The Life of Thrangu Rinpoche With Pictures

The Life of
Thrangu Rinpoche
with Pictures
Note: This Summary of Thrangu Rinpoche’s Life and his activities

is obviously not complete. If you want to make corrections or add
something, please send it (and/or Photos) to Clark Johnson at
[email protected].
Produced by Namo Buddha Publications. This Biography is not

copyrighted.
Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !1

Picture 1
Picture taken of Thrangu Rinpoche in 2013
The Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche was born in 1933 and is the

Ninth incarnation of the Thrangu Tulkus. Because Thrangu
Rinpoche’s monastery and all its records were destroyed during the
Cultural Revolution in Tibet, there are only scant records of his
early life. In this text, we have combined several written accounts
that have been translated into English into a coherent biography.
The sources of these accounts can be found in the footnotes. 

THE THRANGU LINEAGE
The Nine Thrangu Tulkus are:

1. Nyedon Drubgyu Singye
2. Drubwang Karma Namgyal
3. Karma Rigsang
4. Karma Gedun Singye
5. Karma Sherab Gyatso
6. Karma Kunkyab Nyima
7. Karma Nyedon Gyatso
8. Karma Thinley Rabgye
9. Karma Lodro Rigluk Mawy Senge, the present Thrangu
Rinpoche
There is a wonderful book on the Thrangu Lineage called The

Glory of the Dharma1 which has a painting of each of the Thrangu
lineage holders, a brief biography of each in Tibetan and English
and a calligraphy of the holder’s name done by His Holiness the
Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa. A painting and biography of
each of the Thrangu Tulkus can also be downloaded from
www.rinpoche.com under “biographies” and then “A Precious Line
of the Thrangu Tulkus.”
Below is a much briefer recounting of the Thrangu Lineage given

by Khenpo Kathar.2
“The texts which had the sacred biographies of the seven Thrangu
Rinpoches were burned during the Chinese invasion of Tibet; so I
(Khenpo Karthar) must rely on what I remember and what I have
heard.”
1The Glory of Dharma, Published by Thrangu Monastery in Canada, 2012. The

website rinpoche.com under “biographies” and then “The Precious line of
Thrangu Gurus has each biography and a color picture of the Thrangu Tulku.
2 Talkby Khenpo Karthar on the Thrangu Lineage given at Gampo Abbey on

June 29, 1991. Translated by Jules Levinson.

THE FIRST THRANGU LAMA, SHERAB GYAMTSO
The first Thrangu lama appeared at the time of the seventh Gyalwa
Karmapa (1454-1506) whose name was Chodrak Gyamtso. The
name of that Thrangu lama was Sherab Gyamtso. In a previous
lifetime he has been one of the 25 close students of Guru Rinpoche
whose name was Shuwu Palgyu Senge. That was the family name
and Palgyu Senge means “Glorious Lion.” He took birth as the first
Thrangu lama and was the Lord of the Teachings of the Thrangu
monastery.
Picture 2
Painting of the First Thrangu Rinpoche with the
Seventh Karmapa in the background.
THE SIXTH THRANGU TULKU
The Sixth Thrangu lama, Kunkhyab Nyima, (which means “all-

pervading sun”) was particularly skilled in the practice of Inner
Heat (Tib. tummo). At the age of 40, Kunkhyab Nyima together

with four monks went to a snow mountain that was near the
monastery which was a place that had been blessed by
Padmasambhava (Tib. Guru Rinpoche) and where hundreds of
people would circumambulate. He went with four monks and while
they were climbing up the mountain there was an avalanche. The
Sixth Thrangu lama was buried in the snow and the four monks he
was with were swept away but didn’t die. But the Thrangu lama
was completely under the snow and there was nothing to be done
except to wait for the summer when the snow melted and recover
the body. So the Sixth Thrangu tulku remained there and eight
months later when the monks went back to where the Thrangu
lama had been lost, they found that the snow had completely
melted away around him and in the center he was sitting in
meditation. They were delighted and ran up to him to grab him.
When they touched him, a little trickle of blood came from his
nose and at that point they killed him because when someone is in
deep meditation, you can’t just jerk them out of it suddenly. Had
they treated him gently he probably wouldn’t have died.
THE EIGHTH THRANGU TULKU, TENDZIN THRINLEY RABGYE

Picture 3
Painting of The Eighth Thrangu Tulku
The Eighth Thrangu Tulku was born in Tibet in a place called

Rum-bo. His father was a nagpa who is someone married with a
household, but at the same time practices meditation and also
magic. This Eighth Tulku came from an extremely poor family and
at this time Thrangu monastery was also extremely poor because
the previous Thrangu incarnation had not gone out and travelled
around and done all the things necessary to raise money. The
previous Thrangu tulku also died very young before he could
benefit the monastery. Even though the family and monastery were
poor, the young tulku told the lamas from Thrangu Monastery,
“When you look at me, you just see a poor boy. But in the future,
the great landowners and high lamas in this area will come to see
me and will make great offerings. Right now all I have is a goat
with a little beard that hangs down. But in the future I will have a
wonderful large horse with a splendid saddle to ride on.” This is
what Tendzin Rabgye said as a small child.
This eighth Thrangu Tulku, Tendzin Rabgye, was then taken to
Thrangu monastery and there he engaged in the discipline and
study of his monastery. When he had completed his studies, he was
taken to Tsurphu to receive teachings from the 15th Karmapa,
Khakhyab Dorje (1872-1922). He received the oral instructions
and practices of the Kagyu Lineage from the Karmapa. Having
received these precious practices he became renowned throughout
Tibet as having extraordinary qualities, great potency, and
remarkable enlightened activity.
When Tendzin Rabgye received teachings from the 15th
Karmapa, the Karmapa instructed him not to spend time studying
the sutras and normal philosophical Buddhist texts but to simply
practice the quintessential instructions. 3
He was quite different from many other lamas of his time. In
particular, when people were sick, he cured them. They would
come to him and just by blowing his breath at them, he would be
able to cure their illnesses. Or when people would come with
illnesses that no medicine could cure, he would touch them with
his hand and they would be healed. One time during a great
celebration Tendzin Rabgye mounted a large horse with a splendid
saddle and took out a jeweled sword and rode up and down along
3These are the oral instructions by one’s lama (or guru) about how to practice
and realize the nature of mind.

the crowds at a very alarming pace waving the jeweled sword.
When he did so, many people’s illnesses in the crowds were cured
and it is well known in Tibet that using a sword in this way is an
indication of having achieved great achievements or siddhis. In this
way he was known as a lama with great ability or power.
In Tibet it is customary to go to a high lama and ask for advice
about the future to guide one’s life. Quite frequently people would
come to this eighth Thrangu tulku and ask about difficulties they
were having with livelihood, or with their health, and ask about
what they should do. Rinpoche did not give vague predictions to
these persons but gave very precise predictions such as “in two
years, such and such will take place. Until that time the situation
won’t improve, but at that time you should do such and such.”
Thrangu monastery was about fifteen days by horse from a
monastery where the people supporting the monastery were all
followers of the Gelug tradition. This monastery was also the
birthplace of Kalu Rinpoche. These people were mostly traders and
businessmen but they would come all the way to Thrangu
monastery to get advice and in return give great offerings. That is
how Thrangu monastery became wealthy as predicted by the
Eighth Thrangu Tulku when he was a small boy.
This Eighth Thrangu Tulku didn’t spend much time studying,
but devoted himself to practice as he had been advised by his root
guru the Fifteenth Karmapa who had also advised a great many
other Kagyu lamas at the time to spend their time practicing
instead of studying. The reason for this was that there was a very
influential khenpo in Kham named Khenpo Shenga (1871-1927) to
whom these Kagyu lamas would have gone to receive teachings.
This khenpo was trained principally in the Nyingma and Sakya
traditions, moreover, this khenpo was said to have been the rebirth
of a student of the great translator Vairochana of the eighth century
who had broken his samaya with Vairochana. The Fifteenth
Karmapa therefore felt that to establish a relationship with this
particular khenpo would create great obstacles for the spiritual
progress of these students, so he advised them to practice
meditation instead of studying. So Tendzin Rabgye spent his time
practicing and was not very learned in Dharma and did not do a
great deal of teaching.
Towards the end of Tendzin Rabgye’s life, the famous lama
Mipham Rinpoche came to see him and stayed in retreat outside
Thrangu monastery for three years. At the end of Mipham’s retreat
Tendzin Rabgye was 57 years old and said to Mipham, “I’ve not
done much to disseminate the Buddha’s teachings. The reason for

