Bokar Rinpoche was born in Tibet in the year of the Iron Dragon (1940) into a nomadic family of horse, yak, goat, and sheep breeders. He was four years old when His Holiness Karmapa the Sixteenth, head of the Kagyupa school, recognized him as a tulku reincarnation of the previous Bokar Rinpoche. Educated first at the monastery founded by his previous reincarnation, he pursued his training in Tsurphu, the seat of the Karmapas. At a very young age, he took charge of the Bokar community in Western Tibet, not far from Mount Kailash, which is one of the most important sacred places of Hinduism and Buddhism. The Chinese invasion caused him to go into exile when he was in his twenties. After many hardships, he was able, with those who choose to follow him, to reach Mustang in Northern Nepal, and then India. In India he met Kalu Rinpoche. He became Kalu Rinpoche’s chief disciple. Bokar Rinpoche twice accomplished the traditional three-year and three-month retreat in Sonada, the Indian monastery of Kalu Rinpoche located not far from Darjeeling. Bokar Rinpoche’s remarkable qualities caused him to be chosen by Kalu Rinpoche to direct the retreat centers in Sonada, and by His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa to take charge of the retreat center of Rumtek, the new seat of the Karmapas in Sikkim, an Indian territory between Nepal and Bhutan. In Mirik, Bokar Rinpoche also founded a monastery and retreat center dedicated to Kalachakra practice. Those duties make him one of the main masters of meditation of the Kagyupa school. Bokar Rinpoche takes great care in the preservation and transmission of the Buddha’s teachings in our difficult and troubled time. He strives to do so in three areas: - for exiled Tibetans, by directing studies and practice in his monastery in Mirik and by helping, as much as possible, the monasteries of Sonada and Rumtek. - for the Tibetans in Tibet, by reconstructing his monastery in Bokar, ordaining monks, and starting a retreat center. - for Westerners, by each winter conducting a seminar of apprenticeship for meditation especially designed for them.

Bokar Rinpoché suddenly died in 2004. During the funeral ceremonies present were: His Eminence Gyaltsap Rinpoche and monks from his monastery, monks from His Holiness Karmapa’s seat at Rumtek, His Eminence Jamgon Kontrul Rinpoche, and Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche, as well as Drupon Rinpoche, who accompanied Karmapa out of Tibet, and many other lamas. Numerous students from all over the world made the journey. Rinpoche’s kind presence will be deeply missed by both his Asian and Western disciples.