As in many ancient civilizations of the world, the phenomenon of oracles remains an important part of the Tibetan way of life. The purpose of the oracle is not just to foretell the future, but to act as the protector of peace and harmony on earth and support spiritual training and practitioners.

In the Tibetan tradition, the word “oracle” is used for the spirit which enters into a person who acts as a medium between the natural and spiritual realms. The medium, therefore, is known as “Kuten” in Tibetan which literally means “physical basis”.

According to Tibetan history, the spirit of Nechung first entered into a human being in 1544. And so Drag Trang-gowa Lobsang Palden became the first Nechung Kuten. The late Venerable Lobsang Jigme, predecessor to the present Nechung Kuten, was the thirteenth in this lineage. He had escaped to India from Tibet in 1959 along with five senior Nechung monks and resettled in Dharamsala, North India. There he continued to serve as the medium of the State Oracle until his death in 1984. He assisted the spiritual and temporal affairs of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile during the critical early period of the resettlement of over 100,000 Tibetan refugees in India, Nepal and Bhutan.

The present Nechung Kuten, the Venerable Thupten Ngodup, was born on July 13, 1958 in Phari, Tibet. He is a descendant of the famous Tibetan Tantric Master, Nga-dak Nyang-relwa (1136-1204). Following the communist Chinese invasion of Tibet, the present Nechung Kuten and his family fled their homeland and took refuge in India through Bhutan in 1966. In 1971 he enrolled in Nechung Monastery, which had been initially re-established in modest quarters in Dharamsala, North India. Here he underwent rigorous training in the spiritual and artistic traditions of the monastery. In 1984, after the passing away of the previous medium, Ven. Lobsang Jigme, for about three years there was no medium for the Nechung Oracle. H.H. the Dalai Lama wrote a prayer for the speedy recognition of a new medium and commissioned Nechung Monastery and Drepung Monastery, with whom the Oracle has a special relationship, to recite the prayer. Then, on March 31, 1987, during a special ceremony conducted by both the Nechung and Drepung monks, the Ven Thupten Ngodup suddenly became possessed by the oracular spirit for the first time. Two days later the Ven. Thupten Ngodup and Nechung Monastery’s Vajra Acharya, Ven. Thupten Phuntsok, were summoned by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His Holiness asked the new medium to go into retreat for a few months.

On July 25, 1987, the Kashag (the exile Tibetan government’s Cabinet) appointed the Ven. Ngodup as Nechung Kuten, a senior Tibetan government position requiring the official confirmation of H.H. the Dalai Lama. On September 4 of the same year, His Holiness officially enthroned Ven. Ngodup as the fourteenth Nechung Kuten.

In His autobiography, FREEDOM IN EXILE, His Holiness the Dalai Lama writes:

“For hundreds of years now, it has been traditional for the Dalai Lama, and the Government, to consult Nechung during the New Year festivals. In addition, he might well be called upon at other times if either have specific queries. I myself have dealing with him several times a year. This may sound far-fetched to twentieth-century western readers. Even some Tibetans, mostly those who consider themselves ‘progressive’, have misgiving about my continued use of this ancient method of intelligence-gathering. But I do so for the simple reason that as I look back over the many occasions when I have asked questions of the Oracle, on each one of them time has proved that his answer was correct.”