|
Lhatri Khenpo Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche is the Abbott and lineage holder of Lhatri Monastery in the Kham/Dege area of eastern Tibet. Born in Tibet, he grew up in Dorpatan, which was the first refugee Bönpo community in Nepal. His family is the lineage holder of the Lhatri lineage and his father, Lhatri Gyaltsen Nyima, was the third reincarnation of Tsultrim Phunstok, a great Bön practitioner of eastern Tibet.
During the Tibetan New Year on the birthday of Nyam Med Sherab Gyaltsen in 1977, Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche took his monastic vows from His Holiness the 33rd sMen-ri Trizin and the Lopon Tenzin Namdak. Since that time Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche has lived under the care and guidance of His Holiness the 33rd sMen-ri Trizin Rinpoche, the spiritual head of Bön. In 1978 Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche was a member of the first group to be trained in the newly organized Bön Dialectic School. He received all his teachings under Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche and Lharam Geshe Yung Drung Nyamgal.
Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche made a commitment to himself not to take any vacations until his studies in the Dialectic School were complete. He kept that promise. Even when his parents sent letters asking him to come for a family reunion during the New Year, he did not return home until he obtained his Geshe degree in 1987. From 1978 to 1987 in addition to his studies he helped with the orphanage, the monastic center, and the Dolanji settlement and school. He was the representative of HH 33rd sMen-ri Trizin to meetings and conferences held away from Dolanji.
In 1982 the father and brother of Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche went to Tibet to see the Lhatri Monastery and to visit the people who lived there. The people at Lhatri Monastery sent several letters asking Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche to come there and take responsibility for educating the young monks. For this reason he decided to go to Tibet in May 1987. During this trip he visited 38 different Bön monasteries in Tibet. It was his intention to give information to the monasteries in Tibet so that the connection between the sMen-ri Monastery in India and the Tibetan monasteries could be strengthened. Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche went to sMen-ri Monastery in Tibet as well as to his Monastery where he was enthroned as Abbott.
At the request of the people of Dolanji HH 33rd sMen-ri Trizin gave Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche the official permit for expanding the Tibetan school in Dolanji in 1988. At the same time Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche was given the responsibility for gathering children from all the different Bönpo communities so that they could attend the school in Dolanji. Information about the school was sent to the Dolpo, Lubrak, Zomsom, and Tankye areas as well as to remote Bönpo communities in Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and India.
Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche was given the responsibility for gathering children from all the different Bönpo communities so that they could attend the school in Dolanji. HH 33rd sMen-ri Trizin also asked Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche to take the responsibility for establishing the Bön Children's Home in Dolanji so that girls, as well as boys, could have an opportunity to receive an education. Because of his great desire to help the Bönpo children Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche was happy to accept this position. He is currently Director of the Bön Children's Home that he organized in 1989 so that the children would have a place to live while they attended the school in Dolanji.
More recently Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche was given the responsibility of building a Bonpo gompa in Dehra Dun, in the Himalayan foothills of northern India. He raised the funds necessary and oversaw the construction of this fine new temple, which was completed in 1999. He also has established a handicrafts project in Dolanji which employs local Tibetans in the making of traditional incense.
Since 1991 Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche has visited the United States several times to give teachings and to raise funds for the Bön Children's Home. During the 1996 trip he also visited the United Kingdom and Germany. He plans to return regularly to the United States to give teachings.
http://www.ligmincha.org/html/nyima_dakpa_biography.html
One of the largest Buddhist network web site in the world.
www.buddhistview.com USA or E-mail tsultim@buddhistview.com |
