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Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche, born in Tsari, Tibet in the spring of 1946, came to the West in the early 1980’s to found the Tibetan Meditation Center in Washington, D.C. The only Khenchen in the Drikung lineage, Rinpoche completed a nine-year course of study at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Varanasi, India beginning in 1967. ([https://drikungtucson.org/our-teachers/khenchen-konchog-gyaltsen-rinpoche/ Source Accessed Jan 30, 2020]) +
Ven. Khenchen Palden Rinpoche (1942-2010) began his intensive monastic training at the age of six at Gochen Monastery. So strong was his desire to study and learn that he would sneak outdoors after curfew and into the shrubberies to read his books under the moonlight. At age 12, he entered Riwoche Monastery, one of the oldest and largest monastic institutes in eastern Tibet and famous for its philosophers and logicians. There he was trained to become the next Abbot of Gochen. He completed his studies just as the Chinese invasion reached the area. ([http://www.padmasambhava.org/teach.html Source Accessed Jan 29, 2015]) +
Khenchen Pema Sherab (Tib. པདྨ་ཤེས་རབ་, Wyl. pad+ma shes rab) is one of the seniormost khenpos in the Nyingma tradition and one of the three Khenchen or 'great khenpos' of Namdroling Monastery.
Khenpo Pema Sherab 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 also met Kyabjé Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and served as his attendant for about ten years, fleeing with him to Bhutan and then India in 1959. Over the years, he received many teachings from him, including the Guhyagarbha Tantra, and Longchenpa’s Treasury of Pith Instructions. During the 1950s he also stayed for long periods at Nenang Monastery and Tshurphu, the monastery of the Karmapas, which at that time was home to many great Kagyü masters who had escaped from the troubles in East Tibet. While on pilgrimage in Central Tibet, he met Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö at Tsering Jong, the seat of Jikmé Lingpa. While in India, he also studied with Kyabjé Dudjom Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsöndrü, and from Kyabjé Trulshik Rinpoche he received the vows of a fully ordained monk, and also various empowerments and teachings.
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, lorik and tarik, and an exposition of logic. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Khenchen_Pema_Sherab Source Accessed June 29, 2022])
Khenchen Tashi Özer was an important figure in the Rimé movement. He served as a khenpo at the monasteries of Paljor and Palpung, the seat of the Tai Situ incarnations. He was a disciple of Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Patrul Rinpoche. When Jamgön Kongtrul wrote his auto-commentary to the Treasury of Knowledge in 1863, Khenchen Tashi Özer acted as his scribe. He was also in the presence of Jamgön Kongtrul when he passed into the samadhi of the clear light dharmakaya in 1899.
After offering the reading transmission for the entire Kangyur to the Fifteenth Karmapa at his seat of Tsurpu, he was rewarded with the fulfillment of any request, and took the opportunity to request that Karsé Kongtrul, the incarnation of Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye who had been born as the Karmapa's son be returned to his home monastery of Palpung. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Khenchen_Tashi_%C3%96zer Rigpa Wiki]) +
Khenmo Nyima Drolma is the Abbess of Vajra Dakini Nunnery. She has trained with the foremost spiritual teachers of our time including H.H. Dalai Lama, H.H. Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche (the head of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage). She is a heart student of Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo, studying closely with her for over 25 years. She spent two years in training at Gampo Abbey guided by Ven. Pema Chödrön. In 2002 she took full ordination as a Buddhist nun in Taiwan becoming the first woman in the Drikung lineage to do so. In 2004 she was installed as a Khenmo in the Drikung lineage, becoming the first westerner in her lineage to hold the responsibility of abbot. Since then she has worked continuously to establish Vajra Dakini Nunnery and teach the Dharma internationally.