this is the command of my guru who told me to spend my life
practicing instead. Now I’m an old man and won’t be able to teach.
However, if there is a Thrangu Tulku in the next lifetime, please
extend your compassion and your vision to him and make an
aspirational prayer that he will benefit many sentient beings.”
Mipham Rinpoche took Thrangu Rinpoche by the hand and said,
“Well done, thank you very much. As I am departing from the time
that the sun shines over the peak of that mountain to time it is fully
in the sky, I will set my mind in that thought of how I will benefit
that person [the new reincarnation] in the next lifetime.”
It was only about three years from the time that Mipham
departed that Tenzin Rabgye fell ill and on his death bed and his
servant, Karma Monlam came to him and said, “Please don’t die.
Please don’t pass into nirvana.” The Eighth Thrangu Tulku said to
him, “I’m really sick and this body is beset with illness. There is
really no way to do anything about it. But don’t worry because
Mipham Rinpoche has established this aspiration toward our
having a relationship in the future. To fulfill this I’ll take rebirth
and come back quickly. It won’t be very long.”
So he died and the body was cremated and as is the case with
lamas who have high realization, all sorts of miraculous signs and
rainbows appeared in the sky. From the time of his death until the
time that his reincarnation entered into his mother’s womb was
only a period of forty days. Usually it takes a much, much longer
time between the passing away and conception in the next womb.
One of the ways in which the place of a lama’s rebirth is
determined is by noticing the direction in which the smoke goes at
the cremation. In this case the smoke went to the North-East and in
that direction there was a family that was extremely rich and had a
big field. Even though usually there were no deer in the area, five
deer appeared and people thought “That is very strange.”
THRANGU RINPOCHE’S BIRTH
Tenzin Namgyal, Thrangu Rinpoche’s brother-in-law, was the

personal secretary of His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa for the
last 30 years of his life. He then came to work for Thrangu
Rinpoche and at the Fourth Namo Buddha Seminar in 1989 he was
asked to tell the story of Thrangu Rinpoche’s life as he heard and
experienced it. Tenzin Namgyal says: 4
4 Talk given at the Fourth Namo Buddha Seminar in Nepal in 1989.

I have been with Thrangu Rinpoche for 28 years, which was
just about a year after Thrangu Rinpoche left Tibet. I have spent
a lot of time with him and have been very interested in his life.
Many people have asked Thrangu Rinpoche where he was born
and so on. So Thrangu Rinpoche retold these things and I wrote
them all down in a book. Unfortunately, I don’t have this book
with me, so I won’t be able to give a complete description of
everything.
Thrangu Rinpoche was born in the tenth day of the tenth
Tibetan Month in 1933. Tibetans don’t really keep track of or
celebrate their birthday, but Rinpoche is sure of the date because
his father was away at a religious festival which is celebrated each
year on this particular day. 5
I have asked a lot of questions of Rinpoche’s mother about
his birth. Nothing was unusual except that when she had been
pregnant for about three or four months, she had a dream in
which she went into a monastery and all the monks were sitting
there in the temple. There was a big ladle that they used to give out
food and she was giving food out to all the monks. It was a very
vivid dream and throughout the day, it stayed in her mind and
wouldn’t go away. Later when Thrangu Rinpoche had been
recognized and was brought to the monastery with his mother and
when she went through the door of monastery, she saw that this
monastery that she had never visited before was exactly like
the one in her dream and very familiar—just like seeing one’s own
house.
Thrangu Rinpoche was born in the winter in Tibet. In front of
their house was a frozen river. But on the morning of his birth, the
river thawed. It thawed before the sun came up and people were
very surprised and wondered what it meant that the ice had melted
so early in the morning. After the ice had melted, all these birds
came to wash themselves in the river, which was also quite
unusual. They also heard a cuckoo, which is never present in
that part of Tibet in the winter. It’s only in the summer that they
have the cuckoo bird, but the cuckoo was heard quite clearly.
Rinpoche’s family consists of his father, mother and two
sisters. His mother died in Rumtek in 1986 and his father died
several years before that. One of Rinpoche’s sisters married
Tashi Namgyal (the author of this part of the story) and lived
near Rinpoche’s monastery in Nepal and helped with Thrangu
5 The actual day was November 17, 1933, but since Tibet uses a lunar calendar,
the day changes sightly each year.

Rinpoche’s primary school. Thrangu Rinpoche’s other sister
owned a shop near the Boudhanath stupa a few hundred yards from
Rinpoche’s monastery.
THRANGU RINPOCHE’S EARLY LIFE
Picture 4
A rare photo of all four previous rinpoches of Thrangu
Monastery. Thrangu Monastery was rather unique in that at
any single time it had four rinpoches, instead of just one.
Left to right: Eighth Thrangu Rinpoche, Traleg Rinpoche,
Lodro Nyima Rinpoche, and Zuru Tulku.
Tenzin Namgyal continues: Thrangu Rinpoche’s family were

practitioners of the Sakya sect of Tibetan Buddhism. When
Thrangu Rinpoche was about one year old, his father took him to
the Sakya monastery, Chigyu Monastery, to see Jnana Tulku, who
was an emanation of Satja Gomchen, to give Rinpoche a name.
Jnana Tulku said, “Someone will come later to give this child
his name. So I am not going to give him a name. But the child
does have a very big obstacle. If you do the necessary things to
eliminate this obstacle, this child will benefit all beings and spread
a lot of happiness in the future. But the giving of his name will have
to wait.” The father took the child back home. But Thrangu
Rinpoche’s father was a very quiet person, so when he got back

home, he didn’t really say anything about what had happened. He
just kept quiet.
When Rinpoche was two years old, the previous
Traleg Rinpoche, who was the head Rinpoche of Thrangu
Monastery at the time, sent a message to Thrangu Rinpoche’s
father asking him to come see him. So Thrangu Rinpoche’s father
went to the monastery and Traleg Rinpoche said that this child born
in the year of the bird (1933) had been identified by His Holiness
Karmapa and by Tai Situpa Rinpoche as being the ninth Thrangu
Tulku. The 16th Karmapa had recognized Thrangu Rinpoche and
made an aspirational prayer for his long life which is said daily to this
day in Thrangu Rinpoche’s monasteries:
Karmpa Lodro, splendor of the teaching,

Excellent flourishing Dharma, may these good qualities
spread throughout space.
May your lotus-feet remain firm and may your activity of teaching
and practice be victorious in all directions and its glory shine forth.
So Thrangu Rinpoche’s father was told that his son was a tulku and he
should take care of him by keeping him very clean and so on.
Rinpoche’s father returned home and was quite convinced that his
son must be the Thrangu Tulku. He was very happy and when he
returned home, he said to the family, “Our child is the Thrangu
Tulku because he’s been identified as such by Situpa Rinpoche and
the Karmapa.” But his mother had an older brother who was a monk
from Chikung Monastery who said, “It’s just that Thrangu
Monastery is trying to get hold of our child, it’s not because he’s a
tulku.”
So Tai Situpa Rinpoche and His Holiness the 16th Karmapa
wrote another letter identifying Thrangu Rinpoche. In the letter it said
that to the east of Thrangu Monastery in a place called Rarunda
there is a wealthy family. The door of their house faces the East
and the mother’s name is Kelsang and the father’s name is
Tundrup. All this was completely accurate. The town was right, the
door faced the right direction, the mother’s name was Kelsang
Droma, and the father’s name was Kunga Tundrup. The Karmapa
also said that on the roof of the house was a prayer flag and at the
base of the prayer flag was a stone with a shortened version of the
ten-syllable Kalachakra mantra standing upright against the base of
the prayer flag. No one in the house knew whether there was such a
stone there or not. When they read this in the letter, they all went
up to the roof and found this small stone with the Kalachakra
Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page 11

