The Venerable Tulku Thondup Rinpoche was born in 1939 in Golok, Eastern Tibet. At the age of four he was recognized as the Tulku of Konme Khenpo, an outstanding scholar of Dodrup Chen Monastery. He studied at Dodrup Chen under Khenpo Chechog and many other great scholars and masters of meditation. In 1957 he left Golok with His Holiness Dodrup Chen Rinpoche and went to Sikkim.

From 1967 to 1976 Tulku Thondup taught at Lucknow University and he was a Lecturer at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, West Bengal from 1976-1980. From 1980 to 1983 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University.

Since 1975 Tulku Thondup has been the Presiding Officer of Buddhayana, a church and educational foundation based in New York City with an office in Marion, Massachusetts.

The Buddhayana has three main purposes: 1) to assist in the editing and publication of Tulku Thondup's writings and translations of Buddhist texts of the Nyingma Tradition of Tibet, 2) to raise funds for the Chorten Monastery of His Holiness Dodrup Chen Rinpoche in Gangtok, Sikkim, India, 3) to raise funds for the rebuilding of the Temple of the Maha Siddha Nyingmapa Center, Hawley, Massachusetts (the original temple was burned down three years ago).

In addition to his writing and translation work under the auspices of Buddhayana, Tulku Thondup helps with the spiritual training of Dodrup Chen Rinpoche's student group, the Maha Siddha Nyingmapa Center. Rinpoche divides his time between the United States, India and Bhutan. Tulku Thondup leads the students at Hawley in ceremonies and retreats and gives them training and counsel.

At present Tulku Thondup lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is the author of Hidden Teachings of Tibet, an Explanation of the Terma Tradition of the Nyingma School of Buddhism, to be published this fall. It will be published by Wisdom and distributed in the United States by Snow Lion Publications.

Tulku Thondup