Gyalten Khen Rinpoche, Abbot Lama Gaun Tashi Rapten Ling Monastery
My primary intent is to achieve the wishes of my master, H. E. Chöden Rinpoche. He was an embodiment of the Buddha’s teachings, both as a consummate scholar, and especially as a highly advanced yogi. With the force of his vision, and my ardent, continuous commitment to the Buddha, and with the help of many, many people the viability of Lama Gaun Campus and its mission to advance Buddhism worldwide is being accomplished.
Gyalten Khen Rinpoche is a founder and abbot of Lama Gaun Tashi Rapten Ling Monastery. He has been steadfast and highly dedicated to fulfilling the wishes of his master, H. E. Chöden Rinpoche in making his vision of building and securing a monastery for young monks, life-long meditators and international students to become immersed in the Buddha’s evolutionary teachings of the mind and heart. Khen Rinpoche has worked tirelessly in making the dream of Lama Gaun a reality. As abbot, he is involved in the overall direction and future growth of the monastery.
Gyalten Khen Rinpoche–Spiritual Director, Awakening Vajra International
Gyalten Khen Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner, teacher and scholar in the Gelugpa lineage tradition. He spent over twenty-five years as a very close disciple and attendant of the great master yogi and scholar H. E. Chöden Rinpoche. During this time, Rinpoche personally transmitted and trained Gyalten Khen Rinpoche (formally Geshe Gyalten) in many areas of Tibetan Buddhist studies including traditional rituals, seminal philosophies and important Vajrayana practices. He became in essence one of Rinpoche’s main “heart” sons—heir to all the outer and inner teachings of Buddhism.
Born in Bomdila, India June 27, 1966 Gyalten Khen Rinpoche, while still in his mother’s womb, received his Dharma name of Tseten Gelek (stable life and excellent virtue) from H.E. Chöden Rinpoche. This was an auspicious sign and was a preview of Khen Rinpoche’s lifelong aspiration to follow the spiritual and mind training comprehensive Buddhist path.
In 1985, he left Tibet and went to India to meet H.H. The Dalai Lama to receive lifelong guidance and his blessings. At that time, The Dalai Lama advised him to study in Dharamsala, India. Khen Rinpoche did so and mastered his studies and learned five languages: Tibetan, English, Hindi, Chinese and Italian.
Gyalten Khen Rinpoche received ordination as a monk from H. E. Chöden Rinpoche in 1990. After this Khen Rinpoche attended Sera Jé Monastery to study for his Geshe degree (PhD in Buddhist Studies.) Under Chöden Rinpoche’s masterful guidance, Khen Rinpoche learnt the Five Great Classical Treaties of Buddhist Philosophy: The Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras), Middle Way (Madhyama-pratipadā), Logic and Reasoning (Pramana-vada), Treasury of Knowledge (Vidyanidhi) and Monastic Discipline (Vinaya.) Khen Rinpoche received with honors, the Geshe degree in 2005.
In 2011, Gyalten Khen Rinpoche co-founded with H.E. Chöden Rinpoche Ananda Dharma Retreat Center in San Jose, California. In 2013, he founded and is the Spiritual Director of Awakening Vajra, a consortium of groups and centers, to advance Tibetan Buddhism in the lineage of H. E. Chöden Rinpoche. In 2019, Awakening Vajra was legally renamed Awakening Vajra International, a 501 (c)3 organization to redefine its international reach and its vision and mission to achieve multi-projects worldwide. These projects include: building Lama Gaun Tashi Rabten Ling Monastery, of which Khen Rinpoche is the Abbot, designing and building Lama Gaun School for Monks, providing medical care and wellness programs to the region around Lama Gaun through The Gyalten Health and Wellness Clinic, publishing Tibetan Buddhist books through Gyalten Publishing and Communication Group and other projects to make the world a better and more peaceful place.
Under the spiritual guidance of Gyalten Khen Rinpoche, the astute leadership of his dedicated students and the ever-present loving vision of H. E. Chöden Rinpoche, Awakening Vajra International remains a vibrant meditational community making people and the world more loving, compassionate and filled with joyful wisdom.