(Barcroftmedia, Nov. 2011)
Former Boston school boy, 11-year-old Jigme Wangchuck, whose new name is Galwa Lorepa, was discovered two years ago to be the reincarnation of Galwa Lorepa, the high priest and founder of one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Jigme claims to have realized his future destiny after a dream about his previous life. He will spend the next ten years studying at the Dali Monastery. His mother Dechen Martsa, father Choesang Martsa, and his sister Norzom Martsa moved from their US home to live nearby (link).
In 2009 an 11-year-old American schoolboy was anointed the head of a Buddhist sect in Darjeeling, India, as the reincarnation of a high-ranking lama who died more than 750 years ago.
Jigme Wangchuk, a 5th grade student of St Peter’s School in Boston, will be known as His Holiness (HH) the Second Galwa Lorepa, head of the Drukpa sect. The first Galwa Lorepa died in 1250 in Tibet.
The US-born Wangchuk -- now revered by hundred of thousands of followers in Nepal, Bhutan, and Ladakh (Buddhist India) as the rinpoche (high priest) of the Drukpa Sangag Choeling Monastery in Darjeeling -- told HT at the monastery:
“It’s a big transition. I do miss being a cheerful schoolboy. I miss my home, my grandparents, aunts and uncles. However, being a rinpoche is a great honor.” More
