Celebrating the Life of Venerable Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche

In honor and memory of our Precious Teacher, Venerable Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche. Venerable Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche (1938-2010) was a renowned scholar and meditation master of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in 1938 in the Doshul region of Kham, eastern Tibet. Around age four, before joining Gochen monastery, he began to read, write, and learn chants and ritual ceremonies from his grandfather Lama Tharchok and his father Lama Chimed Namgyal. At the age of fourteen he entered the prestigious Riwoche Monastic University where he excelled in Tibetan medicine and literature, Sanskrit, and the Buddhist philosophy of all nine yanas. In 1959, Khenchen Rinpoche and his family left their homeland in Tibet and made their way to India. After the tumultuous period following their exodus, in 1967 he was appointed head of the Nyingma department of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath by H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche. He held this position of abbot for seventeen years, dedicating all his time and energy to ensure the survival and spread of the Buddha’s teachings. Ven. Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche moved to the United States in 1984 to work closely with H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche. In 1985, he and his brother, Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche, founded Dharma Samudra Publishing. In 1988, they founded the Padmasambhava Buddhist Center. Together the Khenpo Rinpoches founded Padma Samye Ling in New York, Padma Samye Chokhor Ling monastery and Orgyen Samye Chokhor Ling nunnery in Sarnath, India, erected the Miracle Stupa in Shravasti, India, and rebuilt Gochen Monastery in Tibet. Khenchen Rinpoche has co-authored over 35 Dharma books in English with Venerable Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche and authored many other texts in Tibetan. He worked tirelessly his entire life to pass on the authentic, ancient teachings of Buddhism, and has inspired thousands of practitioners all over the world, leaving a great monument of peace, love, and wisdom. On June 19, 2010, displaying profound signs of his realization, Rinpoche entered mahaparinirvana peacefully at Padma Samye Ling. Truly, he was a warrior who conquered all negativities and fully accomplished the wishes of Buddha Shakyamuni and Guru Padmasambhava. We will honor and revere him and his legacy forever. - To learn more about his life and legacy, read his brief biography: "Brilliant Lotus Garland of Glorious Wisdom" www.padmasambhava.org/ven-khenchen-palden-sherabs-lineages-primary-teachers - Video by Derek Sarno.