Lama Zopa Rinpoche appointed Abbot of Lhungtok Choekhorling Monastery

We are extremely happy to be able to share this wonderful news with you!
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has appointed Khen Rinpoche Geshe Thubten Chonyi as the new abbot of Lhungtok Choekhorling Monastery, which also had our first abbot Geshe Ciampa Gyatso among its teachers. Another sign of how close this project is to our invaluable spiritual guide, who has assigned us the same Abbot of the Kopan Monastery and Nunnery.

The conditions have finally matured for us monks and nuns to have the presence and qualified guidance of the Abbot, who will help us grow and keep the sangha united in this extremely important moment for the constitution of the Monastery.

We proceeded to send Khen Rinpoche our thanks and an official invitation request for a first meeting with the Sangha and to visit the Monastery hill.
Below is his biography.

KHEN RINPOCHE

Born in Nepal in 1962, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Thubten Chonyi joined Kopan Monastery after being ordained as a monk by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1974. He studied in Kopan for six years also with Geshe Ciampa Gyatso: the mind and mental factors , the philosophical schools, terrains and paths, the 70 subjects, Pramanavartika and Tibetan grammar.

He was later admitted to Sera Je Monastery in South India where, after 18 years of intense study and debate, he was awarded the highest academic degree bestowed in the Gelugpa monastic tradition, Geshe Lharampa.

After completing his training in Sera Je, Khen Rinpoche studied and completed his tantra studies, finishing first in his class, at the Gyudmed Tantric College. Gyudmed Monastery is one of the two main monastic colleges specializing in the Buddhist Tantra teachings of the Gelugpa tradition.

Since 1999, on the recommendation of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, he has been the resident teacher of the Amitabha Buddhist Center in Singapore and since 14 July 2011 he has been appointed abbot of the Kopan Monastery and Nunnery in Nepal. 

Since 2011 Khen Rinpoche has been on the board of FPMT Inc.

For those who want to learn more, Khen Rinpoche tells his story on the FPMT YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/vifeuuAMbzg
Translation into Italian by Ven. Siliana Bosa, Sangha Onlus Association.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi (right), May 2020. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.