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Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

1939 CE–1987 CE · Modern · Nangchen region, Kham

1939–1987 CE

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939–1987 CE) was a Tibetan teacher of the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions who became one of the most influential—and controversial—figures in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West. Recognized as the eleventh Trungpa tülku and abbot of Surmang in Kham, he fled Tibet in 1959, studied at Oxford, and from 1970 built a large network of centers in North America, founding Vajradhatu and the Naropa Institute (now Naropa University) and writing widely read books such as 'Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism.' His teaching reached a broad audience; aspects of his personal conduct and his community have also been the subject of serious criticism. He is thoroughly documented.

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Did you know?

  • From fleeing the Himalayas to founding a university

    Chögyam Trungpa (1939–1987) fled Tibet in 1959, crossing the Himalayas into exile, and in 1974 founded the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. In 1988 it became the first Buddhist-inspired academic institution in North America to earn United States regional accreditation — just 14 years after its founding and within three decades of his mountain crossing.

    How we know

    Chögyam Trungpa b. 5 Mar 1939, d. 4 Apr 1987; fled Tibet 1959 (post-uprising); founded Naropa Institute 1974 (Boulder, CO); Naropa regionally accredited by the North Central Association 1988 (first Buddhist-inspired academic institution in the US to be so accredited). Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chögyam_Trungpa, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naropa_University.

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Nangchen region, Kham

What they did here

DOCUMENTED ORIGIN: born in 1939 in the Nangchen region of Kham and recognized as the eleventh Trungpa tülku, abbot of the Surmang monasteries.

About Nangchen region, Kham

Nangchen is a region of Kham in eastern Tibet (now in Qinghai province, China). It was near here, at Surmang, that Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche — the eleventh Trungpa tulku, later a major teacher in the West — was born in 1939 and held his monastic seat before going into exile.

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The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

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