Khenmo Drolma, a breast cancer survivor, has spent many years in the Hospice field. She served as an Art Fellow at the Connecticut Hospice and board member of the Addison Respite Care Home in Vermont and Maine Respite Home. ([https://new.vajradakininunnery.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/final-consecration-booklet_revised.pdf Source Accessed Mar 4, 2025]) +
Born in 1974, he joined the main Sakya Monastery in North India as a young boy and learned prayers and rituals. He also received empowerments, teachings, and training in the sūtra and tantric teachings in the Sakya tradition. In 1991, he joined Sakya College in Dehradun and pursued higher education in Buddhist Studies, after which he taught in the same college for some years. In 2002, according to the wishes of H.H. Sakya Trichen Rinpoche, he was appointed as the Sakya lecturer in the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies. He has served there as a lecturer for over 22 years and was conferred the Khenpo title by H.H. Sakya Trichen and his sons. He has regularly participated in conferences and seminars and has written articles on the wheel of Dharma, Sakya meditation practice, store consciousness, the luminous nature of the mind, the two truths, the view and Middle Way theory in the Sakya tradition, lower and higher abhidharma, bodhicitta, the twelve links of dependent origination, the four tenet systems, etc. +
Khenpo Dawa Tsering was born in 1987 in Tichurong Drigung Gonpa in the Dolpo region of Nepal. At 11, he started learning Tibetan and in 2000 he met H.H. Senge Tenzin and joined Drigung Monastery in India. He received his novice ordination from H.H. Drigung Kyapgon Thinley Lhundrup and undertook monastic education. In 2005, he joined Kagyu Buddhist University and finished his education in common sciences and Buddhist Studies in general and Kagyu systems, including the Single Intent, Five Verse Mahāmudra, etc., in particular under Khenchen Koncho Gyaltsen, Khenchen Nyima Gyaltsen, and H.H. Nubri Rinpoche. Since grade seven, he also taught language and grammar, and in 2014 he finished his education and taught at Samtenling Nunnery for eight years. In 2019, he was conferred the Khenpo title. He currently serves as the disciplinarian at Drigung Jangchubling Monastery. +
Khenpo Gawang Rinpoche is the founder and spiritual director of Pema Karpo Meditation Center in Memphis, Tennessee. He holds a khenpo degree after nine years of study at Namdroling Monastery in South India. In April 2006, Khenpo Gawang Rinpoche was formally enthroned as a khenpo by His Holiness Penor Rinpoche and assigned to teach in the West. He came to the United States in 2004 at the invitation of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and Shambhala International, and became an American citizen in 2012. He has lived in Memphis, Tennessee since 2007. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Khenpo_Gawang_Rinpoche Source Accessed Sept 9, 2020]) +
Khenpo Gyurme Tsultrim was born in the Mugu district of western Nepal in 1969 where he studied reading and writing with his uncle. When he was thirteen, he met Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and became one of the first monks at Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery in Nepal. In 1985, as the Shechen Philosophical College was not yet built, Khyentse Rinpoche sent him to the Dzongsar Monastic College in India for higher studies. He studied there for six years and then completed the last three years of his study at the Palyul Nyingmapa College in Mysore, India.
He became the first monk of Shechen Monastery, Nepal, to attain the rank of Khenpo, the equivalent of a Ph.D., in 1996. Presently, Khenpo Gyurme Tsultrim is the vice abbot of the monastery and teaches at its College. He has traveled to Europe a number of times to give teachings, and he oversees many of the activities of the monastery. (Source: Shechen https://shechen.org/spiritual-development/teachers/khenpo-gyurme-tsultrim/) +
Khenpo Jampal Dorje (mkhan po 'jam dpal rdo rje, b. ca. 1970) is a teacher at Ari Dza Monastery in Dzachukha, Kham. (Source: Enlightened Vagabond) +
Khenpo Jamyang Tenzin is the abbot of Tsechen Dongag Choeling in Mundgod, South India. He studied under the late Khenchen Appey Rinpoche at Sakya College where he also taught for several years, and completed a three year retreat under the guidance of HE Chogye Trichen Rinpoche. Since 2001 Khenpo Jamyang Tenzin has been teaching philosophy and meditation at the International Buddhist Academy. He is currently translating an Abhisamayālaṃkāra commentary by Rongtön Chenpo with Boyce Teoh.
Source [https://chodungkarmo.org/the-group/] +
Khenpo Jamyang Tenzin is the abbot of Tsechen Dongag Choeling in Mundgod, South India. He studied under the late Khenchen Appey Rinpoche at Sakya College where he also taught for several years, and completed a three year retreat under the guidance of HE Chogye Trichen Rinpoche. Since 2001 Khenpo Jamyang Tenzin has been teaching philosophy and meditation at the International Buddhist Academy.
