Category Archives: Nepal

His Eminence Yongdzin Rinpoche: Cremation of the Holy Physical Remains and Fire Offering Rites

The Sacred vessel containing the Holy Physical Remains of His Eminence Yongdzin Tendzin Namdak Rinpoché

Since the parinirvana of the esteemed and greatly beloved master, His Eminence Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoché, the worldwide Yungdrung Bön community has been observing a 49-day period of veneration, prayers, and offerings to receive blessings and accumulate great spiritual merit. On Friday August 2, 2025 this 49-day period concluded. From August 4th to August 9th, an extensive fire offering rite according to the cycle of the Künrig Le Zhi Gyün Nga‘i Jin Sek will be performed. During this time on August 6th, the actual cremation of the holy physical remains will take place. The Künrig Le Zhi Gyün Nga‘i Jin Sek, is one of the primary texts in the Yungdrung Bön religious tradition used for cremation rites and the continuous fire offerings that take place. For this, a great variety and quantity of offerings are being prepared. Among these offerings are many large and small boards written with mantras and prayers that will be read by the officiating lama, consecrated with blessed substances, and then placed into the fire.

Offerings for the fire offering rites
Offerings for the fire offering rites
A great accumulation of fire offerings

During these rites, the holy physical remains will be cremated in a specially built chorten [Sanskrit: stupa]. After the conclusion of the ritual, once the ash from the offering rites has cooled, it will be carefully collected along with any relics and saved to be placed into a reliquary chorten that will be built to hold the relics along with a variety of other sacred objects and substances. Additionally, many sa tsa will be made that will be filled with some of the cremation ash and distributed to faithful disciples and supporters.

Construction of the cremation chorten at Triten Norbutsé Monastery

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Welcoming and Installing the Sacred Remains of the Spiritual Master

His Holiness the 34th Menri Trizen, His Eminence Menri Pönlop, Khenpo Ronpoche and others escort the sacred Ku dung to be installed at Triten Norbutse Monastery

On the evening of June 20, 2025 with wondrous signs in the environment, the lord of refuge His Eminence Yongdzin Tendzin Namdak Rinpoche passed from his state of tukdam and left his sacred physical remains. On June 21, 2025, accompanied by His Holiness the 34th Menri Trizen, His Eminence Menri Pönlop Rinpoche, Khenpo Tenpe Yungdrung Rinpoche, and other khenpos, geshes, and an ocean of faithful disciples, the sacred remains were escorted to Triten Norbutsé Monastery.

The road was lined with faithful followers, and the path to the monastery was ornamented with auspicious symbols drawn with golden flowers. There were victory banners flowing, sweet-smelling incense, and the sacred sound of drums, cymbals, and chanting filled the air.

The precious remains were installed at the monastery with auspicious signs. The monastic community presented the five offerings and repeatedly made fervent prayers of praise and aspirations. The times for visiting and viewing the sacred remains by the faithful will soon be announced.

A video of the sacred procession can be viewed at this link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1258612932653054

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Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of His Eminence Menri Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche

On February 6, 2025 in Kathmandu, Nepal within the new meditation temple at Palden Triten Norbutsé Monastery, the Yungdrung Bön community will gather and rejoice in the 100th birthday of His Eminence Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche. Once His Eminence has entered the mediation hall and taken his seat upon the grand throne, many mandala offerings of glorious things will be offered and prayers for his long life will be chanted.

“Supplication to the Lord of Refuge, Menri Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche

How marvelous! Teacher of the three trainings and protector of migrating beings, you are an emanation of the omniscient Nyi Wang who perfects enlightened intention with dynamic energy. Having the total perfection of the abiding nature of sutra and trantra, you hold and protect the teachings through your completely pure enlightened activities. To Yongdzin Mawé Wangpo I supplicate! 

