Ex-Abbot of Kopan Monastery

Geshe Lhundrup Rigsel was born in Tibet in 1941, to a poor peasant family. He joined Sera Monastery while still a boy, and in 1959 fled from the Chinese invasion to India. In Buxa, the refugee camp in Northern India where many of the monks were sent by the Indian government, he met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa, and studied with the great masters such as Geshe Rabten and others.

In the late sixties he was sent by the Abbot of the exiled Sera Monastery to South India to start clearing land for the new monastery there. In 1972 he was called to Kopan by the late Lama Yeshe, to teach philosophy to the Kopan monks for three months. He stayed for 40 years. 

Khensur Lama Lhundrup (1940-2011) tirelessly offered his service to accomplish the wishes of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche for almost 40 years at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. During those years, he touched the lives of thousands of students, taking care of the monks and nuns of Kopan as well as international Dharma students. In January 2011, he received a diagnosis of advanced stomach cancer. In July 2011, he stepped down of as abbot of Kopan.

A Memorial Stupa For Khensur Lama Lhundrup

After Lama Lhundrup's passing, Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised to build a 1000 Buddha Relic Stupa on the grounds of Kopan Monastery for the quick return of the incarnation.  This stupa has now been completed and was consecrated in May 2013, with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Dagri Rinpoche in attendance. Lama Zopa Rinpoche also advised that a large Mahabodhi style stupa should be built at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery. The plans for this stupa have now been completed, and the project is now open for donations to all students and friends of Khensur Lama Lhundrup.

Read more on the memorial stupa for Khensur Lama Lhundrup.

More on Khensur Lama Lhundrup's life and death

~  Watch this video of Khensur Lama Lhundrup teaching >>