Lama Yeshe Rinpoche
Lama Yeshe Rinpoche is Abbot of Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery and
Tibetan Centre, Director of the internationally acclaimed Holy Isle
Project and the Retreat and Meditation Master for hundreds of students
from around
the world.
Born
in 1943 in Kham, East Tibet, Lama Yeshe spent his formative years in
education at Dolma Lhakang Monastery where his brother Akong Tulku
Rinpoche was Abbot. After escaping from Tibet in 1959, Lama Yeshe
continued his education at the Young Lamas Home School in Dalhousie,
India before leaving in 1967 to serve as Private Secretary to His
Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim.
In
1969 Lama Yeshe joined Akong Tulku Rinpoche and Chogyam Trungpa
Rinpoche in Scotland where they had founded Kagyu Samye Ling. Five
years later he accompanied H.H. Karmapa on a tour of the United
States. At this point, he and Lama Tenzin Chonyi, were asked to
establish and run Karma Triyana Dharmacakra Centre in Woodstock, New
York, which is H.H. Karmapa's main seat in America.
In 1980 he
took full ordination as a Gelong monk from His Holiness on the
auspicious date of the anniversary of Lord Buddha's Nirvana and
Parinirvana. Following his ordination Lama Yeshe entered a long-term
solitary retreat, under the guidance of the Abbot of Karma Triyana,
Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche. In 1985, at the request of his brother Akong
Tulku Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe returned to Scotland to continue his retreat
at Samye Ling Purelands Retreat Centre and in 1989 became Retreat
Master with responsibility for the western practitioners who were in
the cloistered four year retreat.
Despite his heartfelt wish
to remain in retreat for twenty years, towards the end of 1991 Lama
Yeshe was obliged to return to the world to take responsibility for the
running of Samye Ling and also to direct The Holy Isle Project.
Since he was a young boy, Lama Yeshe
Losal has received teachings from many of the highest Kagyu Lamas,
including extensive teachings and initiations from his root guru H.H.
the 16th Karmapa, and also teachings from The 12th Tai Situpa, Jamgon
Kongtrul Rinpoche, Gyaltsap Rinpoche, and the Very Venerable Kalu
Rinpoche. More recently, he received teachings from Tulku Urgyen who
supervised his 49 day Bardo retreat of solitude and darkness in Nepal.
In 1997 Lama Yeshe was able to complete a second 49 day Bardo retreat
on Holy Isle in the specially built retreat-master's cabin there.
Lama
Yeshe's teaching is always very practical and down-to-earth, and he
prefers to rely on the spoken word and a direct relationship with his
students. But many of them who live far away and can spend little time
with him have repeatedly requested him to write something they can use
when he is not there. To fulfill their wishes, and to provide
something simple and easy to understand for non-Buddhists who are
interested in meditation and how to apply it to their everyday lives,
he published his first book, "Living Dharma" in 2000. This has been
well received in many countries and has been translated into French,
German, Finnish and Spanish.
