Eighty-five years ago, Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche was born in Dege, Kham province in Eastern Tibet. As a youth, Khenchen left home to study and practice Dharma in central Tibet, and it was there where he met his root master, His Holiness/Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Khenchen served this great master for over ten years, receiving countless transmissions and pointing-out instructions. Later in 1959, due to the Cultural Revolution, Khenchen fled Tibet with Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche and arrived in Bhutan and India. There, Khenchen continued his studies with the greatest masters of the time, including Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche, the great Khenpo Tsundru, and many others.
Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche and Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche eventually asked Khenchen to go to Namdroling Monastery in south India to assist Kyabje Penor Rinpoche in establishing the Nyingma Institute for Higher Studies. Under the initial guidance of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, Khenchen Pema Sherab, Khenchen Namdrol, and Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso became the principal instructors and abbots of the university, or shedra.
For over forty years, these masters guided and facilitated the curriculum for thousands of students. To date, over five hundred extensively educated khenpos have graduated from this institution, and thousands of teachers and spiritual masters have emerged to spread across the world, ensuring the security of the doctrine and benefit for countless beings.
Following this in 1996, Khenchen was sent to Tibet to establish a similar shedra at the primary or “mother” Palyul Monastery. Khenchen accomplished the same success there and went on to do the same in Nyingma monasteries throughout Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, and India. Following the paranirvana of Kyabje Penor Rinpoche in 2009, Khenchen also took the sole responsibility to bestow monastic vows upon thousands of monks and nuns in India, Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan.
Since 1998, Khenchen began traveling to many countries to propagate the dharma’s message of love, compassion, wisdom, and the path to enlightenment. He has taught extensively in France, Germany, Belgium, Russia, England, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau.
The genuine qualities of Kyabje Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche are too profound to describe in this short biography, but suffice it to say there are few who can rival the depth and breadth of knowledge possessed by this living master. Outwardly, he observes the pure morality of a perfect bhikkshu, or monastic; inwardly, he practices the loving compassionate way of life of the bodhisattvas such as Avalokiteshvara; and secretly, he carries forward the Vajrayana practices, including Dzogchen, like Buddha Vajrapani. He is a true upholder of the Three Vows.
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