Khyongla Rato, pronounced "Chungla," was known as Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, Rato Khyongla Rinpoche, Khyongla Rinpoche, Ngawang Lobsang Shedrub Tenpai Dronme, and Nawang Losang, his monk's name.
12 Facts About Khyongla Rato
1.
2.
Khyongla Rato spent over 30 years receiving teachings and studying as a highly trained monk in the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries of Tibet.
3.
Khyongla Rato founded the Tibet Center in New York City.
4.
Khyongla Rato Rinpoche was born in 1923, in the village of Ophor, south of Chamdo in the Dagyab province, Kham region, of what was then Tibet.
5.
In 1928, aged five, Norbu, as he was then known, was recognized as a tulku, incarnate lama, the tenth incarnation of Khyongla Rato, a lama born in 1510 renowned for his teaching, known as the "Lama from Khyong Yul" or "Khyongla Rato".
6.
On his 6th birthday Khyongla Rato Rinpoche was taken to his labrang, a lama's residence.
7.
Khyongla Rato became a monk and studied at "two of the most important Geluk monasteries in Tibet," first at Rato Monastery, which specialized in debate, later moving to Drepung Monastery, where he received his Geshe Lharampa degree, and finally to Gyuto Tantric University, where he served as abbot.
8.
In 1958, "Highly esteemed even as a newly minted Geshe, Khyongla Rato was the youngest of the lamas charged with debating the Dalai Lama during His Holiness's examinations for the Geshe degree," during Monlam in Lhasa, Tibet.
9.
In 1959, after the Chinese communists took over, Khyongla Rato left Tibet, crossing the Himalayas to India.
10.
In 1975, Khyongla Rato founded and was director of The Tibet Center in New York City, known as Kunkhyab Thardo Ling, a name given to the center by the late Ling Rinpoche.
11.
Khyongla Rato Rinpoche taught at the Tibet Center for almost 40 years, usually in English.
12.
The Dalai Lama wrote A Prayer for the Swift Return of Rato Khyongla Rinpoche ending with a colophon which includes:.