!
syllables on it. No one else knew about this stone, yet it was just
as it was described in the Karmapa’s letter. When the brother who
was the Sakya monk saw this, he was quite amazed and felt a
very great conviction that the boy was indeed the Thrangu
Tulku. He put the letter on top of his head [which is a sign of
respect in Tibet] and said that from now on he had total conviction
in it and made all the arrangements needed for recognizing a tulku.
Thrangu Rinpoche has been asked if he remembers his past and
if he really is a tulku. The times I have heard him answer he
remembers little about his previous life. He has also said that he
has no special powers or abilities and that sometimes when the
Karmapa is asked to recognize a tulku and that tulku has gone
beyond being reincarnated, the Karmapa “looks around” for a
worthy candidate and says that person is the reincarnation.
Rinpoche says that he is most likely one of those tulkus. Others
believe that Rinpoche is just being overly modest. This conviction
is based on events that Tenzin Namgyal obtained from Rinpoche’s
family members.
When Thrangu Rinpoche was still very little and just
started to speak, every day he kept saying, “I’ve got a white dog
and a white mule. Bring me my white dog and my white mule.”
So one day his family went on a pilgrimage to a place called Jnana
Mani where they circumambulated a large mani stone. They saw a
white dog, bought it, brought it back and said, “We’ve brought you
your white dog.” But Thrangu Rinpoche became very upset and
angry and said, “You know this is not my dog!” and stamped his
feet and cried. “This is not my dog. You are all very bad. You
brought me this dog. It’s not mine.” This all happened because
the previous eighth Thrangu Rinpoche had a white dog and a
white mule. When he passed away, these were kept at Thrangu
Monastery.
The 16th Karmapa had given Thrangu Rinpoche the name of
Karma Lodro and in 1937 there was a great ceremony of
enthronement in the monastery of Thrangu Tashi Choling.6 When
Thrangu Rinpoche was taken to Thrangu Monastery, he was still
asking for his mule and dog. An attendant of the previous Thrangu
Rinpoche said, “It is true. There is this white dog and a white
mule that belonged to the previous Thrangu Rinpoche. They
are here, but they are both very old.” So they brought them and
Thrangu Rinpoche was overjoyed when he saw them and was
6Tenzin Namgyal in A Summary of the Deeds of the 9th Incarnation of the Great
Scholar Thrangu Rinpoche. Available at rinpoche.com.

happy to be with them.
Tenzin comments, “This is a clear indication of reincarnation
and a very clear sign that Rinpoche was the reincarnation
of the previous Thrangu Tulku. All these events are things that all
the people around there saw. The young Thrangu Rinpoche also
passed the test where he correctly identified other
possessions of the previous Thrangu Rinpoche that were mixed
in with ones he did not own.”
Picture 5
Khenpo Karthar and Rinpoche visiting Thrangu Rinpoche’s
birthplace in Gapa in Kham, Tibet. Picture taken in 1994.
As with all history, different people hear different stories. Khenpo

Kathar describes this time slightly differently and gives more
details about the recognition of Thrangu Rinpoche.7 Khenpo
Karthar relates:
When the Sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, (1924-1981)

was eight years old (1932), he went to Lhasa and to his monastery
at Tsurphu for only a year. At that time he was with (the previous)
Traleg Rinpoche who is the protector of the teachings of the
Thrangu tulkus. Both Traleg Rinpoche and the Karmapa were quite
young and playing as children do. They gradually went further and
further away from adult supervision until they were all alone
7 Khenpo Karthar gave this talk on the Thrangu Lineage at Gampo Abbey on
June 29, 1991.

together. At that time Traleg Rinpoche told the Karmapa that
Thrangu Rinpoche had been reborn. It had been just three years
since the Eighth Thrangu Rinpoche has passed away and the
Karmapa at the age of eight told Traleg Rinpoche “He has taken a
rebirth in a place called Rang-da.” Karmapa had never been in
Kham at the time. Traleg Rinpoche then said that there were two
placed called Rang-da and the Karmapa replied Thrangu Rinpoche
was born in the town where there was the largest tower of mani
stones in Tibet [Mani stones are stones with OM MANI PEDME
HUNG carved on them] and the tower is square. He said, “If you
go to the eastern side of the tower, you will see the house where
Thrangu lama has taken rebirth. His father’s name is Ju-ku, his
mother’s name is Kelsang and the house faces the East. Also in
front of the house there is a large red dog. I don’t know how to
write yet, so you should write this down.”
So Traleg Rinpoche wrote down what Karmapa had said to him
and then the two of them went to Palpung monastery which is the
seat of the previous Tai Situ Rinpoche. Traleg Rinpoche was not
sure whether the eight year old Karmapa was playing with him or
making a serious prediction, so he asked Tai Situpa “It has been
three years since Thrangu lama has passed away. Do you know
where his reincarnation is?” Tai Situpa thought, “Oh, he’s testing
me to see whether or not I know.” Then he said, “Well, he’s been
born and is three years old, his father’s name is Kunga Thondrup
and his mother’s name is Kelsang Wangmo.” It turns out that the
Karmapa had called his father Juku which was his father’s
nickname when he was a child and Tai Situpa called his father
Kunga Thondrup which was the name his father used as an adult.
Then Tai Situpa said, “The child is three years of age, but in his
fourth year, there are great obstacles to his life, so you must
perform ceremonies during his fourth year until he reaches the age
of five.” He continued, “If you perform these ceremonies, he will
survive this dangerous period in his life, and will then be of great
benefit to sentient beings.
During the time when Thrangu Rinpoche was four years old,
his neck was cut open by the horn of a dzong-mo which is a kind of
yak. The cut was all the way up his neck and you can see the scar
there even to this day. So the monastery did do the practices during
this year and when Rinpoche was five, Karma Monlam who was
the attendant of the previous Thrangu lama, got out the letters of
recognition from Situ Rinpoche and the Karmapa and based on
these predications sent some monks together with others to the
town where Thrangu Rinpoche was said to be staying. On the day

that they were to arrive, the young Thrangu Tulku said to his
mother, “Fix a lot of tea and set up a place where people can tie up
their horses. We’re going to have a lot of visitors today.” His
mother said, “What are you talking about?” When Karma Monlam
who was now old, very large, and had a white beard showed up,
Thrangu Rinpoche said, “Oh Karma Monlam, come here quickly.”
Picture 6
Thrangu Monastery before 1959
RINPOCHE’S ARRIVAL AT THE THRANGU MONASTERY
Returning to Tenzin Namgyal’s narrative:
In his fifth year, Rinpoche’s father and mother went to Thrangu

Monastery to give the new Thrangu Rinpoche to the
monastery. There was an attendant of the previous Thrangu
Rinpoche, and that first night instead of staying with his
mother, he went to sleep in the room of the attendant. He was
very glad to see the attendant and to be with him and didn’t even
look at his mother.
At the age of seven in 1939, the young Thrangu Rinpoche
started studying with the t e a c h e r K a r m a Wa n g c h u k .
Occasionally, he would go to see his parents, but usually he
didn’t even think about them and concentrated on his studies.
He was very intelligent and understood everything taught him.
Thrangu Monastery had its own protector deity which was
called a genyan. This deity looked after Thrangu Rinpoche a lot.
There was a monk at Thrangu Monastery who was a clairvoyant
and could see many things others couldn’t see. When

