Lopön Tenzin Namdak - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Lopön Tenzin Namdak (born 1926) is Bön religious leader.

Birth, family & early education

Lopön Tenzin Namdak (Tib. slob dpon bstan 'dzin rnam dag) (1926 - ) born in Khyungpo Karu (khyung po dkar ru) in Xikang

Xikang

Xikang or Sikang , is a defunct province of the Republic of China , comprising most of the Kham region of traditional Tibet, where Khampas, a subgroup of the Tibetan ethnicity, live. The area is also home to a small minority of Mongol ethnicity...

province of Republic of China

Republic of China

The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...

to a family of famous artists. In 1933, at the age of seven he entered Tingchen Monastery (steng chen) in the same district. In 1941 Lopön Rinpoche went to Yungdrung Ling (gyung drung gling), then one of Central Tibet's two principal Bönpo monasteries. At Yungdrunk Ling, Lopön Rinpoche helped execute a series of wall paintings in a new temple

Temple

A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...

. In 1944 Lopön Rinpoche went on pilgrimage

Pilgrimage

A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...

to Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

including Solu-Khombu, Pokhara

Pokhara

Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City is the second largest city of Nepal. Pokhara is city of close to 350,000 inhabitants in central Nepal located at 28.25°N, 83.99°E, which is the centre of the country from east to west or from north to south, 198 km west of Kathmandu or 90 km west of Mugling, and...

, Mustang and Kathmandu.

In 1945 at the age of nineteen Lopön Rinpoche returned to Yungdrung Ling to commence studies in philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

(tsennyi; mtshan nyid). During 1945 - 1950 Lopön Rinpoche lived principally a hermetic

Hermit

A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...

existence cloistered with his tutor

Tutor

A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...

and master

Guru

A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...

Gangru Rinpoche (sgang ru tshul khrims rgyal mtshan) with whom he studied poetics

Poetics

Aristotle's Poetics is the earliest-surviving work of dramatic theory and the first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory...

(nyanga; snyan ngag), cosmology

Cosmology

Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...

(dzopu; mdzod phug), grammar

Grammar

In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...

(da; sgra), monastic discipline (dulwa; dul ba) and the principal stages on the path to enlightenment

Bodhi

Bodhi is both a Pāli and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English with the word "enlightenment", but which means awakened. In Buddhism it is the knowledge possessed by a Buddha into the nature of things...

(salam; sa lam).

Menri Monastery & awarded Geshi degree

Lopön Rinpoche, went to Menri Monastery

Menri Monastery

Menri Monastery is a Bon monastery in Tibet. It was established in 1405 by Nyammey Sherab Gyeltsen , and became the leading Bon monastery in the Tibetan cultural region. The abbot of Menri is recognized as the spiritual leader of Bon...

(sman ri, literally "the medicine mountain") in Tsang Province in Central Tibet in 1950 where on the instruction of his guru

Guru

Gangru Rinpoche he commenced his studies toward the degree of Geshe

Geshe

Geshe is a Tibetan Buddhist academic degree for monks...

(dge bshes) (the Tibetan equivalent to a Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

) and achieved it in 1953 .

First professorship, retreat at Sezhig Monastery

Lopön Rinpoche became the professor or teaching master (slob dpon) at Menri Monastery

Menri Monastery

from 1953 - 1957. Lopön Rinpoche left Menri and this position in 1957 due to increasing conflicts between the indigenous Tibetans and the encroaching Chinese Communists. In 1957 Lopön Rinpoche departed Menri and Central Tibet for Sezhig Monastery on the Dangra Lake in northern Tsang where he remained in retreat until 1960 .

Flight from the homeland: wounding, capture by the Chinese & escape to Nepal

Post Lhasa uprising (March 10, 1959), many greatly esteemed lama

Lama

Lama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru .Historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of monasteries...

s of Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

, including the present Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...

and the Gyalwa Karmapa along with numerous Tibetan refugees departed their homeland

Homeland

A homeland is the concept of the place to which an ethnic group holds a long history and a deep cultural association with —the country in which a particular national identity began. As a common noun, it simply connotes the country of one's origin...

to seek refuge

Safety

Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be...

in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

and Nepal

Nepal

.

