Khentrul Lodro Thaye Rinpoche

Khentrul Lodrö Thayé Rinpoche is the abbot of Mardo Tashi Choling in Eastern Tibet. He established a retreat center there. He created the shedra, a formal Buddhist monastic teaching, under the direct guidance of his teacher Khenpo Jigmed Phuntsok Rinpoche. He directs the education and spiritual practice of three hundred monks, seventy advanced-degree candidates, sixty children, and twenty full-time retreatants. As of 2012, he was building a school for the children.

Early life

At the age of seven he began the formal practice of the Dharma by taking monastic ordination as a supportive foundation. He left his home and family when he was a young child to go and live with his uncle at the monastery.

Education

Kentrul studied and practiced under Rinpoche for over twenty years at Serthar monastery. He studied in Katog Gonpa under Katog Moktsa Rinpoche in Tibet at Katog Gonpa monastery, as well as with Penor Rinpoche for five years, in Namdroling Monastery in India. He earned a khenpo degree (equivalent to a PhD in Buddhist philosophy) in each of the three monasteries.

H.H. Moktsa Rinpoche formally recognized Khentrul Rinpoche as a reincarnation (tulku) of Katog Drubtobchhenpo Namkha Gyamtso, a mahasiddha of the Katog lineage. An elaborate enthronement ceremony was held for him in Katog Gonpa's mother monastery in 2006 amongst an assembly of monks, lamas, khenpos, and laypersons. Thus, he is called Khentrul—someone who is both a khenpo and a tulku.

He received the entire Nyingt'hig lineage (including Nyingt'hig Yabzhi, Dzod Dun, Ngalso Korsum, Yeshe Lama, and Chetzun Nyingt'hig), as well as thousands of empowerments, scriptural transmissions, and explanations on the pith instructions for Great Perfection practice. In addition, Khentrul received the rarely bestowed oral transmission of Khenpo Ngakchung's Nyingt'hig lineage. From Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche, Dodrubchen Rinpoche, Penor Rinpoche, and Katok Moktza Rinpoche, he received all of the empowerments and scriptural transmissions for the Kama and Terma cycles of the Nyingma school.

He was invited to the U.S. by Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche (shortly before his death), primarily to create and teach a shedra program at Rigdzin Ling. He created an annual shedra at Chagdud Rinpoche's Gonpa center at Rigdzin Ling in Junction City, California in 2003. The most recent Shedra in 2009 was on Shantedeva's "The Way of a Boddhisattva," which students in the West attended from as far away as Hawaii.

As a highly respected teacher, Khentrul Rinpoche attracts thousands of students worldwide. The first American practice center was founded in Ashland, Oregon in 2003. He now has multiple practice centers in the U.S. He founded the Katog Choling Tibetan Cultural Center for Tibetan studies in Lafayette, Louisiana in 2004. As of 2012, he was building a retreat center in Arkansas to serve North American students.