OUR TEACHER

At the age of seven, Khentrul Lodrö Thayé Rinpoche began the formal practice of the Dharma by taking monastic ordination as a supportive foundation. Rinpoche studied and practiced under his main root guru, His Holiness Khenpo Jigmed Phuntsok Rinpoche – the sole life-force of the Buddha's teachings – for over twenty years. He also spent many years studying in Katog Gonpa under His Holiness Katog Moktsa Rinpoche in Tibet, as well as with His Holiness Penor Rinpoche for five years, in Namdroling Monastery in India. During that time, not only did he study, contemplate, and meditate on all of the scriptures of Sutra and Tantra, -- including Mahamudra and the Great Perfection (Dzogchen) -- but also received all of the empowerments, reading transmissions, and oral instructions.

Thus, he was given a Khenpo degree (equivalent to a PhD in Buddhist philosophy) in each of the three monasteries, Serthar, Katog Gonpa, and Namdroling. During that time, Rinpoche also spent three years in retreat. H.H. Moktsa Rinpoche has formally recognized Khentrul Rinpoche to be a reincarnation (tulku) of Katog Drubtobchhenpo Namkha Gyamtso,a mahasiddha of the Katog lineage, and gave an elaborate enthronement ceremony for him in the mother monastery of Katog Gonpa, amongst an assembly of monks, lamas, khenpos, and laypersons.

Thus, he is called Khentrul – someone who is both a Khenpo and Tulku.