Tibetan names

Discussion of the fifth religious tradition of Tibet.
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dharmagoat
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by dharmagoat »

dzoki wrote:
dharmagoat wrote:
dzoki wrote:CHABKHANG TSOGPO - dirty toilet
Ew, I would ask for my money back.

I can see why you choose not to use it.
Haha, it was a joke. I doubt any lama would give such a name.
Oh dear, don't I look foolish. :toilet:
Juliana
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by Juliana »

Somebody knows what Padma Dechen means?

Thanks.
pemachophel
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by pemachophel »

Lotus of Great Bliss

:namaste:
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Alfredo
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by Alfredo »

Drawing on my limited knowledge of Tibetan, a name like Sangye Chophel (Buddha + Flourishing of Dharma) might be abbreviated to Sangcho, which sounds like the word for "toilet." ("Chapsang" would be the honorific, if that is not too surreal that there should be an honorific for "toilet".)
The Lama who gave me my name was a GYATSO too. Does the last name ever function as a kind of 'family name'?
More likely a lineage marker. For example, everybody ordained by Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama gets "Tenzin" as part of his ordination name. Karma Kagyu disciples apparently all get the name "Karma." etc.
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Palzang Jangchub
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by Palzang Jangchub »

Alfredo wrote:
The Lama who gave me my name was a GYATSO too. Does the last name ever function as a kind of 'family name'?
More likely a lineage marker. For example, everybody ordained by Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama gets "Tenzin" as part of his ordination name. Karma Kagyu disciples apparently all get the name "Karma." etc.
In my limited experience, when a Refuge ceremony is given in public it's the first name that designates the lineage the presiding master belongs to, rather than the second or last name. So Karma Kagyupas would be "Karma ______," Drikung Kagyupas are, by and large, "Konchog _____," and most of the Gelukpas I know are "Lobsang _____."

GYATSO is pretty common as a name in general, but even more so with it being the second element in the Dalai Lama's name, Tenzin Gyatso. As Alfredo mentioned, HH gives TENZIN as the first part of ordination names (i.e. to monks and nuns). HH Penor Rinpoche (late head of the Palyul Nyingma lineage) gave THUBTEN to those who took ordination with him.

I've read in numerous places that the way Tibetans put together their names has led to quite a bit of consternation on the part of immigration and naturalization officials. I think the concept of a family name isn't really prevalent in Tibetan culture, but there certainly are clans which predate Vajrayana entering. Most biographies of high lamas mention which clan they're from, though I'm not exactly sure how clans figure into the identities of regular Tibetans.

Imagine how big they thought the Rinpoche family was! :rolling:
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"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

དྲིན་ཆེན་རྩ་བའི་བླ་མ་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་མགར་ཆེན་ཁྲི་སྤྲུལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཁྱེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ།།
རྗེ་བཙུན་བླ་མ་མཁས་གྲུབ་ཀརྨ་ཆགས་མེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ། ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོཿ
SHERAB OSEL
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by SHERAB OSEL »

SHERAB OSEL :stirthepot:
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kirtu
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by kirtu »

Karma Jinpa wrote: HH Penor Rinpoche (late head of the Palyul Nyingma lineage) gave THUBTEN to those who took ordination with him.
I only took refuge with HHPR but also received Thubten. I'm pretty sure that he gave Thubten to both those who took refuge and those who took ordination.

Kirt
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Karma Dorje
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by Karma Dorje »

kirtu wrote:
Karma Jinpa wrote: HH Penor Rinpoche (late head of the Palyul Nyingma lineage) gave THUBTEN to those who took ordination with him.
I only took refuge with HHPR but also received Thubten. I'm pretty sure that he gave Thubten to both those who took refuge and those who took ordination.

Kirt
Yes, I also received Thubten from Penor Rinpoche in my refuge name. Not just for ordination.
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Runningalong
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by Runningalong »

Hi .. I recently joined this forum and wondering if anyone can help me with the meaning of my Tibetan names?

Padme Chime Lhamo

many blessings,

Runningalong
pemachophel
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by pemachophel »

Padma = Lotus; Chime = Deathless; Lhamo = Goddess/Devi
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Azureblue
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by Azureblue »

Hello
I've just recently taken refuge and was given the name Thubten Lamzang - does any one what it means.
Thank you
Peace and Blessings
Georgina
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ratna
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by ratna »

Azureblue wrote:Hello
I've just recently taken refuge and was given the name Thubten Lamzang - does any one what it means.
Thank you
Peace and Blessings
Georgina
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maryiso
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by maryiso »

Greetings,

What is the translation for dharma name Kalsang Tharpa?

Many thanks
pemachophel
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by pemachophel »

Kalzang = Fortunate Eon (Bhadrakalpa)
Tharpa = Liberation
Pema Chophel པདྨ་ཆོས་འཕེལ
maryiso
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by maryiso »

Thank you, pemachophel.
Does the spelling "Tharba" have a different meaning?
PemaYudron
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by PemaYudron »

My name is Pema Yudron.

I think it means Lotus on a turquoise lake but I'm not sure.
I love that image tho....
Somerset
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by Somerset »

Pema = Lotus
Yudron = Turquoise Lamp :smile:
Elle
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by Elle »

Hello...great site. Wonder if you would give what Padma Yangzin means? This is how it was written about 25 yrs ago. Thank you.
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conebeckham
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by conebeckham »

Pema Yangzin--depending on spelling in Tibetan, I am going to guess it is "Holder of The Melody of the Lotus." Pema =Lotus, Yang usually is "melody" or "song," and "zin" is usually "holder" or "possessor."
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
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dzogchungpa
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Re: Tibetan names

Post by dzogchungpa »

conebeckham wrote:Yang usually is "melody" or "song," and "zin" is usually "holder" or "possessor."
Maybe this: http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/yongs_'dzin?
There is not only nothingness because there is always, and always can manifest. - Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
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