Khen Rinpoche
Geshe Lobsang Gyatso
Abbot
Drepung Loseling Monastery

Khen Rinpoche, Geshe Lobsang Gyatso, is the Most Venerable Abbot of Drepung Loseling Monastery, one of Asia’s most ancient and respected seats of learning. Drepung Loseling was established near Lhasa, Tibet in 1416 as a spiritual institution dedicated to preserving and transmitting the ancient Buddhist scholarly and contemplative traditions. The home of the early Dalai Lamas, it has played a critical role in the life of Tibet’s culture for almost six centuries.

Khen Rinpoche, the spiritual leader of this 600-year-old institution, was born in 1933 in Kham, in the eastern region of Tibet.  He became a monk at the early age of nine. In 1959, after the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet, he fled into India for safety and once again joined Drepung Loseling Monastery, re-established in south India. He finished his studies and obtained his Acharya degree in 1978, and in 1981 was awarded the degree of Geshe Lharampa (doctorate in the highest grade). Four years later, in 1985, he accepted a teaching post at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies at Sarnath, India. While teaching there he was appointed Abbot of Drepung Loseling Monastery by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the year 2000, and has continued to serve the monastery in that capacity ever since.

Khen Rinpoche is recognized as an erudite scholar, a master of Buddhist philosophy and psychology and their applications to contemplative practice.

Drepung Loseling Institute is honored to host the Venerable Abbot for this visit, and hopes you will be able to join us to take advantage of his teachings.

Among the 84,000 sets of the Buddha’s discourses, the Prajnaparamita Sutras – the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras – hold an unequalled position of importance. These sutras comprise 16 volumes of text, but the very heart essence of these teachings is presented in the most concise of the sutras, the Prajnaparamitahridya Sutra or “Discourse on the Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom.”

This is perhaps the most popular, most widely recited and most-studied sutra in the Mahayana tradition. Though short, this sutra presents the entire path to attaining full enlightenment; the complete meaning of all of the Buddha’s teachings is distilled into its verses. In that sense, this is the key that unlocks the door to enlightenment. Khen Rinpoche, the Venerable Abbot of Drepung Loseling Monastery, will reveal the meaning of this sutra and show us how to apply its lessons in our own lives.

Recommended reading:
Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama’s Heart of Wisdom Teachings,
available at the Loseling Dharma Shop.

Tuition:
Drepung Loseling Institute members: $75
Non-members: $95

A voluntary offering to the teacher is customary in the Buddhist tradition.
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Khen Rinpoche, the Venerable Abbot of Drepung Loseling Monastery, will impart the initiation into the Medicine Buddha through step-by-step guided instructions for receiving the blessings of this Healing Buddha. The Rinpoche will then teach on a brief sadhana (meditation manual) that the participants may use to assist their own ongoing meditations on this healing practice.

Tuition
Drepung Loseling Institute members: $50 non-members: $75
A voluntary offering to the teacher is customary in the Buddhist tradition.