Anniversary of Jomo Menmo, Renowned 13th Century Female Master

Today, 30 August, is the anniversary of Jomo Menmo (1248–1283), a female master and tertön, who was considered as the emanation of Yeshe Tsogyal and a reincarnation of Machik Labdrön.

She was the spiritual consort of Guru Chöwang and passed away by dissolving into the sky, along with two female disciples.


(Painting of Jomo Menmo by Cecile Bouquint)

All Mandala Retreatants at Lerab Ling

Rigpa students attending the All Mandala Retreat (8-23 August) gather in front of the Lerab Ling temple.

(Photo by Jurek Schreiner)

Rigpé Yeshé Rite of Passage Ceremony at Lerab Ling

Last week, at the end of the All Mandala Retreat at Lerab Ling, the children who had been participating in the Rigpé Yeshé programme throughout the retreat put on a show and completed their Rites of Passage.



Rigpé Yeshé is an association of parents and educators of the Rigpa sangha. The association holds a series of programmes for children during the main summer retreats in Lerab Ling and co-ordinates Rigpé Yeshé activities worldwide.

Mayum Tsering Wangmo during the Rites of Passage ceremony

The Rigpé Yeshé programmes cultivate mindfulness and give the children a good grounding in values education.


For more information about Rigpé Yeshé go to: http://rigpeyeshe.rigpa.org/index.htm

(Photos by Bart de Natris)

Tenth Anniversary of Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche

Today (27 August 2009) is the anniversary of Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje (1931-1999), according to the Western calender.

Nyoshul Khenpo was such a consummate master of Dzogpachenpo, and such an authority on the teachings of Longchenpa, that his disciples regarded him as Longchenpa in person. He was the teacher of many of the younger generation of lamas, as well as a number of western Buddhist teachers. He became one of Sogyal Rinpoche's most beloved masters.

Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche and Sogyal Rinpoche at the end of the 1980's

Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje was born in 1932 in the Dergé region of Kham. His mother and grandmother, a disciple of the master Nyoshul Lungtok, encouraged his interest in the Dharma, and at the age of five he joined a local Sakya monastery. He then studied with Rigdzin Jampal Dorje, receiving teachings on Mahamudra and beginning the twelve year training of a khenpo, which he concluded at the age of twenty-four.

He was also to master the Six Yogas, Lamdré, Kalachakra and Chöd, and spent several years studying at Katok monastery, all the while combining his studies with meditation retreats and intensive practice.

Khenpo counted twenty-five great masters as his principal teachers, of whom the most central in his life was Shedrup Tenpé Nyima, the reincarnation of Nyoshul Lungtok, and Dharma-heir of Khenpo Ngakchung. Khenpo served as his attendant for three years, and at the age of seventeen, he began to receive from him the teachings of Longchen Nyingtik and particularly the Great Oral Lineage of Pith Instructions of Dzogpachenpo. This became Khenpo’s special lineage, a lineage which passed back to the Primordial Buddha in an unbroken line, through such extraordinary masters as Khenpo Ngakchung, Nyoshul Lungtok, Patrul Rinpoche, Jikmé Lingpa, Longchenpa, Vimalamitra, and Padmasambhava. Khenpo passed these teachings on to a few close disciples, as well as to a number of the greatest masters and lineage holders of his time.

In 1959 he made a narrow escape from Tibet. In India, conditions were hard, and his life veered between extremes, at first begging on the streets of Calcutta and living among the sadhus, and then giving empowerments to huge assemblies and to incarnate lamas. He received teachings from Dudjom Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, and was requested by many eminent masters to serve as khenpo in their monasteries. In the early seventies, he spent several years at Penor Rinpoche's monastery in Mysore, South India, later teaching in the Kalimpong area, where he fell ill and was cared for by the family of Kangyur Rinpoche. On the advice of Lopön Sönam Zangpo, he married Damchö Zangmo. He travelled to Switzerland for medical treatment, and then spent eight years in the Dordogne area of France, sometimes teaching at the three year retreat there.

As his health improved, invitations came from many quarters. He travelled to teach in India, Nepal, Taiwan, France, Britain, Switzerland, Germany and the US, taking up residence in Thimpu in Bhutan, where he had many students. Twice he visited Tibet, with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche in 1990, and then with Penor Rinpoche in 1992. He wrote a definitive History of the Dzogchen Nyingtik, containing the biographies of the lineage masters, and a remarkable collection of poetic songs of realization.

