President of Ligmincha Institute, as well as its resident Lama, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is a master of the Dzogchen meditative tradition of Tibet.
Since he was thirteen years old he practiced Dzogchen with his masters from both the Bon and Buddhist schools: Lopon Sange Tenzin, Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, and Geshe Yungdrug Namgyal. He completed an eleven year course of traditional studies in the Bon tradition at the Bonpo Monastic Center, Dolanji, HP, India, whereupon he qualified for the Doctorate Degree of Geshe. He is also an accomplished scholar in the Bonpo and the Buddhist textual traditions of philosophy, exegesis, and debating.Upon graduation in 1986, he was employed at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives at Dharamsala, India. That same year he was appointed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to be the representative of the Bon school to the assembly of deputies of the government in exile.
Scholarship & Research
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche was the first to bring the precious Bon Dzogchen teachings to the West in 1988, when he was invited by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche to Italy in order to teach at his center. He is one of the very few Bonpo masters living in the West who is trained in the Bon tradition and qualified to teach. Rinpoche is a well-known master, having traveled widely, giving teachings in Tibet and in the West for the past ten years.During this period he continued his research on early Bonpo Tantric deities and their relationship with Buddhist traditions in the early period of Buddhism in Tibet. Rice invited Rinpoche back to teach for the spring semester of 1993 and he was awarded a second Rockefeller Fellowship.
