Spiritual rebirth

When faced with the choice of appointing a new director of Bloomington's Tibetan Cultural Center, the Dalai Lama chose Arjia Rinpoche for his many years of service and dedication to Tibetan Buddhists worldwide.\nRinpoche is the Abbot of Kumbum Monastery in Tibet, and the founder of the Tibetan Center for Compassion and Wisdom in Mill Valley, Calif., and Oakland, Calif.\n"The appointment by His Holiness the Dalai Lama is very exciting," said Lisa Morrison, director of public relations and media for the Tibetan Cultural Center. "I think we will see great developments in the upcoming years -- developments that will not only be important to furthering the mission of His Holiness, Director Rinpoche and the TCC, but also developments that will have an impact on the local and regional communities." \nRinpoche, as director and president, will oversee the operations of both the TCC, its class offerings in philosophy and yoga, arts workshops, and function as a cultural outreach service to the community. He will also overlook the recently consecrated Chamtse Ling Temple, resting on a 90 acre plot in south Bloomington.\nThough he was reluctant to leave the center he founded in California, Rinpoche felt obliged to accept the appointment by the Dalai Lama.\n"In our Tibetan tradition, we respect our lamas very much," said Rinpoche. "If His Holiness the Dalai Lama asks us to do something, there is no choice to say 'no.' I accepted and am very happy to be here."\nHis hesitation to take the position, however, has not caused him to delay planning for the future and making goals.\n"We have lots of dreams and plans," Rinpoche said. "In the future, our goal is to be non-sectarian, where Buddhists of all traditions can come in and practice. We can share our culture and benefit each other."\nBorn to Mongolian nomads in Eastern Tibet, Rinpoche is one of the most important religious leaders to leave Tibet since the Dalai Lama fled into exile in 1959. As a young boy he was believed to be the reincarnation of Lumbum Gye, the father of the founder of Gelugpa. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Rinpoche was forced to work as a farmer in the fields, yet he still managed to continue his Buddhist practices in secrecy. When the political situation eased a little during the 1980s, Rinpoche furthered his spiritual practice through postgraduate Buddhist studies at Qinghai University, where he followed the high Gelugpa tradition. He then became a research fellow in the Tibetan Department at Chinese Buddhism College at Beijing, where he studied with the late Panchen Lama. During this period, he served as president of the regional Buddhist Association, and deputy president of the National Buddhist Association.\nAs Abbott of Kumbum Monastery, he established a new order of Buddhist monks, and worked with hundreds of students. To improve the education and health conditions of Tibetans throughout his country, he established new schools and charitable foundations like the Kumbum Red Cross. \nIn 1998, due to political and religious pressures, Rinpoche left China to settle in the \nUnited States. \nRinpoche fills a vacancy at the Tibetan Cultural Center brought about by the declining health of the founder and de facto director since 1979, Thubten Jigme Norbu, the elder brother of the Dalai Lama and a former IU professor.