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.
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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.
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 skilful means to cut ego clinging, develop
compassion, and realize deeper levels of emptiness.
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.
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 centre, and school, which
he still oversees.
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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 His Holiness, the 16th Karmapa, and the
equivalent Geshe Lharampa degree from His
Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama.
In 1975 the Karmapa asked Rinpoche to become
abbot of his monastery in the Dordogne, France.
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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.
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.
Khenpo Tsultrim has built a nunnery, school,
and retreat centre 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
book-keeping, 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.
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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