Lama Biographies
His Holiness the Dalai Lama
His Holiness Dalai LamaHis Holiness the Dalai Lama (b.1935), the Supreme Head of Tibetan Buddhism, is an exceptional Buddhist master, a true embodiment of pure compassion and ultimate wisdom. As the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, he has been a guiding light for the Tibetan people during the half a century since the Communist Chinese invasion of their country. For countless others around the world he has become renowned as a kind and compelling apostle of peace whose message brings insight and inspiration to a troubled world. In 1989, H.H. the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Through his teachings and writings, H.H. the Dalai Lama has taken on an increasingly influential role in the West as a spiritual and moral guide, for Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. Within the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition, His Holiness is an accomplished authority on the wide range of teachings and practices encompassed within the various Tibetan schools and lineages.
For more information visit www.tibet.com
His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche
His Holiness Dudjom RinpocheHis Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche (1904-1987) was an incarnation of one of Guru Rinpoche’s original twenty-five disciples and is considered one of the greatest Buddhist meditation masters, scholars, and poets of this century. His Holiness was the Supreme Head of the Nyingma Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, which traces back to Padmasambhava, and was responsible for compiling a complete resource on the entire history of the Nyingma Lineage. As the founder of numerous Yeshe Nyingpo meditation centers in the United States and others in Europe, his activities were extensive, bridging cultures and embodying centuries of wisdom which continue to deeply inspire practitioners of the East and West alike. H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche was a prolific scholar and a Terton, or spiritual treasure revealer, who brought forth many prayers, unique for their potency and beauty, and particularly beneficial for our time. The power of his aspiration is such that his emanations benefit all they encounter.
For more information visit: www.tersar.org
His Holiness Pema Norbu (Penor) Rinpoche
His Holiness Pema Norbu (Penor) RinpocheHis Holiness Pema Norbu Rinpoche (Penor Rinpoche) was born in 1932 in the Kham region of Tibet. Fulfilling his karmic destiny, H.H. Pema Norbu Rinpoche was named the eleventh throne holder of the Palyul Lineage. After escaping Tibet, Penor Rinoche settled in Mysore, South India where he began creating a center where the Nyingma teachings and the Palyul tradition could be maintained continuously. He built and supports the largest Nyingma monastery in the world. H.H. Penor Rinpoche is known to be a reincarnation of Vimalamitra and today he is respected as one of the most accomplished meditation masters of our time. Throughout the Buddhist community, he is respected for his vast knowledge and accomplishment, and for the integrity and strength with which he upholds the Buddhist teachings.
H.H. Penor Rinpoche is the embodiment of profound wisdom and limitless compassion. He works ceaselessly for the Dharma and the benefit of others. In recent years he has traveled the world spreading the Dharma, establishing meditation centers and rebuilding monasteries in his homeland.
For more information visit: www.palyul.org
Venerable Yangthang Rinpoche
Venerable Yangthang RinpocheThe Venerable Yangthang Tulku Rinpoche, was born into the Yangthang clan in Sikkim. He was recognized as the incarnation of Terton Dorje Dechen Lingpa of Dhomang Monastery in Tibet where he took his seat to guide sentient beings. In 1959, when the Communist Chinese invaded Tibet, the Ven. Yangthang Rinpoche fled Dhomang. He was later captured by the Communists, and imprisoned for twenty-two years. Following the death of Mao Tse Tung he was released. He returned to Dhomang to find his monastery completely dismantled. He then obtained permission to return to Sikkim and continued his Dharma activities. Yangthang Rinpoche is currently known as one of the principle lineage holders of the Nyingmapa Lineage and is widely recognized for the quality and depth of his realization, the power of his attainment, and the purity of his transmissions. In recent times he has come to the United States several times and often travels to Taiwan where he has many devoted students.
Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche
Born in 1925 near the Tibetan border in China, the Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche was recognized at the age of seven as a tulku of Dhomang Monastery in Tibet. In 1959 as the Cultural Revolution impacted Tibet, Rinpoche fled for India and lived there for twelve years. During his initial years of exile in Buxa, India, he served as an elected representative of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism who had congregated there.