ཨེ་མ་ཧོ༎   བསླབ་གསུམ་བསྟན་པའི་བདག་ཉིད་འགྲོ་བའི་མགོན།། ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཉི་དབང་རྣམ་རོལ་དགོངས་རྩལ་རྫོགས།། མདོ་སྡེ་སྔགས་ཀྱི་གནས་ལུགས་རྫོགས་པ་ཆེ།། བསྟན་པ་འཛིན་སྐྱོང་འཕྲིན་ལས་རྣམ་པར་དག། ཡོངས་འཛིན་སྨྲ་བའི་དབང་པོར་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༎ སྐྱབས་རྗེ་སྨན་རིའི་ཁྲི་འཛིན་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཆོག་གིས་ཕྱི་   ཟླ་ ༣་ཚེས་༨་ལ་བསྟོད་པའོ།

é ma ho, lap sum ten pé dak nyi dro wé gön, kün khyen nyi wang nam röl gong tsal dzok, do dé ngak kyi né luk dzok pa ché, ten pa dzin kyong trin lé nam par dak, yong dzin ma wé wang por söl wa dep”

Written by the supreme Lord of Refuge, the 33rd Menri Trizen Rinpoche on the 8th lunar day of the 3rd lunar month.

A Bön Song for Welcoming One Hundred Years

You are a Shen whose speech is the great essence of the hundred thousand treasuries of sutra and tantra. Great protector of the teachings of the 84,000 Doors of Bön, during this present time you have greater kindness than a thousand enlightened ones. We rejoice that you have reached the age of one hundred!

The expressions of your realization and your hundreds of acts are solid pillars of the three trainings. Your utterly fulfilling knowledge of the three aspects turns the thousand-spoked wheel of Bön. Unequaled holder of the golden throne, because of a multitude of requests, You subsequently composed thirteen volumes of your collected works.

Embodiment of Drenpa, Master Subduer during the 500 years of decline, you have held, protected, and increased the essence of the Bön teachings during the one hundred years of your long life. Having the completely pure three vows of the hundred-petaled, saffron robe, may your lotus feet remain stable for hundreds of eons!

(Thus, this great celebration marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the principal teacher of the Leader of Menri, the divine Lord of Refuge, Lopön Mawé Wangpo Tenzin Nadak, the supremely glorious master. As the fortunate Bön community of former students of The Bön Children’s Welfare Center of Topgyal Sarpa at Pal Shenten Menri Ling and others who are continually protected by your wisdom and kindness, offer these auspicious wishes. Mutsuk Marro!)

Newly finished statue of His Eminence Menri Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche

Offerings to the Lama

How Marvelous!

Within a completely pure and unchanging miraculous realm is the spiritual master, the essence of the Enlightened Ones of the three times. In order for the migrating beings of the six destinies to cross the ocean of cyclic existence, please remain seated upon the jeweled throne, upon faultless cushions of a radiant lotus, sun, and moon within the unsurpassed palace of the immeasurable three places! AH OM HUNG CHI PAR RAYNA TA TSEN RA YO DZA

Prostrations

How marvelous! To the lama who is the embodiment of all of the Victors and spiritual masters, principally by Bön practitioners, but including all sentient beings who are as limitless as the sky; we offer prostrations with our body, prostrating with our arms, legs, and head! We prostrate with our speech, chanting with a joyous and inspired melody! We prostrate with our mind, prostrating with single-pointed motivation and devotion! May the negative actions and defilements of our three doors become purified! AH OM HUNG CHI PAR RAYNA KO PUNG AKSHO TRI TSE GU DÜN HRUN

Admission of Wrongdoing and Purification

In the presence of my principal lama who is chief among the supreme objects of refuge, I admit my actions of wrongdoing and non-virtue that I have committed from the beginning until this very day. I admit corrupting the three vows and defiling the promises that I’ve made. I admit my pretension even though I do not understand the nature of mind. Please bestow complete purification and the supreme attainment! AH OM HUNG CHI PAR RAYNA KO PUNG AKSHO TRI TSE U DUK SHA YA NI SOHA

Mandala Offering

How marvelous! To the great, unmatched lama possessing characteristics, I present unequaled external, internal, and secret offerings. Externally, I offer a variety of nice things of the environment and its inhabitants. Furthermore, I offer my own body and its vitality as an ornament. I present these offerings with non-attachment. 

Internally, I offer the arising of my mental and physical aggregates. I offer my accumulated realization that whatever arises as subject and object is illusory. Furthermore, I present these offerings within the vast space of self-liberation.