Thrangu Rinpoche was brought to his enthronement at the
age of five; this man saw the genyan with a retinue of many other
deities come to greet him in an elaborate greeting.
Picture 7
Painting of Thrangu Rinpoche’s Genyan
Rinpoche was later asked about this genyan and he said that the
genyan is a protector of the area around his monastery, in other
words, a local deity who became a protector of the dharma, a
dharmapala. The previous Thrangu Tulku had made many
offerings to this genyan and when Rinpoche was growing up, he
did not make any offering to it. Things were not going well and the
clairvoyant monk told Rinpoche that the genyan was not happy
and so Rinpoche began making offerings to it even though he had
been taught that everything is just mind. [Also when Rinpoche is
asked about these types of beings, he replies that just because
you cannot see them with your eyes, you cannot assume that they
don’t exist.]
The previous Traleg Rinpoche and the previous Jamgon
Kongrul Rinpoche, who were alive at the time, had said that there
should be a monastic college (Tib. shedra) established at Thrangu
Monastery which would be very beneficial in the future. So they

created this college at Thrangu Monastery and asked a khenpo
from Sechen Monastery (a Nyingma Monastery) to teach there.
The purpose was to have a college which would be specifically
Karma Kagyu and would study the writings of Mikyo Dorje,
the eighth Karmapa, and the other Kagyu masters so that these
teachings could be preserved.
Thrangu Rinpoche was the principal pupil of the college and
the khenpo from Sechen Monastery had previously received the
transmission of the teachings of the Kagyu masters so he
could transmit them to Thrangu Rinpoche and all the other monks
and lamas in the shedra. Thrangu Rinpoche studied there and was
the most student intelligent and most clever in his ability to learn
and understand. He also had amazing diligence, with no one
coming close to his diligence. So he was the very best student at
the college.
THRANGU RINPOCHE’S STUDIES AT THRANGU MONASTERY
The story of Rinpoche’s education in Thrangu Rinpoche can be

found in The Ocean of Philosophy.8
EARLY EDUCATION
In the Earth Rabbit Year (1939), Thrangu Rinpcoche began

his studies under Karma Wangchuk, beginning with reading
and writing, and then memorizing tantric texts and studying
mandala rituals. He presided over offering rituals and fulfilled the
expectations of faithful donors.
PILGRIMAGE AND PURIFYING OBSCURATIONS

16TH KARMAPA
In 1943 Thrangu Rinpoche at the age of ten went on a pilgrimage

to the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa and then he went to Tsurphu
Monastery, the main monastery of the Karmapas in the Tsur
Dowolung valley. In Tsurphu he prostrated at the Gyalwang
Karmapa’s feet, supplicating him, and asking that the Karmapa out
of his great compassion would accept him as a student and tell him
which yidam deity would be best for him to practice. Since
individuals who uphold the teachings need a long life, the
8 A special Kagyu Monlam edition of The Ocean of Philosophy published in

2010.

Gyalwang Karmapa told him to practice White Tara and go into
retreat. During the retreat exceptional experience and realization
arose within him and he received the blessings of the Karmapa’s
body, speech, and mind. He then visited the sacred sites of central
and southern Tibet, purifying his obscurations and returned to his
homeland.
Picture 8
Thrangu Rinpoche and the Gyalwa Karmapa at Rumtek
STUDY OF THE GENERAL SUBJECTS OF KNOWLEDGE
With his tutor, Rinpoche also studied Orthography: The Lamp of

Speech and Tokden Lhaksam’s grammar Exalted Light, and
undertook a detailed study in Situ Pema Nyinche’s great
commentary on grammar in detail. On the subject of astrology, he
studied the five sections, the five planets, and calendars. He also
studied The Mirror for poetry and Kalaps’s text on Sanskrit
according to Sazangpa’s great commentary, by studying the sandhi
diagrams in great details.

STUDIES OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY
Rinpoche holds the transmission of commentaries particular to

the Kagyu lineage and upholds the philosophical traditions of the
Great Shentong Middle Way as presented by Rangjung Dorje and
Situ Chokyi Jungne.
Khenchen Lodro Rabsal was invited from Shechen Monastery
to Thrangu Monastery to establish a monastic college there, at
which Rinpoche studied the five great topics as well as the The
Profound Inner Meaning, the Two Books on Hevajra, and the
Utttaratantra with continual and enthusiastic diligence day and
night over the course of six years. When he took his exams, he was
immediately able to answer all the questions about the fine details
of classifications, reasons, and so forth without any mistakes.
Although he was the youngest student in the college, everyone
praised him as having the sharpest intelligence.9
RECEIVING THE MONASTIC, BODHISATTVA, AND TANTRIC VOWS
In the Wood Horse Year of 1954, while returning from a trip to

China with other great lamas, the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa
arrived at Palpung Monastery. At that time, Kagyu lamas and
monks from all over Kham gathered to see the Karmapa.
Thrangu Rinpoche being 21 years old also had the thought that
it would be wonderful to receive the blessings of the three
vows from a buddha such as the Karmapa, and since the
opportunity presented itself, for that purpose he went to
Palpung Monastery. He also offered representations of body,
speech, and mind to the reincarnation of Situ Rinpoche during
his enthronement ceremony.
As Thrangu Rinpoche had requested, on the festival day of
the glorious Kalachakra, in the quarters of the omniscient Situ
Chokyi Jungne, Thrangu Rinpoche, Surmang Garwang
Rinpoche, and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche took the three levels
of pratimoksha vows from the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa,
Rangjung Rigpe. Then again in the temple they took
bodhisattva vows in the two traditions. Then through his
great kindness and compassion, they received tantric vows as
part of the empowerments for “Eliminating All Obstacles” of
Guru Rinpoche and the nine deities of Gyalwa Gyatso (Red
9 A more
detailed accounting of what Thrangu studied can be found in Tashi
Namgyal’s A Summary of the Deeds of Thrangu Rinpoche.

Chenrezig), as well as formal empowerment connected with the
transmission of the wisdom protector.
Thrangu Rinpoche’s own journals make it clear that up to
that point he had been an intellectual who looked outward, but
on this occasion there arose in his being the exceptional
blessings of developing a not-inconsiderable experience of
looking within. From the moment of that good fortune, he
always saw his teacher as a real buddha and never again clung
to him as an ordinary being.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SHEDRA AT THRANGU MONASTERY
The building of a Shedra (a monastic college) at Thrangu

Monastery with Thrangu Rinpoche being its main disciple actually
had a world-wide implications to the Kagyu Lineage. Khenpo
Karthar explains this point.10
When Thrangu Rinpoche was fifteen years old, in accordance

with the aspiration that the former Thrangu tulku had established
when he asked Mipham Rinpoche for his blessing, he entered into
a period of study and established a shedra within Thrangu
monastery. This shedra was initiated by the former Traleg
Rinpoche. They had invited the pre-eminent scholar at the Sechen
monastery, Sechen Gyaltsap, who was a student of both Jamgon
Kongtrul and Mipham. Sechen Gyaltsap’s education had been
conducted without any connection whatsoever with the other
influential khenpo, Shenpo Sanga. And so it was possible to re-
institute the tradition of study without the impediment of this
violation of samaya. Sechen Gyaltsap who was also Trungpa
Rinpoche’s tutor was invited to Thrangu monastery to conduct the
education of the Thrangu tulku shedra.
Had the Eighth Thrangu tulku and others studied with Khenpo
Shenga, they would have suffered the great tragedies that befell
Khenpo Shenga’s students. The intervention of the Chinese in
Tibet would then have wiped out the tradition of study in the
Kagyu tradition altogether were it not for the fact that Thrangu
Rinpoche had been educated and had escaped from Tibet and fled
to India. Had he not made it to India, there wouldn’t be any Kagyu
Khenpos. But because Thrangu Rinpoche did establish under the
Karmpa’s guidance the shedra at Rumtek, India after the Chinese
10Khenpo Karthar gave this talk on the Thrangu Lineage at Gampo Abbey on
June 29, 1991.

