Khyongla Rato

{{Short description|Tibetan Buddhist scholar and teacher (1923–2022)}} {{Infobox religious biography |image= Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, Sept 15 2014.JPG |caption = Khyongla Rato in 2014 with his translator Tenzin Gelek |birth_name = Norbu | other_names = <!-- or: | other_name = -->Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, Rato Khyongla Rinpoche, Khyongla Rinpoche |dharma name = Nawang Losang |birth_date = {{Birth date text|1923}} |birth_place = Dagyab, Kham, Tibet |death_date = 24 May 2022 (aged 98–99) |death_place = McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, India |nationality = Tibetan |religion = Tibetan Buddhism |school = Rato Monastery, Drepung Monastery, Gyuto Tantric University |lineage = Gelug |title = Rinpoche |location = |education = Geshe Lharampa |occupation = Scholar, teacher, abbot |teacher = Ling Rinpoche |reincarnation of = 1st Khyongla Rinpoche |predecessor = 9th Khyongla Rinpoche |successor = |students = Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, Joseph Campbell, Richard Gere, Adam Yauch, Nicholas Vreeland |spouse = |partner = |children = |website = }} {{Tibetan Buddhism}}

'''Khyongla Rato''' (1923 – 24 May 2022), pronounced "Chungla," was also known as '''Khyongla Rato Rinpoche''', '''Rato Khyongla Rinpoche''', '''Khyongla Rinpoche''', '''Ngawang Lobsang Shedrub Tenpai Dronme''', and '''Nawang Losang''', his monk's name. Born in Dagyab county in Kham province in southeastern Tibet, he was recognized as an incarnate lama at an early age. He spent over 30 years receiving teachings and studying as a highly trained monk in the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries of Tibet. A respected scholar, he was a debate partner of the 14th Dalai Lama at his Geshe examination in Lhasa, Tibet. He founded the Tibet Center in New York City. The center co-sponsored many of the Dalai Lama's teachings in New York City.

"Few people have known the Dalai Lama longer than Khyongla Rinpoche."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dias |first1=Elizabeth |title=Beyond the Dalai Lama: Profiles of Four Tibetan Lamas-in-Exile |url=https://world.time.com/2011/07/28/beyond-the-dalai-lama-profiles-of-four-tibetan-lamas-in-exile/ |access-date=25 March 2021 |publisher=Time |date=July 28, 2011}}</ref> Shortly after Rinpoche's death in May, 2022, the Dalai Lama noted that a "very good friend of mine recently passed away."<ref>{{cite news |title=In Praise of Dependent Arising & Avalokiteshvara Empowerment |url=https://www.dalailama.com/news/2022/in-praise-of-dependent-arising-avalokiteshvara-empowerment |access-date=3 June 2022 |date=June 1, 2022}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Khyongla Rato Rinpoche was born in 1923, in the village of Ophor, south of Chamdo in the Dagyab province, Kham region, of what was then Tibet. In 1928, aged five, Norbu, as he was then known, was recognized as a tulku, incarnate lama, the tenth incarnation of Khyongla, a lama born in 1510 renowned for his teaching, known as the "Lama from Khyong Yul" or "Khyongla". On his 6th birthday Khyongla Rinpoche was taken to his ''labrang,'' a lama's residence.<ref name = "Life">''My Life and Lives'' By Khyongla Rato, 1977, Rato Publications, New York {{ISBN|0-9630293-0-4}}</ref>

He became a monk and studied at "two of the most important Geluk monasteries in Tibet," first at Rato Monastery, which specialized in debate, later moving to Drepung Monastery, where he received his Geshe Lharampa degree (equivalent to Doctor of Divinity), and finally to Gyuto Tantric University, where he served as abbot.<ref name="scholar">{{cite news |last1=Duncan Oliver |first1=Joan |title=Tulku Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, Noted Tibetan Buddhist Scholar, Ex-monk, and Founder of The Tibet Center in New York City, Died at 98 |url=https://tricycle.org/article/khyongla-rato-rinpoche/ |access-date=17 August 2022 |publisher=Tricycle |date=June 7, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Profile: Khyongla Rato Rinpoche |url=https://www.shambhala.com/snowlion_articles/khyongla-rato-rinpoche/ |access-date=3 June 2022 |publisher=Shambhala Publications, Snow Lion Newsletter |date=January 1986}}</ref> Rinpoche studied with over seventy teachers, including Konchok Gyatso, Geshe Yeshe Loden, and from the age of 25 with Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, the senior tutor of the 14th Dalai Lama. While Khyongla Rinpoche was still quite young, he attended a teaching from Pabongkhapa Déchen Nyingpo, and this served as a significant inspiration to him.<ref name = Life/>

