Zasep Tulku Rinpoche
(Short Biography)

Zasep Tulku Rinpoche was born in Tibet in 1948. He was recognized as the reincarnation of the great Kargyu Lama, Kunchok Tenzing, by the Sixteenth Karmapa and Trijang Rinpoche. He was enthroned at the age of seven and again later at Sera Monastery in Llhasa, the capital of Tibet. He fled Tibet in 1959 and lived in Nepal for three years with his grandparents. While in Nepal he did all of the foundation meditation retreats. In 1963 he went to India where he met his root guru, Trijang Rinpoche, again. He lived in Dalahousie in the foothills of the Himalayas with his teacher Geshe Thubten Wangyel for seven years; in winter he did retreats and in the summer he studied Buddhist philosophy and psychology. In 1971 Rinpoche went to Varanasi Sanskrit University for three years and received his Acharya degree, (the masters degree in Buddhist philosophy and psychology). In 1975 he went to Thailand along with five other Lamas to study Vipasana and Theravada Buddhism He lived there for 18 months. Later, he was invited by Lama Yeshe to Australia to translate and teach Dharma with Geshe Thubten Loden. Geshe Loden and Zasep Rinpoche were pioneer Tibetan Lamas, the first ever resident in Australia. After being in Australia for three years, Rinpoche came to Canada; in 1980 he was invited by David Thomson University in Nelson, B.C. to teach Buddhist Philosophy and Meditation. He is the founder of Tashi Choling Buddhist Society in Nelson, B.C. Rinpoche was then invited by some Tibetan Buddhist students to Toronto. It happened that Ling Rinpoche and the Karmapa were in Toronto at the same time as Zasep Rinpoche in October 1980. Some students set up Gaden Choling and requested Zasep Rinpoche to be resident teacher blessed by Ling Rinpoche. Zasep Tulku Rinpoche lived in Toronto for 18 years. He is the spiritual director of six centers in Canada and of dharma centers in Australia and the United States. He also teaches in the U.K., Estonia, and has established the Jamseng Health Care Center in Tibet.

A longer biography of Zasep Tulku Rinpoche is available here.