intervention, there are many Kagyu tulkus in a flourishing tradition
of study and intellectual training within the Kagyu tradition.
The reason I [Khenpo Karthar] say that things would have been
wiped out altogether is that there were a great many Kagyu lamas
who were educated either directly or indirectly through the
writings of this Khenpo Shenga and all these khenpos met with
great misfortune. By the time these khenpos and lamas had reached
the age of 30 most had either died or gone insane. There are three
places I can think of that were not touched by the educational
curriculum and the books of Khenpo Shenga. One was Thrangu
Monastery, another was Surmang monastery of Trungpa Rinpoche,
and the third was the monastery of Dabsang Rinpoche. The strange
twist on the whole thing is that Khenpo Senga was a great enemy
of the Shentong school. His students were strong proponents of the
Rangtong Prasangika school. The negative karma extended even
among the Nyingma monasteries and to the Dzogchen monastery
where the same fate befell those who were educated using the book
written by Khenpo Senga.
Among the Kagyu Lamas, except for Thrangu Rinpoche and
Trungpa Rinpoche, there was no one who holds these teachings of
Jamgon Kongtrul and Mipham Rinpoche in an unstained manner.
So had the two of them not made it out of Tibet, there wouldn’t be
any Kagyu tradition of study. And even between these two,
Trungpa Rinpoche with his relationship with Khenpo Gangshar
taught mainly in the manner of a siddha rather than the manner of a
khenpo. This means that the survival of the khenpo tradition within
the Kagyu lineage pretty much came down to Thrangu Rinpoche.
THRANGU RINPOCHE’S ESCAPE TO INDIA
When Thrangu Rinpoche was twenty-five years old and still

engaged in his studies, the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese
began in 1958. Both of his tutors, the previous Traleg Rinpoche
and the previous Zuru Tulku Rinpoche were very old at the
time. Tenzin Namgyal describes the onset of the invasion very
clearly:
When the Chinese takeover of Tibet began in 1958, the new

Traleg Rinpoche was very young, and the Zuru Rinpoche was very
old, so all the responsibilities fell mainly on Thrangu Rinpoche.
They all left Kham to go west towards Lhasa. There were
thousands of Tibetans going west as refugees from Kham when
the fighting broke out. The people were leaving in huge numbers

accompanied by many yaks. Thrangu Rinpoche was leading a
small party of less than a hundred. They would stop and camp by
setting up lots of tents at night. One night an extremely old
lady appeared among the thousands of people camped with all
these yaks with no one knowing where she had come from. People
said that she was a spy for the Chinese and if they didn’t kill her,
they wouldn’t escape. So the younger Tibetans were getting
ready to kill her and Thrangu Rinpoche said, “No, you
mustn’t do that. The reason we are running away is to save
lives. So if we kill someone, what will that be?” He said not to
kill her, so they didn’t.
The next day when they were traveling, a plane flew past to see
where they were going. That afternoon they camped out to eat at
about 3:00 PM in the afternoon. Then it got dark and they did not
see that they were being completely surrounded by Chinese
soldiers. The Chinese had machine guns and some kind of
artillery. The machine guns started to fire and the people thought
there was nowhere to go and just sat there. Thrangu Rinpoche
said, “We mustn’t just sit here, we must escape.” So the machine
guns were firing and the yaks were all panicking and
running into each other. All the people were jumping on horses to
escape. All the time bullets were flying by and a mortar or
cannon fired and the shell came right down where Thrangu
Rinpoche, Traleg Rinpoche and Zuru Tulku were. The shell landed
right next to them with a thump. It made a hole in the ground,
but it didn’t explode.
Thrangu Rinpoche had a large white horse and a very
strong person who looked after his horse. But the horse was
uncontrollable in the panic and it was rearing up and the horse
trainer just couldn’t hold the horse. Then a large monk came
onto the scene, grabbed the horse, pulled it down, got hold of
Thrangu Rinpoche, and put him on the horse and Rinpoche
rode off. If he hadn’t been able to get on the horse, he would
never have been able to get away. It turned out that Thrangu
Rinpoche, Traleg Tulku, and Zuru Tulku all got away safely.
Afterwards everyone was asking who this monk was. But everyone
said, “No, it wasn’t me.” It turned out that this “monk” was the
genyan, the dharma protector that appears in many different forms.
Sometimes he appears as an elephant, sometimes as a kind of
Hindu sadhu, sometimes as a lama in monk’s robes, and so on.
From this, one can see how Thrangu Rinpoche’s dharma protector
is always there at the right time and gives whatever help is needed.
Tenzin continues:

The party was able to carry on and get to Tsurphu, the
Karmapa’s monastery in Tibet, to see the Sixteenth Karmapa.
When Thrangu Rinpoche arrived, I [Tenzin Namgyal] was with
His Holiness and heard with my own ears the Karmapa say that
Thrangu Rinpoche was the main scholar, the most learned
person of the Kagyu school. With him the continuity of the
teaching of the Dharma will remain. So he was very important for
the transmission of the actual teachings.
Khenpo Karthar also told this story showing the suffering they
endured.11
Between 1950 and 1958, the presence of the Communist

Chinese in Tibet brought political, economic, and religious changes
to the Tibetan people, along with vast suffering and rampant
destruction of their way of life. In 1958, Thrangu Rinpoche left the
monastery with Khenpo Karthar, Traleg Rinpoche, Zuru Tulku, and
other monks. Though many sacred objects and volumes of dharma
texts were destroyed, Rinpoche was able to save some.
With small provisions of food and clothing and a few horses,
Thrangu Rinpoche and his party began their long trek westward
and were soon joined by a caravan of nomads with their flock of
sheep. After fifteen days of travel, the rinpoches stopped to rest,
only to find themselves surrounded by Communist Chinese
soldiers. Since night was falling, the Tibetan refugees were able to
escape via a nearby swamp, and readied three horses to carry
Thrangu Rinpoche, Traleg Rinpoche, and Zuru Tulku. Zuru Tulku,
who was the eldest, could not have survived on horseback, so
Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s younger brother carried him.
Everyone headed in separate directions across the swamp,
which was very flat but punctuated with small gorges and areas
where one could easily and quickly hide. On the second day
Rinpoche found a few of the monks and was relieved to know they
were alive and unhurt. Gradually, the remaining monks were found
and on the seventh day of their escape from the soldiers, they were
joined by the rinpoches. The party survived those seven days
without food since the mule carrying the provisions had
disappeared. They ate snow to prevent dehydration and were
forced to return to the place where the soldiers had surrounded
them to look for food. The Communist Chinese were gone and
almost nothing was left but a few utensils and a little flour.
11 This account can be found on the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra website.

Carrying the meager ration of barley flour, the lamas continued
their journey. Their vision was blurring and they were so weak
they had to avoid even the smallest incline by walking around it.
After another week of travel, the rinpoches found a horse carrying
tsampa, a staple food of roasted barley flour. They mixed this with
water and although the mixture was very thin, a ten-course dinner
could not have been more appreciated. A few days later, the lamas
met some nomads who gave them more provisions.
Two and a half months later and without further incidents, the
lamas reached Tsurphu Monastery, not far from Lhasa in central
Tibet. The rinpoches spent a month at Tsurphu, which was still
operating normally. But His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwa
Karmapa, with his profound understanding and vision was
completely aware of the impending danger. He told the group they
must leave Tsurphu and continue toward Sikkim and India. On
March 7, 1959, His Holiness gave the lamas five yaks and supplies
and three days later, they left Tsurphu. In fifteen days, they reached
the border between Tibet and Bhutan.
The Bhutanese would not grant immediate passage through
their country, so the lamas were forced to spend one month at the
blockaded border, where more than a thousand Tibetans died of
starvation. Finally, His Holiness the Dalai Lama secured the
permission of the Indian government for the refugees to enter
India. They were given rations and the Bhutanese opened two
roads through Bhutan. The rinpoches traveled through to Buxador,
a town at the border of India and Bhutan. Former prison quarters
served as their housing and food was provided by the Indian
government.
THRANGU RINPOCHE RECEIVES A GESHE LHARAMPA DEGREE 12
In 1960 Thrangu Rinpoche received in complete form the

amrita of the genuine Dharma in the form of the Kagyu Ngak-dzö,
the Damngak-dzö, the complete stages of commentaries on
Mahamudra, the profound path of the Six Yogas, and so forth. He
also received the Rinchen Terdzö, the Shejadzö, the Gyachen
Kadzö, and many others. In brief, he received 17 teachings and
guidance from both Kagyu and Nyingma scholars and spiritual
friends who were masters. He had great faith in them filling his
mind with the treasures of the Sutra and Tantra traditions. Among
the seventeen these seventeen masters who introduced him to the
12 Tenzin Namgyal in A Summary of the Deeds of Thrangu Rinpoche