In 1958, "Highly esteemed even as a newly minted Geshe, Khyongla Rato was the youngest of the lamas charged with debating the Dalai Lama during His Holiness’s examinations for the Geshe degree," during Monlam in Lhasa, Tibet.<ref name="scholar" /> Altogether there were eighty challengers from ten monasteries. As Khyongla Rato says in his autobiography, on page 233, when it was his turn to debate, "For half an hour our thrilling interchange continued until the senior tutor, my good friend Ling Rinpoche, raised his hand and I returned to my place, exceedingly joyful and relieved."<ref name = Life />

==Exile and life in the west== In 1959, after the Chinese communists took over, Khyongla Rato left Tibet, crossing the Himalayas to India. While first in India, at the request of the Dalai Lama, Rinpoche helped write texts on the grammar, literature, history and religion of Tibet; these were used in the education of the families of Tibetan exiles.

Rinpoche was highly respected as a scholar and as a teacher's teacher.<ref name="scholar" /> According to his student Lama Zopa Rinpoche he received many teachings from Rinpoche, <blockquote>"a great treasury of lineages, holding the lineage of the entire teaching of Buddha, the Kangyur, and the Tengyur, as well as lineages of the collections of teachings and commentaries of all the pandits, or great scholars. Rinpoche has received the oral transmission of the Kangyur two times, first from his teacher at the place where he was born and the second time from, I think, Pari Dorje Chang, one the heart disciples of the great enlightened Pabongka. Pari Dorje Chang is the past life of this present incarnation, Pari Rinpoche. I think Khyongla Rato Rinpoche may also have received the oral transmission of the whole collection of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings two times. In Tibet and afterwards, Rinpoche received oral transmissions from many great lamas, who were like the sun rising in this world, bringing unbelievable benefit to sentient beings and to the teachings of Buddha. I and the other incarnate lamas who have the time are trying to receive the lineages of many teachings, especially the rare ones, and not only from Khyongla Rato Rinpoche. Otherwise, after some time, the lineages might end."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Zopa Rinpoche |first1=Kyabje Lama |title=Kadampa Teachings |url=https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/kadampa-teachings-4-bodhgaya-december-2007 |website=lamayeshe.com |publisher=Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive |access-date=9 February 2024}}</ref></blockquote>

==The Tibet Center== [[File:Khyongla Rinpoche teaching, 2014-09-22.JPG|thumb|left|Khyongla Rato Rinpoche teaching on "Om Mani Padme Hum" on September 22nd, 2014, at The Tibet Center, NYC]] {{Main|The Tibet Center}} In 1975, Khyongla Rato founded and was director of The Tibet Center in New York City, also known as ''Kunkhyab Thardo Ling'' (translation: Land pervaded with Seekers of Liberation), a name given to the center by the late Ling Rinpoche. Khyongla Rinpoche taught at the Tibet Center for almost 40 years, usually in English.<ref>Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Teachings website, Teachers, Lineage Lamas, Lama Zopa Rinpoche's Teachers, Khyongla Rato Rinpoche [http://fpmt.org/teachers/lineage-lamas/khyongla-rinpoche/] Accessed 2014-5-31</ref> Rinpoche and primarily Richard Gere, under the aegis of the Tibet Center and the Gere Foundation, sponsored seven teachings by the Dalia Lama in New York City, from 1979 to 2013.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kalachakra Initiation 1991 |url=https://thetibetcenter.org/news/1991/10/10/kalachakra-initiation-1991.html |website=/thetibetcenter.org |publisher=Tibet Center |access-date=9 February 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=In the news: His Holiness the Dalai Lama Returns to New York |url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/news-20/ |access-date=9 February 2024 |publisher=Tricycycle Foundation |date=June 1, 1999}}</ref>

