Chogyal Rinpoche
Early Childhood
Chogyal Rinpoche was born in 1985 to a loving Buddhist family in Kathmandu, Nepal. He spent most of his childhood in Kathmandu with his parents. Very early as a little boy he showed signs, which caused people around him to think that there must be something special about this child. It is said that he took up the meditation asana from the mere age of one year. Chogyal Rinpochhe showed already in his childhood keen interest in meditation. Despite these signs the young Rinpoche showed, his parents continued a normal family life.
At five, Chogyal Rinpoche’s life took a turn towards a more spiritual side. Despite his mother’s persistence on getting him to join the kindergarten and to start a normal education, the young boy denied repetitively. He, disregarding his mother’s wish, insisted on opting in for a monastic life. It was then that his father recognized his destiny and allowed him to begin his choosen spiritual journey.
At a tender age of five Chogyal Rinpoche left Nepal to spend the remainder of his childhood away from his family in a foreign country. Chogyal Rinpoche lived and learned among a mass of Buddhist monks at the 16th Karmapa’s monastery at Sikkim – India.
Monastic Life at Sikkim
The monastery homed over 300 monks including more than 20 reincarnated Lamas, among them Chogyal Rinpoche was the youngest. He says it was a big decision that he and his family took. Life wasn’t at all easy at the monastery. It took the young Rinpoche a while to recover from leaving his parents behind. Chogyal Rinpoche recalls spending most of his time crying and regretting the harsh decision he made. His pain eased when he became friend with other younger monks.
A total of ten years he spent in monasteries practicing the daily monastic rituals. Apart from the rituals that included intensive practice, the monks, had to memorize books upon books and learn to use ritual musical instruments.
Each mantra encrypted in the Tibetan books and every instrument had their unique significance.
Study of Buddhist philosophy
Upon completing the monastic curriculum, Chogyal Rinpoche decided to broaden his spectrum. Hence, from mid 1999, he started his journey to reach the depths of Buddhist philosophy. Him joining studies of Buddhist philosophy was the result of his desire to learn and understand how the things really are beyond the pure memorization of books and rituals. He really wanted to gain a broader and deeper understanding.
The philosophy studies were closely associated with the contemporary education system, based on this he studied also history, psychology and evolution, mind existence and geography. It opened doors to a much broader understanding beyond the surficial knowledge.
However, it wasn’t an easy task for Chogyal Rinpoche to understand what lay in front of him. The transition from the monastic learning to study Buddhist philosophy was nowhere close to being easy. Contrary to the monastery, where everything was based on memory skills, philosophical teaching focused on understanding the core value of every lesson taught.
Nevertheless, as Rinpoche got to understand the teaching of philosophy, he saw the world with a new perspective.
Recognition, enthronement and the remainder of philosophy studies
While still adjusting with the tough philosophy curriculum, Chogyal Rinpoche received a letter from H.E. the 14th Shamarpa. The letter revealed the basics of his past life. It also asked him to travel to Kalingpong — to learn about his past life.
Upon consultation with his parents, Chogyal Rinpoche agreed to live and study in Kalingpong at the end of 2001. The following year, Chogyal Rinpoche was enthroned during the inauguration of the Buddhist Institution, with the blessings of H.E. the 14th Shamarpa.
H.E. the 14th Shamarpa revealed Chogyal Rinpoche was the reincarnation of a meditation master who lived not far from Lhasa during the 14th – 15th century.
With Chogyal Rinpoche’s brief background in philosophy studies, H.E. the 14th Shamarpa requested him to teach at the Buddhist Institute. However, Chogyal Rinpoche denied the request due to his immaturity in the subject. Nevertheless, he took tuitions despite him still studying in the third year. His daily routine hence was more dedicated towards teaching and meditation. For over 16 hours in a day, he kept himself occupied with the lessons and meditation.
Things took a turn in his 6th year of studying philosophy, as he turned from a student to a formal teacher. While still studying, Chogyal Rinpoche also taught his juniors. His faculty included the highly respected Professor Sempa Dorje – who also taught Rinpoche – as well as other Khenpos.