Requested by H.H. the Dalai Lama and H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche to move to the West in order to spread the Dharma, Gyatrul Rinpoche came to America in 1972. Rinpoche was appointed by H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche as the spiritual director and representative of the Yeshe Nyingpo centers on the west coast of the United States and of Tashi Chöling Center for Buddhist Studies in southern Oregon. In addition, the Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche has been instrumental in founding Buddhist centers for study and practice in several other locations in the U.S. and abroad. Rinpoche established Mirror of Wisdom in the early 1980’s as the media and archives of Pacific Region Yeshe Nyingpo.
Read more about Gyatrul Rinpoche here.
Khenpo Namdrol Rinpoche
Khenpo Namdrol RinpocheKhenpo Namdrol was born in 1953 in a small village in Eastern Tibet. When he was 13, he joined His Holiness Penor Rinpoche’s Namdroling Monastery in Mysore, India. Khenpo Namdrol is a greatly accomplished scholar who has trained with many renowned masters. For many years, Khenpo Namdrol has selflessly served H.H. Penor Rinpoche and H.H. Khenpo Jigme Phunstok Rinpoche and received many important teachings from them and other high lamas. Khenpo Namdrol is currently a Senior Khenpo at the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute at Namdröling Monastery which he co-founded in 1978. It is the largest study college outside of Tibet, and with the most outstanding reputation. In 1998, he also created a retreat center in Nepal which focuses on the study and practice of The Secret Essence Tantra (Guhyagarbha). Khen Rinpoche is known for his excellent knowledge of this profound tantra. He has been the first teacher to give in-depth teachings on the Secret Essence to Westerners.
For more information visit: www.palyul.org
Translator Biographies
Sangye Khandro
Sangye KhandroIn 1971 Sangye Khandro traveled to Dharamsala, India where she was fortunate enough to meet H.H. the Dalai Lama and begin formal Dharma studies. At this time the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala had opened its doors to Western students and Sangye entered as one of the first. Throughout the next seven years, Sangye traveled to India and Nepal annually to continue her studies of the Buddhist teachings and Tibetan language.
Between 1973 and 1977 Sangye lived and taught at the Nechung Drayang Ling Buddhist Temple in Hawaii, which she helped to establish. During this period, she assisted in bringing many renowned teachers to the Hawaiian Islands. It was there that Sangye met the Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche and their friendship began in the midst of an illness that nearly took his life. Sangye became the Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche’s primary translator and together they established Yeshe Nyingpo Buddhist centers in California and Oregon under the auspices of His Holiness Düdjom Rinpoche. For the next two decades Sangye continued her studies, spent much time in retreat, and acted as translator for many great teachers, accompanying them on numerous teaching tours throughout the world.
In 1999, Sangye helped to establish Light of Berotsana, a nonprofit organization for English and Tibetan translators. Currently, Sangye dedicates her time to Light of Berotsana and the translation of essential texts drawn from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
For more information visit: http://www.berotsana.org/
Alan Wallace
Alan WallaceB. Alan Wallace was raised and educated in the United States, Scotland, and Switzerland.
In 1971, he discontinued his formal Western education to go to Dharamsala, India, where he studied Tibetan Buddhism, medicine, and language for four years. In 1973, he began training in the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics.
In 1975, at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he joined the eminent Tibetan Buddhist scholar Geshe Rabten in Switzerland. Over the next four years, he continued his own studies and monastic training, translated Tibetan texts, interpreted for many Tibetan Lamas including H.H. the Dalai Lama, and taught Buddhist philosophy and meditation in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France, and England.
During the period 1992-1997, Alan served as the principal interpreter for the Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche. From 1995-1997, he was a Visiting Scholar in the departments of religious studies and psychology at Stanford University. Alan Wallace also taught in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he held classes on Tibetan Buddhist studies and the interface between science and religion. Alan has published many important Dharma books, both translations of traditional Tibetan texts and his own writings. He is also a very committed practioner who spends many months in solitary retreat on a frequent basis. He now lives in Santa Barbara, where he is creating an Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of Consciousness, and he teaches Buddhist philosophy and meditation throughout Europe and North America.
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