Venerable Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö Rinpoche, a native of Draggo (Ch: Luhuo) County in Sichuan Province, is Vice Principal of Sethar Larung Five Sciences Buddhist Institute (Larung Gar), also a renowned contemporary Nyingma teacher of Tibetan Buddhism and a strong advocate of Tibetan culture.
At the age of twenty-two (1984), he received ordination at Larung Gar, becoming a disciple of the great contemporary spiritual master, H.H. Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok. Over more than two decades, he applied himself diligently to the studies of both the Buddhist sutric and tantric scriptures and assimilated all contents without difficulty. After years of effort and consecutive levels of strict examinations, he was personally awarded the Khenpo degree by H.H. Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok. The results of his practice also were verified face-to-face three times by his root teacher. From 1991 to 2013, Khenrinpoche held the appointed position of Dean of Education at Larung Gar, responsible for the training of a large cohort of outstanding monastic students capable of carrying on the lineage and spreading the Buddhadharma.
In addition, Khenrinpoche has long dedicated efforts to promote the ideas of non-killing, life release of living beings, vegetarianism, environmental protection, and the importance of education. His charitable endeavors include the establishment of libraries, nursing homes, and schools in the Tibetan regions. With a view to protecting and advancing the Tibetan spoken and written language, in 2005 Khenrinpoche invited language experts and scholars from Tibetan regions across five provinces to come together in compiling Chinese-Tibetan- English Dictionary of New Daily Vocabulary, while he himself assumed the role of the project’s chief editor. The team has so far successfully published Chinese-Tibetan-English Dictionary of New Daily Vocabulary, Chinese-Tibetan-English Visual Dictionary of New Daily Vocabulary, and the Dictionary of Traditional Tibetan Words with Illustrations.
In recent years, Khenrinpoche has been invited to give lectures in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Canada, the USA, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, etc. His presentation is crisp and well organized, preferring to explain the profound in simple terms. Khenrinpoche is also good at referring to scientific examples and elucidating abstruse Buddhist doctrines using language that people today are familiar with, which is greatly appreciated by Buddhist followers and intellectuals alike.
Moreover, Khenrinpoche was invited as well for talks and scholarly discussions at prestigious academic institutions such as Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Columbia, George Washington University, the University of Virginia, Toronto, Auckland, Sydney, and Melbourne, as well as at companies like Google, together with experts and scholars in the fields of science, philosophy, and psychology, discussing the mystery of life and the mind based on scientific and Buddhist principles.
Despite being an influential Buddhist master, Khenrinpoche is very modest and keeps a low profile, rarely draws attention to his own merit and spiritual attainment, instead focusing solely on the propagation of Dharma and ways to benefit sentient beings. His words and actions exemplify the ideal of a Mahayana practitioner, a real admirable teacher who braves all difficulties to uphold the beacon of true Dharma in this degenerate age. Khenrinpoche once wrote in his blog on Weibo, “My lama once told me that the only purpose and the value of our lives is to cultivate and to give love. I will not forget this in my whole life, hopefully nor in all future lives.”
Khenrinpoche diligently applies himself to writing when any spare moment presents itself on his continuous journey to spread the Dharma. Among all of his publications, the Luminous Wisdom series is acclaimed as a masterpiece of Buddhism which can stand the test of time. Its contents encompass both theory and practice, with rigorous sequencing, and seamlessly integrate both sutra and tantra. The series is practical and appropriate, and the style of the language is concise, powerful, incisive, and thorough, meeting the psychological needs of a contemporary readership. As a result, it has become widely accepted and immensely popular. For the broad population of Buddhist students and practitioners, it provides a clear beacon to illuminate the way to liberation.
Publications to date:
Tibetan:
Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö’s Complete Collection - Four Volumes; Rain in Time; Contemporary Beats of the Dharma Drum; Conversations Between Eastern and Western Cultures
Chinese:
Luminous Wisdom Series 1-10; Exhortations; Illuminating Insights (in Chinese/English); The Truth of Life; Buddhism – Superstition or Wisdom? Decipher the Mysterious Codes of Tibetan Buddhism; Unveil the Mysteries of Tibetan Buddhism; When Heart Sutra Meets Quantum Physics; Comprehending the Book Called Life; Deconstruct Vajrayana Buddhism; Collected Notes 2012-2018 (in Chinese/English)
English:
The Right View; Are You Ready for Happiness? – Don’t Let the Paper Tiger Scare You Off; The Handbook for Life’s Journey; Daily Inspiration from Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö; The Four Seals of Dharma; Collected Notes, 2012-2018; Gateway to the Vajrayana Path; The Logic of Emptiness