Chogyal Rinpoche remained a dedicated student and teacher till the end of 2009. He also showed interest in philanthropic deeds. While most of his pupils spent their off days with recreational activities – mainly sports — Chogyal Rinpoche roamed around villages sharing the values of Buddhism. His further contributions ranged from musical education to even health care. With his personal funds, he took along medical camps to leprosy centers which had been completely disregarded by the society. Furthermore, he personally contributed to change the deteriorated condition of the leprosy center by renovating necessary infrastructures.
His contributions also aided the local blind school, which he provided proper music classes with. Also, the children living in the isolated slum areas benefitted with music classes. The latter – Kalingpong Music Institute, became his first ever India-based registered institution, after Nepal’s 2001 established SOH orphanage home.
The music institution was mainly to motivate slum children. These children, who were bound to watch the more financially able counterpart play instruments, were provided with an equal opportunity through the institution. In 2007, in a rented room at Kalingpong, the small-scaled music institute was inaugurated. At that time, there was a total of 12 underprivileged children. A resident music teacher, volunteered to teach to play the violin. The institution is still in operation today at a much bigger scale.
From formal studies to a spiritual jouney in the search of answers
Chogyal Rinpoche completed his Khenpo academic degree in Buddhist studies in 2010. But the end of his academic training made him realize the mere beginning of a even bigger challenge beyond books and classes – life.
This caused him to pursue his spiritual journey beyond monasteries and studies. Chogyal Rinpoche then set out on a meditation retreat for three years and three months. Opposite to a closed Retreat in a cave or monastery Chogyal Rinpoche chose to roam around with a free spirit and mind. In order to do so he traveled on a spiritual journey in search of answers to many questions he had within himself. Like the yogis from the 5th century he was now on a journey to find himself.
In this five months long search of meeting a guru, his guru, he met numerous sadhus but in the end was left without the answers.
Meeting an old counterpart and finding answers long hoped for
Chogyal Rinpoche journeyed to East Tibet to seek knowledge from gurus. His requests were sometimes fulfilled while at other instances, the gurus rejected him. He traveled from one mountain to another to reach out to the Tibetan masters. This life totally contradicted the life that he had before. Though life in Tibet had its own hardships, it was a true awakening for him.
On a day prior to one full moon night, he met one of his nearest connections of his past life – Repa Thultim Tharchen.
On meeting the him, Chogyal Rinpoche was briefed about his past life. Repa Thultim Tharchen, with tears of joy running down his eyes, also asked him to stay as there was a lot to catch up on, between the two of them.
From Repa Thultim Tharchen he received intense training. He was a part of deep spiritual Vajrayana training, inner mind training and other precious transmissions. Along with this training, he also learned new techniques of meditation and also got to flip through the pages of his past Tibetan life with the help of Repa Thultim Tharchen’s storytelling. However, Chogyal Rinpoche fell short of visualizing his past lives on his own. This led him into doubting himself as a reincarnation. Nonetheless, his finally found teacher assured him that he was and helped him polish techniques that enabled him to open windows of his past life. With patience and intensive practice, Chogyal Rinpoche finally succeeded in going beyond and seeing his life in different forms. Finally he reached the goal of his spiritual journey and found himself, his true inner self.
Present and Future
Despite enjoying the life as a wandering Yogi, Chogyal Rinpoche had to get back to the society. He had responsibilities for many other lives. Giving continuity to the philanthropic deeds, he had started, had always been an area of concern. He knew he had a gift and Rinpoche always wanted serve the needy to his best. Hence, he returned from his Retreat. Currently, Chogyal Rinpoche, along with many of his well-wishers and students, reaches out to the needy and helps them reestablish their pride and dignity in society. Chogyal Rinpoche has been actively engaged in serving the underprivileged children and physically disabled individuals through various approaches and founded for this purpose the charity „Bodhisattvas in Action (BIA)“.
Chogyal Rinpoche continues his journey and gives public lectures around the world, to share what he has learned and experienced. He also offers a three-year study and meditation program, called Repa-Program, which is suitable for lay practicioners. But beyond all this activity, he is still on his personal journey, eager to learn, to expand his views and to use everything he can learn and experience for the benefit of all those beings whos heart and mind he can reach. With compassion, love and dedication he is giving all he is able to give. At the same time recognizing that his personal spiritual journey has to continue.
