Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche (, born June 18, 1961),
[Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche](_blank)
also known as Khyentse Norbu, is a
Tibetan/Bhutanese
lama, filmmaker, and writer. His four major films are ''
The Cup'' (1999), ''
Travellers and Magicians
''Travellers and Magicians''; Wylie: ''chang hub thengs gcig gi 'khrul snang''; literally: "''once upon a time hallucinating on a sip of wine''" is a 2003 Bhutanese Dzongkha-language film written and directed by Khyentse Norbu, writer and direc ...
'' (2003), ''
Vara: A Blessing'' (2013), and ''
Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I Wait'' (2017). He is the author of ''What Makes You Not a Buddhist'' (2007) and many other non-fiction works about
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
.
He is the eldest son of
Thinley Norbu
Kyabje Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche ( ) (1931 – December 26, 2011) was a major modern teacher in the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, and patron of the Vajrayana Foundation. He was the eldest son of Dudjom Rinpoche, the former head of the N ...
, and therefore the grandson of
Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje
Kyabje Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (, THL ''Düjom Jikdrel Yéshé Dorjé'') was known as Terchen Drodül Lingpa and as Dudjom Rinpoche (10 June 1904 – 17 January 1987). He is considered by many Tibetan Buddhists to be from a line of importan ...
. Rinpoche has teachers from all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism and is a follower and champion of the Rimé (non-sectarian) movement. He considers
Dilgo Khyentse
Tashi Paljor, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche () (c. 1910 – 28 September 1991) was a Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters. Head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism from 198 ...
as his main guru. He is also the primary custodian of the teachings of
Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo
Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (, 1820–1892), also known by his tertön title, Pema Ösel Dongak Lingpa, was a renowned teacher, scholar and tertön of 19th-century Tibet. He was a leading figure in the Rimé movement.
Having seen how the Gelug instit ...
.
Lineage
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche was born in eastern
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...
in 1961 at a place called Khenpajong.
At the age of seven he was recognized, by
Sakya Trizin
Sakya Trizin ( "Sakya Throne-Holder") is the traditional title of the head of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism.''Holy Biographies of the Great Founders of the Glorious Sakya Order'', translated by Venerable Lama Kalsang Gyaltsen, Ani Kunga ...
, as the third incarnation () of the founder of Khyentse lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
The first incarnation was
Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo
Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (, 1820–1892), also known by his tertön title, Pema Ösel Dongak Lingpa, was a renowned teacher, scholar and tertön of 19th-century Tibet. He was a leading figure in the Rimé movement.
Having seen how the Gelug instit ...
(1820–1892), who helped found the
Rimé movement
The Rimé movement is a movement or tendency in Tibetan Buddhism which promotes non-sectarianism and universalism.Sam van Schaik (2011). ''Tibet: A History'', pp. 161-162. Yale University Press. Teachers from all branches of Tibetan Buddhism - ...
, an
ecumenical school of
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
, centred in
Dzongsar Monastery
Dzongsar Monastery ( bo, རྫོང་གསར་དགོན།) is a Buddhist monastery in Dêgê County in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan, China, southeast of the town of Derge and east of Palpung Monastery. Historical ...
in Sichuan. Followers of this non-sectarian school sought to identify and make use of the best methods from the various long-competing and isolated schools of
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
. This approach led to a blossoming of scholarship and writing from the 1880s onwards.
The second incarnation was the renowned lama
Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö
Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (c. 1893 – 1959) was a Tibetan lama, a master of many lineages, and a teacher of many of the major figures in 20th-century Tibetan Buddhism. Though he died in 1959 in Sikkim, and is not so well known in the We ...
(1893–1959), who figured prominently in the export of Tantric Buddhism to the West as the root-teacher of a generation of influential and forward-thinking lamas.
