Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, founder and spiritual director of Ligmincha Institute, is an acclaimed author as well as a highly respected and beloved teacher to students throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe. Fluent in English, Tenzin Rinpoche is renowned for his depth of wisdom; his clear, engaging teaching style; and his ability to make the ancient Tibetan teachings highly accessible and relevant to the lives of Westerners.

Early Life

Tenzin Rinpoche was born in Amritsar, India, not long after his parents escaped their Tibetan homeland in 1959 during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. At age 10 Tenzin Rinpoche was ordained as a monk at Menri Monastery near Dolanji, India. There he was recognized by head teacher Lopon Sangye Tenzin Rinpoche as a reincarnation of the famous master Khyung Tul Rinpoche, a renowned meditation master, teacher, scholar and healer who died in the mid-20th century.

Education

From the age of 13 Rinpoche practiced dzogchen under the guidance of masters from both the Bon and Buddhist schools of Tibet, including (from Bon) His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima, Lopon Sangye Tenzin Rinpoche, Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, and Geshe Yungdrung Namgyal. From his early adolescence until young adulthood, Tenzin Rinpoche was raised like a son by his root teacher Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, today revered as the most senior teacher of the Bon tradition. An accomplished scholar in the Bon Buddhist textual traditions of philosophy, exegesis and debate, in 1986 Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche completed an 11-year course of traditional studies at the Bon Dialectic School of Menri Monastery, where he received his geshe degree, equivalent to a doctorate in philosophy from Western universities.

Upon graduating Tenzin Rinpoche was employed at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives at Dharamsala, India. That same year His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama appointed Rinpoche to be the Bon tradition's representative to the Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies of the Tibetan-Government-in-Exile.

Western Teachings

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche was one of the first to bring the precious Bon teachings to the West. In 1988 he was invited by the dzogchen master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche to teach in Italy, which brought him additional opportunities to teach in other locations throughout Western Europe. In 1991 Tenzin Rinpoche was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he continued his research into early Bon tantric deities and their relationship to Buddhist traditions in early Buddhist Tibet. He was awarded a second Rockefeller Fellowship in 1993 when Rice University invited him back to teach during the spring semester.

Since that time Tenzin Rinpoche has chosen to remain in the West to teach the ancient Bon traditions to Western students. In March 1992 Rinpoche founded Ligmincha Institute in Charlottesville, Va., a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to preserve for future generations the ancient teachings, arts, sciences, language and literature of Tibet and Zhang Zhung.

In 1994 he received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to pursue research on the logical and philosophical aspects of the Bon tradition. The fruits of that research came with the 2006 publication of the scholarly text Unbounded Wholeness: Dzogchen, Bon and the Logic of the Nonconceptual (Oxford University Press, 2006), written in collaboration with Anne Carolyn Klein, chair of religious studies at Rice. Also in 1994 Tenzin Rinpoche appeared on the Discovery Channel, where he explained the principles involved in Tibetan dream yoga practice as one segment of a three-part series entitled "The Power of Dreams."

In 1998 Rinpoche established the Serenity Ridge Retreat Center amid the mountains of Nelson County, Va., 30 minutes south of Charlottesville.

Family Life

In spring 2004 Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche married Tsering Wangmo, sister of Lama Khyimsar Rinpoche (lineage holder of the Bon monasteries Pungmo Gon and Lhari Nyiphug in Tibet and founder of the Tibetan Yungdrung Bon Institute, United Kingdom).  In the fall of 2005 their first son, Senghe, was born. The Wangyal family currently resides in Charlottesville, Va., not far from Ligmincha Institute.

Current Activities

Today Rinpoche continues his dedicated efforts to preserve the Bon Buddhist tradition through establishing centers and groups worldwide, through translating and publishing texts, and through teaching Bon as an authentic, living tradition to Western students around the world. In 2006 during the European summer retreat in Buchenau, Germany, Rinpoche announced the creation of Lishu Institute, a school near Dehra Dun, India, where Western students will be able to continue and deepen their knowledge and experience of the ancient teachings and practices of Bon.

Books by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

English

• The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, Snow Lion Publications, 1998
• Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet, Snow Lion Publications, 2000
• Healing With Form, Energy and Light: the Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra and Dzogchen, Snow Lion Publications, 2002
• Unbounded Wholeness: Dzogchen, Bon and the Logic of the Nonconceptual, written in collaboration with Anne Carolyn Klein, Oxford University Press, 2006
• Tibetan Sound Healing: Seven Guided Practices for Clearing Obstacles, Accessing Positive Qualities and Uncovering Your Inherent Wisdom, Sounds True, 2006

Tibetan

• My Observations on Tibet

Czech

• Tibetská jóga snu a spánku

Dutch

• Het wonder van onze oorspronkelijke geest: Dzokchen in de Bontraditie van Tibet
• De Helende Kracht van de Elementen: Vitaliteit, Evenwicht en Helderheid in de Spirituele Traditie van Tibet
• De Werkelijkheid van Slapen en Dromen
• Leven en Sterven als een Droom

French

• Les prodiges de l’esprit nature: L'essence du Dzogchen dans la tradition Bon originelle du Tibet
• Yogas Tibétains du rêve et du sommeil
• Guérir par les forms, l'energie et la lumière: Les cinq éléments dans le chamanisme Tibétain le tantra et le Dzogchèn

German

• Der kurze Weg zur Erleuchtung:Dzogchen-Meditation nach den Bon-Lehren Tibets
• Die Heilende Kraft des Buddhismus: Leben im Einklang mit den fünf Elementen
• Übung der Nacht: Tibetische Meditationen in Schlaf und Traum

Italian

• Lo Yoga Tibetano del Sogno e del Sonno

Polish

• Cuda Naturalnego Umyzlu
• Leczenie Forma, Energia I Swiatlem
• Tibetanska Joga Snu I S"nienia

Spanish

• Maravillas de la Mente Natural: La esencia del Dzogchen en la tradición Bon, originaria del Tibet
• El Yoga de los Suenos: Un manual práctico para realizarnos mientras dormimos
• La Escencia Pura de la Mente
• Sanación con Forma, Energía, y Luz: Los cinco elementos en el chamanismo Tibetano, el Tantra y el Dzogchen
• Sanar con Sonidos