Kagyu Thegchen Ling

Resident Lamas

Lama Karma Rinchen

Lama Karma Rinchen was born in 1931 in Eastern Tibet. At the age of eleven he entered Palpung monastery to study basic meditation, Buddhist doctrine and astrology. At sixteen he entered the three year, three month retreat, practicing the Six Yogas of Naropa. At nineteen, he moved to Tsurphu monastery, the seat of H. H. The Karmapa, the lineage head of the Karma Kagyu. The monastery is located near Lhasa. At Tsurphu, Lama Rinchen pursued another year of intensive meditation and study, which was then followed by a period of learning in logic and debate at the Gelugpa monastery of Drepung.

In 1959 he fled Tibet, traveling to Sonada monastery in Darjeeling, India where he studied with Kalu Rinpoche. In 1961-64 Lama went to Dharamsala where he was one of two representatives for Eastern Tibet in the government-in-exile of His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. He then returned to Sonada to help with the contstruction of the stupa and monastery there.

When this project was finished, Kalu Rinpoche assigned Lama Rinchen to become the Resident Lama of the Hawai`i Dharma Centers. Lama Rinchen arrived in Hawai‘i in 1977. From then until 1982, he was in charge of the Honolulu and Maui Centers. As they grew and prospered, Lama asked Kalu Rinpoche to send an assistant. Rinpoche agreed, sending Lama Tenzin to become the Resident Lama of the Maui Dharma Center.

In 1982, Lama was given land on Maui, which he used to create the Stupa and Retreat Center at Kanaio. In 1992, Lama re-founded the Kauai Dharma Center, which he currently directs along with the one in Honolulu.

Lama Tempa Gyeltshen

Lama Tempa was born in Eastern Bhutan in 1966. Behind his village, at the top of a mountain, was a small Nyingma temple, and Lama Tempa lived there with an uncle between the ages of three and seven.

At the age of nine, Lama Tempa went to live with another local Lama. He studied the dharma with other students and lived there, with that Lama, until he was sixteen.

In 1987, Lama Tempa met Kalu Rinpoche at his monastery in Sonada,
Darjeeling, India. He worked on the 100-foot stupa built by Kalu Rinpoche at Salugara, India.

In 1991, Lama Tempa entered a three year retreat. When he came out, he went back for another three years, looking for a more profound understanding. After he came out of that retreat, he met Lama Rinchen, and Lama Rinchen invited Lama Tempa to come to Hawai`i, which he did in September of 1999.