Lopon Tsechu

Infobox Person
name=


caption=
dead=dead
birth_date=1918
birth_place=Bhutan
death_date=death date|2003|6|10|mf=y
death_place=Bangkok, Thailand

Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche (1918, Bhutan - June 10, 2003) was a great master of Tibetan Buddhism, widely regarded in the Himalayas, with many students in both the East and the West.

As a boy, he was ordained as a monk in the largest monastery in Bhutan, Phunaka Dzong. He trained with important teachers from all of the main Tibetan Buddhist schools, especially the Drukpa Kagyu and Karma Kagyu lineages. After meeting His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa in Bhutan in 1944, Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche became his close student and received from him the transmission of the Karma Kagyu lineage.

Activity

From his base in Kathmandu, Nepal Lopon Tsechu was a key figure in nurturing the development of Buddhism in Nepal following the occupation of Tibet by China. He exerted a formidable influence throughout the diverse Buddhist community in Nepal and was respected both as a great lama and also a skilled politician.

Lopon Tsechu became the first teacher of Lama Ole Nydahl, one of the most prolific western Buddhist masters, and was a major inspiration behind Lama Ole's work in establishing Diamond Way Buddhism in the West.

At the invitation of Ole Nydahl, Rinpoche first came to the West in 1988 to give teachings and transmissions to many students. Over the next fifteen years Lopon Tsechu ministered to thousands of people in Europe, Russia and America.

In 1997 Rinpoche established the Buddha Dharma Centre, a monastery near the Swayambhunath in Kathmandu.

Lopon Tsechu built many Stupas, monuments symbolising the Enlightened mind of the Buddha, in both the East and the West. The crown jewel of his career and one of his greatest legacies is the Enlightenment Stupa of Benalmádena, Málaga, Spain. Inaugurated in 2003, it stands at 33 metres (or 108 feet) tall, making it the largest stupa in the Western world. [ [http://www.stupabenalmadena.org/ Benalmádena - Stupa] ]

Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche died on on June 10th, 2003.

References

External links

* [http://www.diamondway-buddhism.org/default.asp?col=03&t=teachers.htm#LoponTsechuRinpoche Short Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche bio] at Diamond Way Buddhism website