KHENPO TSULTRIM GYAMTSO RINPOCHE

BIOGRAPHY

Comings and Goings: Remarks on the Outer Life of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche

Names and forms of address
Born in 1934 to a nomad family from Nangchen, Kham in Eastern Tibet, he subsequently received the Dharma name "Tsultrim Gyamtso" (Ocean of Ethical Conduct) from one of his teachers. "Khenpo" is a title of scholastic mastery. "Rinpoche" (Precious One) is a title of profound respect, devotion, and affection reserved for those masters who have achieved great realization.

Early years
Here is a brief account of how a boy from an inaccessible area of a remote country became the world-renowned teacher, scholar, and yogi: Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche.When he was two years old, his father died suddenly. Thereafter, his mother became deeply devoted to the Dharma. Being her youngest child, Sherab Lodro
accompanied her on pilgrimages and to Dharma teachings and initiations—even staying by her side when she undertook extended retreats. By nature and nurture drawn to spiritual practice, the boy left home at an early age to train with his root guru, Lama Zopa Tarchin, a yogi and the first of his many teachers.

The wandering yogi
After completing this early training, Tsultrim Gyamtso embraced the life of a yogi-ascetic. For five years he wandered throughout Eastern and Central Tibet, undertaking intensive, solitary retreats in caves to realize directly the teachings he had received. During these years he often lived in charnel grounds in order to practice and master "Chod", a skillful means to cut ego clinging, develop compassion, and realize deeper levels of emptiness.

Mind transmission from the 16th Karmapa
Reaching Tsurphu Monastery (historic seat of the Karma Kagyu lineage and its head, the Karmapa), Rinpoche received pointing out instructions on the nature of mind from His Holiness, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the 16th Karmapa. While living in the caves above Tsurphu, Rinpoche was given key instructions on the Six Yogas of Naropa, the Hevajra Tantra, and other profound practices from Dilyak Tenzin Drupon Rinpoche and other masters.

India and the refugee camps
The following year, while in retreat at a place called Nyemo, a group of nuns approached him for help against the Chinese invaders. Rinpoche led them and others over the Himalayas to safety in Bhutan and later built them a nunnery, retreat center, and school, which he stilloversees.

Rinpoche spent the next nine years at the Buxador Tibetan Refugee Camp in North India. Though full of hardship, this period of his life was extremely productive: He studied and mastered the sutras, the tantras, and all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism; became renowned for his skill in logic and debate; and received a Khenpo degree from HH, the 16th Karmapa, and the equivalent Geshe Lharampa degree from HH, the 14th Dalai Lama.

Twenty-four years of teaching and traveling
In 1975 the Karmapa asked Rinpoche to become abbot of his monastery in the Dordogne, France. Rinpoche requested instead to serve the Dharma by training Westerners in Tibetan language and translation. With Karmapa's blessing, Khenpo Tsultrim established the Thegchen Shedra in Athens, Greece, and for the next ten years taught widely throughout Europe. In 1986, he founded the Marpa Institute for Translators, in Boudhanath, Nepal, where he currently offers an annual winter course at Pullahari Monastery that draws students, both old and new, from all over the world. Since 1985, Rinpoche has traveled extensively, completing six world tours in response from invitations that flow in from Europe, the United States, Canada, South America, Southeast Asia, Africa and Australia.

Training a new generation of khenpos
During this time Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche, in conjunction with Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, trained a new generation of Kagyu tulkus and khenpos: the 1991 graduates of the Nalanda Institute for Higher Studies, in Rumtek, Sikkim. Among these young masters, he has formed a special relationship with the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, whose many students particularly appreciate his fluent English and ease at teaching in that language. Ponlop Rinpoche has founded the Nitartha Institute, one of whose missions is to collect, archive, and build a complete database of Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche's oral teachings. Moreover, Khenpo Rinpoche serves as spiritual advisor for Nalandabodhi, the teaching arm of Ponlop Rinpoche's Dharma activities.