Secretly, I offer the natural radiance of my unborn mind, which is unceasing and understands whatever arises as enlightened manifestation and wisdom. Furthermore, I present these offerings within a completely vast and all-pervasive space. AH OM HUNG CHI PAR RAYNA ZUR NAM DÉ SHO HA RA TIM TIM YÉ SOHA

The Five Offerings

How Marvelous! Free from extremes and unchanging is the container of the mind. Free from elaborations, I establish the wick of great self-liberation. I fill the lamp of authentic, completely pervasive great bliss. To the One who has characteristics, I present this butter lamp to look upon with the eye.

This unmoving and naturally clear incense burner is filled with the non-grasping, radiantly clear light of pure incense. The fresh and continuous smoke permeates everywhere. I present this incense to the Protector of beings.

This unfabricated and self-clear water offering bowl is filled with unobstructed, playful self-arising offering water. Having added various ornaments of non-attachment such as nectar and medicine, I present this offering water for the enjoyment of the Dimension of great kindness. 

The primordial Buddha of the conch shell of the mind is filled with manifested experience and realization like an utpal flower. Radiating the wonderful light of spontaneously benefitting others, I present this flower of enlightened activity to the Heart of great kindness. AH OM HUNG NÉ TING SHIM PÖ DANG RA BONG NGÉ NÉ RA ZUR NAM DÉ SHO HA RA TIM TIM SOHA

Praise of the Enlightened State

How marvelous! At the crown of my head, the changeless palace of great bliss, abides the state of Künzang, completely equipoised and free from extremes. I pray to the dimension of the Bön lamas, please hold the migrating beings of the six realms in your compassion and loosen the mind-stream!

At the neck, the space of the palace of Ogmin, are the peaceful and wrathful deities who have the major and minor characteristics. I pray to the dimension of lamas of the Dzok ku, please hold the migrating beings of the six destinies in your compassion and loosen our mind-stream!

At the center of the heart, is the realm of the manifested subduer of migrating beings, the One who teaches whatever is needed and performs a variety of enlightened activity. I pray to the dimension of manifested Lamas, please hold the migrating beings of the six destinies in your compassion and loosen our mind-stream!

To the collective of all the victorious Lamas who has the endowments of leisure and fortune, who teaches the entire collection of scripture with completely pure speech, who has the extensive wisdom of knowledge and kindness, and a mind free from elaboration, who protects migrating beings like their own children with their exalted qualities that come forth, who has spontaneous enlightened activity as limitless as the sky; I pray to the unrivalled Lama, please hold the migrating beings of the six destinies in your compassion and loosen our mind-stream!

I pray to the One who is unrivaled and who has perfected the Three Bodies, please hold the migrating beings of the six destinies in your compassion and loosen our mind-stream! I pray to the One whose speech is the ornament of the world, please hold the migrating beings of the six destinies in your compassion and loosen our mind-stream! I pray to the One who blazes like the incomparable udum flower, please hold the migrating beings of the six destinies in your compassion and loosen our mind-stream! I pray to the One who is free of defilements and has the two kinds of knowledge, please hold the migrating beings of the six destinies in your compassion and loosen our mind-stream!

Receiving the Accomplishments

You, my Lama, who has brought cyclic existence and nirvana under your power, I, and your other followers, pray; please bestow benefits that are as limitless as the sky to migrating beings!  Please grant our wishes to be continuously without separation from your presence! Continuously hold us with your unequalled compassion, we pray!

Aspiration Prayer

Until I obtain complete enlightenment, not born in a negative place, may I obtain a body of renunciation with the advantages of the leisures and fortunes. Having practiced the three trainings and loosened the mind stream,  and having traveled the paths and the grounds, from the state of complete buddhahood, may I accomplish benefit that is equal to the vastness of the sky!