Riding this exodus, Lopön Rinpoche endeavoured to reach safety in India

India

in 1960, but was shot, wounded, and seized by Chinese soldiers and imprisoned for ten months by the Communist Chinese

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. Lopön Rinpoche made good his escape via the small principality

Principality

A principality is a monarchical feudatory or sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a monarch with the title of prince or princess, or by a monarch with another title within the generic use of the term prince....

of Mustang to the safety of Nepal

Nepal

Kathmandu and the meeting of Tibetologist David Snellgrove

While in Kathmandu in 1961, Lopön Rinpoche and the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

Tibetologist David Snellgrove

David Snellgrove

David Llewellyn Snellgrove is a British Tibetologist noted for his pioneering work on Buddhism in Tibet as well as his many travelogues.-Biography:...

became colleagues. David Snellgrove invited Lopön Rinpoche to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

where, through a Rockefeller Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...

grant

Grant (money)

Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...

, he became a visiting scholar at the School of Oriental and African Studies

School of Oriental and African Studies

The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...

, University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

. Lopön Rinpoche resided for a period at the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

. The collaboration with David Snellgrove resulted in the publication of The Nine Ways of Bön which includes extracts translated from the esteemed Zhiji (gzi brjid): an extensive hagiography

Hagiography

Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...

of the Buddha

Buddhahood

In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...

Tonpa Shenrab. This collaborative work was the first scholarly study of the Bönpo tradition to be conducted in the West

West

West is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.West is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of east and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the left side of a map is west....

. Lopön Rinpoche continued in England

England

for three years (1961 - 1964). Lopön Rinpoche made a second visit to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

in 1969 at the invitation of professor Helmut Hoffmann where he was a visiting scholar at Munich University where he significantly contributed to compiling of the Dictionary of Written Tibetan http://www.badw.de/orga/klassen/kl_phil/k_41_zos/index.html.

The building of the Tibetan Bönpo Foundation in Dolanji, Himachal Pradesh

A social worker known as Doctor Khepa who was working in Nepal (Dorthang) Bon community as a social worker, had come to India and was looking forward to help any Bonpo community in India. Somehow he got to know about the small Bonpo community in India and decided to continue his support for the Bon community in India as well. At the time when he reached there, the head of the Menri monastery the then Menri Trizin his holiness had just expired and the next successor of the Menri trizin had not been appointed as yet. So at that time an acting head had to be appointed, and for that the organisation Bod Kyi Bonpo Tsokpa was started and Lopon Tenzin Namdak was appointed as the director by the members of that group and Dr Khepa. After that Dr Khepa had arranged some fund from the Catholic relief service for the Bonpos to purchase a place where they can start a small Bon community. The fund was transferred and the land had to be purchased. After searching many places Dolanji was selected. But the Bonpo community was not able to purchase the land due to certain legal barriers. Finally Gungthang Tsultrim helped the Bonpo community to get the land registered for the organisation Bod Kyi Bonpo Tsokpa, of which the director then was Lopon Tenzin Namdak, by including the Dolanji in the organisation called Tsokpa Chuksum, in which there were other settlements registered such as the Bir settlement in Himachal and Clement Town in Dehradhun etc.Dolanji, near Solan

Solan

Solan is a town and a municipal council in Solan district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is located south of state capital Shimla. The place is named after the Hindu goddess Shoolini devi. Solan was the capital of erstwhile princely state, Bhagat...

in Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh is a state in Northern India. It is spread over , and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the south, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east...

