The venerable Tashi Choephel Rinpoche is the reincarnation of Vajradhara Ngawang Legdrub, the great abbot Khenpo of the Sakya Monastery in the early 20th century. The Sakya Monastery is considered as the seat of the Sakya school in Tibetan Buddhism.
Abbot Khenpo Ngawang Legdrub was born in the Lhanda Village near the Tuptin Monastery, in Yushu Prefecture of Kham. He was born and raised up by his mother alone.
At the age of seven, Khenpo was ordained and became a monk in the Tuptin Monastery. In his teenager years, he went to the Sakya Monastery to study sutras and treaties. The siddha’s excellence stood without question as he became the abbot Khenpo of the monastery at such a young age in his twenties.
The Khenpo is known as the most remarkable Khenpo of the Sakya school since time immemorial. Due to his extraordinary talents and merits, many renowned Rinpoche like Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, along with many khenpos and yogis from various Tibetan regions, sought his teachings and prostrated before him.
In his thirties, the Khenpo defeated all present monks at the Dharma debate meeting held by the three major monasteries in Lhasa. At the age of 37, the Khenpo widely spread the Dharma wheel of the Tripitaka and became the “Lama of Tripitaka.”
Later, the Khenpo entered into retreat and authored many Buddhist works, including The Treatise on the Three Precepts of Manjushri, along with many rituals, all of which continued to be widely circulated and practiced in the Sakya tradition.
Drongmed Tashi Choephel Rinpoche
An embodiment of all excellence and merits,
Dharma words dropped like pearls spreading wide,
Your mind of Dharmata encompasses void and joy,
Here I pray for Tashi Choephel Rinpoche,
The reincarnation of Ngawang Legdrub,
Heart disciple of Chöying Dorje Rinpoche.
Here I prostrate before Tashi Choephel Rinpoche,
Pray for the long life of our Rinpoche,
For his eternal turning of the Dharma Wheel.
The venerable Khenpo Tashi Choephel Rinpoche was born in 1974 in the Dhongkhor village, Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Located about 3800 meters above the sea level, the village carries a great name – Dhongkhor means Kālacakra, wheel of time – because many siddhas have perceived the Kālacakra mandalas in their pure view. Thus, the appellation came into being.
Tashi Yangphel, father of Tashi Choephel Rinpoche, is a yogi with high attainments and was recognized as the tulku of former accomplished masters. And his mother Pemba Yangtze is a daughter of Dhongkhor Lakha family in which many renowned masters such as Sakya’s great arhat Jamyang Gyaltsen and Ngor Khangsar Khenpo Ngawang Yonten Gyatso were born. The family name “Drongmed” is a recognition bestowed by the Patriarch Nhangon.
The sacred name of Drongmed, along with the noble and transcendent bloodline of yogi, is passed down in this special family, generation after generation.
On the day of Rinpoche’s birth, numerous auspicious signs appeared, leading his parents to venerate him as a Turku and treat with great respect.
Rinpoche was gifted and acted accordingly to the doctrine since a child. His kind nature, particularly his gentle demeanor, earned him deep respect and affection from the local villagers.
At the age of seven, he took his father as his enlightenment teacher and grasped some basic knowledge and skills such as writing and reading Tibetan, and later, attended the Dhongkhor Primary School.
When Rinpoche turned ten years old, due to his karmic merits accumulating through previous lifetimes, he never coveted his family but rather was joyful to live in temples and secluded places, unlike other children. That same year, Rinpoche made a pilgrimage to Tashi Ling, where he stayed close to the great compassionate wish-fulfilling jewel Chöying Dorje Rinpoche who was in retreat there.
The great siddha regarded extremely high of him and was determined to cultivate him to be a practitioner who could benefit sentient beings with Dharma, and thus, Chöying Dorje Rinpoche provided him with meticulous guidance.
Tashi Choephel Rinpoche had been following Chöying Dorje Rinpoche, who is also his uncle, and received personal guidance and all the lineage transmission from Rinpoche, just as prophesied by the great master Sanye Sanpo.
Chöying Dorje Rinpoche is the great compassionate Root Lama for Tashi Choephel Rinpoche.
Under the guidance of Chöying Dorje Rinpoche, Tashi Choephel Rinpoche and Tuptin Woesor Rinpoche completed the preliminary practices of Buddhism together and studied the root grammar and spelling treatises of Tibetan, The Elegant Sayings by Sakya Pandita, The Water and Wood Shastras, Jataka tales, etc. The drizzle of Dharma nourished his heart, helping him understand the principles of righteous conduct and discernment, thereby laying a solid foundation for his future spiritual practice.