May his life be long and activity increase!
Early Childhood
Chogyal Rinpoche was born in 1985 to a loving Buddhist family in Kathmandu, Nepal. He spent most of his childhood in Kathmandu with his parents. Very early as a little boy he showed signs, which caused people around him to think that there must be something special about this child. It is said that he took up the meditation asana from the mere age of one year. Chogyal Rinpochhe showed already in his childhood keen interest in meditation. Despite these signs the young Rinpoche showed, his parents continued a normal family life.
At five, Chogyal Rinpoche’s life took a turn towards a more spiritual side. Despite his mother’s persistence on getting him to join the kindergarten and to start a normal education, the young boy denied repetitively. He, disregarding his mother’s wish, insisted on opting in for a monastic life. It was then that his father recognized his destiny and allowed him to begin his choosen spiritual journey.
At a tender age of five Chogyal Rinpoche left Nepal to spend the remainder of his childhood away from his family in a foreign country. Chogyal Rinpoche lived and learned among a mass of Buddhist monks at the 16th Karmapa’s monastery at Sikkim – India.
Monastic Life at Sikkim
The monastery homed over 300 monks including more than 20 reincarnated Lamas, among them Chogyal Rinpoche was the youngest. He says it was a big decision that he and his family took. Life wasn’t at all easy at the monastery. It took the young Rinpoche a while to recover from leaving his parents behind. Chogyal Rinpoche recalls spending most of his time crying and regretting the harsh decision he made. His pain eased when he became friend with other younger monks.
A total of ten years he spent in monasteries practicing the daily monastic rituals. Apart from the rituals that included intensive practice, the monks, had to memorize books upon books and learn to use ritual musical instruments.
Each mantra encrypted in the Tibetan books and every instrument had their unique significance.
Study of Buddhist philosophy
Upon completing the monastic curriculum, Chogyal Rinpoche decided to broaden his spectrum. Hence, from mid 1999, he started his journey to reach the depths of Buddhist philosophy. Him joining studies of Buddhist philosophy was the result of his desire to learn and understand how the things really are beyond the pure memorization of books and rituals. He really wanted to gain a broader and deeper understanding.
The philosophy studies were closely associated with the contemporary education system, based on this he studied also history, psychology and evolution, mind existence and geography. It opened doors to a much broader understanding beyond the surficial knowledge.
However, it wasn’t an easy task for Chogyal Rinpoche to understand what lay in front of him. The transition from the monastic learning to study Buddhist philosophy was nowhere close to being easy. Contrary to the monastery, where everything was based on memory skills, philosophical teaching focused on understanding the core value of every lesson taught.
Nevertheless, as Rinpoche got to understand the teaching of philosophy, he saw the world with a new perspective.
Recognition, enthronement and the remainder of philosophy studies
While still adjusting with the tough philosophy curriculum, Chogyal Rinpoche received a letter from H.E. the 14th Shamarpa. The letter revealed the basics of his past life. It also asked him to travel to Kalingpong — to learn about his past life.
Upon consultation with his parents, Chogyal Rinpoche agreed to live and study in Kalingpong at the end of 2001. The following year, Chogyal Rinpoche was enthroned during the inauguration of the Buddhist Institution, with the blessings of H.E. the 14th Shamarpa.
H.E. the 14th Shamarpa revealed Chogyal Rinpoche was the reincarnation of a meditation master who lived not far from Lhasa during the 14th – 15th century.
With Chogyal Rinpoche’s brief background in philosophy studies, H.E. the 14th Shamarpa requested him to teach at the Buddhist Institute. However, Chogyal Rinpoche denied the request due to his immaturity in the subject. Nevertheless, he took tuitions despite him still studying in the third year. His daily routine hence was more dedicated towards teaching and meditation. For over 16 hours in a day, he kept himself occupied with the lessons and meditation.
Things took a turn in his 6th year of studying philosophy, as he turned from a student to a formal teacher. While still studying, Chogyal Rinpoche also taught his juniors. His faculty included the highly respected Professor Sempa Dorje – who also taught Rinpoche – as well as other Khenpos.
