Kushok Bakula Rinpoche (Tibetan: སྐུཤོག་བ་ཀུ་ལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།) is nowadays the head of Pethup Gompa in Spituk, Ladakh, India. According to his followers he is an emanation of the Buddha Amitabha and was one of the 16 disciples of Buddha (Naytan Chudrug, or the 16 Arhats). They also claim that his first 19 incarnations have been documented in the Tibetan text Naytan Chagchot (Wylie: gNas hrtan phyag mchod).
There are two different explanations for his name.
According to Tibetan chronicles, he was fond of doing meditation and praying and was very simple. After renouncing all wordly comforts he used pakula grass in his everyday life, especially as a sitting and sleeping mat.
The Manorathapurani and the Pali version of Milindapanha maintain him as being born at Kaushambi in a minister's family and then having been swallowed by a fish in the Yamuna river that was later caught by an angler. The angler sold it to another minister's wife, Upon cutting pen, the child was found unharmed and alive. The minister's wife adopted him. However, a dispute with his natural parents, about who should take care of him was resolved by the king, who judged that both should have custody of him. Thus, he became known as Dva Kula (Two Families).
2nd Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche – Tilopa
The second incarnation of Bakula was an Indian Mahasiddha Tilopa (Tibetan:
ཏི་ལོ་པ, Wylie:
Ti lo pa), or Sherab Zangpo (Tibetan:
ཤེས་རབ་བཟང་པོ, Wylie:
Shes rab bzang po) (Prajnabhadra). In order to spread the Buddha dharma. The king of Visnunagar offered Tilopa, a learned guru, 500 gold coins a day, if he would live at his court. Tilopa, however, wanted rather to live as a yogi and he quietly departed from the court and retreated near a cemetery to meditate. During that time, Naropa came to serve him. And through the practice of the six famous yoga lams (paths) he attained the mahamudra siddhi. After preaching extensively, he entered the heavenly abode of Amitābha during his lifetime.
3rd Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche – Luipa
The third incarnation of Bakula manifested as the Indian Mahasiddha Luipa (Wylie:
Laa wa pa). He abandoned his kingdom in Sri Lanka and journeyed to Ramesvaram, where he became a Bhikkhu. A Dakini at Dorje Dan (Tibetan:
རྡོ་རྗེ་གདན, Wylie:
rDo rje gdan) (Bodh Gaya) revealed to him an upaya for realising Buddhahood -- and in this way he continued practising for many years in a cemetery. Dakinis at Pataliputra further instructed him to remove his royal pride about the purity of foods, after which he sat in meditation for twelve years near river Ganges, where he lived on the minute guts of fish rejected by the fishermen.
4th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
The fourth incarnation was a king. He appears in the religious book 'Kadam Buchos'.
5th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
The fifth incarnation was Aryasura (Lopon Pawo, Wylie:
sLob dpon dpa' bo), the disciple of Nagarjuna (Gonbo Ludup, Wylie:
mGon po klu grub).
6th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
The sixth incarnation was Gyalwa Chogyangs, (Wylie:
rGyal ba mchog dbyangs), one of Lopon Padma's twenty-five disciples.
7th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
The seventh incarnation was Ratna Udam (Nyamet Rinchen Chondus, Wylie:
mNyam med rin chen brtson 'grus), the disciple of Kasdup Kyungpo, (Wylie:
mKhas grub 'khyung po).
8th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
The eighth incarnation, was Yeshe Dzin, dharmaguru of King Gedun Bang.
9th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
Lotsawa Rinchen Sangpo, 954 - 1055.
10th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
The tenth incarnation, was Geshe Chagpa Thrichog of the Kadmapa tradition.
11th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche – Rechung Dorje Drakpa, 1083/4 – 1161
12th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
Sthavira Lodros Choskyong was Khedrup Rinpoche's main disciple.
13th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
Drupchen Choskyi Dorje (Mahasiddha Dharmavajra) was the pupil of Basco Chokyi Gyaltsen (Dharmadhvaja).
14th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
Lobzang Jinpa (Sumatidana) was the main disciple of Lobsang Palden Yeshe, 6th Panchen Lama.
15th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
Yongdzin Yeshe Gyaltsen was the tutor of Jamphel Gyatso, 8th Dalai Lama.
16th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
Jetsun Ngawang Jampek Yeshe Gyatso, Khempo of Loseling.
17th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
Kongchog Rangdrol Nyima was the first Incarnation to appear in Ladakh, he appeared in Lamayuru Monastery.
18th Incarnation of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, 21 May 1917 – 4 November 2003
20th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, Thubstan Nawang, born 24 November 2005
