Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche ( Tib. o thog bstan 'dzin dbang rgyal) is a teacher (

lama Lama (; "chief") is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term ''guru'', meaning "heavy one", endowed with qualities the student will eventually embody. The Tibetan word "lama" means "hig ...

) of the Bon

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

an religious tradition. He is founder and director of the Ligmincha InstituteAbout Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
/ref> and several centers named Chamma Ling, organizations dedicated to the study and practice of the teachings of the Bon tradition.

Life

Tenzin Wangyal's parents fled the

Chinese invasion of Tibet Tibet came under the control of People's Republic of China (PRC) after the Government of Tibet signed the Seventeen Point Agreement which the 14th Dalai Lama ratified on 24 October 1951, but later repudiated on the grounds that he rendered his ...

and later, in 1961, he was born in Amritsar,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. At the age of eleven, he began

dzogchen Dzogchen (, "Great Perfection" or "Great Completion"), also known as ''atiyoga'' ( utmost yoga), is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Yungdrung Bon aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence. ...

training from both

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and Bon teachers. He began an eleven-year traditional course of instruction at Bonpo Monastic Center and in 1986 attained the degree of ''

Geshe Geshe (Tib. ''dge bshes'', short for ''dge-ba'i bshes-gnyen'', "virtuous friend"; translation of Skt. ''kalyāņamitra'') or geshema is a Tibetan Buddhist academic degree for monks and nuns. The degree is emphasized primarily by the Gelug lineage, ...

'', the highest academic degree of traditional Tibetan culture. That same year, Tenzin Wangyal began employment at the

Library of Tibetan Works and Archives The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA) is a Tibetan library in Dharamshala, India. The library was founded by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama on 11 June 1970, and is considered one of the most important libraries and institutions o ...

in Dharamsala, India. In 1988 he began to teach in Italy at the invitation of

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Namkhai Norbu (; 8 December 1938 – 27 September 2018) was a Tibetan Buddhist master of Dzogchen and a professor of Tibetan and Mongolian language and literature at Naples Eastern University. He was a leading authority on Tibetan culture, p ...

. In 1991, he was awarded a

Rockefeller Fellowship The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

in Houston, Texas. A second Rockefeller Fellowship followed in 1993. Tenzin Wangyal has chosen to stay in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and teach ancient Bon traditions to Western students. Tenzin Wangyal has an interest in the interpretation, control and application of

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

s and has written fairly extensively on lucid dreaming and

dream yoga Dream yoga or ''milam'' (; sa, स्वप्नदर्शन, ''svapnadarśana'')—the Yoga of the Dream State—is a suite of advanced tantric sadhana of the entwined Mantrayana lineages of Dzogchen (Nyingmapa, Ngagpa, Mahasiddha, Kagyu ...

as well as Dzogchen in Bon tradition.

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche (2018). ''Spontaneous Creativity: Meditations for Manifesting Your Positive Qualities.'' Hay House.

References

Buddhist Geeks ''Buddhist Geeks'' is a podcast, online magazine and annual conference with a primary focus on American Buddhism. It was established in 2006 by Vince Horn and Ryan Oelke. Past guests have included Brad Warner, Shinzen Young, and B. Alan Wallac ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wangyal Rinpoche, Tenzin Bon Lamas Dzogchen lamas Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Rinpoches 20th-century lamas

Life

Bibliography

See also

References

External links