Khenpo Yeshi Rinpoche

Khenpo Yeshi Rinpoche was born in Kham, East Tibet in 1969. From early childhood, he showed a deep interest in the study of Dharma. At the age of thirteen, he was granted empowerments, transmissions, and oral instructions in the cycle of Longchen Nyingthig. As a teenager, he arrived in India and studied at Sera Monastery and later Dzogchen Monastery, where he excelled in his studies. Over the years, Khenpo Yeshi studied closely with more than two dozen eminent Khenpos and received empowerments, transmissions, and oral instructions of both kama and terma of the Nyingma tradition from such renowned Lamas as HH the 14th Dalai Lama, HE Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and HE Dodrupchen Rinpoche. In 1992, Khenpo Yeshi traveled to Changchub Ling at Dera Dun, India, where he received the teachings, transmissions, and empowerments of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage from HH the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang, HH the Drikung Kyabgon Chungtsang, and many other great teachers and masters of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage. After his academic Buddhist studies, Khenpo Yeshi traveled to Nepal to undertake an intensive three-year meditative retreat under the guidance of the renowned Dzogchen master, H.E. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche at Asura Cave Retreat Center in Pharping, south of Kathmandu. Upon completion of his retreat in 1997, HE Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche invited Khenpo Yeshi to teach at the monastery’s Shedra. In December 2001, Khenpo Yeshi arrived in the United States. Since then, he has participated in retreats at Pema Osel Ling in Santa Cruz, California, and at the Garchen Buddhist Institute in Prescott Valley, Arizona. He continues to instruct students from around the world and is currently a doctoral candidate writing his dissertation at the University of California, Berkeley.