Khenpo Gangshar Wangpo (Tib. མཁན་པོ་གང་ཤར་དབང་པོ་, Wyl. mkhan po gang shar dbang po) (b. 1925) - a renowned master of the 'crazy wisdom' approach, who was connected with Shechen Monastery. He was the root teacher of both Chögyam Trungpa and Thrangu Rinpoche, and also one of Dezhung Rinpoche's teachers. For a while it was thought that he died in prison between 1958 and 196, but it has also been reported that he in fact survived 22 years of imprisonment, and passed away in 1980/1, before any of his former students could contact him. His writings include: A Song to Introduce the Unmistaken View of the Great Perfection, Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet: Instructions to Guide You on the Profound Path, and Vomiting Gold. (Source Accessed July 28, 2020)
Library Items
Vivid Awareness
In the summer of 1957, the revered Buddhist teacher and scholar Khenpo Gangshar foresaw the difficulties that would soon fall upon Tibet and began teaching in a startling new way that enabled all those who heard him to use the coming difficulties as the path of Dharma practice. The teaching consisted of the essential points of mahamudra and dzogchen, both view and practice, presented in a way that made them easy for anyone to use, even in the most difficult of circumstances.
Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche was one of the grateful recipients of these teachings, which he regards as among the most important he has ever been given. He transmits them here, for the benefit of all of us who strive to practice in challenging times. They include contemplations on the ephemeral nature of both joy and suffering, meditations for resting the mind, and guidance for cultivating equanimity in any situation. (Source: Shambhala Publications)
Thrangu Rinpoche. Vivid Awareness: The Mind Instructions of Khenpo Gangshar. Translated and edited by David Karma Choephel. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2011.
Thrangu Rinpoche. Vivid Awareness: The Mind Instructions of Khenpo Gangshar. Translated and edited by David Karma Choephel. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2011.;Vivid Awareness;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Tibetan Buddhism;Thrangu Rinpoche;ཁྲ་འགུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་;Khra 'gu rin po che;Karma blo gros chos dpal bzang po;Khra 'gu sprul sku, 9th;Karma-blo-gros-chos-dpal-bzaṅ-po, Khra-'gu sPrul-sku IX;Khra-'gu sPrul-sku IX;Khra 'gu sprul sku 09;Trangu Rinpoche;Very Venerable Ninth Khenchen Thrangu Tulku, Karma Lodrö Lungrik Maway Senge;Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche; David Karma Choephel;Vivid Awareness: The Mind Instructions of Khenpo Gangshar;Mkhan po gang shar
Khenpo Gangshar: Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet: Instructions to Guide You on the Profound Path
Thrangu Rinpoche met Khenpo Gangshar in the summer of 1957 when Khenpo Gangshar went to Thrangu Monastery in eastern Tibet. While there, Khenpo Gangshar gave these instructions, which are a distillation of the essential points ofthe practices of both mahamudra and dzogchen. Later they were written down, first in a very short form and then as the slightly longer text known as "Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet." What makes them so beneficial for our time is that Khenpo Gangshar presents them in a way that is easy for anyone to understand and put into practice. (Source: Vivid Awareness, Translator's Introduction, pp. IX-X)
Zab lam khrid kyi man ngag 'phrad tshad rang grol;Dzogchen;Mahamudra;Khenpo Gangshar;མཁན་པོ་གང་ཤར་;mkhan po gang shar;gang shar dbang po;gang shar dbang po 'jigs med phyogs las rnam rgyal;གང་ཤར་དབང་པོ་འཇིགས་མེད་ཕྱོགས་ལས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་;གང་ཤར་རང་གྲོལ་དབང་པོ་;Khenpo Gangshar Wangpo;Khenpo Gangshar Rangdrol Wangpo;zab lam khrid kyi man ngag 'phrad tshad rang grol;ཟབ་ལམ་ཁྲིད་ཀྱི་མན་ངག་འཕྲད་ཚད་རང་གྲོལ།;ཟབ་ལམ་ཁྲིད་ཀྱི་མན་ངག་འཕྲད་ཚད་རང་གྲོལ།
On the topic of this person
Presenting a Controversial Doctrine in a Conciliatory Way: Mkhan chen Gang shar dbang po's (1925–1958-59?) Inclusion of Gzhan stong ("Emptiness of Other") within Prāsaṅgika
In . . . "Presenting a Controversial Doctrine in a Conciliatory Way: Mkhan-chen Gang-shar dbang-po’s (1925-1958/59?) Inclusion of Gzhan-stong ('Emptiness of Other') within Prāsaṅgika," I investigate the gzhan stong position of an influential rNying-ma-pa thinker, a learned master from Zhe-chen Monastery, who was among other things, a highly esteemed teacher of Thrangu Rinpoche, and thus influential in the latter's own understanding of gzhan stong. Unlike Dol-po-pa or Shākya-mchog-ldan, mKhan-po Gang-shar does not present his gzhan stong against the backdrop of the three natures theory, but rather elucidates the distinction he makes between rang stong and gzhan stong within a Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka framework. In a way similar to Klong-chen-pa, Gang-shar insists that everything from material form up to omniscience is rang stong only. This is when the two truths are presented as
appearance and emptiness in terms of valid cognition that analyzes for the ultimate abiding nature. In the context of a conventional valid cognition, however, which analyzes for the mode of appearances (i.e., perception), the two truths are defined in terms of the way things appear versus the way they truly are. When the abiding nature is perceived as it truly is, there is still awareness, albeit in a form beyond the duality of ordinary perception. For Gang shar it is only in this phenomenological sense that the rang stong of samsara and gzhan stong of nirvāṇa need to be distinguished. (Mathes, "Introduction: The History of the Rang stong/Gzhan stong Distinction," 7)
Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. "Presenting a Controversial Doctrine in a Conciliatory Way: Mkhan chen Gang shar dbang po's (1925–1958/59?) Inclusion of Gzhan stong ("Emptiness of Other") within Prāsaṅgika." Journal of Buddhist Philosophy 2, no. 1 (2016): 114–31.
Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. "Presenting a Controversial Doctrine in a Conciliatory Way: Mkhan chen Gang shar dbang po's (1925–1958/59?) Inclusion of Gzhan stong ("Emptiness of Other") within Prāsaṅgika." Journal of Buddhist Philosophy 2, no. 1 (2016): 114–31.;Presenting a Controversial Doctrine in a Conciliatory Way: Mkhan chen Gang shar dbang po's (1925–1958-59?) Inclusion of Gzhan stong ("Emptiness of Other") within Prāsaṅgika;gzhan stong;Mkhan po gang shar;Klaus-Dieter Mathes; 
Other names
- གང་ཤར་དབང་པོ་འཇིགས་མེད་ཕྱོགས་ལས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་ · other names (Tibetan)
- གང་ཤར་རང་གྲོལ་དབང་པོ་ · other names (Tibetan)
- gang shar dbang po · other names (Wylie)
- gang shar dbang po 'jigs med phyogs las rnam rgyal · other names (Wylie)
- Khenpo Gangshar · other names
- Khenpo Gangshar Wangpo · other names
- Khenpo Gangshar Rangdrol Wangpo · other names
Affiliations & relations
- Nyingma · religious affiliation
- Kagyu · religious affiliation
- Jamgön Kongtrül, 2nd · teacher
- Trungpa, Chogyam · student
- Thrangu Rinpoche · student
- chos kyi rgya mtsho · student
- o rgyan bstan 'dzin · student
- thub bstan brtson 'grus · student
- karma mthar phyin · student
