Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche was born in 1965 at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, where his father served as general secretary to the 16th Karmapa. The Karmapa and the Dalai Lama recognised him as the seventh incarnation in the Dzogchen Ponlop line, and he was enthroned in 1968 at the age of three. He grew up at Rumtek under the Karmapa’s care, and the Karmapa later named him a holder of his Karma Kagyu lineage, so he carries both the Nyingma and Kagyu transmissions.

He studied at the Karma Shri Nalanda Institute at Rumtek, graduating in 1991 with the degrees of Acharya and Ka-rabjampa. His teachers include Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche is his root guru. After graduating he lived in New York, studied English and religious studies at Columbia University, and began teaching in North America.

In 1994 he founded Nitartha International, which preserves Tibetan texts and art in digital and print form, and in 1996 Nitartha Institute, a programme of higher Buddhist studies. In 1997 he founded Nalandabodhi, an international network of study and practice centres, and in 2003 opened Nalanda West in Seattle. He is its president and spiritual director.

His books include Wild Awakening on mahamudra and Dzogchen, Mind Beyond Death, Rebel Buddha and Emotional Rescue, the last on working with emotions. His own website and YouTube channel carry short teaching videos.