Buddhism is one of the traditional Religions in Taiwan. Chinese Buddhism was initially predominant, but Theravada Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism have also been gaining ground in recent decades. Tibetan Buddhism entered Taiwan relatively late, as there were just a few lamas coming prior to 1990s to propagate its teachings, due to past political factors. It was not until His Holiness the Dalai Lama was invited by the Taiwanese Government to visit Taiwan in 1997 that the exchange between the two regions was officially established. The Central Tibetan Administration instituted in 1998 “the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Taiwan” as the platform to enhance engagements. However, the Foundation not only served as an official channel for dialogue and communication but also undertook the responsibility of propagating the Dharma, following His Holiness Dalai Lama’s instruction that Buddhism was a traditional religion of the Taiwanese people as well as his desire to systematically bring Tibetan Buddhism to Taiwan. The Foundation in Taiwan, as a result, became the only organization within the Central Tibetan Administration (the Administration) to offer local people with free Buddhist teachings and courses.
Ever since its inception, one of the Foundation’s primary
tasks has been to develop Buddhism translation talents. The Department of
Religion and Culture of the Administration in collaboration with Taiwan’s Fa-kuang
Institute of Buddhist Studies began to send Buddhist monks to Taiwan in the
year 2000 to learn Chinese, the most commonly used official language there. It
was in this historical context that Venerable Geshe Jampal Chozin was assigned to
pilot the exchange program.
Geshe Jampal Chozin came from the Salajey Monastery
of Gelug tradition, having received 17 years of Tibetan Buddhism’s classic education
with focus on sutra debating, "tsennyi" in Tibetan. Besides
learning Chinese, Geshe both studied Chinese Buddhism and modern essay writing and
taught Buddhism logic and rational thinking during his time at Fa-kuang
Institute. It could be said that Geshe Jampal Chozin was the fruition of the
first wave exchange of Taiwan and Tibet in modern times.
After finishing his studies at the Fa-kuang Institute, Venerable Geshe
Jampal Chozin was appointed by the Administration to be the teacher of Buddhism
at The Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Taiwan. The
Foundation's offering of Buddhism classes, as stated before, embodied Dalai
Lama’s compassion for nurturing Taiwanese people with the essential Tibetan
Buddhism. He emphatically instructed that the propagation of Buddhism Dharma
should take precedence over the mere performance of religious ceremonies.
Following His Holiness’s path, Geshe Jampal Chozin has conducted
courses of Master Tsongkhapa’s The Great Treatise on the Stages of
the Path of Enlightenment and also expanded the curriculum by incorporating
the syllabus of the Great Three Monasteries into the Foundation’s offerings. He
methodically laid the basis for Buddhist studies by teaching a comprehensive
range of subjects, including The Collected Topics, Presentation of Awareness
and Knowledge, Reasoning Topics, Five Paths, Four Schools of Buddhism, and Eight
Topics and their Seventy Subtopics.
With the completion of these fundamental courses,
Venerable Geshe Jampal Chozin emphasized on teaching Madhyamaka—The Middle Way
and Emptiness, in great length and detail. He taught pipuls in learning Master Tsongkhapa’s Five Great Texts of Madhyamaka: 1) Illuminating the
Intent: An Exposition of Chandrakirti’s Entering the Middle Way, 2) Ocean
of Reasoning: Extensive Commentary on Nagarjuna’s Fundamental Wisdom of the
Middle Way, 3) The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to
Enlightenment (Volume 3), 4) The Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
on Vipassana, 5) The Essence of True Eloquence. (The numerical order
is placed according to the timeline of when Geshe held those courses.) Geshe, during
his 17-year tenure serving at The Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness
the Dalai Lama, has faithfully fulfilled His Holiness’s aspirations by incessantly
guiding lay practitioners in their in-depth study of the major scriptural
texts.
One more mission
shouldered by The Foundation is for Taiwanese to gain more access to Dalai Lama. In this respect, Geshe Jampal
Chozin has undertaken the task of organizing
and translating the teachings of His Holiness. These teachings are disseminated
freely to the public in the form of books. Furthermore, he has led students in
co-organizing annual celebrations of His Holiness’s birthday in Taiwan, volunteered
the Foundation's events, and facilitated dialogues between Taiwanese scientists
and His Holiness. Geshe Jampal Chozin has also provided simultaneous Chinese
interpretation for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, His Holiness the Ganden Tripa, The
Venerable Abbots of the Upper and Lower Tantric Colleges, and The Venerable
Abbot of Sera Jey Monastery during their Dharma teachings.
Throughout the
period from 2005 to 2022 during which Geshe Jampal Chozin served as a teacher
and spiritual mentor at the Foundation, he devoted all himself to propagating
the Dharma, especially that of Madhyamaka emptiness. He also committed himself
unwavering and never dared falter to foster the religious and cultural exchange
between Taiwan and Tibet. Upon stepping down from his post in 2022, he breathed
a sigh of relief, as he knew the holy missions had been successfully passed on.
He found immense joy in wholeheartedly serving the aspirations of His Holiness
the Dalai Lama in his lifetime.
Currently, Geshe
Jampal Chozin has founded his own Buddhist center, The Taiwan
Mahayana Choekyi Gyaltsen Buddhist Center. He aspires and strives to achieve
complete teaching of the Five Great Treatises in Taiwan. In addition to the
Madhyamaka courses that he previously taught at the Foundation, he hopes to conduct
classes on The Abhisamayālaṃkāra (The Ornament for Clear Realization)
and The Pramanavartika. In the footsteps of Master Tsongkhapa,
as he wrote around 1402 in the Prayer of The Great
Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment:
“Where the supreme, precious teachings one is
yet to find,
Or where they were once known, but have since
declined,
There, through Great Compassion, may I stir
people's minds,
And cause the treasury of benefit and
happiness to shine!”
Like a wish-fulfilling Jewel, Buddhism
Dharma prospers as a guiding light, inspiring the locals to embrace the path of
enlightenment more readily. Geshe Jampal Chozin dedicates himself to teaching
the Dharma as his sole mission in life and he is resolved to preserve and
uphold the holistic teachings of the Nalanda tradition in Taiwan.