very heart of the true nature, none was greater than the glorious
Sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpai Dorje. Holding the position
of the Defender in Debate, he receives the Degree of Karam,
indicating he had achieved the Highest Level of Achievement in
the Five Divisions of Study.
In 1962 according to the wishes of the glorious Karmapa, at
Baxa on the border of India and Bhutan, in the midst of expert
spiritual friends of all traditions, along with 1,500 sangha
members, and a representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,
Thrangu Rinpoche took oral exams on the five divisions of the
great treatises which are common to all traditions especially the
Kagyu The Profound Inner Nature, The Two Volumes [on
Hevajra], and The Uttaratantra. He also took the difficult position
of the defendant in debate. All the people present were delighted
by his performance and said how excellent it was. On this
occasion, Thrangu Rinpoche generously offered tea, food, and
money to the whole gathering. Before everyone, Thrangu
Rinpoche left the imprint of his deeds as a scholar and meditation
master becoming more famous than his previous incarnations.
With his performance His Holiness the Dalai Lama
bestowed upon Thrangu Rinpoche the title of Kagyu Khenpo, and
at the main seat of the Kagyu lineage in Rumtek, Sikkim, the
glorious Karmapa showered him with praise, bestowing the title of
Great Khenpo and stated that his mind stream was one with that of
Ngokchö Kudorje, Gyedze Marpa Lotsawa’s close disciple, who
held his exegetical lineage.
THRANGU RINPOCHE ABBOT AT RUMTEK
After receiving this degree, Thrangu Rinpoche went to

Rumtek, India where the Karmapa made him abbot of Rumtek
monastery and of the Nalanda Institute of Higher Buddhist
studies. This Nalanda Institute was the monastic college (or
shedra) that all the young Kagyu tulkus were to be trained.
Rinpoche’s responsibility was to establish what was to be
taught in this lineage and how it was to be taught. His Holiness
Karmapa had brought out of Tibet four young tulkus who had been
his teachers in previous lifetimes. Thrangu Rinpoche, Khenpo
Karthar Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultim Gyatso Rinpoche were given
the responsibility for teaching these four regents (Tai Situpa
Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, Shamar Rinpoche,
and Gyaltsap Rinpoche), as well as many other tulkus who
were to preserve the Karma Kagyu lineage. To set up the entire

curriculum for the Karma Kagyu lineage required Thrangu
Rinpoche to engage in the tremendous task of collecting all the
Buddhist texts which had been completely destroyed in Tibet and
copies were scattered in monasteries outside of Tibet. He also did
some of the calligraphies on the walls of Rumtek Monastery and
Picture 9
Khenpo Tsultrim and Thrangu Rinpoche (possibly at Rumtek)
wrote a book on the Life of His Holiness Karmapa (in Tibetan, not
translated) as well as many other texts.13
Concerning this time Tenzin relates this story:
One day Thrangu Rinpoche was talking to Tenzin and
said, “I had a very strange dream last night. There was this
large green plain and on the plain was a black bull. Then a
voice said, ‘This is your rebirth.’ I thought this was rather
disturbing. I mean, I don’t see why I should be reborn a black
bull. I’ve been a monk and I’ve not harmed anyone and kept all my
vows.” They then went to the Karmapa and told him about
the dream and the Karmapa put his hands together in the
gesture of homage and said, “This is really special. There is
nothing bad in this dream at all. It’s only the great lamas who
can spontaneously remember previous lifetimes. This is quite
wonderful.”
Tenzin says that Thrangu Rinpoche has clairvoyant powers, so
13 These paragraphs were written by Clark Johnson

he sees deities, demons and other things, but he never says
anything about them. If someone asks him about his
clairvoyance, he just says that he doesn’t have any.
But once in Rumtek he said that he had the idea of making a
retreat center at Namo Buddha in Nepal. When he told others, they
said that it wasn’t really a good idea to put a retreat center way out
there on that hill because people are not going to have food to
eat and there would not be any support for the monastery.”
So people such as Tenga Rinpoche thought it was a bad idea.
But Thrangu Rinpoche said, “No.” He was definitely
going to build a retreat center at Namo Buddha. It was like a
prophecy.
In 1976, the Gyalwang Karmapa presented him with a
certificate with the official square seal when sending him
abroad to teach at many Dharma centers. The certificate states
that Rinpoche is the embodiment of complete and unmistaken
mastery over the essence of the Karma Kagyu’s teachings of
scripture and practice, and names him as vajra master who holds
the three vows. After he was bestowed that certificate,
Rinpoche founded over two dozen dharma and retreat and
meditation centers in various countries for the study and
practice of Buddhism.
In this year His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa came
to Nepal and did the traditional pilgrimage of visiting the three
most sacred places: Swayambhu, the Bodhanath Stupa, and Namo
Buddha. The Swayambhu stupa in Kathmandu sits on top of a
crystal mandala of Chakrasamvara which was frequently visited in
by the kings of Nepal in ancient times.
The second was the Bodhanath Stupa, about five miles away,
constructed centuries ago and blessed by Padmasambhava and
contains the remains of one of former Buddhas. Finally, the third,
Namo Buddha is about 20 miles away on a high hill. On this
hill is a rock where it is told in the sutras that the previous
Buddha cut the flesh from his arm and fed it to a starving tiger
and her cubs. The traditional Buddhist pilgrimage consists of
visiting these three sites in one day.
When his Holiness accompanied by Thrangu Rinpoche
visited the Swayambhu stupa ringsels which are small colored
rocks made by religious activity, not any natural phenomenon,
spontaneously fell from the stupa. This was described in the
book Women of Wisdom by Tsultrim Allione14 . At the Bodhanath
14 Tsultrim Allione. Women of Wisdom, Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2000.

stupa His Holiness the eighteenth Karmapa made the
prediction that if the stupa was surrounded by Buddhist
monasteries, the Dharma would thrive for a long time. Since that
time the Tibetans have built over twenty monasteries around the
Bodhanath stupa.
After Thrangu Rinpoche was on this pilgrimage with the
Karmapa, he remained in Nepal and lived at Chokyi Nyingma’s
monastery. During this time, he had his first contact with
Western students. Thrangu Rinpoche spoke no English at the
time and one student told me that she would communicate with
him in Nepali when there was no translator. During this time it
must be remembered that there were less than a dozen books in
English about Tibetan Buddhism.
Rinpoche then decided to obtain land for the retreat center at
Namo Buddha. He sent Tenzin to simply go and buy it outright.
Photo 10
Thrangu Rinpoche in his room in Chokie Nyima’s Monastery,
in 1977 before his monastery was built.

Continuing with Tenzin’s account:
The day I set off to go buy the land was the day of the nine
bad omens, which is the worst day astrologically in the whole
year. When I was about to leave, someone said, “Where on
earth do you think you’re going on this day? It’s the nine bad
omens day.” And I said, “I’m going off to find ten good omens.”
And so I went off and along the road and came across Ani
Dechen, a nun who was carrying a large load of grain. He
thought, “Oh, this is a good sign.” Later I told Thrangu Rinpoche
about it and Thrangu Rinpoche, who usually doesn’t say very
much, said, “You know, this was a good sign because there
were an uncountable number of little grains in the load, so the
benefit coming from Namo Buddha would also be incalculable.”
And so Namo Buddha, one of the three most sacred spots
in Nepal, was purchased by Thrangu Rinpoche in 1981. Thrangu
Rinpoche began building a three-year retreat center at this very
sacred place.
RINPOCHE BUILDS AND TEACHES IN NEPAL15
After a pilgrimage with the 16th Karmapa in 1977, the 43

year old Thrangu Rinpoche decided to live in Boudhanath,
Nepal and build a monastery around the Great Stupa. He
stayed in a room at Chokyi Nyingma’s Monastery. It was
here he made contact with Western students including
Dharma Dan, Sonny Sundowner, and Bob and Elaine Schroeder.
Dharma Dan had received some money and bought an electric
typewriter. This small group asked Thrangu Rinpoche to give
teachings on practice and then typed these teachings out on the
typewriter, thus publishing Thrangu Rinpoche’s first works in
English. In June of 1977, Thrangu Rinpoche gave his first
teaching to Western students with Michael Lewis translating.
The teaching was on Mipham’s Four Skills, called the Open
Door to Emptiness, and The Sword that Cuts Delusion’s Root, a
chod practice written by the 14th Karmapa. It was also in this year
that Thrangu Rinpoche began to build his first monastery about
100 meters from the Boudhanath stupa. He once explained that to
preserve the Kagyu teachings it was necessary to build monasteries
staffed with 40 year old monks who would then teach the 30 year
old monks who would then teach 20 year old monks so the Dharma
would be passed on generation to generation. When Nepali
15 The following was written by Clark Johnson

