President of Ligmincha Institute, as well as its resident Lama, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is a master of the Dzogchen meditative tradition of Tibet. Since he was thirteen years old he practiced Dzogchen with his masters from both the Bon and Buddhist schools: Lopon Sangye Tenzin, Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, and Geshe Yungdrug Namgyal.
He completed an eleven year course of traditional studies in the Bon tradition at the Bonpo Monastic Center, Dolanji, HP, India, whereupon he qualified for the Doctorate Degree of Geshe. He is also an accom-plished scholar in the Bonpo and the Buddhist textual traditions of philosophy, exegesis, and debating. Upon graduation in 1986, he was employed at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives at Dharamsala, India. That same year he was appointed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to be the representative of the Bon school to the assembly of deputies of the government in exile.
Dzogchen teachings to the West
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche was the first to bring the precious Bon Dzogchen teachings to the West in 1988, when he was invited by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche to Italy in order to teach at his center. He is one of very few Bonpo master living in the West who is trained in the Bon tradition and qualified to teach. Rinpoche is a well-known master, having traveled widely, giving teachings in Tibet and in the West for the past nine years. He is a scholar as well, having written several books and articles in Tibetan and English.
During the 1991-92 academic year he was selected as a Rockefeller Fellow at Rice University in Houston, Texas. During this period he continued his research on early Bonpo Tantric deities and their relationship with Buddhist traditions in the early period of Buddhism in Tibet. Rice invited Rinpoche back to teach for the spring semester of 1993 and he was awarded a second Rockefeller Fellowship.
Tenzin Rinpoche is the author of Wonders of the Natural Mind, in which he presents the view and practice of the Bon Dzogchen ("Great Perfection") teachings, and he was recently been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for 1994-95 to conduct academic research on the logical and philosophical aspects of the Bon tradition. He appeared on the Discovery Channel in 1994, where he explained the principles involved in Tibetan dream practice as part of their three-part series entitled "the power of dreams".
Ligmincha Institute
Rinpoche founded Ligmincha Institute ( ligmincha web site ) in March of 1992 in order to preserve the culture, religious teachings and arts of Tibet and Zhang Zhung. The aim of the Institute is to introduce to the West the wisdom traditions of the Bonpo which are concerned with the harmonious integration of internal and external energies, and most importantly with the spiritual path to enlightenment. Rinpoche currently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he has established Ligmincha Institute, and Houston Texas where he has established a Khyung Dzong center. He travels andteaches extensively throughout Europe, the United States, and Mexico.