Tibet Center students include Nicholas Vreeland, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Richard Gere, Adam Yauch and Joseph Campbell.<ref>{{cite news |title=Buddhism Has So Many Ways to Rescue Us from Suffering |url=https://fpmt.org/lama-zopa-rinpoche-news-and-advice/advice-from-lama-zopa-rinpoche/buddhism-has-so-many-ways-to-rescue-us-from-suffering/ |access-date=9 February 2024 |publisher=Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition |date=June 24, 2020}}</ref> Many teachers from different traditions have taught at the Tibet Center. This includes Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche, [http://Sakya%20Trizin%20Ngawang%20Kunga Sakya Trizin Rinpoche], Trulshik Rinpoche of the Nyingma tradition, and Tenga Rinpoche of the Kagyu tradition, the current Ling Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Venerable Robina Courtin, Venerable Amy Miller, Anthony Spina; Buddhists from the Chan, Theravadan and Zen traditions; teachers from the Jain, Hindu and Christian religions, as well as scientists and philosophers.<ref>The Tibet Center website, History & Mission, [http://thetibetcenter.org/history/] accessed 2014-5-31</ref>

==Rato Monastery== {{Main|Rato Dratsang}} Rinpoche was the senior reincarnate lama of Rato Monastery in India. Also known as Rato Dratsang, it was reestablished in 1983 in a Tibetan refugee settlement near Mungod, in Karnataka, India.<ref>{{cite web|title=Visits to Deyang Dratsang and Ratö Dratsang|url=https://www.dalailama.com/news/2016/visits-to-deyang-dratsang-and-rat%C3%B6-dratsang|website=dalailama.com|publisher=The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama|accessdate=10 March 2018}}</ref>

==Publications== While first in India, at the request of the Dalai Lama, Khyongla Rato Rinpoche helped to write texts on the grammar, literature, history and religion of Tibet. These were used in the education of the families of Tibetan exiles.<ref name="Life"/>

In the 1970s, as a result of urging from his students, Khyongla Rato wrote an autobiography, ''My Life and Lives'', focusing primarily on his years in Tibet. Joseph Campbell, the American mythologist, edited the book and wrote the introduction.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Marino |first1=Erin |title=Khyongla Rato (b. 1928). My Life and Lives: The Story of a Tibetan Incarnation. Rato Publications |url=https://tibetanculture.weai.columbia.edu/my-life-and-lives-the-story-of-tibetan-incarnation/ |website=tibetanculture.weai.columbia.edu |publisher=Columbia University |access-date=9 February 2024}}</ref><ref>Amazon.com ''My Life and Lives: The Story of a Tibetan Incarnation'' [https://www.amazon.com/My-Life-Lives-Tibetan-Incarnation/dp/0963029304] Accessed 2014-5-31</ref>

In 2018, ''The Life of My Teacher:A Biography of Kyabje Ling Rinpoche'', the only biography composed by the Dalai Lama, maintaining the tradition of students documenting the lives of their spiritual teaches, was published in Tibetan, and in English by Wisdom Publications. Khyongla Rinpoche, also a close student of the late Ling Rinpoche, "assisted with writing the biography."<ref>{{cite news |title=The Life of My Teacher: A Biography of Kyabje Ling Rinpoche |url=https://fpmt.org/mandala/archives/mandala-for-2018/july-december/the-life-of-my-teacher-kyabje-ling-rinpoche/ |access-date=9 February 2024 |work=Mandala Magazine |publisher=Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition |date=July 1, 2018}}</ref>

