Lama Khemsar Rinpoche
Spiritual Director and Founder
Lama Khemsar Rinpoche is the founder and spiritual director of the Tibetan Yungdrung Bön Study Centre, United Kingdom.The TYBSC is a charity (Scottish Charity No.SC 023439) The Lama is an eminent teacher of the Yungdrung Bön spiritual tradition and is renowned for his lively teaching style and sparkling wit. He originally hails from south Tibet,where he and his elder brother Lama Sonam G.Khemsar are the lineage holders of their two monasteries – Pungmo Gon and Lhari Nyiphug - both of which were founded by Zhu Namgyal Drakpa. Rinpoche’s monasteries have been visited by many important personages, including Their Holinesses the 13th and 14th Dalai Lamas.
Rinpoche’s formal education in the ways of Yungdrung Bön commenced when he was 5 years old in Pungmo Gon’s spiritual school. From that point, he went on to study under many great masters including Kharnei Ghelong Yungdrung Gyaltsen Rinpoche, Zhu Rizhing Lasey Rinpoche, Geshe Sherab Namdak, Aa-dho Ponlob Rinpoche and Gheghen Trowo Kha Rinpoche.
In 1959, during the period of the Cultural Revolution, Rinpoche’s education was temporarily interrupted when, along with many other Tibetans – including the Dalai Lama – he and his family were forced to flee on foot across the Himalayan mountains in search of refuge. During this period, he endured many extreme hardships, including dire poverty, homelessness (having to sleep in the wilderness), starvation, and ill health. Tragically, he lost his 5 year old sister who died during the crossing. Eventually, he arrived in India where he was afforded refuge – this being at a time when there were no organised refugee centres. Gradually he managed to piece his life together again and took up the opportunity to attend a modern school in Darjeeling. During this period, and subsequently in Dolanji, he continued with his traditional spiritual studies and practices under the tutelage of many prominent masters (including his root Lama, Neljor Tsondru Gyaltsen Rinpoche, Yungdrung Ling Khencen Sherab Tenpei Gyaltsen Rinpoche,Horpa Ponlob Sang-gye Tenzin Rinpoche, Ponlob Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, Ghelong Aam-chhod and Kunszang Rinpoche) and latterly, with Menri Trizin Lungtog Tenpei Nyima Rinpoche. He also completed the traditional three year retreat under the guidance of Lama Tenpa Gyatsho who died in Bhutan in 1998. During this period, he also studied Buddhism under several Buddhist Lamas including Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, Samdong Tulku and Chamchen Rinpoche etc.He explored many other faiths too including Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In doing so, he discovered that the lessons taught and the wisdom insights gained therein are, in essence, similar and compatible with his own Yungdrung Bön Tradition. He thus extends a warm welcome to all to attend his teachings – regardless of faith, creed, or gender etc, and stresses that, as common themes tend to run through all the spiritual paths, it is possible to use his teachings to complement and enhance the teachings of other paths and vice versa.
Through continuing to practise the teachings which his teachers prescribed, Rinpoche became accomplished and well-versed in the philosophical and spiritual practices of Bön and Buddhism, Tibetan medicine, ancient folk remedies (learnt from his father), healing arts, Tibetan astrology and astronomy, authentic Jung-wei Trog-chod (Tibetan Feng Shui) and various types of ritual crafts.
During the time he spent in India, Rinpoche joined with the other Bönpo Lamas in combining their efforts to re-establish the Bön Tradition at Dolanji, northern India, where he contributed by teaching Tibetan Refugee children. There now exists a thriving Bön Monastic College and community settlement.
Rinpoche is a very dedicated teacher who stresses to his students the need to put theory and teachings into practice and not to try to rush things if they seriously wish to make spiritual progress – otherwise he feels that everything becomes purely academic and fails to bear fruit or bring about results. Rinpoche feels very strongly that it is not enough simply to read some books or attend a few lectures. He advocates that an experienced teacher, such as a Lama, is a crucial guide in helping the student identify the obstacles which impede his or her progress, and in giving instructions and exercises aimed at helping him or her achieve the desired outcome.
In an effort to help his students incorporate practice into what they have been taught, Rinpoche employs a rigorous approach to retreat discipline – running retreats along traditional lines which are aimed at cutting down on distractions and affording the student the opportunity to engage in protracted periods of concentrated practice under the direct supervision of the Lama himself. By having had first hand intensive experience of what is entailed, it then becomes much easier to sustain the practices once one has returned to everyday life.
Khemsar Rinpoche is one of the few Bön Lamas who live and teach in the western world. As a lineage Lama, he is a family man. He is in wide demand as a teacher and teaches extensively in Europe and the USA. Apart from Tibetan, he gives his teachings in English, Italian, Hindi, Nepali, Sikkimese and Bhutanese.
"The
voices of intolerance are all around us - the voice of tolerance needs to be
louder"
Patrons of the Peace Mala are The Most Reverend Dr Rowan
Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury and
Lama
Khemsar Rinpoche, Spiritual Director of The Tibetan Yungdrung Bon Study
Centre.
To read of Rinpoche's association with the Peace Mala Foundation click here!