A biographical portrait of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche exists in documentary feature film form. The film came out in 2003, and is called ''Words of My Perfect Teacher'', after the English rendering of a famed work by
Patrul Rinpoche
Patrul Rinpoche ( Wylie: ''dpal sprul rin po che'') (1808–1887) was a teacher and author from the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Biography
Patrul Rinpoche was born in Dzachukha, a nomadic area of Golok Dzachukha, Eastern Tibet in 1808, a ...
. It is a portrait of the Vajrayana Buddhist student-teacher relationship.
Education
Until the age of twelve Khyentse Norbu studied at the Palace Monastery of the King of
Sikkim
Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Silig ...
. Reflecting the unusual non-sectarian tradition of the Khyentse lineage, he counts as his root-masters teachers from all four main schools of
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
(cf.
Sakya
The ''Sakya'' (, 'pale earth') school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug. It is one of the Red Hat Orders along with the Nyingma and Kagyu.
Origins
Virūpa, 16th century. It depic ...
,
Gelug
240px, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Bodhgaya (India).
The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous")Kay, David N. (2007). ''Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantati ...
,
Nyingma
Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and transl ...
,
Kagyu). He has studied with several influential contemporary masters, particularly
Dilgo Khyentse
Tashi Paljor, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche () (c. 1910 – 28 September 1991) was a Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters. Head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism from 198 ...
.
After leaving Sikkim he studied at
Sakya College
The ''Sakya'' (, 'pale earth') school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug. It is one of the Red Hat Orders along with the Nyingma and Kagyu.
Origins
Virūpa, 16th century. It depict ...
in Rajpur, and later attended
SOAS, University of London
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...
.
From a young age he has been active in the preservation of the Buddhist teaching, establishing centres of learning, supporting practitioners, publishing books and teaching all over the world. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche supervises his traditional seat of
Dzongsar Monastery
Dzongsar Monastery ( bo, རྫོང་གསར་དགོན།) is a Buddhist monastery in Dêgê County in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan, China, southeast of the town of Derge and east of Palpung Monastery. Historical ...
and its retreat centers in eastern Tibet, as well as his new colleges in India (in
Bir and Chowntra (
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
)) and Bhutan. He has also established centres in Australia, North America and the Far East.
In 1989, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche founded
Siddhartha's Intent, an international Buddhist association of non-profit centres, most of which are nationally registered societies and charities, with the principal intention of preserving the Buddhist teachings, as well as increasing an awareness and understanding of the many aspects of the Buddhist teaching beyond the limits of cultures and traditions.
While working with Tibetan refugees in northern India, Khyentse Norbu was struck by the absence of media attention to the abject suffering of thousands of children. In 1993, he founded the secular White Lotus Charitable Trust, dedicated to serving the most neglected and forgotten children through education.
Volunteering his own time and resources to establish the initial infrastructure, Khyentse Norbu inspired others around the world, regardless of spiritual traditions, to help White Lotus become a global volunteer network of like-minded humanists. International followers of his work and his vision founded their own networks the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Hong Kong and Taiwan with a view to supporting LO programs in India and Cambodia.
In 2002, Lotus Outreach was incorporated as a non-profit
501(c)(3) organization in
southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...
to create an American center of infrastructure, dedicated to ensuring the education, health and safety of at-risk and exploited women and children in India and Cambodia. Its all-volunteer International board of directors continues to raise funds and increase awareness in their home countries on issues surrounding poverty and exploitation in Asia.
In 2001 Khyentse Foundation was founded by Dzongsar Khyentse. It is a non-profit organization with the stated goal "to act as a system of patronage for institutions and individuals engaged in the practice and study of Buddha's wisdom and compassion."
Filmmaking
Khyentse Norbu appeared in and, as a consultant "supervised every ritual and gesture performed by Tibetan monks," in
Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci (; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international ...
's 1993 film
Little Buddha
''Little Buddha'' is a 1993 drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, written by Rudy Wurlitzer and Mark Peploe, and produced by usual Bertolucci collaborator Jeremy Thomas. An international co-production of Italy, France, and the United Kingdom ...
