by Amitava Banerjee, Hindustan Times, 30th October 2009 (Download original news coverage in PDF format) - Darjeeing: An 11-year-old Boston schoolboy was on Wednesday anointed by the head of a Buddhist head in Darjeeling as the reincarnation of a high-ranking lama who died more than 750 years ago.

Jigme Wangchuk, a fifth grade student of St. Peter's School in Boston, will be known as the Second Gyalwa Lorepa of the Drukpa sect. The first Gyalwa Lorepa died in 1250 in Tibet.

The US-born Wangchuk, now revered by lakhs of followers in Nepal, Bhutan and Ladakh as the rinpoche (high priest) of the Druk Sangag Choeling Monastery in Darjeeling, told HT at the monastery, "It's a big transition. I do miss being a cheerful schoolboy, I miss my home, my grandparents, aunts and uncles. However, being a rinpoche is a great honour."

The "cheerful schoolboy", as he described himself, will continue his (monastic) studies at the monastery itself. "But my parents will keep visiting me here. And I'll keep in touch with my friends through email," he added.

His parents, who moved to the US from Dharamsala in 1989, have sold their restaurant in Boston and moved to Darjeeling. And his 10-year-old sister, Tashi Norzum, who is very close to him, will soon join a school in Darjeeling.

Talking about Wangchuk's transition, his mother Dechen said: "He used to always talk about his past life but we did not take it seriously, dubbing it as a child's fantasies."

But 2 years ago, when the family was visiting the Kagyu Nalanda Monastery in Mysore, Wangchuk suddenly stopped playing and started narrating his past life as it in a trance. After other senior lamas corroborated the Gyalwang Drukpa's finding, it was decided to initiate the boy into priesthood.

"It has been a very difficult period for us over the past 2 years," said Dechen. "I have been crying for the past five months, but have, at last, come to terms with it. When we were in New Delhi on our way to Darjeeling, I asked him whether he would like to go back to Boston. He said he has to fulfill his responsibilities to his people."