Teachers at DharmaSun

Originally from Mugum, Khenpo Pema Namgyal received the vows of a novice monk when he was eight years old.  After successfully completing both his basic monastic training and nine years of scholarly advanced Buddhist education in Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling’s shedra or ‘monastic college,’ Pema Namgyal was awarded his khenpo degree designating him as a senior monastic professor, the Western equivalent of a ‘Professor of Divinity.’ Thereafter, Khenpo Pema Namgyal was assigned the responsibility of lecturing daily in the monastic college.

Noticing his astute intellect and gentle nature, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche requested him to move to Nagi Gompa Nunnery to serve as Tulku Urgyen Yangsi Rinpoche’s private tutor.  When Yangsi Rinpoche was old enough, he enrolled in the monastery’s 9-year monastic shedra program. This freed Khenpo Pema Namgyal to occasionally teach summer classes at the Centre for Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute located on the monastery premises. In addition to being conversant in English, highly learned, and well-versed in Buddhist philosophy, Khenpo’s friendly, easy-going manner puts Westerners at ease. As an RYI teacher, he is not afraid to delve deeply into the profundities of a given treatise. In recent years, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche has chosen Khenpo Pema Namgyal to serve as his trusted travel aide and close personal attendant.