With H.E Menri Ponlop Rinpoche
OCTOBER 18-20, 2019 10AM-4PM
We at Gyalshen Institute are very honored and excited to share the happy news of an upcoming October blessing. His Eminence Menri Ponlop Rinpoche will be coming to the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time in nearly five years. His Eminence has very graciously agreed to give us a teaching on Phowa or Transference of Consciousness. The ultimate benefit of this practice is to steady your mind at the time of your own death. The Phowa practice can also be used to assist others in the same way.
His Eminence is the principal instructor at Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India and is the successor of His Eminence Yongzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche. Menri Lopon Rinpoche’s family name is “Yangton” which traces its ancestry back to Yangton Sherab Gyaltsen, born in 1077. A famous Dzogchen and Tantric master, Yangton Sherab Gyaltsen was the first to set in writing the Dzogchen Experiential Transmission (Zhang Zhung Nyam Gyud). Today this revered teaching is taught by His Eminence Menri Loopon. The three day Phowa Retreat will be available on Zoom.
BIOGRAPHY
His Eminence Menri Ponlop Rinpoche was born in 1962 in the remote Himalayan village of Chharka. At the age of thirteen, on the advice of his uncle, Yangton Lama Nyima Tseten, Rinpoche began a series of three- month retreats. These retreats spanned the period from 1975 through 1977, during which he focused on practices for the outer, inner and secret Deities of the Bon tradition. His Eminence also completed the foundation practices of Dzogchen by accumulating nine hundred thousand preliminary practices. In addition, he received multiple Transmissions and Empowerments of Dzogchen teachings from several revered masters including Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche.
In 1979 at the age of seventeen, Rinpoche was brought to Menri Monastery in India by his cousin, Lama Tashi. Menri is the main monastery for Tibetan Bonpos and for the exiled Bon community of India. His Eminence was ordained by His Holiness, the 33rd Menri Trizin and His Eminence, Yondgzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche. His studies focused primarily on Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen and also included: Ritual, Grammar, Poetry, Astrology, Divination, Medicine, Thangka Painting, Mandalas and Stupas. He earned his Geshe Doctoral Degree from the Bon Dialectic School in 1989.
Soon after completing his degree, Rinpoche began teaching at the school and in 1992 was appointed Lopon, Principal Instructor, of the Bon Dialectic School by His Holiness the 33rd Menri Trizin and by His Eminence Yondgzin Rinpoche. The position of Lopon is the second most revered position at the monastery.
Lopon Rinoche continues to teach at the Bon Dialectic School where he is responsible for training the entire student body. He occasionally visits the Dolpo region to give Transmission of Ngondro, the Preliminary Practice and to teach other aspects of the Bon religion to thousands of lay people, monks and Tantric practitioners. In addition, His Eminence regularly visits the United States and Europe where he enjoys teaching Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen to Western practitioners.
LOCATION:
The teachings will be in:
Lower Alexander Hall
40 Kensington Road
San Anselmo, CA 94960. Map
Registration form is HERE
