Tulku Sangak Rinpoche | Spiritual Director of Namchak

Tulku Sangak Rinpoche is the world lineage holder of the Namchak lineage. Rinpoche is the spiritual director of Namchak Retreat Ranch and Ewam International Centers around the world.

Born in Chamdo in the Kham region of Tibet in 1952, Rinpoche was recognized in early childhood by the great Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö [1893-1959], as well as by the former Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, to be the reincarnation of the Gochen Tulku.

Rinpoche’s parents were hoping he was the reincarnation of another master instead—the great tertön Tsasum Lingpa, founder of our Namchak lineage. Tsasum Lingpa had been reborn in their family repeatedly in the past. Their family had been responsible for the local Namchak Ritrö monastery and Tsasum Lingpa’s hermitage.

Imagine their chagrin when, as soon as he was old enough to speak a bit, he himself insisted he was actually a reincarnation of another lama—the Gochen Tulku! As such, he was head of the Gochen monasteries of the Namchak lineage. Soon after that, he was formally recognized and confirmed as the 6th incarnation of the Gochen Tulku. It was Tsasum Lingpa who first predicted and named the site for the first Gochen Monastery, which was then built by the first Gochen Tulku, Gyalwa Gyatso.

Around the age of three, when Rinpoche was with his family and a large group of others harvesting hay in the fields, he was left sitting on a boulder at the foot of a cliff, where he imparted the wondrous sign of his realization by leaving his footprint in a rock, as though in soft clay. To this day, it is still visible.

During the Cultural Revolution after 1969, he received important teachings, including Dzogchen (the Great Perfection) from Tulku Chemchok Rinpoche, and practiced them deeply. Later on, due to the kindness of HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, he spent 14 years studying and practicing under him outside of Tibet. At that time, His Holiness empowered him to take charge and uphold the Namchak lineage by starting the Namchak retreat center in Nepal. He published the Treasure teachings of the Namchak lineage, beginning soon after HH Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche’s parinirvana.

Tulku Sangak Rinpoche, an outstanding meditation master and scholar, is a primary lineage holder of the Namchak lineage. He also holds other widely practiced lineages of Tibet. Rinpoche is a master stupa builder as well. He has established the Turquoise Leaf Nunnery, a convent in Nepal where more than fifty nuns live and practice.

When he was about seven, he first heard of the land of America. He thought of nothing else for a week and knew he would ultimately move here. He had specific visions of places here in the U.S.

As an adult, on one of his early trips to America, he asked Lama Tsomo to drive him around so that he could look for a place to create a center. Rinpoche recognized from his childhood visions the land on which the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas now sits. That is where he created his first U.S. center.

After living in Montana for many years, he and his family have now moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he has established a retreat and practice center, Pema Khandro Ling.

After establishing the first Ewam in the U.S., the center’s Dharma activity prospered around the world, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bhutan, India, and others. In the States, Rinpoche later bestowed the Lama title to Sangak Tsomo, and she was given the responsibility to begin the work on building the retreat center and the translations of the Namchak lineage texts, to which he expressed his approval and support for Lama Tsomo’s endeavor.