.
Khyentse Norbu wrote and directed four award-winning films, ''
The Cup'' (1999), for which The New York Times called him "a born filmmaker;" ''
Travellers and Magicians
''Travellers and Magicians''; Wylie: ''chang hub thengs gcig gi 'khrul snang''; literally: "''once upon a time hallucinating on a sip of wine''" is a 2003 Bhutanese Dzongkha-language film written and directed by Khyentse Norbu, writer and direc ...
'' (2003), the first feature film to be produced in
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...
; ''
Vara: A Blessing'' (2013), and ''
Hema Hema: Sing Me A Song While I Wait'' (2016).
He appears in the 2009 documentary ''
Tulku
A ''tulku'' (, also ''tülku'', ''trulku'') is a reincarnate custodian of a specific lineage of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism who is given empowerments and trained from a young age by students of his or her predecessor.
High-profile examples ...
'', where he discusses Buddhism and his views on the
tulku
A ''tulku'' (, also ''tülku'', ''trulku'') is a reincarnate custodian of a specific lineage of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism who is given empowerments and trained from a young age by students of his or her predecessor.
High-profile examples ...
phenomenon.
''Vara: The Blessing'' (2013) opened South Korea's famed
Busan International Film Festival
The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, previously Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan (''also'' Pusan), South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festiv ...
. It was the first time that the South Korean festival has not opened with either a local Korean or a Chinese film.
''Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I Wait'', premiered at the
Locarno Festival
The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...
in 2016, and received an honourable mention from the
Platform Prize The Platform Prize is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to films of "high artistic merit that also demonstrate a strong directorial vision."[2016 Toronto International Film Festival
The 41st annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 8 to 18 September 2016. The first announcement of films to be screened at the festival took place on 26 July. Almost 400 films were shown.
Awards
The festival's final awards were ...]
.
"TIFF 2016: and the winners are..."
''Now
Now most commonly refers
to the present time.
Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to:
Organizations
* Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization
* National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization
* Now ...
'', September 18, 2016. The movie depicts a mysterious ritual in the forest where all participants are masked, was praised by critics for "its portrayal of complex Buddhist themes like transgression, by juxtaposing them on to modern topics like anonymity on the Internet.''
His latest film, Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache (2019), tells the story of a skeptical entrepreneur seeking spiritual advice consults an eccentric Buddhist monk who predicts the man's imminent death, unless he can locate an elusive lady with fangs.
Selected publications
* ''Poison is Medicine'' (2021)
* ''Living Is Dying: How to Prepare for Death, Dying and Beyond'' (2020)
* ''Best Foot Forward: A Pilgrim's Guide to the Sacred Sites of the Buddha'' (2018)
* ''The Guru Drinks Bourbon'' (2016)
* ''Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called Preliminary Practices'' (2012)
* ''Teachings on Ngöndro''
*''What Makes You Not a Buddhist'' (2008)
* ''What to do at India's Buddhist Holy Sites''
* ''Buddha Nature''
* ''Introduction to the Middle Way''
References
External links
The Activities of Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche
(links to web sites of various projects)
Gentle Voice
(online newsletter of Siddhartha's Intent)
Deer Park Institute
(India)
Interview
(originally appeared in ''Shambhala Sun
''Lion's Roar'' (previously ''Shambhala Sun'') is an independent, bimonthly magazine (in print and online) that offers a nonsectarian view of "Buddhism, Culture, Meditation, and Life". Presented are teachings from the Buddhist and other contemplat ...
'')
"To see the truth is most important"
(summary by Sonam Pelden of remarks by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norbu, Khyentse
1961 births
20th-century lamas
21st-century lamas
Bhutanese film directors
Bhutanese film producers
Living people
Khyentse incarnations
Nyingma lamas
Tibetan Buddhism writers
Tibetan Buddhists from Bhutan
Alumni of SOAS University of London