Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

Thrangu Rinpoche is the ninth incarnation in a lineage stretching back to the 15th century when the 7th Karmapa, Chodrak Gyatso, visited the region of Thrangu in Tibet.

The 7th Karmapa established Thrangu monastery and enthroned Sherap Gyaltsen as the first Thrangu Rinpoche, recognising him as the re-established emanation of Shuwu Palgyi Sengey, one of the twenty-five great siddha disciples of Guru Rinpoche, Padmasambhava.

Rinpoche received full ordination from H.H. Karmapa when he was 23 years old. He left for India at the time of the communist invasion of Tibet and was called to Rumtek, Sikkim, where the Karmapa had his seat in exile. At 35, he took the Geshe examination before 1500 monks and was awarded the degree of Geshe Lharampa. Rinpoche is the Abbot of Rumtek Monastery and the Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies at Rumtek

Thrangu Rinpoche has founded Namo Buddha retreat centre and monastic college, Thrangu Tashi Choling Monastery in Boudanath, Nepal, Tara Abbey nunnery in Swayambunath, a school in Boudanath for the education of lay children and young monks and nuns and the Vajra Vidya Institute, a school of Buddhist Studies for lay and monastic students in Sarnath, India.

Rinpoche is a recognised master of Mahamudra and a great scholar with a vast knowledge of Dharma. He has established numerous centres throughout he world to which he travels to give teachings.

After the escape from Tibet to India of the 17th Karmapa, Ugyen Trinley Dorje, His Holiness the Dalai Lama appointed Thrangu Rinpoche as the Karmapa's personal tutor.


A Brief History of Thrangu House

Thrangu Rinpoche first came to England in 1979 to teach Buddhism. Some of the people who had attended Rinpoche’s teachings here and in Nepal (where he established a monastery in exile) donated money to buy a small house in Oxford during 1981.

The first Thrangu House had a shrine room for Rinpoche and visiting teachers to stay. A small group of people attended the centre. In 1986 a bigger house was bought in Bullingdon Road and teachers came to give seminars and the community grew.

Today we are established in Magdalen Road and after over 30 years in Oxford we have a large shrine room to accommodate 100 people for teachings, meditation and yoga practice. In 2001, Rinpoche sent Lama Wangyal to Oxford to teach meditation and give spiritual guidance at Thrangu House. In 2019 Lama Wangyal retired and in 2022 Rinpoche sent Lama Tsering Tashi to Thrangu House to take up the role of Resident Lama.