Dr. Akong Tulku Rinpoche

Born in 1940, near Riwoche in Kham, Eastern Tibet, he was discovered at a very young age by the search party seeking the reincarnation of the previous (1st) Akong, Abbot of Dolma Lhakang Monastery near Chakdado, in the Chamdo area of Kham. The search party was following precise instructions given by HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, Supreme Head of the Karma Kamtsang tradition.  Around the age of four, he was taken to Drolma Lhakang and was enthroned as the 2nd Akong, Karma Shedrup Chokyi Nyima Trinley Kunchab Pal Zangpo Sok Le Nampar Gyalwe De, known as Akong Tulku Rinpoche. Besides his religious studies, the young Akong Tulku also trained in traditional Tibetan medicine.

In his youth he engaged in retreat practice and meditation, he continued to specialise in the study of medicine. The teenage Akong Tulku Rinpoche travelled as Abbot into the wider community performing religious ceremonies and bringing benefit to his followers. He then went to the great monastic university of Shechen, where he received transmission of the quintessential Mahamudra Kagyu Buddhist lineage, as well as many other teachings, from the 2nd Kongtrul Rinpoche of Shechen. His spiritual training as a holder of the Kagyu lineage was further completed under the guidance of HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, who bestowed on him the title “Choje” or “Dharma Arya” and also certified him as a teacher of Tibetan medicine. Akong Tulku Rinpoche received teachings from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Shechen Khenpo Gangshar and Surmang Trungpa Rinpoche. Akong Tulku Rinpoche held many lineages of the Nyingma tradition.

In 1959, due to political changes in Tibet, he fled to India in an arduous ten-month journey as one of the leaders of a 300-strong party, of which only 13 people made it safely to India. After spending time in refugee camps, along with some other lamas, he looked after the Young Lamas’ Home School in Dalhousie, NW India. This was a place where young reincarnate lamas from all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism could receive an education.
Through the kind help of Freda Bedi, later to become Sister Palmo, he and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche sailed to England in 1963 to learn English in Oxford. Since Akong Tulku Rinpoche did not have a study bursary, he worked for some years as a simple hospital orderly, supporting himself, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Tulku Chime Rinpoche in the small apartment they shared.

Rinpoche spent the next 25 years (1963–1988) introducing the West to Buddhism and aspects of Tibetan culture. By so doing, he ensured that a wealth of material from Asia’s finest and extraordinary traditions survived in perpetuation as a living tradition. This work was centred around the development of the Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre in Scotland, co-founded by Akong Tulku Rinpoche and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche this was the first Tibetan Buddhist Centre in the West. After Trungpa Rinpoche’s departure in 1970, Akong Rinpoche took over the leadership and direction of Kagyu Samye Ling, which developed into a place of peace and spirituality with a strong emphasis on active, selfless compassion. Since Kagyu Samye Ling’s inception it has drawn visitors from all over the world.  Akong Tulku Rinpoche’s activities encompassed three major areas: spiritual, therapy and charity.

The interest which many therapists and physicians showed in Akong Tulku Rinpoche’s medical and therapeutic Buddhist skills led to the development of an innovative system of therapy, now thriving under the name of ‘Tara Therapy’. The seeds of this therapy were sown during the hardest period of Akong Tulku Rinpoche’s life. From 1967 onwards, individuals began approaching him for help, and drawing on his own profound experience of hardship — the loss of everything familiar, his struggle for survival, and the radical transformation of his circumstances — he guided them with deep compassion and skill through his precious teachings and meditations. Over the years, this heartfelt response to human suffering grew into a fully established system of therapy.

In 1980, together with the Swiss actress Lea Wyler and her father, the eminent lawyer Dr. Veit Wyler, Akong Tulku Rinpoche established the humanitarian aid organisation ROKPA International, the motto of which is: “Helping where help is needed.”
The Lothlorien Community was established in 1989 with a community-based approach to mental health. A four-year professional therapeutic training programme in the Tara Rokpa Therapy Process began in 1993, and since then numerous therapists have gained the qualification to teach Akong Tulku Rinpoche’s unique therapy method.

Akong Tulku Rinpoche’s main activity in the 1990s concerned the expansion of his humanitarian activities, principally in Nepal and the Tibetan areas of China, but also in Europe and Southern Africa, where he established several soup kitchens to feed the homeless in major cities.

In 2001, a project for the preservation of the Tibetan medical tradition was established and continues in Edinburgh, where a qualified Tibetan doctor gives treatment and dispenses Tibetan medical remedies. Training is given for the preservation of endangered medicinal herbs and roots, with a strong commitment to making this precious tradition available to as many people as possible.

He brought well over 100 projects into existence in the Tibetan Autonomous Region and the Four Provinces, each project being either a school for orphans, a clinic, a medical college, a self-help initiative or a programme to maintain the Tibetan culture and environment. It is estimated that each year ROKPA supports around 10,000 people, many of whom are orphans or from the poorest family backgrounds.

In Nepal, working mainly with ROKPA International’s Vice President Lea Wyler, Akong Tulku Rinpoche established an important project which feeds the hungry through the winter months. This has expanded to incorporate a clinic, women’s self-help workshops and the building of a large children’s home for street children and the destitute.  ROKPA has offices in twenty countries, where hundreds of volunteers are raising funds for over one hundred and fifty ROKPA projects in the Tibetan areas of China, as well as in Nepal, Zimbabwe and South Africa. ROKPA has been acknowledged for its work by notable organisations such as the Red Cross and the World Wildlife Fund.

In 1992, Akong Tulku was one of the main people to discover the reincarnation of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa and he played a very important role in first finding him, then taking him to the Karmapa seat at Tolung Tsurpu Monastery, and later arranging the visit of the two Regents — the 12th Tai Situpa and the 9th Goshir Gyatsabpa — who gave him the naming ceremony and later enthroned him formally as the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, Urgyen Drodul Tinley Dorje.

Akong Tulku Rinpoche’s achievements have been formally recognised through numerous awards and honorary positions, a few of which are mentioned here. He was an honorary guest speaker at the International Conferences on Buddhism, Tibetan Medicine and Charity; in 1993 he was made Advisor to the School for Disabled Minorities in Lhasa; in 2008 he was made Religious Advisor to the Buddhist Society of Satham, Yunnan; and in 2009 he was appointed Advisor to the Medical College of Qinghai University.

In 2011, Akong Tulku Rinpoche was chosen as a recipient of the ’60 Years, 6 People’ accolade, in which the British Home Secretary honoured former refugees who have made an inspiring and meaningful contribution to Britain.
Rinpoche authored 3 books, the first of which, ‘Taming the Tiger’, has been translated into 17 languages. He also presented several papers on Buddhism, medicine, charity and therapy and was interviewed extensively by worldwide media.

Akong Tulku Rinpoche was a guiding light in the transmission and preservation of Buddhism. His work has been profoundly influential in establishing Tibetan Buddhism’s place in Western society and culture, both through his extensive projects and also through activities such as being the first Tibetan lama in Europe licensed to perform weddings and funerals.

Before leaving for India in 2013, Akong Rinpoche set all his affairs in order and requested the help of all those who would play a leading part in Samye Ling’s future. In a letter before his death, Akong Rinpoche entrusted the recognition of his next incarnation solely to the Gyalwang Karmapa Urgyen Trinley Dorje.
Akong Tulku Rinpoche died in Chengdu, China on the 8th of October 2013.

For further information on his remarkable work, a book named after a favourite slogan of Akong — Only The Impossible is Worth Doing: Recollections of the Supreme Life and Activity of Choje Akong — was released posthumously in 2014.