families heard Rinpoche was looking for monks, they flooded into
his monastery asking him to accept their sons (and later daughters
when a nunnery was established).
Picture 11
Thrangu Rinpoche at consecration of his
Boudhanath Monastery in 1987
Thrangu Rinpoche explained once that he thought that
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche was doing such wonderful work in
the West that he had no idea he would have to take on the
responsibility of teaching western students. In 1979 Thrangu
Rinpoche visited the United States with His Holiness Karmapa.
He visited Idyllwild, California (where today he has a center),
Santa Cruz, and Lama Lodro’s center in San Francisco. From
t h e r e h e t r a v e l e d t o Wo o d s t o c k a n d t o D h a r m a Triyana
Dharmachakra (KTD) the main seat of H. H. Karmapa in North
America with Thrangu Rinpoche teaching in the morning and
Khenpo Karthar teaching in the afternoon. From there he went to
Samye Ling in Scotland. This was also the first place that Trungpa
Rinpoche went after attending Oxford University. The summer of

1979 was incredible because Thrangu Rinpoche taught daily in the
mornings and Tai Situpa Rinpoche taught in the afternoons.
Of all the thousands of Tibetan texts, which text did Thrangu
Rinpoche believe were the important texts for Westerners to
understand? The first two texts he taught on were the Uttaratantra
and Gampopa’s Jewel Ornament of Liberation. He also taught
Shamatha Meditation (published as Tranquility and Insight), and
the instructions for Ngondro practice. Thrangu Rinpoche was also
invited by Khenpo Karthar to teach at Woodstock in the U.S.
and taught Ngondro again and the Twenty-one Tara practices. In
1981, Rinpoche returned to Samye Ling and began a series of
teachings on the Kagyu lineage holders Gampopa, Marpa, and
Milarepa. These teachings initiated a complete series on the
Kagyu lineage holders all the way to the present Karmapa.
Rinpoche has always said that the spiritual biographies (Tib.
namtars) were excellent inspirational materials for the
practitioner who might have developed some discouragement in
his or her practice. He also taught a long series of teachings on four
of the five Maitreya texts which are studied in almost all
monasteries in Tibet.
Figure 12

Thrangu Rinpoche bestowing the Rinchen Terdzog at Kalu
Rinpoche’s monastery in 1983.
In 1985 Thrangu Rinpoche completed the first phase of

construction of his monastery in Nepal and had the main
shrine room blessed by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. At that time
the monastery had about 40 monks and also housed Zuru
Tulku who has always had a close association with the
Thrangu Tulkus. In this year Thrangu Rinpoche asked Clark
Johnson and Marlene Forneigel to establish an annual teaching
for Western students in Nepal. When asked what to call this
event, Thrangu Rinpoche suggested “Namo Buddha Seminar.”
The first seminar was to be held in December, 1986 and just
a few weeks before the participants arrived, a large four-story
building which was to become the Sri Namgyal Dip Primary
School was finished and the participants stayed there. The
First Namo Buddha Winter Seminar had fifteen participants
who came from Europe and North America. It lasted two months
and included Thangka classes, Tibetan language classes,
and a Tibetan medicine class as well as numerous pilgrimages
to sacred places in Nepal. During this year, one of Thrangu
Rinpoche’s early students from England, Andrew Mitchell,
together with Usha Singh formed a group in Edmonton, Canada
which became Thrangu Rinpoche’s first Canadian center.
First Namo Buddha Seminar on Christmas Eve

in Kathmandu, 1986.

With the yearly seminars in Nepal which continue to this day
Thrangu Rinpoche felt it would be good to provide an annual set
of teachings for his European students and asked Cornelia
Hwang to establish the Namo Buddha Summer Seminars
at Worchester College in Oxford in 1988. It was also in this
year that Namo Buddha Publications was formed with the goal
of publishing all of Thrangu Rinpoche’s teachings to Western
students.
In June of this year the reverend David Tong established the
Thrangu Centre in Malaysia, and Thrangu Rinpoche was able to
visit Malaysia and consecrate this center on December 13, 1988.
The center is located at Petaling Jaya, which is ten miles from
Kuala Lumpur. At this is a large and thriving center Rinpoche also
began a yearly series of empowerments sponsored by his
Malaysian students beginning in Nepal beginning with the Kagyu
Ngag Dzod, which covers the 27 main yidam practices of the
Kagyu lineage. During this time, the Ven. Thubten Thong helped
establish a center for Thrangu Rinpoche in Hong Kong. His Hong
Kong presence has now grown to five centers.
With the generous support of Thrangu Rinpoche’s students in
the Far East, he was able to purchase a piece of land at
Sarnath, India in 1988 overlooking the deer park where the Buddha
originally taught. This was to become Thrangu Rinpoche’s
principal monastery housing over 200 monks.
In 1989, Thrangu Rinpoche suggested that an annual
program for his North American students be established by
Debra Ann Robinson. From this the first Mahamudra Retreat held
at Big Bear, outside Los Angeles, was born. This retreat was
organized with a great deal of help from Debra Ann Robinson and
Karma Mahasiddha Ling. Rinpoche had previously given
isolated teachings on Mahamudra, the principle meditation of
the Kagyu lineage, but for the next four years Rinpoche was to
give a definitive series of teachings devoted solely to the
Mahamudra by teaching on the Moonlight of Mahamudra.
In 1990 the Namo Buddha Seminars in Nepal were firmly
established and have been occurring offered there for over 25
years. Thrangu Rinpoche had begun teaching in Europe, North
America, Asia and occasionally even in South America and
Australia and New Zealand. His numerous centers in fourteen
countries with a total of forty study groups and centers are given
on his website set up by Lee Miracle in 1997 at
www.rinpoche.com. Most of these centers are listed with their
contact information on this site and therefore below only a few of

Thrangu Rinpoche’s later activities will be mentioned.
Picture 14
Thrangu Monastery in Tibet in 1994
Also I apologize to Thrangu Rinpoche’s numerous Asian

students whose numerous activities can be found on mainly
Chinese speaking websites.
The year 1990 began with Thrangu Rinpoche teaching in
Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, France, United States, Sweden,
England, Brazil, Argentina, Chili, and Columbia. 16 Also in this
year Thrangu Rinpoche after listening to the requests of his women
students, decided to build Tara Abbey in Kathmandu at the sacred
site of Swyambhu. Nancy Hodson and Sylvia Berkovichi with
Debran Ann Robinson began raising funds for a group of seventeen
nuns. The nuns were given the opportunity to do a traditional
three-year retreat and to a traditional five-year monastic college
allowing them to receive the same education that Thrangu
Rinpoche’s monks received. The land was purchased in 1992 and
in 1995 the first phase of construction was completed with
Thrangu Rinpoche consecrating the nunnery which now had sixty
nuns.
Thrangu Rinpoche in addition to teaching in Asia and the West
16There are many photos of Thrangu Rinpoche visiting all these countries in
Selected Photographs of Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. Published by Vajra Vidya
Library in Sarnath, India in 2009.

