About Khenpo
Lineage
- In 1985, Khenpo was ordained at the Larung Gar Five Sciences Buddhist Academy, a major center for the study of Tibetan Buddhism founded by His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche.
- From an aerial view, the entire area of Larung Gar resembles a red lotus blossoming amidst the snow-capped mountains. Larung Gar is regarded as a sacred site, carrying the blessings of generations of eminent masters. Historically, thirteen accomplished masters attained the realization of the "rainbow body" at this very place.
- The Academy's motto: "Unity & Harmony, Pure Precepts, Study-Contemplation-Practice, and Spreading the Dharma For the Benefit of All Sentient Beings."
- The curriculum encompasses both Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhist traditions. The Exoteric studies include the Five Great Treatises, while the Esoteric teachings cover training in the Generation Stage, Completion Stage, and Dzogchen (Great Perfection) practices. The Academy also offers programs in the Five Sciences, such as Tibetan medicine, astronomy, grammar, and poetry.
- Over the past eighty years, the Academy has trained hundreds of Khenpos and Khenmos (male and female Buddhist scholars), who have established Dharma centers around the world to spread the Buddha's wisdom and compassion.
- His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche and Khenpo Sodargye uphold the spirit of "Rimé" (non-sectarianism), treating all students and visitors equally, regardless of their monastic or lay status, gender, ethnic background, or educational level.
- The Academy has grown into one of the world's largest and most influential centers for the study of Tibetan Buddhism.
Dharma Teaching Journey
Since 1987, Khenpo has embarked on his journey of Dharma teaching. The curriculum begins with foundational teachings on character development, progresses to introductory Mahayana courses including classics like The Way of the Bodhisattva and The Words of My Perfect Teacher, then advances to formal studies such as the Five Great Treatises, and culminates in Esoteric practices like Dzogchen. This has formed a comprehensive curriculum series encompassing both Exoteric and Esoteric Mahayana teachings.
- Over 10,000 teachings delivered.
- More than 4,000 teachings recorded on videos and transcribed.
- This site offers a complete multilingual library that is continuously updated.
A Bridge between Languages
Time has changed
For over three decades, Khenpo has dedicated himself to building a bridge between the Tibetan and Chinese languages. His translation work includes:
- Sutras, shastras, commentaries, sadhanas, and other Exoteric and Esoteric classics
- Over 100 works translated to date
A Prolific Pen
Khenpo has authored over 500 works with a total word count exceeding 50 million Chinese characters, covering essential Buddhist teachings and practical wisdom for modern life. Many of his works have sold over 100,000 copies, and more than 20 have been translated into foreign languages, reaching readers worldwide.
A Model Scholar
Since 2010, Khenpo has visited and lectured at over 100 universities and colleges worldwide. He engages in profound discussions with young people on timeless themes such as happiness, compassion, wisdom, and how these values can be integrated into modern life.
Vajra Master
As a lineage holder of the Dzogchen tradition, Khenpo is empowered to transmit Vajrayana teachings and practices, including Lama Yangtik, The Seven Treasures, The Trilogy of Finding Comfort and Ease, The Trilogy of Natural Freedom, and Peaceful Manjushri.
Living Altruism
For decades, Khenpo has translated his altruistic vow into tangible action.
Educational Initiatives
- Sponsoring numerous underprivileged students to complete university education
- Establishing libraries to enhance cultural literacy
- Founding non-profit schools in regions lacking educational resources
Healthcare Services
- Establishing Tibetan medicine clinics to serve local communities
- Leading initiatives for the prevention and treatment of various illnesses, including echinococcosis, gynecological conditions, and HIV/AIDS
Cultural Preservation & Heritage
- Founded a large-scale traditional Tibetan costume museum
- Collecting traditional garments from different Tibetan regions, documenting their history and cultural significance, and publishing this research in comprehensive volumes
- Preserving and promoting Tibetan traditional culture
༄༅། །མཁན་ཆེན་བསོད་དར་རྒྱས་ཞབས་བརྟན་གསོལ་འདེབས། །
Longevity Prayer for Khenchen Sonam Dargye
དཔལ་ལྡན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་སྙིང་ལ་ཞུགས། །
palden lamé jinlab nying la zhuk
The blessings of the glorious Master have entered your heart,
རིས་མེད་འགྲོ་ལ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཆར་ཆེན་འབེབས། །
rimé dro la chö kyi char chen beb
So that great showers of dharma pour down upon all beings impartially,
བསླབ་གསུམ་མཛོད་འཆང་བསོད་ནམས་དར་རྒྱས་མཆོག །
lab sum dzö chang sönam dargyé chok
Venerable Sonam Dargye you hold the treasury of the three trainings.
སྐུ་ཚེ་མི་འགྱུར་ཡུན་དུ་བཞུགས་གསོལ་འདེབས། །
kutsé mingyur yündu zhuk soldeb
We pray that you will remain stable in this world for a long time to come!
ཐུགས་བསྐྱེད་རི་བོང་འཛིན་པའི་འོད་སྣང་གིས། །
tukkyé ribong dzinpé ö nang gi
Through the illuminating moon-like light of your enlightened intent,
ལྔ་བདོའི་མུན་པ་དབྱིངས་སུ་བསྙིལ་ནུས་ཤོག །
nga dö münpa ying su nyil nü shok
May you have the potential to eradicate the darkness of the five dregs in basic space!