Known for his deep understanding of the teachings based on his extensive studies and meditative training, Khenpo la presents the Dharma to a modern audience in way that always both very practical and profound. ([http://www.ibastudiesonline.com/Home/Teacher/94582017-ad3c-40cd-81a2-d5b13306a24a Source Accessed Sep 23, 2024]) +
Born in eastern Tibet in 1924, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche was one of the great masters of the Karma Kagyu tradition. Rinpoche, who received most of his training and education in Tibet before the Chinese invasion, was highly accomplished in meditation, philosophy, and monastic arts. As abbot of Karma Triyana Dharmacakra Monastery (KTD) in Woodstock, New York; spiritual guide of thirty-five Karma Thegsum Choling (KTC) affiliate centers; and retreat master at the Karme Ling Retreat Center in Delhi, New York, Rinpoche touched the lives of thousands of students. He was also known for numerous books, including ''The Quintessence of the Union of Mahamudra and Dzokchen''; ''Dharma Paths''; ''Instructions of Gampopa''; ''Bardo: Interval of Possibility''; ''The Wish-Fulfilling Wheel: The Practice of White Tara''; and the five-volume masterwork ''Karma Chakme’s Mountain Dharma''. +
Khenpo Kunga became a monk at a young age and began his education at Tergar monastery, where he studied the rituals, prayers, and other traditional practices of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. At fifteen, he entered an extended meditation retreat and spent three years mastering the profound contemplative practices of the Kagyü lineage.<br> Following this period of intense meditation practice, he entered the renowned Dzongsar monastic college near Dharamsala in Northwest India. After studying there for eleven years and receiving his Khenpo degree (roughly equivalent to a PhD), he taught at Dzongsar college for three additional years. Khenpo Kunga’s primary teacher is Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, though he has studied with many other revered masters as well.<br> In recent years, Khenpo Kunga has taught in Asia, Europe, and the United States as one of the main teachers for the worldwide network of Tergar monasteries, meditation centers, and meditation groups. ([https://tergar.org/about/instrtergar-lamas/ Source Accessed August 14, 2020]) +
2024 Publication Forthcoming with Khenpo Kunga Sherab: [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Amazing-Treasury-of-the-Sakya-Lineage/Ameshab-Ngakwang-Kunga-Sonam/Amazing-Treasury-of-the-Sakya-Lineage/9781614299196 The Amazing Treasury of the Sakya Lineage: Volume 1]
Khenpo Kunga Sherab was born in Lhoka, Tibet, and is a monastic scholar and teacher. He is the author of several studies in Tibetan on Abhidharma and Middle Way philosophy. Khenpo has extensive experience teaching Buddhist meditation and philosophy in various settings, including traditional Tibetan monastic colleges, interfaith institutes, Dharma centers across North America and Asia, and university classrooms. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto. Since 2017, he has served as a Buddhist chaplain in four major prisons in southwestern Ontario, Canada. ([https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Khenpo-Kunga-Sherab/220574952 Source: Simon and Schuster, Accessed July 9, 2024])
Before coming to the University of Toronto, Khenpo received a traditional Tibetan Buddhist monastic education and earned the advanced title of Khenpo (abbot) in 2005 from the Dzongsar Institute for Advanced Studies of Buddhist Philosophy and Research in India. He then taught for many years at Dzongsar Institute, India and Zurmang Buddhist College in Sikkim, India. He is the author of several works on Buddhist philosophy in Tibetan. ([https://buddhiststudies.utoronto.ca/khenpo-kunga-sherab/ Source: U Toronto, Accessed July 9, 2024]) +
Khenpo Kunga Sherab Saljay Rinpoche is Vajra Master of Jonang Jamdha Monastery and Jonang Tsinang Monastery. +
Khenpo Konchog Monlam was born to Kyashog Sherab Gyaltsen and Ngoza Tsering Paldon in 1940 at the place called Chitod Dronmey, Kham Nangchen (Eastern Tibet). He grew up in his parent's house and spent his childhood helping his family. He became a monk at the age of 13 and began learning primary studies (reading, writing and ritual) in the Drikung Kagyu monastery of Lho Lungkar Gompa.
Due to terrible changes in the region because of Chinese invasion, he had to flee his country at the age of 18. He visited all the holy pilgrimage sites in Nepal and India on his way in to exile, and finally reached Tso Pema, where Guru Rinpoche transformed the fire into a lake when the King of Zahor tried to burn him alive, when he was 20.
There he received preliminary instructions on the Longchen Nyingthig teachings from Pomda Khenpo and Dzigar Lama Wangdor and then stayed in retreat for one year doing ngondro practice as had been advised by Drikung Khandro. Drikung Khandro also advised him to seek out and study with the great Nyingma master, Khenchen Thupten Ozer. At the age of 25, Khenpo took both Genyen (begining level buddhist vows) and Getsul (novice) monk vows from Khenchen Thupten Ozer and then at 26 he took Gelong vows (full monk ordination) with his root guru.
