The esteemed Dzogchen master His Eminence Kyabje Yongzin Mawai Wangpo Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, revered as the foremost living teacher and protector of Yungdrung Bon spiritual tradition, entered into a state of deep thukdam meditation at his retreat residence in Triten Norbutse Monastery, Kathmandu, on Thursday morning. He was 100 years old.
According to those close to him, Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche began experiencing failing health around 26 April. Medical treatments were only partially successful in addressing his condition. He passed on the 16th day of the Tibetan lunar month of Saga Dawa.
“It is with deep sorrow that I share this news. As many of you may already have heard, our beloved master, Yongdzin Rinpoche, passed into Nirvana this morning, 12 June at 7:45 a.m., in a meditative state at his retreat residence,” Khenchen Tenpa Yungdrung observed in a message posted to the website of Triten Norbutse Monastery. “His passing was peaceful, imbued with the radiant energy of love and wisdom.
“We have been profoundly fortunate to receive his precious teachings over many years and to celebrate his 100th birth anniversary earlier this year. Although this is a moment of great loss and sadness, as practitioners and followers of Rinpoche’s teachings, we should recall his wisdom and guidance, and turn our hearts toward practice and prayer.” (Triten Norbutse Monastery)
Triten Norbutse Monastery hosted a series of special events in Kathmandu in February to commemorate Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche’s 100th birthday, which included the consecration and inauguration of a new Triten Norbutse Monastery on 5–6 February.
As the most senior lineage holder in the Yungdrung Bon tradition, His Eminence earned widespread veneration over the course of his life by cementing a legacy of unbroken lineage, boundless wisdom, and tireless devotion to the preservation and flourishing of Bon.
Saga Dawa (Skt: Vaishakha), the fourth month in the Tibetan lunar calendar, is the most important Buddhist religious and cultural event of the year. The name is derived from the clan name of Shakyamuni Buddha. The occasion is also known in Tibetan as Bumgyur Dawa, “the 100,000-multiplying month,” as karma from all skillful and unskillful actions is believed to be multiplied 100,000 times. This year, Saga Dawa runs from 28 May–25 June, with Saga Dawa Duchen, the single most important day of the year for Tibetan Buddhists, commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and final passing into parinirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha, falling on 11 June, the full moon day.
In a public notice dated 12 June and shared on social media, Triten Norbutse Monastery stated:
With deep sorrow and heartfelt reverence, we announce the passing of our most beloved and revered master:
His Eminence Menri Yongdzin Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, the sovereign master of the three lineages—Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen—who throughout his extraordinary life embodied the boundless compassion and wisdom of a true Bodhisattva. His Eminence dedicated every moment of his 100 precious years to the preservation, flourishing, and transmission of Tibetan religion and culture, and especially the sacred teachings of Yungdrung Bön.
His Eminence began experiencing illness around April 26. Despite receiving all necessary medical care, the treatments brought only limited relief due to the natural effects of advanced age. Then, today—on the 16th day of the sacred Saga Dawa month in the Tibetan Wood Snake year, June 12, 2025, at 7:45 AM—at his retreat residence in Jema Ritrö, Kathmandu, Nepal, His Eminence peacefully entered parinirvana while resting in unwavering meditation, thus revealing the profound truth of impermanence.
Though His physical form has dissolved, His stainless wisdom and boundless compassion remain ever-present. Having long realized the vast expanse of Dzogchen meditation, His
Eminence transcended the confines of birth and death. Yet, for the sake of his devoted disciples, he chose to reveal this transition to inspire deeper understanding and renunciation of attachment to permanence. His enlightened activity continues uninterrupted for the benefit of all sentient beings.
To those with sincere faith, we encourage you to offer prayers and aspirations with one-pointed devotion. By doing so, blessings will certainly arise, and the enlightened intentions of the Lama will surely be fulfilled.
Tributes to His Eminence were shared widely across social media channels from devotees and students. Information regarding upcoming funerary rituals and related arrangements will be shared online in due course.
Born in the traditional Tibetan region of Kham, Rinpoche entered Tengchen Monastery at age seven, and at 15 he began studies at Yungdrung Ling, a major Bön monastery in central Tibet.
In 1948, he traveled to Menri Monastery in Tibet, where he was formally ordained, receiving the ordination name Tenzin Namdak (Guardian of the Essence of the Pure Doctrine of Buddha). Rinpoche earned his geshe degree in 1952, and was elected to the position of lopon (head teacher) at Menri that same year.
Because of growing conflicts and pressure on monastic life from the Chinese authorities, Rinpoche stepped back from his role as lopon at Menri in 1957. He remained in private retreat at Sezhig Monastery on Lake Dangra in northern Tsang until 1960.
In the wake of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising against Chinese occupation, Rinpoche attempted to escape to India, but was shot and imprisoned for 10 months by the Chinese authorities, before eventually succeeding in crossing the mountainous border into Nepal.
During his escape, Rinpoche was able to conceal precious relics and sacred objects in a cave at Lug-do Drag in the area of Tsochen, Tibet. He also carried with him volumes of the Oral Transmission of the Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyud and other texts, thus guaranteeing their preservation.
Rinpoche traveled to Himachal Pradesh, in northern India, in 1964. There he worked to establish a settlement and school in Dolanji for Bonpo refugees, and re-founded Menri Monastery to support the training of new monks. After a sufficient number of sacred texts were retrieved from Tibet and published, Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche established a traditional dialectic school at the monastery to preserve the Bonpo philosophical tradition.
In 1987, Rinpoche founded Triten Norbutse in the Kathmandu Valley, where he lived and taught for many years. Menri Monastery and Triten Norbutse Monastery are now the two principal Bon monasteries outside of Tibet, providing rigorous study in a comprehensive spectrum of Bon teachings and traditions.
Rinpoche was the first person to transmit Bon teachings in the West in 1989, including Dzogchen, the highest and most profound meditation system in the Bon tradition. Over the years, Rinpoche has made numerous excursions to give regular teachings in the West, founding a European center, Shenten Dargye Ling, in Bleu, France, in 2001, for the preservation, teaching, and practice of Yungdrung Bon.
See more
Triten Norbutse Monastery
Shenten Dargye Ling
Yungdrung Bon Monastic Centre Society
Foundation for the Preservation of Yungdrung Bon
When the Lama Passes Beyond: A Brief Explanation (Nine Ways)
Secretary Dhondul Dorjee Attends 100th Birthday Celebration of Lopon Tenzin Namdag Rinpoche in Nepal (Central Tibetan Administration)
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