Dharma King Jigme Phuntsok (1933-2004)
The Larung Gar or Wuming Buddhist Institute at Serthar, Sichuan Province, China.
Khenpo Jigphun Rinpoche, a terton and great dzogchen master, was born in 1933 in the Dhok region of Kham in eastern Tibet. As a charismatic teacher, he was responsible for revitalizing Buddhism in Tibet and in 1980 established the renown Larung Gar Buddhist Institute at Serthar (also known as the Wuming or Five Vidyas Institute) in Sichuan Province in the valley called the Larong Gou at an altitude of 3,700 meters (12,136 feet). The Institute drew thousands of students from Tibet, China, and around the world. This Institute had as many as 10,000 students (including 4,000 nuns and 4,500 monks), making it one of the largest Buddhist monasteries in modern times. In 1987 Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok traveled to Wu-tai Shan (a sacred Buddhist mountain site in Shanxi Province, China and the Vajra Throne or Bodhimanda of Manjushri Bodhisattva) accompanied by several thousand of his disciples, where he taught the 37 Practices of the Boddhisattavas. During this trip he visited the Pachen Lama. At the request of the Panchen Lama, Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok also taught at the Tibetan Buddhist Institute in Beijing.