Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche was one of the foremost living teachers of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, a great scholar and master of meditation who traveled the world teaching in Buddhism centres everywhere.
In his late teens and early twenties he trained as a yogin in Tibet with a local yogin known as Zopa Tharchin. He spent his early youth in retreat in the mountains until his teacher told him to study for the benefit of others. A renowned scholar, he excelled in philosophical debate and always aimed to turn the minds of his opponents and students towards their own inner experience rather than getting lost in intellectual fabrications.
After the communist invasion of Tibet, Khenpo Rinpoche fled to India in 1960. He spent many years in Bhutan as a wandering yogin, meditating in caves and hermitages. In 1975 he was asked by the sixteenth Karmapa, head of the Kagyu tradition, to be abbot of the main Kagyu centre in France. However he asked instead to be allowed to travel and help people everywhere.
Ever since he led a truly simple, homeless life; he was a master of non-attachment. Many times he refused to accept property to build Buddhist centres and he regularly gave away all of his money. Khenpo Rinpoche demonstrated the carefree life of a yogin, singing spontaneous songs of realisation wherever he went, devoted only to the welfare of others.
After the deaths of Trungpa Rinpoche and Khyentse Rinpoche, Khenpo Rinpoche was Rigdzin Shikpo’s main source of guidance and directed Rigdzin Shikpo’s three year retreat in Oxford. Following this, and in recognition of his realisation, Khenpo Rinpoche gave him the title Rigdzin Shikpo. Rigdzin means Knowledge Holder (vidyadhara in sanskrit) and Shikpo means beyond concepts.
Parinirvana of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche
It is with great sadness that we learned on June 22, 2024, that Khenpo Tsultrum Gyamtso passed into parinirvana. Khenpo Tsultrim was an important person for our lineage, one of five of the great Tibetan teachers who transmitted the lineage of teachings to Rigdzin Shikpo, which form the power house of teachings and transmission and authenticity which form the life blood of the Longchen Foundation as a living tradition in the West.
Rigdzin Shikpo once said of Khenpo Tsultrim by way of introduction at a public talk. When you read about Tibet in old books there are stories of great Yogins who have remarkable realization, can accomplish remarkable feats, and importantly can transmit the nature of mind to others. In actual fact there are very few of such people still alive today, but Khenpo Tsultrim is one such person, and he is here with us right now.
Importantly Khenpo Tsultrim personally supervised Rigdzin Shikpo’s traditional retreat, visiting regularly to give the necessary teachings and transmissions and confirmation of completion. On completion of the three year retreat Khenpo Tsultrim conferred the title of Rigdzin Shikpo, he emphasized this was no ordinary dharma name, but an acknowledgement of his accomplishment. On another occasion, he said he had transmitted everything to Rigdzin Shikpo, and not held back, like one jug of water pouring into another, with nothing lost.
Following Rigdzin Shikpo’s retreat Khenpo Tsultrim would continue to visit the Longchen Foundation and give teachings to the students of the Longchen Foundation on a range of topics, both publically, and privately to the senior teachers. During the last few visits Khenpo Tsultrim would visit North Wales and stay at Ty’n y gors. A house owned by Rigdzin Shikpo, that he used for teaching the Vajrayana and giving Vajrayana empowerments. Khenpo Tsultrim liked this place, and named it Shikling, the place where thoughts would collapse, and he said it was a place suitable for practicing Vajrayana, and that generations of Shikpos and Shikmos would gain realization there.
Rigdzin Shikpo composed the following supplication For the Long Life and continued connection with Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche.
Tireless Rider of the Storms of the Ocean of Samsara,
Composed by Rigdzin Shikpo in March 1997
Saviour of those Lost and Dying in its Waves,
You always remain effortlessly in the Anasrava Mahasukha,
A Feat Inconceivable to our Conceptual Minds!
Displayer of the Banner of the Enlightened Activities of the Three Secrets,
Making no Distinction between High and Low, Inside or Outside,
Essence of all the Three Jewels and the Three Roots,
Please never cease to be our Captain and our Guide!
Longchen Foundation students singing Khenpo Tsultrim’s song Auspiciousness
Through all of this auspiciousness
Wherever its light may be seen
With the love and the compassion
That make bodhicitta mind supreme
May this thought arise in everyone: “Other beings’ happiness is as important as my own”
And may excellent virtue and auspiciousness
Always increase, never diminish!