Geshe Sonam Rinchen (1933–2013) was a

Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...

scholar, writer, and teacher. He was born in Trehor region of

Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibet, Tibetan regions, the others being Domey also known as Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The official name of this Tibetan region/province is Dotoe (). The original residents of ...

in Eastern

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

in 1933. He died in

Dharamshala Dharamshala (, ; also spelled Dharamsala) is a town in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It serves as the winter capital of the state and the administrative headquarters of the Kangra district since 1855. The town also hosts the Tibeta ...

, India, on 5 October 2013. In 1945, he joined Dhargyey Monastery and entered the monastic university of Sera in

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

in 1952, where he studied until he was forced to flee Tibet in 1959. In India, he completed his studies for the degree of

Geshe Geshe (, 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, but is also awar ...

Lharampa which he received in 1980. He also received the degree of Acarya from the

Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies The Central University for Tibetan Studies (CUTS), formerly called the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS; ), is a Deemed University founded in Sarnath, Varanasi, India, in 1967. It is an autonomous university under India's Minis ...

Sarnath Sarnath (also known as Deer Park, ''Sarangnath'', ''Isipatana Deer Park'', ''Rishipattana'', ''Migadaya'', or ''Mrigadava'')Gabe Hiemstra, "Buddha Chronicle 24: Kassapa Buddhavaṃsa". ''Wisdom Library'', 14 September 2019. is a town nort ...

. He was appointed resident teacher at the

Library of Tibetan Works and Archives A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in 1978, where he taught Buddhist philosophy and practice, mainly to westerners. He has also taught in Japan, Australia, Great Britain, South Korea, Ireland, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

Bibliography

* Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, * The Bodhisattva Vow, * Eight Verses for Training the Mind, (formerly 1559391650) * Eight Verses for Training the Mind
Spanish-language edition
* The Heart Sutra, * How Karma Works, * Nagarjuna's "Seventy Stanzas", * The Six Perfections, * The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, * The Three Principal Aspects of the Path, * Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas, Current Edition, Aryadeva's Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way * Buddha Nature, 2003 Library of Tibetan Works & Archives,

References

External links

Library of Tibetan Works and Archives

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rinchen, Sonam 1933 births Geshes 2013 deaths Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet Tibetan Buddhists from India Tibetan emigrants to India People from Kham