Ponlop Rinpoche

The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche is acknowledged as one of the foremost scholars and meditation masters of his generation in the Nyingma and Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He is known for his sharp intellect, humor, and the lucidity of his teaching style. Fluent in the English language and well-versed in Western culture and technology, Rinpoche is also an accomplished calligrapher, visual artist and poet.

Rinpoche is a prolific teacher and author. His teachings have been widely published in Bodhi Magazine and other venues. He is the author of Mind Beyond Death, an indispensable guidebook through the journey of life and death which gives us the knowledge to transform the greatest obstacle of death into the most powerful opportunity for enlightenment. Rinpoche has dedicated himself to the preservation of traditional buddhist traditions in the East, and to supporting a genuine transmission of Buddhism to the West.

In 1996 he helped establish Nitartha Institute in North America, which provides a focused Buddhist studies program, and where Rinpoche is the main teacher. Since January 1996, Rinpoche has been visiting professor at Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado, where he teaches courses on Buddhist philosophy and language. In 2003, under the guidance of Khenchen Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, he founded Nalanda West, a new international events center for Nalandabodhi in Seattle, Washington as a place for the genuine teachings and transmission of the pure wisdom of buddhism to the west.