Chogyal Rinpoche remained a dedicated student and teacher till the end of 2009. He also showed interest in philanthropic deeds. While most of his pupils spent their off days with recreational activities – mainly sports — Chogyal Rinpoche roamed around villages sharing the values of Buddhism. His further contributions ranged from musical education to even health care. With his personal funds, he took along medical camps to leprosy centers which had been completely disregarded by the society. Furthermore, he personally contributed to change the deteriorated condition of the leprosy center by renovating necessary infrastructures.
His contributions also aided the local blind school, which he provided proper music classes with. Also, the children living in the isolated slum areas benefitted with music classes. The latter – Kalingpong Music Institute, became his first ever India-based registered institution, after Nepal’s 2001 established SOH orphanage home.
The music institution was mainly to motivate slum children. These children, who were bound to watch the more financially able counterpart play instruments, were provided with an equal opportunity through the institution. In 2007, in a rented room at Kalingpong, the small-scaled music institute was inaugurated. At that time, there was a total of 12 underprivileged children. A resident music teacher, volunteered to teach to play the violin. The institution is still in operation today at a much bigger scale.
From formal studies to a spiritual jouney in the search of answers
Chogyal Rinpoche completed his Khenpo academic degree in Buddhist studies in 2010. But the end of his academic training made him realize the mere beginning of a even bigger challenge beyond books and classes – life.
This caused him to pursue his spiritual journey beyond monasteries and studies. Chogyal Rinpoche then set out on a meditation retreat for three years and three months. Opposite to a closed Retreat in a cave or monastery Chogyal Rinpoche chose to roam around with a free spirit and mind. In order to do so he traveled on a spiritual journey in search of answers to many questions he had within himself. Like the yogis from the 5th century he was now on a journey to find himself.
In this five months long search of meeting a guru, his guru, he met numerous sadhus but in the end was left without the answers.
Meeting an old counterpart and finding answers long hoped for
Chogyal Rinpoche journeyed to East Tibet to seek knowledge from gurus. His requests were sometimes fulfilled while at other instances, the gurus rejected him. He traveled from one mountain to another to reach out to the Tibetan masters. This life totally contradicted the life that he had before. Though life in Tibet had its own hardships, it was a true awakening for him.
On a day prior to one full moon night, he met one of his nearest connections of his past life – Repa Thultim Tharchen.
On meeting the him, Chogyal Rinpoche was briefed about his past life. Repa Thultim Tharchen, with tears of joy running down his eyes, also asked him to stay as there was a lot to catch up on, between the two of them.
From Repa Thultim Tharchen he received intense training. He was a part of deep spiritual Vajrayana training, inner mind training and other precious transmissions. Along with this training, he also learned new techniques of meditation and also got to flip through the pages of his past Tibetan life with the help of Repa Thultim Tharchen’s storytelling. However, Chogyal Rinpoche fell short of visualizing his past lives on his own. This led him into doubting himself as a reincarnation. Nonetheless, his finally found teacher assured him that he was and helped him polish techniques that enabled him to open windows of his past life. With patience and intensive practice, Chogyal Rinpoche finally succeeded in going beyond and seeing his life in different forms. Finally he reached the goal of his spiritual journey and found himself, his true inner self.
Present and Future
Despite enjoying the life as a wandering Yogi, Chogyal Rinpoche had to get back to the society. He had responsibilities for many other lives. Giving continuity to the philanthropic deeds, he had started, had always been an area of concern. He knew he had a gift and Rinpoche always wanted serve the needy to his best. Hence, he returned from his Retreat. Currently, Chogyal Rinpoche, along with many of his well-wishers and students, reaches out to the needy and helps them reestablish their pride and dignity in society. Chogyal Rinpoche has been actively engaged in serving the underprivileged children and physically disabled individuals through various approaches and founded for this purpose the charity „Bodhisattvas in Action (BIA)“.
Chogyal Rinpoche continues his journey and gives public lectures around the world, to share what he has learned and experienced. He also offers a three-year study and meditation program, called Repa-Program, which is suitable for lay practicioners. But beyond all this activity, he is still on his personal journey, eager to learn, to expand his views and to use everything he can learn and experience for the benefit of all those beings whos heart and mind he can reach. With compassion, love and dedication he is giving all he is able to give. At the same time recognizing that his personal spiritual journey has to continue.
May his life be long and activity increase!
