A life placed within the lineage

In Vajrayana, a lineage is not preserved by books alone. It remains alive when the Dharma is received properly, practiced sincerely, and passed on with responsibility. The life of Lama Sonam Tashi Rinpoche is closely connected with these three quiet but enduring commitments: study, practice, and service.

He currently serves as the head of Dundul Raptenling Monastery in Odisha, India, a Dudjom Tersar monastery founded by His Holiness Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche in 1963. Alongside guiding the monastic community and lay practitioners, he carries long-term responsibilities for the monastery, including the Zangdok Palri project within its grounds.

Born into a Ngakpa family

Lama Sonam Tashi Rinpoche was born on 8 November 1987 in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, into a family of the Ngakpa tradition. His father was Lama Dorje Thinley and his mother was Nyima Youdon. In this setting, Vajrayana was not an abstract subject but part of daily life, devotion, and responsibility.

In 1990, at the age of three, he went to a Dudjom monastery in Nepal to begin his education. In 1996, he entered a three-year program at Chandagiri Tibetan School. He returned to Dundul Raptenling in 1999, where he continued studying Tibetan language, Nyingma scriptures, and Dudjom Tersar ritual traditions.

Receiving the Dharma from lineage masters

His training extended far beyond literacy and ritual performance. He received empowerments, oral transmissions, and instructions from important masters of the Nyingma and Dudjom Tersar traditions, including Terchen Namkha Drimed Rabjam Rinpoche, Tulku Tsephel Rinpoche, His Holiness Chatral Rinpoche, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, Kyabje Pema Norbu Rinpoche, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Dungse Garab Rinpoche, and Dudjom Rinpoche III.

The monastery biography records that he received the Great Tröma Nagmo empowerment from Dungse Garab Rinpoche, as well as transmissions of Tröma Nagmo, Dorje Drolö, and Tara from Dudjom Rinpoche III. These details are not merely a list of names. They point to the foundation of transmission that he has sought to preserve through years of study and practice.

Within a living lineage, receiving the Dharma is not collecting teachings. It is accepting the responsibility to practice, protect one’s commitments, and transmit appropriately according to time, person, and circumstance.

 

Taking responsibility for Dundul Raptenling

In 2005, during a difficult period for the monastery, Lama Sonam Tashi Rinpoche began sharing responsibility for the community with Tulku Tsephel Rinpoche. He travelled to different regions of India to seek support for the monks’ daily needs and helped make it possible for more young monks to enter and study.

After Tulku Tsephel Rinpoche passed away in 2010, the responsibility for managing and developing the monastery fell to him. This work was never limited to teaching or leading ceremonies. It also meant caring for housing, food, education, health, and the practical conditions that allow a monastic community to continue practicing.

The monastery biography describes him as a serious Dharma practitioner, eager to serve, and trusted by those around him. The value of that description lies less in praise than in the pattern of his life: teaching, maintaining ritual traditions, caring for the monastery, and remaining present when responsibility is difficult.

Zangdok Palri and long-term work

In 2019, Dudjom Rinpoche III encouraged Lama Sonam Tashi Rinpoche to teach regularly in India and abroad, while also entrusting him with advancing the Zangdok Palri project at Dundul Raptenling. The temple is envisioned in relation to Guru Rinpoche’s Copper-Colored Mountain and as a place of learning and practice for Nyingma, Dudjom Tersar, and Chöd communities.

Alongside this work, he continues to lead Bhumtsok gatherings, retreats, and major monastery practices; guide the lay Tröma Tsogpa community in Odisha; and contribute to the compilation and publication of Dudjom Tersar ritual and study materials.

A Dharma connection with Vietnam

Lama Sonam Tashi Rinpoche began teaching in Vietnam in 2022. Through his visits and Dharma activities, Vietnamese practitioners gained more direct access to the Dudjom Tersar tradition, especially teachings and community practice connected with Tröma Nagmo Chöd.

This connection also revealed a practical need: students require accurate Vietnamese materials that respect the boundary between public teachings and instructions that may only be received through empowerment, oral transmission, and direct guidance. Translation and editorial work therefore serve not only communication, but also the careful cultivation of right understanding.

Yeshi Melong and the spirit of service

Yeshi Melong was founded and blessed under the guidance of Lama Sonam Tashi Rinpoche. Its name, “Mirror of Wisdom,” suggests that Dharma communication should help readers look into their own minds rather than simply accumulate information.

Introducing Rinpoche is therefore not an attempt to make him seem distant or unreachable. What may be most instructive in the life of a teacher is its steadiness: learning when learning is needed, practicing when practice is needed, caring for others when responsibility calls, and continuing even when circumstances are not easy.

A lineage lives through practice

Dudjom Tersar is a vast treasury of teachings, yet a treasury becomes meaningful only when it is preserved in lived experience. Through his training, his responsibilities at Dundul Raptenling, his guidance of practice communities, and his teaching journeys, Lama Sonam Tashi Rinpoche continues this work in practical ways.

For Dharma students, a teacher’s biography is not only a record of birthplace and transmissions. The deeper question is how a person places his life in relationship with the teacher, the lineage, the sangha, and sentient beings. When study and practice are joined with responsibility, the lineage is no longer only a story from the past. It is alive in the present.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Lama Sonam Tashi Rinpoche?

He is the head of Dundul Raptenling Monastery in Odisha, India, and a teacher active within the Dudjom Tersar lineage of the Nyingma tradition.

In which tradition was he trained?

He was trained primarily in the Nyingma and Dudjom Tersar traditions and has received numerous empowerments, oral transmissions, and instructions from senior lineage masters.

What is his connection with Tröma Nagmo Chöd?

He received Tröma Nagmo transmissions within Dudjom Tersar, leads related practice gatherings and retreats, and guides a Tröma Tsogpa community. Restricted practice remains dependent on proper lineage conditions.

When did he begin teaching in Vietnam?

Project materials record that he began teaching in Vietnam in 2022, establishing an increasingly meaningful connection with Vietnamese Dharma students and practitioners.

Does this article replace direct teaching?

No. This is a public biographical introduction. It does not replace empowerment, oral transmission, instruction, or personal guidance from a qualified teacher.

Sources

• Dundul Raptenling Monastery, “A Brief Biography of Lama Sonam Tashi Rinpoche,” dated 30 November 2023.
• Dudjom Tröma Chöd I, Preface and public lineage introduction, Vietnamese translation by Dorje Rinchen.
• com, official introduction to Lama Sonam Tashi Rinpoche and the mission of Yeshi Melong.