༄༅། །ཨེ་མ་ཧོ།      རྣམ་དག་འགྱུར་མེད་སྤྲུལ་པའི་ཞིང་ཁམས་ནས། དུས་གསུམ་སངས་རྒྱས་ངོ་བོ་བླ་མ་རྗེ། འགྲོ་དྲུག་འཁོར་བའི་ཆུ་ལས་བསྒྲལ་བའི་ཕིར།       བླ་མེད་ཕོ་བྲང་གཞལ་ཡས་གནས་གསུམ་དུ།   སྐྱོན་བྲལ་པདྨ་གསལ་འཚེར་ཉི་ཟླའི་གདན།  གཅན་ལྔ་རིན་ཆེན་ཁྲི་ལ་བཞུགས་སུ་གསོལ།།    ཨ་ཨཱོྃ་ཧཱུྃ༔   ཅི་པར་རདྣ་ཐ་ཚན་ར་ཡོ་ཛ༔

ཕྱག་ནི།  

ཨེ་མ་ཧོ།   རྒྱལ་བ་ཀུན་འདུས་དཔོན་གསས་བླ་མ་ལ།   སྒྲུབ་གཤེན་གཙོར་བྱས་མཁའ་མཉམ་སེམས་ཅན་གྱིས། ལུས་ཕྱག་ཡན་ལག་ལྔ་ལྡན་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།།     ངག་ཕྱག་སྤྲོ་དགའི་དབྱངས་ཀྱིས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།།      ཡིད་ཕྱག་རྩེ་གཅིག་མོས་འདུན་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།།          སྒོ་གསུམ་ལས་ངན་སྡིག་སྒྲིབ་བྱང་གྱུར་ཅིག ཨ་ཨཱོྃ་ཧཱུྃ༔     ཅི་པར་རདྣ་རྐོ་ཕུང་ཨཀྴོ་ཁྲི་ཙེ་གུ་དུན་ཧྲུན།   

བཤགས་པ།               

ཨེ་མ་ཧོ།   ཡུལ་མཆོག་གཙོ་བོ་བླ་མའི་སྤྱན་སྔར་རུ།     བདག་ནི་ཐོག་མར་འཁྲུལ་ནས་ད་ལྟའི་བར། སྡིག་བཅུ་ལས་སོགས་མི་དགེ་གྱུར་ཚད་བཤགས།  སྡོམ་གསུམ་འགལ་སྲིད་ཁས་བླང་ཉམས་པ་བཤགས། སེམས་ཉིད་མ་རྟོགས་གཟུ་ལུམ་གྱུར་ཚད་བཤགས།    བྱང་དག་ཚངས་པ་མཆོག་གི་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ།། ཨ་ཨཱོྃ་ཧཱུྃ༔      ཅི་པར་རདྣ་རྐོ་ཕུང་ཨཀྴོ་ཁྲི་ཙེ་ཨུ་དུག་གཤའ་ཡ་ནི་སྭཱཧཱ།

མནྡལ་ནི།

ཨེ་མ་ཧོ།  མཚན་ལྡན་བླ་མ་མཉམ་མེད་ཆེན་པ་ལ།     བླ་མེད་མཆོད་པ་ཕྱི་ནང་གསང་གསུམ་འབུལ། ཕྱི་རུ་སྣོད་བཅུད་འདོད་ཡོན་ཇི་སྙེད་པ།   དེ་ཡང་རང་གི་ལུས་སྲོག་རྒྱན་ལ་སོགས།     དེ་ཡང་ཆགས་མེད་བློ་ཡིས་ལིང་གིས་འབུལ།      ནང་དུ་རང་གི་འབྱུང་དུག་ཕུང་པོ་ལ།     རྟོགས་ཚོགས་གཟུང་འཛིན་འཁྲུལ་པ་ཅི་ཤར་ཡང་།      དེ་ཡང་རང་གྲོལ་ཀློང་དུ་ཁྲོལ་གྱིས་འབུལ།    སྐྱེ་མེད་སྙིང་པོ་སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་མདངས་ལ།  འགག་མེད་སྐུ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཅི་ཤར་ཡང་།   དེ་ཡང་ཁྱབ་བདལ་ཀློང་དུ་ཕྱམ་གྱིས་འབུལ།།  ཨ་ཨཱོྃ་ཧཱུྃ༔      ཅི་པར་རདྣ་ཟུར་ནམ་དེ་ཤོ་ཧ་ར་ཐིམ་ཐིམ་ཡེ་སྭཱཧཱ།

