Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche

Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche

Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche was born in 1932 in the Dergé region of Kham. He studied under twenty-five great masters, among whom was Shedrup Tenpé Nyima, the reincarnation of Nyoshul Lungtok. From him, he received the teachings of Longchen Nyingtik and particularly The Great Oral Lineage of Pith Instructions (Mengak Nyengyü Chenmo) of Dzogpachenpo. This became Khenpo’s special lineage, and he passed these teachings on to a few close disciples, as well as to a number of the greatest masters and lineage holders of his time. He wrote a definitive History of the Dzogchen Nyingtik, containing the biographies of the lineage masters, and a remarkable collection of poetic songs of realization. Nyoshul Khenpo was such a consummate master of Dzogchen, and such an authority on the teachings of Longchenpa, that his disciples regarded him as Longchenpa in the flesh. He was the teacher of many of the younger generation of lamas, as well as a number of western Buddhist teachers. He passed away in France in August 1999. No one who met him can ever forget his extraordinary presence or the spirit in which he taught, which embodied so perfectly the fathomless ease and vastness of Dzogpachenpo.