Training skilled translators
Over the years, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche has developed outstanding translators whose clarity and accuracy reflect years of study and practice, and whose dedication contributes immeasurably to making the precious Dharma of Tibet available in many languages. In addition to translating classic texts, these students are equally committed to preserving Rinpoche's own oral commentaries, talks, and songs of spiritual realization. Some of Khenpo's senior students now teach the very texts they translated or studied under his close supervision.

Unique training of nuns
Khenpo Tsultrim has built a nunnery, school, and retreat center for women of Tibetan origin in the Helambu region of Nepal, near Milarepa's retreat cave in Yolmo. Both there and in his Bhutanese nunnery, Rinpoche demonstrates a firm commitment for providing nuns with the same opportunities—especially for study—as those traditionally extended to monks. An innovation in his approach is to train each nun to carry out every function of monastic life, rather than to specialize in just one. Thus, all anis learn musical instruments, make tormas, tend the shrine room, serve as chant or ritual master, do bookkeping, tend the garden, cook, etc. This departure from tradition, though personally and administratively demanding, fosters a democratic atmosphere among the nuns, develops their capabilities to the fullest, and allows the community to respond without disruption to unexpected situations and changing conditions.

The Milarepa of our time
While Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso unites prodigious scholarship and intellect with great compassion, he also embodies the training and temperament of a true yogi. In fact, Rinpoche is often compared to the great yogi Milarepa, whom he resembles in both substance and style: Rinpoche has no fixed abode, few possessions; he has practiced for years in solitude, sometimes sealed in darkness. Like Milarepa, he is known for his dohas, spontaneous songs of realization that offer insight into genuine reality. Such dohas may emerge to answer a question, clarify a difficult point, or to expand or comment on one of Milarepa's own songs. The "autobiography" that follows is an example of one of Rinpoche's spontaneous songs of realization.

For further information on Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, visit his website at http://www.KTGrinpoche.org.

 

SCHEDULE

August 2-3
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Contact:
Nalanda Institute
Frans Goetghebeur
tibinst@skynet.be

August 4-5
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Contact:
Karma Shedrup Gyaltso Ling
centre@samye.be or samye.brussels@skynet.be
Tel: 32-2-537-5407

August 7-22
BARNET, VT
For authorized students of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, but there will be some talks open to the public.
Contact:
Karmê Chöling
369 Patneaude Lane
Tel: 802-633-2384
karmecholing@shambhala.org
http://www.karmecholing.org

August 23-25
BURLINGTON, VT
The "Enlightenment" Chapter from The Buddha Nature, and Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Venue: Shambhala Center
Contact:
Robert Lamprey
mipham@charterinternet.com

August 27-29
WOODSTOCK, NY
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Contact:
Karma Triyana Dharmachakra
335 Meads Mountain Road
Tel: 845-679-5906 x10
office@kagyu.org
http://www.kagyu.org

August 30-September 1
HARTFORD, CT
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Venue: Karma Thegsum Choling, 157 Elizabeth St
Contact:
Malou Dusyn
Tel: 860-231-8263 or 232-8366
mdusyn@aol.com

September 3-6
WAPPINGER FALLS, NY
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Contact:
Kagyu Thubten Chöling
245 Sheafe Road
Tel: 845-297-2500
office@kagyu.com
http://www.kagyu.com

September 7-9
NEW YORK, NY
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Contact:
New York Shambhala Center
118 W 22nd St, 6th Floor
Tel: 212-675-6544
nyshambhala@shambhala.org
http://ny.shambhala.org

September 11-12
SHAMONG, NJ
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Venue: Karma Theksum Choling, 690 Atsion Road
Contact:
Gene Hsiao
Tel: 856-268-334
genehsiao@comcast.net

September 14-15
HALIFAX, NS, CANADA
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Venue: Halifax Shambhala Centre, 1084 Tower Road
Contact:
Ginny Guthrie
gguthrie@shambhala.org
Tel: 902-420-1118

September 17-26
TATAMAGOUCHE, NS, CANADA
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Contact:
Dorje Denma Ling
info@dorjedenmaling.com
http://www.dorjedenmaling.com
Tel: 902-657-9085