in 1993 led a ten-day pilgrimage to major Buddhist holy sites in
India. However, in the following year Thrangu Rinpoche turned 60
years of age and did no traveling to the West to teach because it
was an inauspicious year for him to travel.
During this time established the Himalayan Children’s Fund
which up to today has funded Tara Abbey, supported Rinpoche’s
monks and nuns, and sponsored children in Thrangu Rinpoche’s
primary school, Shri Mangal Dvip school.
In 1996 Thrangu Rinpoche visited his original monastery in
Tibet which had been completely destroyed and was slowly being
rebuilt. He ordained over 60 monks there and under the direction
of Lodro Nyima Rinpoche (who in his previous life was one of the
original four Rinpoches that lived at Thrangu monastery) headed
this effort.
Back in Nepal where Thrangu Rinpoche’s main monastery,
primary school, and nunnery was Thrangu Rinpoche decided to
build still another monastery in India. He decided on to build at
one of most sacred Buddhist sites in India by buying a plot of land
in 1989 overlooking the deer park where the Buddha some 2,500
years ago gave his first Dharma teaching. The land for this large
monastery was purchased in 1989 may be wrong and building
began in 1993 and it was finished and consecrated in 1997.
Picture 15
Karmapa and all the monks at the Vajra Vidya Institute at
Sarnath, India in year 2001

The year 2000 was a momentous year because His Holiness the
17th Gyalwa Karmapa escaped from Tibet and arrived in India.
The Dalai Lama gave the Karmapa a monastery very near to his
own residence in Dharmasala, India and said that Thrangu
Rinpoche should be one of his main tutors. Thrangu Rinpoche was
finishing his monastery in Sarnath, India which had a large
apartment for the Karmapa on the top floor. Since then, the
Karmapa has visited Thrangu Rinpoche’s monastery for a few
weeks every year to give teachings to Rinpoche’s monks and nuns
and to study and practice. There are many more details on the
website: vajravidya.org.
Picture 16
Vajra Vidya Retreat Center Crestone Colorado taken 2014
In 2001 Thrangu Rinpoche approved the building of the

Vajra Vidya Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado which was to be
Thrangu Rinpoche’s first retreat center in the US. Crestone was
chosen by Rinpoche because it had been visited by His Holiness
the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa and the area was blessed with a large
Karmapa stupa as well as being the center of many other spiritual
centers. This center was to help his students develop their practice
more deeply and building was begun in 2003 and was completed in
March of 2004. In July 2005 Thrangu Rinpoche sent two of his
monks to help teach at Vajra Vidya (one who was Khenpo Jigme
who is still head of Vajra Vidya). Since Vajra Vidya Retreat had
only a small room for a shrine room, In 2009 work was begun on a
full size shrine room which could hold 100 persons. The yearly
ten-day teachings by Rinpoche in Crestone was held in the new

shrine room in 2010. Thrangu Rinpoche decided to turn the Vajra
Vidya Retreat Center into a traditional three-year retreat and this
was begun in March of 2013.
Picture 17
The completed Tara Abbey
In 2008 Thrangu Rinpoche was able to consecrate the

completed Tara Abbey. This abbey had been supported by the
Himalayan Children’s fund and by many others and now had
several hundred nuns receiving the full Dharma teachings. Much
more is on thrangutaraabbey.org. Unfortunately, some of the
building was damaged in the Nepal Earthquake of 2015.
Picture 18
The Completion of Tashi Yangtese Temple
in 2008 in Namo Buddha

The year 2008 also saw the completion of a large temple
holding several hundred at Namo Buddha in Nepal which began
with Thrangu Rinpoche building 8 retreat cabins and a kitchen in
the 1980s to a large complex of buildings at this sacred spot. Much
more can be found on namobuddha.org describing this complex now
called Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery.
In the year of 2010 there was a devastating earthquake in
Jyekundo, Tibet. Rinpoche’s rebuilt monastery which was 1,300
years old was almost completely destroyed and dozens of his
monks. Thrangu Rinpoche decided that his monastery would have
to move to a new site which was near the same town on flat land
with a mountain in the background, a river flowing in front of it
with a good road and utilities readily available. Construction was
begun in 2012. The new monastery was built under the leadership
of Lodro Nyima Rinpoche and in 2015 Thrangu Rinpoche traveled
to his monastery in Tibet and consecrated it.17
Picture 19
This is Thrangu monastery which has just been rebuilt in a new
plot of land on a river, a road, all the utilities after the 1,000 year
old monastery was destroyed by an earthquake in 2012. There are
quarters for the four Rinpoches that traditionally resided at
Thrangu Monastery, a large shrine room, and monastic college
(shedra) and many monk’s cabins. Just on the front one can see the
small white monk's cabins.
17 See wikipedia.com under “Thrangu Monastery” for more details.

The year of 2015 was a busy one because not only did
Thrangu Rinpoche go to Tibet but there was a devastating
earthquake in April of 2015 in Nepal that damaged Thrangu
Rinpoche’s monastery, the Shri Dvip school, Tara Abbey, the Nubri
nunnery and three-year retreat center in Bakaphur as well as many
of the Nepal villages where Thrangu Rinpoche’s monks came
from. Fortunately, Thrangu Rinpoche lost no monks or nuns, but
had to live in a tent with his monks because for several months the
after shocks and some major structural damage made the buildings
unsafe.
His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa asked his Karma
Kagyu monasteries that they were to put their efforts in helping the
devastation of the Earthquake where tens of thousands had no
drinkable water, food, or housing. All of the monks and nuns
living in the Kathmandu area helped the general populace many of
whom lost everything. Some of the senior monks rented
helicopters to take food and medical supplies to stranded villages
where the roads had been destroyed.
Again, if you want to contribute to or correct this biography of

Thrangu Rinpoche, please feel free to contact Clark Johnson at
[email protected].

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The Life of

Note: This Summary of Thrangu Rinpoche’s Life and his activities

Produced by Namo Buddha Publications. This Biography is not

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !1

The Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche was born in 1933 and is the

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !2

The Nine Thrangu Tulkus are:

There is a wonderful book on the Thrangu Lineage called The

Below is a much briefer recounting of the Thrangu Lineage given

1The Glory of Dharma, Published by Thrangu Monastery in Canada, 2012. The

2 Talkby Khenpo Karthar on the Thrangu Lineage given at Gampo Abbey on

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !3

THE SIXTH THRANGU TULKU

The Sixth Thrangu lama, Kunkhyab Nyima, (which means “all-

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !4

THE EIGHTH THRANGU TULKU, TENDZIN THRINLEY RABGYE

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !5

The Eighth Thrangu Tulku was born in Tibet in a place called

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !6

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !7

THRANGU RINPOCHE’S BIRTH

Tenzin Namgyal, Thrangu Rinpoche’s brother-in-law, was the

4 Talk given at the Fourth Namo Buddha Seminar in Nepal in 1989.

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !8

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !9

THRANGU RINPOCHE’S EARLY LIFE

Tenzin Namgyal continues: Thrangu Rinpoche’s family were

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !10

Karmpa Lodro, splendor of the teaching,

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page 11

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !12

As with all history, different people hear different stories. Khenpo

When the Sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, (1924-1981)

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !13

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !14

RINPOCHE’S ARRIVAL AT THE THRANGU MONASTERY

Returning to Tenzin Namgyal’s narrative:

In his fifth year, Rinpoche’s father and mother went to Thrangu

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !15

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !16

THRANGU RINPOCHE’S STUDIES AT THRANGU MONASTERY

The story of Rinpoche’s education in Thrangu Rinpoche can be

In the Earth Rabbit Year (1939), Thrangu Rinpcoche began

PILGRIMAGE AND PURIFYING OBSCURATIONS

In 1943 Thrangu Rinpoche at the age of ten went on a pilgrimage

8 A special Kagyu Monlam edition of The Ocean of Philosophy published in

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !17

STUDY OF THE GENERAL SUBJECTS OF KNOWLEDGE

With his tutor, Rinpoche also studied Orthography: The Lamp of

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !18

Rinpoche holds the transmission of commentaries particular to

RECEIVING THE MONASTIC, BODHISATTVA, AND TANTRIC VOWS

In the Wood Horse Year of 1954, while returning from a trip to

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !19

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SHEDRA AT THRANGU MONASTERY

The building of a Shedra (a monastic college) at Thrangu

When Thrangu Rinpoche was fifteen years old, in accordance

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !20

THRANGU RINPOCHE’S ESCAPE TO INDIA

When Thrangu Rinpoche was twenty-five years old and still

When the Chinese takeover of Tibet began in 1958, the new

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !21

Life of Thrangu Rinpoche with Pictures Page !22

Between 1950 and 1958, the presence of the Communist