Khen Rinpoche first taught Rigpa students in the Dordogne in the summer of 1984, after which he was present regularly and taught at many Rigpa retreats and gatherings over the next decade: in France, America, the United Kingdom and Germany, during His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teachings on Dzogchen in San Jose in 1989, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche's teachings at Prapoutel in 1990, and the Dalai Lama's inauguration of Dzogchen monastery in 1992. His last visit to Lerab Ling was in the summer of 1996.

Nyoshul Khenpo passed away in France in August 1999.

Sogyal Rinpoche said of his beloved master:

No one who met him can ever forget his extraordinary presence or the spirit in which he taught, which embodied so perfectly the fathomless ease and vastness of Dzogpachenpo. For in every way, he himself was the greatest statement of Dzogchen, in simply how he was, and how he incarnated that natural ease of the innermost nature of mind, Semnyi Ngalso, the ‘natural great peace’ he wrote of so beautifully:

Rest in natural great peace
This exhausted mind,
Beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thoughts
Like the relentless fury of the pounding waves
In the infinite ocean of samsara.
Rest in natural great peace.

The latest edition of View, Rigpa Journal is out now

The summer 2009 edition of View, the Rigpa Journal is now available in English and French.


This edition features:
• A Tribute to Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö,
• A report on Rigpa's International Spiritual Care Conference in April, including the teaching given by Sogyal Rinpoche on meditation and compassion,
• A section on science and Buddhism, including an interview with Mingyur Rinpoche and an article by Matthieu Ricard,
• Tributes to Kyabjé Penor Rinpoche and Kyabjé Mindrolling Trichen Rinpoche, and
• A report on an important gathering of Tibetan translators from around the world.

You can buy your copy of the magazine online now at www.rigpashop.com. It will also be available for sale from Zam at all upcoming Rigpa events. To learn more about Rigpa events, go to: www.rigpa.org

Another great lama visits Lerab Ling - Khenchen Pema Sherab

Khenchen Pema Sherab, one of the seniormost khenpos in the Nyingma tradition, is visiting Lerab Ling, Rigpa's main retreat centre.

He is one of the three Khenchen or 'great khenpos' of Namdroling Monastery. He was born in 1936, at Riphu, in the Dergé region of Eastern Tibet. He started to study at the age of eight, learning to read and write Tibetan with his uncle, Lama Chözang, while he was herding cattle. At fourteen, he went to Lhasa and studied under masters and scholars of all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1953 he received ordination from Shechen Kongtrul Rinpoche.

In Lhasa, he met Kyabjé Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and served as his attendant for about ten years, fleeing with him to India in 1959. Over the years, he received many teachings from him, including the Guhyagarbha Tantra, and Longchenpa’s Treasury of Pith Instructions.

In 1968, at the request of Kyabjé Penor Rinpoche he went to Namdroling Monastery to teach. Though the shedra was not yet established at that time, Khen Rinpoche taught the monks for several years. The shedra was finally established in 1978 and from then until 2003, for 25 years, Khenpo Pema Sherab taught there tirelessly while also managing the institution.

Among the many books he has written are a biography of Guru Padmasambhava, an exposition of the two truths and an exposition of logic.

This is Khenchen Pema Sherab's first visit to Lerab Ling. However, in 2008, he taught the Rigpa Shedra in Nepal.

Khenchen Pema Sherab is in Lerab Ling for three days during which time he will teach the Three Year Retreatants on Longchenpa's Thirty Pieces of Advice from the Heart.

His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche tours the Lerab Ling Temple with Sogyal Rinpoche

During his recent stay at Lerab Ling, His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche was taken on a tour of the Lerab Ling temple by Sogyal Rinpoche.

Sogyal Rinpoche (left) and Garchen Rinpoche (centre) at the temple doors

In front of the 1,000 Buddha shrine in the temple

Outside the temple

In front of the Guru Rinpoche statue in the lake

At the stupa

At the top of the temple

Garchen Rinpoche also performed a consecration ceremony of the temple and the 7-metre Buddha statue.

(Photos by Bart de Natris)

His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche makes his first visit to Lerab Ling this week

This week Garchen Rinpoche visited Lerab Ling where there are currently more than 1,600 students attending the 2-week All Mandala Retreat, the annual retreat for the worldwide Rigpa sangha.

Garchen Rinpoche teaching in the Lerab Ling temple

Garchen Rinpoche arrived in the middle of a heatwave to a traditional welcome from Sogyal Rinpoche and all the retreatants.

This was Garchen Rinpoche's first visit to Lerab Ling, although he taught the Rigpa sangha in Berlin in 1997, and in 2008 when he visited the Berlin Centre.

Garchen Rinpoche (centre) arriving at the Lerab Ling Temple, with Sogyal Rinpoche (right)

Circumambulating the temple

His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche, who is known for his vast realization and great kindness, spent 20 years in a Chinese prison from the age of 22, after completing a two and a half year retreat. He was imprisoned during the political turmoil of China's Cultural Revolution.

