Samdhong Rinpoche

Samdhong Rinpoche was born as Lobsang Tenzin in 1939, in the Tibetan province of Kham. At age five, he was recognized and enthroned as the reincarnation of the fourth Samdhong Rinpoche. (The Tibetan term “Rinpoche” in an honorific title literally meaning “precious one,” and is used for revered teachers and lamas.)  He began his monastic studies at age 12 and eventually obtained a Doctorate in Buddhist sciences at the University of Drepung in Tibet in 1970. In 1959, Rinpoche fled to India to escape the repressive Chinese government in Tibet. There, he was commissioned by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to serve as a teacher to monks in exile. He was appointed director of the Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies in Varanasi in 1988 and remained there until 2001. On July 29, 2001, Rinpoche was named Kalon Tripa, or Prime Minister of the Tibetan Exile Government, the first political leader to be directly elected by the people in exile.

The 2006 World Wisdom book Samdhong Rinpoche’s Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World is a series of interviews with Samdhong Rinpoche (along with passages giving historical and religious context) focusing  on the struggle for a traditional Tibet and on Tibetan Buddhist perspectives on life, spirituality, and the modern world.