September 27-29
NEW YORK, NY
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Venue: Kagyu Dzamling Kunchab, 35 West 19th Street
Contact:
John McCormick
Tel: 212-306-7680 or 212-989-5989
JohnMcCormick@worldnet.att.net
office@kagyu.com

September 30
NEW YORK, NY
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Venue: Karma Theksum Choling, 412 West End Ave Apt 5N
Contact:
Mark or Sandy Roberts
Tel: 212-580-9585 or 9282
nyc@kagyu.org
sreeseroberts@nyc.rr.com

October 1-3
MIAMI, FL
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Contact:
Kagyu Shedrup Choling
1905 Monroe Street
Tel: 954-920-1346
kc@kagyu-sfla.org
http://http://www.kagyu-sfla.org

October 8-10
MIAMI, FL
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Contact:
October 8-10
Zab Sang Institute
Tel: 786-556-3580
info@zabsang.org
http://www.zabsang.org

October 15-17
DALLAS, TX
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Venue: Karma Theksum Choling, 312 South Winnetka Ave
Contact:
Larry Keenan
Tel: 214-948-5540
l_keenan@earthlink.net

October 18-20
SAN ANTONIO, TX
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Contact:
Jan Puckett
jsrpuck@satx.rr.com
Tel: 210-698-9542

October 22-27
BOULDER, CO
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Contact:
Boulder Shambhala Center
1345 Spruce Street
Tel: 303-444-0190, ext 100
info@boulder.shambhala.org
http://www.boulder.shambhala.org

October 29-31
MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Venue: Shambhala Center
Contact:
Renee Cowan
612-331-7737
Rcowan@nwhealth.edu

November 2-3
VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA
Teachings based on Maitreya's Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being
Contact:
Nalandabodhi Vancouver
4865 Henry Street
Tel: 604-675-9282
vancouver@nalandabodhi.org
http://www.nbvancouver.org

November 5-14
SEATTLE, WA
Public teaching- "Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being"
Restricted teaching- "Mahamudra from Clarifying the Natural State"
by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal
Contact:
Nalandabodhi Seattle
5501 17th Ave NE
Tel: 206-525-6925
seattle@nalandabodhi.orgseattle@nalandabodhi.org
http://www.nbseattle.org

November 16-17
ASHLAND, OR
Public teaching- "Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being"
Restricted teaching- "Mahamudra from Clarifying the Natural State"
by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal
Venue: Kagyu Sukha Choling, 147 Granite Street
Contact:
Lama Pema or Lama Yeshe
Tel: 541-552-1769
ksc@mind.net

November 19-21
SAN RAFAEL, CA
Public teaching- "Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being"
Restricted teaching- "Mahamudra from Clarifying the Natural State"
by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal
Contact:
Sukhasiddhi Foundation
1811 Grand Ave, Suite D
Tel: 415-721-4466
info@sukhasiddhi.org
http://www.sukhasiddhi.org

November 22-25
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Public teaching- "Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being"
Restricted teaching- "Mahamudra from Clarifying the Natural State"
by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal
Venue: Kagyu Droden Kunchab, 1892 Fell St
Contact:
Tel: 415-752-5454
Jon Burrows
vykking@hotmail.com or
Konrad Sy
skonrad@esavinghl.com

November 26-28
BERKELEY, CA
Public teaching- "Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being"
Restricted teaching- "Mahamudra from Clarifying the Natural State" by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal

November 30-December 2
OJAI, CA
Public teaching- "Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being"
Restricted teaching- "Mahamudra from Clarifying the Natural State" by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal
Venue: Ojai Valley Dharma Center, 306 E. Matilija St
Contact:
William Okin
Tel: 805-452-0102
william@satdharma.org
http://www.satdharma.org

December 3-11
SEATTLE, WA 
Public Teaching- Mahamudra: Clarifying the Natural State & The Flame at the Heart of Great Bliss
Venue: Nalandabodhi, 3902 Woodland Park Ave North
Tel: 206-525-6925
registration05@nalandabodhi.org
http://www.Nalandawest.org

 

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