རྣམ་ལྔ་ནི།         

ཨེ་མ་ཧོ།  མཐའ་བྲལ་འགྱུར་མེད་སེམས་ཀྱི་རྐོང་བུ་རུ།    སྤྲོས་བྲལ་རང་གྲོལ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྡོང་བུ་བཙུགས། ཁྱབ་བདལ་བདེ་ཆེན་གཉུག་མའི་སྒྲོན་མེ་བལྟམས།     མཚན་ལྡན་སྤྱན་ལ་ལྟ་བའི་ཞུག་མར་འབུལ།། གཡོ་མེད་རང་གསལ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྤོས་ཕོར་དུ།      འཛིན་མེད་རང་མདངས་འོད་གསལ་སྤོས་དཀར་བླུགས། སོ་མ་རང་ལྷུག་རྒྱུན་གྱི་དུད་པ་འཐུལ།         འགྲོ་མགོན་ཤང་ལ་བསྣོམ་པའི་སྤོས་མཆོད་འབུལ།།        མ་བཅོས་རང་གསལ་ལྷུག་པའི་ཏིང་ཕོར་དུ།     མ་འགག་རོལ་པ་རང་ཤར་ཡོན་ཆབབ་བླུགས།     སྣ་ཚོགས་རྒྱན་ཤར་ཆགས་མེད་རྩི་སྣམ་བཏབས།   དྲིན་ཆེན་སྐུ་ལ་སྤྱོད་པའི་ཡོན་ཆབ་འབུལ།། ཡེ་ནས་རང་སེམས་སངས་རྒྱས་དུང་ཕོར་དུ།           ཉམས་རྟོགས་མངོན་གྱུར་ཨུ་དཔལ་མེ་ཏོག་བླུགས། ལྷུན་གྲུབ་གཞན་ཕན་ལེགས་པའི་འོད་ཟེར་འཕྲོ།  དྲི་ཆེན་ཐུགས་ལ་འཕྲིན་ལས་མེ་ཏོག་འབུལ།།    ཨཱ་ཨཱོ་ཧཱུྃ༔    ནེ་ཏིང་ཤིམ་ཕོད་དང་ར་བོང་ངེ་ནེ་ར་ཟུར་ནམ་དེ་ཤོ་ཧ་ར་ཐིམ་ཐིམ་སྭཱཧཱ།

སྐུ་བསྟོད་ནི།                

ཨེ་མ་ཧོ།   སྤྱི་གཙུག་འགྱུར་མེད་བདེ་བའི་ཕོ་བྲང་དུ།   ཀུན་སྙོམས་མཐའ་བྲལ་ཀུན་བཟང་ངང་ལ་བཞུགས། བླ་མ་བོན་གྱི་སྐུ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས།     འགྲོ་དྲུག་ཐུགས་རྗེས་བཟུང་ལ་བདག་རྒྱུད་ཁྲོལ།། མགྲིན་པ་འོག་མིན་དབྱིངས་ཀྱི་ཕོ་བྲང་ན།    ཞི་ཁྲོའི་སྐུ་ལ་མཚན་དང་དཔེ་བྱད་ལྡན།   བླ་མ་རྫོགས་པའི་སྐུ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས།      འགྲོ་དྲུག་ཐུགས་རྗེས་བཟུང་ལ་བདག་རྒྱུད་ཁྲོལ།།      ཐུགས་ཀ་འགྲོ་འདུལ་སྤྲུལ་པའི་ཞིང་ཁམས་སུ།  གང་མོས་སྐུར་སྟོན་སྣ་ཚོགས་འཕྲིན་ལས་མཁན།   བླ་མ་སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས།        འགྲོ་དྲུག་ཐུགས་རྗེས་བཟུང་ལ་བདག་རྒྱུད་ཁྲོལ།།    དལ་འབྱོར་སྐུ་ལ་རྒྱལ་བ་མ་ལུས་འདུས།        ཚངས་པའི་གསུང་གི་བཀའ་རྒྱུད་མཐའ་དག་སྟོན།        སྤྲོས་བྲལ་ཐུགས་ལ་མཁྱེན་བརྩེའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྒྱས།       ལེགས་འབྱུང་ཡོན་ཏན་འགྲོ་ལ་བུ་བཞིན་སྐྱོབས། རྩལ་མེད་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་ནམ་མཁའི་མཐའ་དང་བྲལ།      བླ་མ་འགྲན་ཟླ་བྲལ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས།   འགྲོ་དྲུག་ཐུགས་རྗེས་འཟུང་ལ་བདག་རྒྱུད་ཁྲོལ།།         མཉམ་མེད་སྐུ་གསུམ་རྫོགས་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས།     འགྲོ་དྲུག་ཐུགས་རྗེས་འཟུང་ལ་བདག་རྒྱུད་ཁྲོལ།། སྨྲ་བའི་འཛམ་གླིང་རྒྱན་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས།    འགྲོ་དྲུག་ཐུགས་རྗེས་བཟུང་ལ་བདག་རྒྱུད་ཁྲོལ།།     མཚུངས་མེད་ཨུ་དུམ་འབར་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས།       འགྲོ་དྲུག་ཐུགས་རྗེས་བཟུང་ལ་བདག་རྒྱུད་ཁྲོལ།། སྒྲིབ་མེད་མཁྱེན་གཉིས་ལྡང་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས།     འགྲོ་དྲུག་ཐུགས་རྗེས་བཟུང་ལ་བདག་རྒྱུད་ཁྲོལ།།