. In 1967 the settlement was formally established and registered with the Indian Government under the name of the Tibetan Bönpo Foundation. About seventy families transferred there from Manali and each received a house and a small piece of land, the size depending on the number of people in the family in question. The Tibetan Bönpo Foundation possessed its own constitution and administration, with the Abbot of Menri acting as president. The new settlement at Dolanji was named Thobgyal Sarpa (thob rgyal gsar pa) after the village Thobgyal in Tsang Provence which was located near Menri Monastery

Menri Monastery

. Most of the Tibetans in the new settlement came from the Mount Kailash

Mount Kailash

Mount Kailash is a peak in the Gangdisê Mountains, which are part of the Himalayas in Tibet...

region and Upper Tsang in the west, and from Hor, Kongpo, Derge, Amdo

Amdo

Amdo is one of the three traditional regions of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu River to the Drichu river . While culturally and ethnically a Tibetan area, Amdo has been administered by a...

and Gyarung in the east of Tibet

Tibet

Spiritual leader of the Bönpo community in exile

After the death of the abbot of Menri in 1963, Sherab Lodro, the abbot of Yungdrung Ling became the spiritual head of the Bönpo community in exile. Sherab Lodro came to Dolanji with a band of monks who founded a new monastic community. An intimate prayer

Prayer

Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

and a few small houses were built. In 1969 the successor to the abbot of Menri was established by lot and the office fell to Lungtog Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche (lung rtogs bstan pa'i nyi ma rin po che), who was installed as the thirty-third abbot of Menri.

Following the death of Yungdrung Ling abbot, Sangye Tenzin assumed the spiritual leadership of the Bönpos in exile. More houses were established, along with a library and abbot's residence (labrang; bla brang). Monastic life was structured around the ordinance

Ecclesiastical ordinances

Ecclesiastical ordinances are the bylaws of a Christian religious organization, especially that of a diocese or province of a church. They are used in the Anglican Communion, particularly the American Episcopal Church and Roman Catholic Church....

s of the Vinaya

Vinaya

The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based in the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline...

(dulwa; dul ba). The foundation for the principal temple

Temple

was inaugurated in 1969 and completed in 1978 and named Pal Shentan Menri Ling (dpal gshen bstan sman ri'i gling). The whole complex was styled the Bönpo Monastic Centre and formed part of the Tibetan Bönpo Foundation.

From 1970 - 1979 Lopön Rinpoche continued writing and teaching whilst in residence at the Bönpo Monastic Centre. Concurrently, Lopön Rinpoche was engaged in New Delhi

New Delhi

New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

with the publishing of a large number of significant Bönpo texts. From 1967, when the first monks came to Dolanji, teaching had been done by Lopön Sangye Tenzin (former head teaching master at Menri) and assisted by Lopön Tenzin Namdak, who became his successor.

Yungdrung Bön Shedrup Lobnyer Dude: Lamas college at Dolanji

When Sangye Tenzin died in 1968, Lopön Tenzin Namdak was assigned the full responsibility for the education of the younger generation of monks. By 1978 a sufficient number of Bönpo texts had been published so that classes could be organized around them in a curriculum

Curriculum

See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...

. Thus a lama

Lama

Lama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru .Historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of monasteries...

's college (shedrup; bshad sgrub) was established in 1978, organized under the guidance of Lopön Rinpoche who served as one of the two professors at the college. The official name of the college is Yungdrung Bön Shedrup Lobnyer Dude (gyung drung bon bshad sgrub slob gnyer 'dud sde).

The purpose of the new lama's college at Dolanji was to preserve the tradition of philosophy established and developed at Yeru Wensaka (gyas ru dben sa kha), where philosophical analysis and logic

Logic

In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...

were applied to the understanding of Do Nga Semsum (mdo sngags sems gsum), that is, to the teachings of the Sutras

Sutra

Sūtra is an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew , as does the medical term...

, the Tantras

Tantras

Tantras refers to numerous and varied scriptures pertaining to any of several esoteric traditions rooted in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. Although Buddhist and Hindu Tantra have many similarities from the outside, they do have some clear distinctions. The rest of this article deals with Hindu...

and Dzogchen

Dzogchen

According to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by...

