Considered one of the most learned and respected scholars
of the Kagyu lineage today, Khenpo Chodrag Rinpoche was educated
in the classic system of monastic colleges of old Tibet that
had been recreated by the16th Gyalwa Karmapa at Rumtek Monastery
in Sikkim, India.
At the age of six, Khenpo Chodrag's family fled their Tibetan
homeland due to the ensuing Chinese invasion. Shortly after
reaching Rumtek at nine and for the next seven years, Khenpo
studied linguistics, poetry, literature and performance
of religious rituals. The following ten years, Khenpo studied
the Mahayana sutras and shastras that comprise the curriculum
for khenpos (equivalent to a doctor of divinity degree).
This curriculum includes Buddhist philosophy, epistemology,
logic and reasoning. At the age of twenty-six he earned
the highly-respected khenpo degree and finished first in
his class. For the next five years, Khenpo studied the Buddhist
tantras and in recognition of his outstanding academic achievements,
the Karmapa appointed him to the position of Senior Khenpo.
For ten years thereafter, Khenpo served as principal professor
of Rumtek's monastic college, the Nalanda Institute.
For the past fifteen years, Khenpo Rinpoche has served
as Educational Director of the Karmapa International Buddhist
Institute (KIBI) located in New Delhi, India. KIBI was founded
by the 14th Shamarpa in fulfillment of the 16th Karmapa's
wish to establish an institute of higher learning to foster
wisdom and compassion through the proper study and translation
of the great treatises of Buddhism. Six months out of each
year, Khenpo Chodrag travels and teaches extensively throughout
Southeast Asia, Europe and the US.
|