དངོས་གྲུབ་ཞུ་བ་ནི།         

བླ་མ་ཁྱེད་ནི་འཁོར་འདས་རང་དབང་བསྒྱུར།       བདག་སོགས་རྗེས་འབྲང་གསོལ་འདེབས་བུ་རྣམས་ལ། ནམ་མཁའི་མཐའ་དང་བྲལ་བའི་འགྲོ་དོན་སྩོལ།།    འབྲལ་མེད་རྒྱུན་དུ་འགྲོགས་པའི་སྨོན་ལམ་སྩོལ།། མཉམ་མེད་ཐུགས་རྗེས་རྒྱུན་དུ་བཟུང་དུ་གསོལ།།

སྨོན་ལམ་ནི།       

ཇི་སྲིད་རྫོགས་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་མ་ཐོབ་བར།     དེ་སྲིད་གནས་ངན་ལུས་སྤང་དལ་འབྱོར་ཐོབ། བསླབ་གསུམ་རྒྱུད་ཁྲོལ་ས་ལམ་དུས་གཅིག་བསྒྲོད།   རྫོགས་སངས་རྒྱས་ནས་མཁའ་མཉམ་དོན་བྱེད་ཤོག

Translations from the Tibetan by Raven Cypress Wood ©All Rights Reserved. No content, in part or in whole, is allowed to be used without direct permission from the author.

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Birth Anniversary of Karu Drupwang Tenzin Rinchen: Pilgrim, Sage, & Champion of Yungdrung Bön

Yungdrung Phüntsok Ling in the village of Lubrak

The 8th day of the 10th lunar month is the birth anniversary of the intrepid scholar and spiritual master Karu Drupwang Tenzin Rinchen Gyaltsen Dechen Nyingpo, better known as Karu Drupwang Rinpoche. In 2023, this lunar date corresponds with November 20th. Born at sunrise in 1801 C.E. to a wealthy family in Kham, Tibet, his birth was precipitated by miraculous signs and his autobiography recounts that he was urged to take rebirth by a group of deities so that he could benefit beings through his manifestation. Throughout his life, he traveled extensively on lengthy pilgrimages and was a strong advocate for maintaining the authentic history of Yungdrung Bön sacred sites while maintaining a nonsectarian view and having meaningful interactions with a wide range of people from kings to outcastes. Throughout Tibet and Nepal, he became well known for both his intellect and his magical power.

An emanation of the 8th century B.C.E. yogi Lishu Taring, the first of his many visionary encounters occurred at the young age of two years old when he was visited by this sage and given extensive, detailed spiritual instructions. At the age of six, he took monastic ordination and began his studies at the nearby Nor Ling Monastery. He was an excellent student and was highly praised by his teachers for his achievements. However, upon the death of his father when he was thirteen, the family’s wealth, status, and influence quickly began to decline. As such, his position within the monastery also declined and the previous jealousy of his peers turned to outright hostility. After a few years of suffering from insults and ill treatment, he left the monastery in order to undergo a lengthy, solitary retreat. This retreat was interrupted however due to unforeseen circumstances that required him to fulfill his monastic responsibilities at Nor Ling. Again experiencing abuse from his peers, he made the decision to begin a lengthy pilgrimage. This began his lifetime of travel, visionary encounters, and his lasting impact on the the spiritual life and culture of the people of Dolpo and Lubrak in Nepal.

