LAMA LODÖ RINPOCHE

BIOGRAPHY

Lama Lodö (pronounced "Lodru", sometimes spelled as "Lodu") was born in Sikkim in 1939. At the age of eight, he entered a monastery to study the traditional subjects of the karma kagyu tradition: reading, writing, religious texts, singing and dancing. At fifteen he met Drupon Tenzin Rinpoche, who was the great meditation master of the The-yak Monastery and a teacher of His Holiness the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa. With his teacher's blessing, Lama Lodö eventually began the traditional three-year retreat, which is a requirement of becoming a lama. Unfortunately, both student and teacher became ill during this time; Tenzin Rinpoche directly contributed to Lama Lodö's recovery, but died himself.

The Lineage-holder of the Karma Kagyu tradition, HH the 16th Karmapa, intervened during this painful period in Lama Lodo's life. Since he was without a teacher and his study seriously interrupted, His Holiness directed Lama Lodo to seek a new teacher in the Very Venerable Kalu Rinpoche, whom he called the Great Master of this age. Very soon Lama Lodo was able to pass his examination and begin a new retreat. He contracted tuberculosis, but was able to complete his retreat and recovery by viewing the illness as the purification of bad karma.

Lama Lodu has spent the years since giving instruction in meditation, Dharma and puja. In 1974, HH the 16th Karmapa and Kalu Rinpoche sent Lama Lodu to the West; he has taught in Belgium, Germany, Holland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden, and since 1976 has been in residence as Senior Spiritual Teacher at the Kagyu Droden Kunchab Center in San Francisco, CA. He teaches extensively on the US West Coast.

For more information visit www.kdk.org/lama1.html.

BOOKS

• Bardo Teachings
• Chod Practice Manual and Commentary (trans.)