==Film and photography== Despite having no prior acting experience, Khyongla Rato was asked to portray a monk in the 1993 film ''Little Buddha'', directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, who "wanted the real thing."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barasch |first1=Douglas S. |title=FILM; Bertolucci Tells A Tale Of Buddha |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/22/archives/film-bertolucci-tells-a-tale-of-buddha.html |access-date=25 March 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=June 3, 2022}}</ref> Rinpoche consulted the Dalai Lama, who told him he should go ahead and do this, so he ended up playing the role of the Abbot of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Bhutan.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barasch |first1=Douglas S. |title=FILM; Bertolucci Tells A Tale Of Buddha |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/22/archives/film-bertolucci-tells-a-tale-of-buddha.html |access-date=25 March 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=May 22, 1994}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Tworkov |first1=Helen |title=Projecting The Buddha |url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/projecting-buddha/ |access-date=25 March 2021 |publisher=Tricycle |date=Summer 1993}}</ref><ref>IMDb Ven. Khyongla Rato Rinpoche [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0727752/] Accessed 2014-5-31</ref> Rinpoche also has considerable screen time in the 2014 documentary ''Monk with a Camera'', because he is the "root guru" of Venerable Nicholas Vreeland, the subject of that film.

A photographic exhibition featuring Rinpoche, ''Return to the Roof of the World,'' was held at the Leica Gallery in New York in 2011. It follows Nicholas Vreeland's journey as a photographer while accompanying his teacher on his return to his birthplace in Dagyab, eastern Tibet, forty-four years after he had left.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McGirk |first1=Tim |title=Long Lost Lama |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/511e88bde4b03cf8b631112e/t/51786526e4b0f6a9ec803b88/1366844710332/TimeAsiaKR.pdf |access-date=9 February 2024 |publisher=Time |date=September 22, 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Leica Internet Team|title=Nicholas Vreeland: Capturing Photographs to Honor and Preserve His World|url=http://blog.leica-camera.com/2011/08/03/nicholas-vreeland-capturing-photographs-to-honor-and-preserve-his-world/|website=leica-camera.com/|publisher=Leica Camera AG|accessdate=18 February 2024}}</ref>

==Death and remembrance== Khyongla Rato Rinpoche died peacefully on May 24, 2022. At the time of his death, Rinpoche was living in a hotel outside of Dharamsala, in the suburb McLeod Ganj, within view of the home of the Dalai Lama. The cremation ceremony was held on May 29 at the Gyuto Tantric Monastery near Dharamsala.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Tibet Center Sadly Announces the Passing of Khongla Rato Rinpoche in Dharamsala THE TIBET CENTER SADLY ANNOUNCES THE PASSING OF RATO KHYONGLA RINPOCHE IN DHARAMSALA |url=https://thetibetcenter.org/news/2022/5/24/the-tibet-center-sadly-announces-the-passing-of-rato-khyongla-rinpoche-in-dharamsala |access-date=29 May 2022 |publisher=The Tibet Center |date=May 24, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Rinpoche has Departed |url=https://nicholasvreeland.com/blog/2022/6/1/rinpoche-has-departed |website=nicholasvreeland.com |publisher=Venerable Nicholas Vreeland |access-date=9 February 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Khyongla Rato Rinpoche Passes Away |url=https://fpmt.org/fpmt-community-news/khyongla-rato-rinpoche-passes-away/ |access-date=9 February 2024 |publisher=Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition |date=May 24, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Greenblatt |first1=Lilly |title=Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, founder of The Tibet Center, has died |url=https://www.lionsroar.com/khyongla-rato-rinpoche-founder-of-the-tibet-center-has-died/ |access-date=29 May 2022 |publisher=Lion's Roar |date=May 27, 2022 |archive-date=31 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531235644/https://www.lionsroar.com/khyongla-rato-rinpoche-founder-of-the-tibet-center-has-died/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=ར་སྟོད་སྐྱོང་བླ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་སྐུ་གཤེགས། Rato Kyongla Rinpoche Passed Away at 99 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNvAftMwLJI |access-date=4 June 2022 |publisher=Voice of America Tibetan |date=May 25, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=An obituary: Khyongla Rato Rinpoche passes away at 100 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nELlxKUgEys |access-date=4 June 2022 |publisher=Radio Free Asia Tibetan |date=May 24, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=TAIWAN MEMORIALS FOR KHYONGLA RATO RINPOCHE, JUNE 2023 |url=https://thetibetcenter.org/news/2023/8/17/31y3uc3anw3y4sjbgznbcyautzq4mo |website=thetibetcenter.org |publisher=The Tibet Center |access-date=9 February 2024}}</ref> The Dalai Lama wrote ''A Prayer for the Swift Return of Rato Khyongla Rinpoche'' ending with a colophon which includes:<blockquote>Furthermore, I myself summoned Rinpoche to accompany me when I was invited to celebrate the (two thousand five hundredth) anniversary of the Parinirvana of Lord Buddha in India. Also, when I sat for my debate examination on completing my monastic education, he was among those called on to debate with me. Later, when we came to India, as he was the heart son of Yongdzin Rinpoche Ling Dorje Chang, I asked him in the nineteen-sixties to go to teach in Western countries such as America, and during the time he was living there I had him carry out in various ways my vision. For those and other reasons, he became a trusted person with whom I could discuss inner matters. Now, since the one who passed away was rich in empowerments and transmissions and possessed vast knowledge of both Sutra and Tantra, not only do I mourn the loss of the senior student of my teacher Yongzin Rinpoche Ling Dorje Chang, but it is a great tragedy for the Geluk tradition in general, a cause for consternation. However, due to his pure motivation towards the Dharma, and his love for sentient beings, it is definite that Rinpoche will return. On this 28th day of the third month of the water tiger year of the sixteenth Tibetan cycle, which is the 27th day of May, 2022 of the western calendar, I—his Dharma friend, the Shakya Bhikshu and Propounder of Dharma, the Dalai Lama—have composed this prayer for Rinpoche’s swift return.<ref>{{cite news |title=HIS HOLINESS COMPOSES PRAYER FOR RINPOCHE'S QUICK RETURN |url=https://www.ratodratsangfoundation.org/news-project |access-date=8 February 2024 |publisher=Rato Dratsang Foundation |date=May 27, 2022}}</ref></blockquote>