His first pilgrimage brought him to Kongpo Bönri where he had many extraordinary visionary encounters. He continued on to Tashi Menri and Kharna in Central Tibet, as well as many Zhang Zhung sacred sites as he made his way to Western Tibet. During these journeys, he would often discover that a Bönpo sacred site had been subsumed into Buddhist lore and history with no remaining Bönpo relevance. At this, he would fervently go about doing his best to correct the historical and religious record. One of his most well-known compositions is his detailed pilgrimage guide to Mount Tisé [a.k.a Mount Kailash], A Catalogue of Snowy Tisé which was written in 1844 C.E. This is the most detailed pilgrimage guide to this ancient sacred site and details its ancient connection with Yungdrung Bön.

The Southern side of Mount Tisé

He spent a great deal of time in the village of Lubrak and sponsored the construction of a village temple of Yungdrung Phüntsok Ling in 1846 C.E. During this time, he met an impoverished woman and her son. Being a widow, the mother was having great difficulty providing for her child. Moved with compassion and feeling a connection with the young boy, he took him under his care. This boy went on to become one of his main students and the renowned master Drogön Tenzin Nyima.

Karu Drupwang Rinpoche’s other well-known composition is the Mar Ti Duk Nga Rang Drol, Essential Instructions on the Self Liberation of the Five Poisons. He received this dzogchen text as a mind treasure when he was twenty-five years old. During one of his visits to Lubrak, he wrote this text down in order to support the spiritual needs of the community. These teachings continue to be a part of the annual ritual in Lubrak and Karu Drupwang’s original manuscript is still held in the village as one of its great treasures.

“As for mirror-like wisdom, externally, it is the wisdom of not grasping at the self-nature of appearances. Internally, it is the wisdom of not grasping at the self-nature of one’s own identity. Secretly, it is the wisdom of not grasping at one’s own natural mind. Most secretly, it is the wisdom of not grasping at one’s own essential nature.

Every appearance of ignorance and delusion that arises, is in actuality emptiness. This wisdom of knowing emptiness is the wisdom of absolute reality.” 

From the Mar Ti Duk Nga Rang Drol, Essential Instructions on the Self Liberation of the Five Poisons

After spending long periods of time throughout Dolpo and Mustang, he made his way to Kathmandu, Nepal. There, he was often at the stupa of Swayambunath begging for alms. At this sacred site, Karu Rinpoche continued to have vivid, visionary encounters. He traveled throughout the Kathmandu valley encountering a variety of people and cultures. However, in 1852 C.E. he returned to Tibet and became a root lama to the esteemed 23rd Menri Trizin Künkhen Nyima Tenzin. During this time, he also became the Khenpo of his former monastery, Nor Ling.

First pages of the Autobiography of Karu Drupwang Tenzin Rinchen

Upon the insistent urging of a disciple, he wrote an autobiography that was completed in 1845 C.E. which can be found in the temple of Samling in Dolpo, Nepal. Although the exact date of his passing beyond this life is not known, it is generally understood to have occurred some time in 1861 C.E.

Chapters within the Mar Ti Duk Nga Rang Drol, Essential Instructions on the Self Liberation of the Five Poisons:

