of Education at Ganden Chönkhor
• 14. The System of Philosophical Education
• 15. The Status of Scholar Monks
• 16. The Education of Scholar Monks
• 17. My Teacher Gen Mönlam
• 18. Taking the Kālacakra Empowerment the First Time
• 19. Deciding to Go to Sera
• 20. Getting My Parents’ Permission
• 21. The Journey to Sera
• 22. History of Sera Monastery
• 23. Entry into Tsangpa Regional House and Sera Jé
• 24. Tri Rinpoché
• 25. Geshé Losang Chönden
• 26. Geshé Ngawang Riksal
• 27. Geshé Ngawang Gendün
• 28. Gen Lhündrup Thapkhé and the Pure Monastic Life
• 29. The Monastic Way of Life
• 30. The Disciplinarian’s Lecture
• 31. The Curriculum of Education at Sera Jé
• 32. Studying and Teaching at Sera Jé
• 33. The Structure of Debates at Sera
• 34. The Jang Winter Session
• 35. The Honor of Being Named Rikchung
• 36. The Higher Honor of Being Named Rikchen
• 37. The Different Grades of the Geshé Degree
• 38. The Conferring of the Geshé Degree
• 39. Gyümé and Gyütö Tantric Colleges
• 40. The Reting Affair and Other Troubles
• 41. Being Named Tutor
• 42. Finding Time for Practice
• 43. Phabongkha Rinpoché and His Legacy
• 44. Teachings from Other Great Lamas
• 45. Vajrayoginī Retreat at Phabongkha Labrang
• 46. What I Gained and Lost in Becoming a Tutor
• 47. The Dalai Lama Takes Power and the First Exile
• 48. Gen Lhündrup Thapkhé Is Appointed Abbot of Sera Jé
• 49. A Gradual Transformation
• 50. The Tenth Panchen Lama
• 51. Debating the Dalai Lama
• 52. The Tibetan Uprising of 1959
• 53. Deciding to Leave Sera
• 54. The Beginning of the Exile
• 55. A Brief Respite and the Long Journey out of Tibet
• 56. Arriving in India
• 57. Beginning Life as a Refugee
• 58. From Assam to Dalhousie
• 59. Learning to Live in Exile
• 60. Trying to Keep Tibetan Culture Alive
• 61. An Attempted Trip to Bhutan
• 62. A Letter from His Holiness
• 63. The Situation for Those Who Did Not Escape Tibet
• 64. Going to America
• 65. Our New Life in New Jersey
• 66. Beginning to Teach in America
• 67. Starting a Dharma Center
• 68. His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s First Visit to Madison
• 69. The First Kālacakra Empowerment in America
• 70. My Return to Tibet
• 71. Meeting the Panchen Lama and the Passing of Gen Thapkhé Rinpoché
• 72. The Recent Past
• 73. The Future
• Table of Tibetan Spellings
• Notes
• Glossary
• Select Bibliography
• Index