He received most teachings from his root guru Khenchen Thupten Ozer Rinpoche, the well-learned and highly acclaimed scholar of Dzogchen Shri Singha Institute in Tibet. He also received teachings from many great master like, HH the 14th Dalai Lama, HH Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, HH Sakya Trizin, Drikung Chetsang Rinpoche, Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen , Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Dodrupchen Rinpoche, Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche, Trulshik Rinpoche, Penor Rinpoche and many other master. At the same time he was helping his root guru to look after the affairs of his monastery Pangang Ritod which is located in Manali (Northern India).
At the age of 40, in 1978, he was initiated as a Khenpo and enthroned by his root guru and named Khenpo Konchog Monlam. Since then he started giving teachings at his monastery in Manali and in Tibet at Lho Lungkar monastery. At the same time he also gave teachings to the local Tibetans at the Tibetan settlement in Bir.
In the year 1985, he went back to Tibet to visit relatives who stayed behind there. During his one year stay in Tibet, he gave reading transmissions for both the Mani Mantra and Vajra Guru Mantra and more than a thousand committed to Khen Rinpoche that they would give up alcohol and tobacco. While in Tibet he went on pilgrimage to Lhasa, Tsang, Drikung, and many other holy places, to pay respect and make offerings.
In 1987 he took the responsibility of Head Khenpo for nine years and taught the first batch of students at the Drikung Kagyu Institute, at Jangchub Ling, established by HH Drikung Chetsang Rinpoche. He then joined the late Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Tulku Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche in their Dharma activities when asked by Urgyen Rinpoche to look after the affairs of Nagi Gompa Nunnery in Nepal. Teaching the nuns and leading rituals until 2000.
Khen Rinpoche established his own retreat center "Ngodrup Charbeb Ling Retreat Center" in 1998. It is located on the west side, about 300 meters from the holy Swayambhunath Stupa, the most sacred Buddhist site in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal. To this date, there has been one set of monks and two set of nuns to have completed the traditional 3 year and 3 month retreat in the Longchen Nyingthig lineage under the guidance of Khenpo Konchog Monlam. Now there is a third set of nuns starting their retreat in November 2008, and 18 nuns studying Buddhist philosophy, ritual and sciences, as well as English and Chinese languages. ([http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/Khenpo_Konchog_Monlam Source Accessed Sep 30, 2022])
Born in Nubri, the sacred land blessed by Milarepa and many other saints, in the Gorkha region of Nepal in 1992, he spent his early youth at home. In 2001, he had the opportunity to join Benchen Monastery near Bouddha and study under Sangay Nyenpa Rinpoche and Tenga Rinpoche. He received monastic ordination from H.H. Tenga Rinpoche and started his education, including reading, writing, grammar, Buddhist teachings in general, and the Marpa Kagyu tradition in particular. In 2007, he joined Benchen College, which was newly established, and became a part of the first cohort and undertook education in Buddhist literature, including the five great treatises, history, language, etc. He finished his education in 2018 and currently serves as a lecturer at the monastic college. +
Brief bio available at [http://www.bokarmonastery.org/mod/data/index.php?REQUEST_ID=cGFnZT1iaW9ncmFwaHktS2hlbnBvRG9ueW8= bokarmonastery.org] +
Drupon Khenpo Lodro Namgyal completed the 9-year Acharya program at Nalanda Institute, Rumtek Monastery. He studied under the guidance of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche and Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. After his graduation, he was appointed a Khenpo of Nalanda Institute where he taught for two years. Following that, he entered the three-year retreat at Pullahari Monastery under Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. When he completed the retreat, he was appointed Drupon (retreat master) of Kunzang Dechen Osel Ling, the Mahamudra retreat centre at Pullahari Monastery. The combination of immense learning and intensive meditation is clearly evident in his teachings. His way of making even the most complex and subtle Dharma subjects immediately accessible to students is a constant inspiration to all.
Drupon Khenpon Lodro Namgyal is now the principal of the Rigpe Dorje Institute of Higher Buddhist Philosophy at Kagyu Tekchen Ling, Lava, India, and personal tutor of philosophy to His Eminence the Fourth Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche. (Source: [https://www.jamgonkongtrul.org/section.php?s1=3&s2=4 jamgonkongtrul.org]) +
