Sogyal Rinpoche

Sogyal Rinpoche (Tibetan: བསོད་རྒྱལ་, Wylie: Bsod-rgyal) is a Tibetan Dzogchen lama of the Nyingma tradition. He is the founder of Rigpa and the author of the popular book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Born c. 1950 in the region of Kham, in Eastern Tibet, he was recognized as the incarnation of Lerab Lingpa Tertön Sogyal, a teacher to the thirteenth Dalai Lama, by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, of the Rime movement. Jamyang Khyentse raised Sogyal Rinpoche.

In 1971 Sogyal Rinpoche went to England where he received a Western education, studying Comparative Religion at Cambridge University. He continued to study with many masters, of all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, especially His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche and His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

In 1991 he established the retreat centre of Lerab Ling near Montpellier in southern France.

In 1994 a civil suit was filed against Sogyal Rinpoche. The suit alleged that over a period of 19 years, Rinpoche had used his position as a spiritual leader to induce some of his female students to have coitus with him. The complaint included counts of intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of fiduciary duty, as well as assault and battery. In December 1995 the lawsuit was settled through mediation.[1]

External links

• Rigpa
• Lerab Ling
• Dzogchen Beara
• The Center for Wisdom and Compassion in America
• The Spiritual Care Programme
• The Rigpa Shedra
• Best-selling Buddhist author accused of sexual abuse

Bibliography

• The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, by Sogyal Rinpoche ISBN 0-06-250834-2
• The Spirit of Buddhism: The Future of Dharma in the West, by Sogyal Rinpoche ISBN 0-06-053995-X
• A Marvelous Garland of Precious Gems, by Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche
• "The Precious One", by Mick Brown, Telegraph Magazine, 2 February 1995, pp.20-29.