*** Hungkar Dorje will return to KU in May 2010. Watch for more details soon. ***
On November 20, 2008 the University of Kansas hosted a visit by the leader of the Tibetan charity partnering with the Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) on the grant. Hungkar Dorje, head of the Mayul Gesar Foundation for Virtuous Activity (also known as the Qinghai Gesar Foundation) met with CEAS faculty and gave a public talk at the Hall Center for the Humanities on education for Tibetans in China.
Eldest son of a prominent teacher in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, H.H. Orgyen Kusum Lingpa, Hungkar Dorje was born in Golok Qinghai in 1969. After receiving his initial education from his father and other noted teachers, he completed his formal study in Buddhist philosophy at Drepung Monastery in India from 1990-1994, graduating at the top of his class with the degree of Geshe (Doctor of Buddhist philosophy). Returning to Tibet to become abbot of Lung-non Thubten Chokor Ling, he currently oversees the training and education of over 1000 monks and nuns. There he created the Dharma Institute where lay yogis (ngagpas) participate in a nine-year advanced Buddhist training program. Besides founding the Gesar Foundation in 2004, in the same year he created the first annual ecumenical (rime) Gesar Festival, a local cultural celebration of Tibetan cultural hero, Gesar of Ling. This annual festival brings over ten thousand participants from all over Tibet to Hungkar Dorje’s monastery, and participants include the head monks and students from all sects of Tibetan Buddhism. His other activities include the construction of the “Great Stupa for World Peace” in 2005 and the establishment of the first Buddhist nunnery in Golok. He is the author of ten books including Tangkas in Golog: The Tangka Album of Lung-ngon Monastery (Beijing: 2001).
Hungkar Dorje’s public talk “Compassionate Activity: Tibetan Schools in China” focused on education for Tibetans referencing the three schools that he supervises: the monastic school and Dharma Institute and the newly-opened secular vocational school, which CEAS faculty will assist with curriculum development as described elsewhere on this website.
For a photo, see the link Tibet at KU.
