Kyabje Chime Rinpoche

10.10.39 – 24.3.26

Kyabje Chime Rinpoche founded Marpa House (then Kham Tibetan House) in 1973, after being one of the first Tibetan Lamas to come to the West, arriving in Oxford with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Akong Rinpoche.

Kyabje Chime Rinpoche was born near Jyekundo, Kham, in East Tibet and was educated in Benchen Monastery. 

He received transmissions of Mahamudra from His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa and the 9th Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche, as well as Dzogchen from His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He was introduced to the essential nature of his own mind by Khenpo Gangshar.

Rinpoche was recognised by H.H. the 16th Karmapa as Radha Tulku, one of the four tulkus of Benchen Monastery in Tibet.

He was one of the first reincarnate lamas to come to the West, and has lived in England since 1965. He worked for 16 years as the curator of the Tibetan Language Collection at the British Library in London.

Rinpoche brilliantly combined Mahamudra and Dzogchen instructions and taught in an incredibly engaging and accessible way, relating to students in the West with warmth, humour, and a profound understanding of modern life.

His deep compassion, vast loving-kindness, and timeless wisdom were profoundly moving to everyone who met him. Rinpoche was one of the last direct disciples of Khenpo Gangshar and one of the last tulkus who was traditionally educated in Tibet.