  • Teachings on the Opportunities and Good Fortunes that are Difficult to Obtain from the Systematic Guidance for the Preliminary Practices of the Essential Guidance on the Self Liberation of the Five Poisons
  • Systematic Guidance Regarding the Difference Between Virtue and Wrongdoing, and Impermanence
  • Systematic Guidance on Going for Refuge
  • Systematic Guidance on Generating a Mind of Enlightenment
  • Systematic Guidance on Purifying Wrongdoing through Admission of Wrongdoing and Purification
  • Systematic Guidance on Completing the Accumulations through the Mandala Offering
  • Systematic Guidance on Receiving Blessings and Self-empowerment through Supplication
  • Teaching and Advice for Calm Abiding by Focusing on AH
  • Teaching and Advice for Searching the Mind and Awareness
  • Teaching and Advice for Introducing and Concentrating on the Mind
  • Teaching and Advice on the Path of the Six Aggregates
  • Teaching and Advice for Enhancing Gek Sel Practice
  • Teaching and Advice for Dark Retreat and Clear Light
  • Teaching and Advice for the Nourishment through Chulen [Extracting the Essence]
  • Teaching and Advice on the Six Important Points of Practice
  • Teaching and Advice for Abiding in the State of the Mind’s Essence
  • Teaching and Advice for Fully Realizing the Bön Essence
  • Teaching and Advice regarding the Result which is All-penetrating Wisdom
  • Teaching and Advice on the Power to Work with Deathless Birth
  • Teaching and Advice for Attaining Buddhahood with No Physical Aggregates Left Behind
  • Practice of the Goddess [Jamma]
  • The Clear Mirror of A Hundred Horoscopes of the Essential Instruction on the Self Liberation of the Five Poisons
  • A Little Song About the Connection Between the Relative and the Absolute
  • Abridged Preliminary Practices
  • Supplication of the Root Lama Drupwang Tenzin Rinchen [Composition of a disciple]
  • Expiation through Offering to the Lama
  • A Letter to the Ghosts and Demons that Suppresses Phenomenal Existence with its Majestic Brilliance

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Anniversary of the Parinirvana of Barlé Lama Tsukphü Gyaltsen Rinpoche 

Left: Barlé Rinpoche Right: Barlé Rinpoche with Khenpo Nyima Künchap Rinpoche

Barlé Lama Tsukphü Gyaltsen Rinpoche was the senior lama of Barlé Gompa, formally known as Seteng Yungdrung Shuktsal Ling, located in the village of Barlé in Dolpo, Nepal. On the 27th lunar day of the 4th Tibetan month in the Western year 2000, his outward breath stopped. His body remained in the five-fold meditation posture for three full days. In 2023, this lunar date coincides with June 15th. Some of his ring sel, or precious relics, are now in the village of Ti Chu Rong in the area of Barlé village. Each summer, residents have an opportunity to go and offer their respect and receive blessings from these ring sel.

Barlé Rinpoche was born in 1934 in the district of Barlé and unusual signs appeared at the time of his birth. From the age of five, he was given thorough instruction and training in Tibetan reading, writing, and Yungdrung Bön ritual practices. Although most Barlé lamas are ngakpas, or householder lamas, Barlé Rinpoche did not want to pursue this kind of lifestyle. Instead, at the age of eighteen he received monk’s vows. He traveled to Samling Monastery and stayed there for three years. Later, he received teachings and initiations from His Eminence Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche as well as Sangye Tenzin Rinpoche.

Upon his return to Barlé village, he immediately began looking for an isolated spot to go into retreat. He found an auspicious place about a thirty-minute walk from Barlé Gompa near a rock formation that naturally resembled a chorten. Here, he constructed Drak Gön Hermitage, Stone Temple Hermitage. From 1970 until 2000, he remained in retreat at this hermitage while also working for the benefit of the local residents. He was a skilled calligrapher and wrote many hundreds of pages of sacred text by hand. At the end of his life, he gave many of these texts, to Murig Khenpo Nyima Künchap Rinpoche who was both his relative and a close student from a young age.

The cave hermitage of Barle Rinpoche. Photo credit: Khenpo Nyima Kunchap Rinpoche

Murig Khenpo Nyima Künchap Rinpoche was also born in the village of Barlé. After the parinirvana of Barlé Rinpoche, Khenpo Künchap recognized his reincarnation in the village of Barlé due to the young boy naturally showing the signs of being familiar with the life and private details of his previous incarnation. Given the name Tséwang Rikdzin, he is currently at Menri Monastery in India. Khenpo Nyima Künchap Rinpoche has taken personal responsibility for his well being and education.

Left: Murig Khenpo Künchap Center: H.E. Menri Ponlop Yangtön Thrinley Nyima Rinpoche Right: Barlé Tulku Tsewang Rikdzin in 2022 at Barlé Gompa

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