. Unlike the Nyingma

Nyingma

The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as Nga'gyur or the "old school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century...

pa tradition, the Bönpos developed a system of logic

Logic

and debate

Debate

Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...

specifically relating to the Dzogchen

Dzogchen

teaching., At Menri in Tibet

Tibet

, the monks studied the five scripture systems (Dozhung Nga; mdo gzhung lnga) in the philosophy college, but all instruction in Tantra

Tantra

Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....

and Dzogchen

Dzogchen

was done in private. The five scriptures, actually five collection of texts, are:

1 Tsema (tshad ma) - Pramana
Pramana
Pramana is an epistemological term in Hindu and Buddhist dialectic, debate and discourse.Pramāṇavāda and Hetuvidya can be glossed in English as Indian and Buddhist Epistemology and Logic, respectively.-In Hinduism:...

or logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...

;
2 Parchin (phar phyin) - Prajnaparamita
Prajnaparamita
Prajñāpāramitā in Buddhism, means "the Perfection of Wisdom." The word Prajñāpāramitā combines the Sanskrit words prajñā with pāramitā . Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and its practice and understanding are taken to be indispensable elements of the Bodhisattva Path...

or the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras;
3 Uma (dbu ma) - Madhyamaka
Madhyamaka
Madhyamaka refers primarily to a Mahāyāna Buddhist school of Buddhist philosophy systematized by Nāgārjuna. Nāgārjuna may have arrived at his positions from a desire to achieve a consistent exegesis of the Buddha's doctrine as recorded in the āgamas...

philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

;
4 Dzopu (mdzod phug) - Abhidharma
Abhidharma
Abhidharma or Abhidhamma are ancient Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic and scientific reworkings of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist Sutras, according to schematic classifications...

or cosmology
Cosmology
Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...

;
5 Dulwa (dul ba) - Vinaya
Vinaya
The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based in the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline...

or monastic discipline.

However, at the revived Menri at Dolanji, students also study Tantra

Tantra

Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....

and Dzogchen

Dzogchen

in the college, as well as the above five scriptural systems which pertain to Sutra

Sutra

. Also included curriculum

Curriculum

are the secular sciences (rignai; rig gnas), such as grammar

Grammar

, poetics

Poetics

Aristotle's Poetics is the earliest-surviving work of dramatic theory and the first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory...

, astrology

Astrology

Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...

, and so on. The college has a nine-year term of studies which prepare the student for degree of Geshe

Geshe

Geshe is a Tibetan Buddhist academic degree for monks...

. The first group of young monks graduated in 1986 .

Another Bönpo monastery and college has been established under the direction of Lopön Tenzin Namdak in Nepal

Nepal

. Known as Triten Norbutse (khri brtan nor bu rtse), it is located near the auspicious Swayambhu

Swayambhu

Swayambhu means Self-manifested or that which is created by its own accord.-Vaishnavism:Based on details in Bhagavata Purana and Matsya Purana, Narayana or Krishna is said to be the Self-manifested Swayambhu form of Brahman as the first cause of creation...

, west of Kathmandu.

Third trip to The West

In 1989, Lopön Tenzin Namdak made his third visit to the West

West

, this time to England

England

, America

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

and Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, at the invitation of the International Dzogchen Community of Chögyal Namkai Norbu Rinpoche in those countries. During the course of six months Lopön Rinpoche presented to interested Western students the Dzogchen

Dzogchen

teaching according to the Bönpo traditions of the Atri (a khrid) and the Zhang Zhung Nyengyu (shang zhung snyan rgyud).

Also, in the beginning of 1991, he visited Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, England

England

, Holland and Italy

Italy

. During his visit to these countries he gave discourse

Discourse

Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication". The following are three more specific definitions:...

s and teaching on various meditation

Meditation

Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....

systems and fields of study of the Bön tradition

Tradition

A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...

. Later that year he was invited by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama

to represent the Bön tradition at the Kalachakra

Kalachakra

Kalachakra is a Sanskrit term used in Tantric Buddhism that literally means "time-wheel" or "time-cycles".The spelling Kalacakra is also correct....

Initiation

Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components...

in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. In this way, Lopön Rinpoche has been spreading the Bönpo teachings in many countries. His permanent residencies are in Kathmandu (Nepal

Nepal

) and Dolanji (India

India

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