Sönam Tobden

Khenpo Sönam Tobden

Khenpo Sönam Tobden was born in Gojo in Eastern Tibet. At the age of thirteen he entered the Kyipo Monastery and took ordination according to the Nyingmapa tradition. Four years later, he entered the Ramgo Chötrul Shedra, then the Palyul Shedra, two of the most prominent philosophical schools in Kham.

From a very young age, he felt intense devotion for Kyabje Penor Rinpoche whom he considered his root teacher. With the intention of meeting him, he left home at the age of twenty, without telling anybody. With the help of a group of refugees, he crossed the Himalayas and arrived in India.

It has now been ten years since khenpo Sönam Tobden entered Penor Rinpoche's Namdroling Monastery, near Mysore in South India. Since then he has studied under the guidance of Kyabje Penor Rinpoche, Khenpo Namdrol and Khenpo Pema Sherab, two of the seniormost khenpos of the Nyingma lineage.

In 2005 he completed his nine years of shedra studies and began to teach texts such as Chandrakirti's Madhyamakavatara based on Mipham Rinpoche's commentary to the younger generation of monks.

From 2006 onwards he taught the students of the Rigpa Shedra in Pharping, Nepal several times on classical shedra texts such as the Bodhicharyavatara, the Madhyamakalankara, the Madhyamakavatara and the Abhisamayalankara.

On the 18th March, 2011 he received the Khenpo degree at Namdroling Monastery.

Rigpa Shedra East teachings

• 2006/2007, in Pharping, Khenpo taught for the first time at the Rigpa shedra, on Shantideva's Bodhicharyavatara. The recordings of those teachings are part of the online Shedra MP3 Library.
• 2007/2008, Mipham Rinpoche’s commentary The Adornment of the Middle Way on Shantarakshita’s Madhyamakalankara.
• 2010, teachings on the Madhyamakavatara using Chandrakirti's auto-commentary.
• 2011, teachings on Mipham Rinpoche's commentary on the Abhisamayalankara.