While in the labour camp, he received meditation instructions from his root lama, the Nyingma master Khenpo Munsel and, remarkably, despite enduring great hardship and having to practise in secret, Garchen Rinpoche attained realization.

Since his release from prison in 1979, Garchen Rinpoche has made a great effort to rebuild the Drikung Kagyü monasteries and reestablish the Buddhist teachings in eastern Tibet. He has also built two schools for local children. Rinpoche is the founder and spiritual director of the Garchen Buddhist Institute in Arizona, USA.

During his visit to Lerab Ling, His Eminence conducted a rabné (consecration) of the Lerab Ling temple and the 7-metre Buddha statue that is the centrepiece of the temple.

On 15 August, a Dakini day, (a special day of practice observed on the 25th day of each month in the Tibetan calendar) Garchen Rinpoche gave a White Tara empowerment to the whole assembly. The ceremony was also video-streamed live to the Rigpa sangha who gathered in centres around the world.

Garchen Rinpoche, who is the holder of the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, also taught on the Dzogchen text, Tsik Sum Ne Dek, over 5 days.

The All Mandala Retreat continues until 23 August.

(Photos courtesy of Jurek Schreiner, Bart de Natris and Heinz Nowotny)

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche visits Lerab Ling

During his recent visit to Lerab Ling, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche taught the Three Year Retreatants, as he has done each year throughout the Three Year Retreat. This year he taught on Nagarjuna's Commentary on Bodhichitta.

He also taught the 1,600 students attending the All Mandala Retreat on the importance of developing kindness and bodhichitta, and applying them in every activity of life. He also taught on the nature of mind and gave the lung (reading transmission) for the Nagarjuna teaching.

Fifty Years in Exile

Check out the Tibet Fund website—Fifty Years in Exile: A Celebration of Tibetan Culture.

Sogyal Rinpoche said:

"Over the past 50 years, the Tibetan people have undergone so much in order to preserve their unique spiritual and cultural heritage, and to share it with the world.

I am delighted that The Tibet Fund has organized this very special series of events in 2009 to celebrate Tibetan identity and culture, and honor the achievements of the Tibetan community in exile.

At this crucial point in the history of Tibet, we all have an urgent responsibility to ensure that its spiritual teachings and rich traditions are not lost.

The 50 Years in Exile project will increase understanding and help to generate support for the Tibetan people’s efforts to safeguard their culture, which is of such far-reaching importance, not only for the Tibetans but for people the world over."

New Lerab Ling Website Launched

Lerab Ling, Sogyal Rinpoche's main retreat centre, which is in southern France, has launched a new website. You can view it at: www.lerabling.org

All Mandala Retreat at Lerab Ling begins today

Today, 8 August 2009, is the start of the special annual retreat for the worldwide Rigpa sangha, the All Mandala Retreat. The three-week retreat is held at Lerab Ling, Rigpa's main retreat centre, located in southern France.

This year 1,600 people will attend the retreat. They come from 33 countries, including Bhutan, Estonia, Indonesia, Israel, India, Mauritius, most European countries, Australia and the United States.


Sogyal Rinpoche will teach throughout the retreat, and Garchen Rinpoche and Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche will also visit Lerab Ling during this period to teach.

Garchen Rinpoche

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche


(Lerab Ling temple photo by Heinz Nowotny, Garchen Rinpoche and Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche photos courtesy of www.rigpawiki.org)

Annniversary of Gampopa

Today is the anniversary of Gampopa Sönam Richen (1079-1153/9).

Gampopa was Milarepa's foremost disciple. He was born in Nyal, Eastern Tibet. He first trained as a physician and was known as Dakpo Lharje, the physician of Dakpo, the region in which he lived for many years. He was ordained at the age of 26 after his two children and wife died in an epidemic.

He met Milarepa at the age of 32, after studying and practising the Kadampa teachings. His own disciples included the first Karmapa, Düsum Khyenpa (1110-1193), and Phagmodrupa Dorje Gyalpo (1110-1170).

Gampopa founded the Dakpo Kagyü school of Tibetan Buddhism, by bringing together the Drupgyü and Kadampa lineages. His major works include The Jewel Ornament of Liberation.

Sogyal Rinpoche teaches 2,500 people in Frankfurt

On Friday (31 July 2009) Sogyal Rinpoche addressed 2,500 enthusiastic people at a public talk in Frankfurt, Germany. Rinpoche taught on Finding Peace and Stability in a Troubled World.

This teaching was part of the events organised for His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 5-day visit to Germany this week.