Lodrö Tulku Rinpoche

A master from Eastern Tibet


Lodrö Tulku Rinpoche (Jampa Namgyäl) was born in 1942 in the eastern Tibetan village of Dahor and was recognised by tradition as the sixth reincarnation in the lineage of the Lodrö Rinpoches. He enjoyed a monastic education in the Gelugpa tradition in eastern Tibet and at the S eraje Monastic University in Lhasa. In 1959, the young Lodrö Rinpoche and a group of other monks were forced to make a gruelling escape from Chinese-occupied Tibet. Many of his family members and companions lost their lives.

After arriving in India, he continued his studies and quickly learnt English at a Christian missionary school. In 1967, he and five other monks were sent to Switzerland by the 14th Dalai Lama to look after the Tibetan diaspora, where they moved into the newly founded Tibet Institute in Rikon ZH, Switzerland. He worked there for many years as a Buddhist counsellor. Thanks to his good knowledge of German and English, he served as a translator for various Tibetan masters and developed his own teaching activities.

Teaching in Switzerland


Soon a predominantly western student body formed around him, which he taught at various centres in German- and French-speaking Switzerland. On invitation, he taught in Germany, Italy, Spain, Singapore, India and Mongolia, among other places.

At the turn of the millennium, he opened the Samdup Dolma Ling meditation centre in Erlenbach on Lake Zurich, where he has lived ever since. The Ganden Chökhor meditation centre in the art nouveau hotel in the forest near the mountain hamlet of Pradaschier, above Churwalden in the canton of Graubünden, was created in 2010 from a series of retreats on Chöd practice over several years, which he teaches intensively as his speciality. The centre has gained an international reputation thanks to Rinpoche's teachings, particularly in the area of Chöd practice and attracts renowned buddhist scholars to teach from all around the world.

In 2023, Rinpoche was invited to the Seraje Monastic University in southern India for a teaching cycle on Chöd practice, where he introduced around 800 students to Chöd practice over a two-week period.


Translation work


Based on his lectures, Lodrö Tulku Rinpoche has published various writings with a special focus on Chöd and Tara practice. His works have been translated into English, Spanish and Italian.


Rinpoche in the local media