Afterwards, Chöying Dorje Rinpoche bequeathed the teachings of Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior, Seven Points of Mind Training, and other classics, prompting Tasha Choephel Rinpoche to begin integrating theory with practice.
As per orders from his guru, Tashi Choephel and his father made their way to the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy and paid homage to Tulku Tishatha Rinpoche, from whom they received the oral transmission and explanation of the entire Tripitaka.
In the vicinity of the Tuptin Monastery, Tashi Choephel Rinpoche is the oral transmitter authorized by Marpa Chöying Dorje Rinpoche, and thus respectfully praised by the villagers as “Lama of the Tripitaka.”
While studying at the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Serta, His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok was overly impressed by Tashi Choephel Rinpoche and predicted, “This lama will definitely achieve great attainments in future, benefiting sentient beings.”
Back at that time, His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok referred to Rinpoche as Sakya Tulku. Among all disciples before the seat, His Holiness asked him to lead the chanting of Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattvas with another lama, and further asked him to hold the Dharma King’s abhisheka instrument and to give empowerments to numerous monks present on behalf of His Holiness, thus creating a significant origination for Rinpoche. Amid the Kagyur transmission, many auspicious and special incidents took place.
At the age of seventeen, Tasha Choephel Rinpoche traveled to the Amado Tibetan area with his Root Lama Chöying Dorje Rinpoche. After spending a year in retreat at holy sites such as Dragkar Telzong and Qinghai Lake, they journeyed to Lhasa. While Chöying Dorje Rinpoche went into retreat, Rinpoche undertook a pilgrimage to all the major empires, sacred mountains, and sacred lakes in the Lhasa area.
Rinpoche also paid homage to many acclaimed Lamas such as the veritable Pandita Khenpo Choenang and Tsultrim Gyantse and listened to the teachings of Mipham Rinpoche’s Gateway to Knowledge, along with The Instructions on the Astrology of Elements of Moonlight, Treaties on Three Precepts, Ratnagotravibhāga, as well as classics on Tibetan grammar and medicine. Through extensive study of these subjects, Rinpoche quickly grasped their essence.
At the age of 20, in pursuit of further knowledge, Rinpoche returned to the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, where he received teachings on the great Tertön Lerba Lingpa’s terma, The Heart Essence of Vimalamitra, Madhyamaka, Root Tantra, Buddhist logico-epistemology, Dzogchen Practice of Prana and Nadi, along with many empowerments, from His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok, Khenpo Longdöl, Khenpo Tsering Gyurmey, and Master Changon Dorje. Rinpoche also engaged in extensive studies of traditional subjects as poetry, rhetoric, and calendar calculation.
At the same time, Rinpoche composed Recalling Song of Guru, Supplication Prayer to Guru, Glorification Song of the Hermit Land, and also wrote a history book of the Tuptin Monastry and an explanatory on the sequences of visualization during meditation practice.
Receiving the Mahamudra, Buddha nature and transmissions from Guru,
And unwaveringly realizing the true nature of mind without an error.
Having indistinguishably merged own with exalted Chitta of Guru,
He thus became a Dharmic son carrying the Guru’s sacred teachings.
In holy places such as the Tuptin Monastery, Auspicious Dojo where Chöying Dorje Rinpoche attained enlightenment, the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, Dragkar Telzong, and Lhasa, Rinpoche started with the fundamentals of Buddhism, and further into the Five Great Treatises, Four Classes of Tantra, and Tibetan medicine. Under the guidance and thorough cultivation of his guru Chöying Dorje Rinpoche, he managed to integrate theory and practice. After 20 years of diligent practic in these sacred places, Rinpoche developed a profound understanding of the Tripitaka of Sutras, Vinaya, and Treaties, thus becoming a practitioner of precepts, concentration, and wisdom.
In addition to his Root Lama Chöying Dorje Rinpoche, Tashi Choephel Rinpoche has also taken refuge with many eminent Lamas, including His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok, His Holiness Sakya Trizin, Khenpo Luding, the Seventeenth Karmapa of the Kagyu school, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche - the present throneholder of the Nyingma school, His Holiness Minling Trichen Rinpoche, Tertön Chöying Lingpa, Tulku Tishatha Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultrim Lodro, Khenpo Sodargye, Khenpo Longdöl, Khenpo Tsewang, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso, Khenpo Tsering Jigme, and Master Changon Dorje. With the varieties of transmissions and empowerments, Rinpoche grasped the essence of all major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
Owing to the personal guidance of the incomparable guru Chöying Dorje Rinpoche and Tashi Choephel Rinpoche’s years of hard practice, Tashi Choephel Rinpoche attained the bodily experience of the aggregate realm induced by the Sakya’s Lamdre (the Path and Fruit), realized the harmonious integration of Dzogchen, Mahamudra, and the supreme Madhyamaka, and obtained the authentic transmission and the secret blessings of wisdom by his Root Lama.
