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H.H. Lungtok Tenpai Nyima |
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 His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima, the 33rd Menri Trizen, is the spiritual leader of the Bon tradition. His Holiness became a monk at the age of 8 and at 24 received his geshe degree, specializing in Tibetan medicine, astronomy, and astrology. At the time of the Chinese invasion of Tibet he fled on foot to Northern India. On March 15, 1968, he was selected to be the 33rd abbot of Menri Monastery, the spiritual leader of the Bönpo. Many lamas came from Tibet, Nepal and India to give him their initiations and teachings; and for more than a year he intensively trained and practiced for his role as abbot, the leader who would guide the Bönpo and hold all the teaching lineages. His Holiness then joined Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche in rebuilding Menri Monastery, and in establishing a Bon dialectic school that awards geshe degrees certified by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He then created the Bon Children's Welfare Center, an orphanage for Bönpo boys and girls who had lost their families during the Chinese invasion. |
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Lopon Sangye Tenzin Rinpoche |
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 Lopon Sangye Tenzin Rinpoche was born into the Jyab 'Og family, a family lineage held in very high esteem within the Bon tradition. He became an accomplished master of sutra, tantra and dzogchen. Lopon Sangye Tenzin Rinpoche lived a very simple life, yet he was considered by many to be the greatest Bon scholar of his generation. Lopon Sangye Tenzin Rinpoche was a teacher of Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, and was known for his very direct, clear and strict teaching style. As Tenzin Rinpoche's first root master, for three years Lopon Sangye Tenzin gave Tenzin Rinpoche the formal dzogchen teachings of the Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyu (Oral Transmission of Zhang Zhung). A few months after completing these teachings and entering a new cycle of the same teachings, he became gravely ill and asked Yongdzin Rinpoche to take on his role as lopon at the monastery. Lopon Sangye Tenzin Rinpoche died in Dolanji in 1977 at age 67. After his death, according to his wishes his savings were used to found the dialectic school. |
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Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche |
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 Yongdzin (Lopon) Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche is the most senior teacher in the Bon tradition. He became a monk at the age of 15 and in 1953 was elected to the position of lopon (head teacher), the same year that he obtained his geshe degree from Menri Monastery in Tibet. After fleeing to Nepal in 1960, Yongdzin Rinpoche went to London on a Rockefeller scholarship and collaborated on "The Nine Ways of Bon," the first scholarly study of the Bon tradition in the West. In 1964, he returned to Himachal Pradesh, Northern India, and founded the Dolanji Settlement for Bönpo people in exile, and then established a traditional dialectic school to preserve the Bönpo philosophical tradition. In 1987, Yongdzin Rinpoche founded the Bon monastery Triten Norbutse, just west of Kathmandu, Nepal. |
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Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche |
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 Tenzin Rinpoche was born in Amritsar, India, not long after his parents escaped their Tibetan homeland in 1959 during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. At age 10 Tenzin Rinpoche was ordained as a monk at Menri Monastery near Dolanji, India. There he was recognized by head teacher Lopon Sangye Tenzin Rinpoche as a reincarnation of the famous master Khyung Tul Rinpoche, a renowned meditation master, teacher, scholar and healer who died in the mid-20th century.
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, founder and spiritual director of Ligmincha Institute, is an acclaimed author as well as a highly respected and beloved teacher to students throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe. Fluent in English, Tenzin Rinpoche is renowned for his depth of wisdom; his clear, engaging teaching style; and his ability to make the ancient Tibetan teachings highly accessible and relevant to the lives of Westerners.
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Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche |
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 Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche is the abbot (khenpo) of Triten Norbutse Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, one of the two main Bon monasteries outside of Tibet. Khenpo Rinpoche was born in 1969 in Dhorpatan, a remote area of western Nepal that hosts a small Tibetan refugee settlement and a Bon monastery. Khenpo received his geshe degree from Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India. In 1986, Khenpo Rinpoche began teaching philosophy and general Tibetan sciences to younger students. After graduating, Khenpo Rinpoche went to Kathmandu to further his studies of tantra and dzogchen under the guidance of Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche. In 1996 His Holiness Menri Trizin Rinpoche and Yongdzin Rinpoche appointed Khenpo Rinpoche as ponlob (principal teacher) of Triten Norbutse Monastery. In 2001, he was appointed as khenpo of the monastery by H.H. Menri Trizin Rinpoche and H.E. Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche. |
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H.E. Menri Lopon Trinley Nyima Rinpoche |
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H.E. Menri Lopon Trinley Nyima Rinpoche is the lopon, or head instructor, of Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India.
Born in Dolpo, a remote region of western Nepal, he has the family name of "Yangton" and an ancestry that traces back to Yangton Sherab Gyaltsen, a famous dzogchen and tantric master of the 11th century. Rinpoche began his training in 1976 at the age of 10. He received his geshe degree in 1989 from the Dialectic School at Menri Monastery and has been teaching there since then. He became lopon of the monastery in 1992. |
 Lhari-la Kalsang Nyima is the resident teacher for Ligmincha Institute at Serenity Ridge. The traditional name "Lhari-la" is a form of respect meaning "painter of the gods" and reflects Lhari-la's rigorous training as a thangka painter. Born in 1970 in the province of Dolpo, Nepal, Lhari-la comes from a family of many great Bon practitioners. At age 9 he became a monk at Samling Monastery, the oldest and most important monastery in Dolpo. There Lama Lhari-la trained intensively for 12 years in sutra and tantra and completed many long personal retreats. At age 21 he began four years of studies at Triten Norbutse Monastery under the close guidance of Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, where he studied all aspects of the traditional Bon teachings and received a complete cycle of dzogchen teachings. There he also learned techniques of traditional thangka painting, skills he deepened during five years of training at Ugyun Tulku's monastery in nearby Bhouda. An experienced teacher, in 2009 Lhari-la became resident teacher for Ligmincha Institute; he also serves in residence several months a year at Chamma Ling retreat center, Crestone, Colorado. |
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Bon Buddhism 