==Bibliography== * ''My Life and Lives: The Story of a Tibetan Incarnation'', edited and with a foreword by Joseph Campbell, 1977, Rato Publications, New York {{ISBN|0-9630293-0-4}}, {{ISBN|978-0963029300}}<ref name = Life/>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nELlxKUgEys An obituary: Khyongla Rato Rinpoche passes away at 100.], Radio Free Asia Tibetan, May 24, 2022 *[http://www.ratodratsangfoundation.org/about.html/ Rato Dratsang Foundation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126113911/http://www.ratodratsangfoundation.org/about.html |date=2019-01-26 }} *[https://thetibetcenter.org// The Tibet Center, New York City and New Jersey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428093720/https://thetibetcenter.org/ |date=2018-04-28 }} *[https://www.dalailama.com/news/2016/visits-to-deyang-dratsang-and-rat%C3%B6-dratsang/ His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Visits to Deyang Dratsang and Ratö Dratsang ] *[http://www.ratodratsangfoundation.org/about.html/ Photos of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's visit to Rato Dratsang ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126113911/http://www.ratodratsangfoundation.org/about.html |date=2019-01-26 }} *[https://nicholasvreeland.com// Abbot of Rato Dratsang, Director of The Tibet Center Rato Dratsang ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308231553/https://nicholasvreeland.com/ |date=2018-03-08 }} *[http://www.jamyang.co.uk/index.php/multimedia/audio-teachings/teachers-k-r?showall=&start=2here// Notes and an audio file from the Jamyang Buddhist Centre ] * [https://world.time.com/2011/07/28/beyond-the-dalai-lama-profiles-of-four-tibetan-lamas-in-exile/ ''Beyond the Dalai Lama: Profiles of Four Tibetan Lamas-in-Exile''], Time, by Elizabeth Dias, July 28, 2011 *[https://meridian-trust.org/video/atishas-lamp-for-the-path-to-enligtenment-ven-khyongla-rato-rinpoche/ Atisha’s “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment” – Ven. Khyongla Rato Rinpoche], The Meridian Trust, May 2016 *[https://www.facebook.com/TheTibetCenter The Tibet Center Facebook page] *[https://www.instagram.com/thetibetcenter The Tibet Center Instagram page]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rato, Khyongla}} Category:1923 births Category:2022 deaths Category:Lamas from Tibet Category:Gelug Lamas Category:Gelug tulkus Category:Tibetan writers Category:Tibetan Buddhism writers Category:Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet Category:American people of Tibetan descent Category:Rinpoches Category:20th-century lamas Category:21st-century lamas Category:People from Kham