Kacha Draba, the famous Tibetan prophet – many Tulkus had been recognized based on his prophecies – once made the following prediction for Rinpoche:
The embodiment of the great siddhas,
The refuge for all sentient beings,
With virtue affluent, wisdom sharp,
All undertakings will be accomplished.
In 1993, under the auspices of Chöying Dorje Rinpoche, Tashi Choephel Rinpoche ascended the Dharma throne at the Tuptin Monastery.
In 1994, at the age of twenty, from Sakya Ngor Luding Khenpo Rinpoche, Rinpoche received oral transmission and empowerment of Lamdre. The sacred teachings have been passed down from the forefathers of the Sakya lineage.
In 1996, at the age of twenty-two, Rinpoche received the teachings of Disembodied Dakini and oral transmissions and instructions of the Preliminary Practice of Dzogchen from Tertön Chöying Lingpa who is one of the most prolific discoverers of ancient hidden terma.
At the age of twenty-four, as per quest by his Root Lama, Rinpoche started studies on English and Chinese to promote Dharma and benefit to a larger audience. In the end, Rinpoche mastered Chinese to a level equivalent to a professional translator.
Since 1998, Rinpoche followed and served his Root Lama Chöying Dorje Rinpoche around East China for pilgrimage and promoted Dharma to the Han Chinese disciples along the way.
In 2003, at the age of thirty, Rinpoche first visited Thailand and Malaysia where he gave teachings to a large number of overseas believers. Later, Rinpoche visited Nepal and India for a pilgrimage tour around Buddhist temples and holy places while receiving teachings, oral transmissions, and empowerments from some of the greatest living masters such as His Holiness Sakya Trizin, Khenpo Luding, His Holiness Seventeenth Karmapa, His Excellence Penor Rinpoche and His Excellence Minling Trichen Rinpoche.
In the same year, Rinpoche was recognized by His Holiness Sakya Trizin and Luding Khenpo Rinpoche as the reincarnation of the great Sakya Vajradhara Ngawang Legdrub.
In 2009, Rinpoche was officially authorized by the great compassionate wish-fulfilling jewel Chöying Dorje Rinpoche as the second-generation abbot Tulku of the Tuptin Monastery and was bestowed with sacred objects such as the Dharma hat. When Chöying Dorje Rinpoche was near to his Nirvana in 2010, the great siddha announced in front of all disciples that Tashi Choephel Rinpoche would be the abbot of the Tuptin Monastery.
On July 13th, 2013, Tashi Choephel Rinpoche ascended the Fearless Throne of the Tuptin Monastery. The local government, monasteries of various sects and the masses held an awe-inspiring celebration.
The same year, with the support Mr.YANG, Rinpoche restored the traditional grand ritual, the “Three Reds and Eight Villages Kangyur Chanting and Cultivation Ceremony,” which had been interrupted for more than 50 years in the Gawa area of Yushu Prefecture.
In September 2014, at the invitation of Dragmar Monastery - the monastery of the earlier incarnation of Manjushri Ngawang Legdrub - Rinpoche delivered teachings and empowerments to the lamas and believers, bringing immense joy to all participants, creating an extraordinary origin.
Now, Tashi Choephel Rinpoche serves as the abbot Tulku of the Tuptin Monastery, a member of the Tridu County CPPCC, Executive Director of Yushu Prefecture’s Buddhist Association, and Honorary President of Qinghai Khawa Ripa Tibetan Culture Preservation Centre. Rinpoche bears the responsibility of promoting Dharma and benefiting sentient beings, particularly upholding the lineage of Chöying Dorje Rinpoche, guiding the disciples, and furthering the development of the Tuptin Monastery as envisioned by his Root Lama.
May the merits transferred,
Long live our Rinpoche.
Turning the wheel till the forever,
Liberating all sentient beings.
Rinpoche back to the Dragmar Monastery
Rinpoche with his Root Lama, the Supreme Yogi Marpa Chöying Dorje Rinpoche
Sitting-in-the-bed ritual for Rinpoche
Rinpoche and his father
The Young Rinpoche
The Reincarnation of the Great Sakya Vajradhara Ngawang Legdrub
Previous Life - Master Manjushri Ngawang Legdrub