Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche was born on August 15, 1967 into an ordinary nomadic family following the herds through the four seasons in Golog, a region of Amdo. His father was the great terton Orgyen Kusum Lingpa (Lama Sang 1933-2009) and his grandfather was Walshul Lama Lhundrup Gyamtso. At that time and in that environment even the word "education" was unknown. In the area, Rinpoche's family was large with much property, but the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution took away almost everything. In that difficult time, Rinpoche family of five was under great pressureng. The only food Rinpoche had to eat were yoghurt in the summer and tsampa in the winter. when Rinpoche was about eleven or twelve for the first time he was able to eat bokchoy. Rinpoche grew up in the midst of a storm of fear and danger and was never able to go to school. He was very fascinated when listened to stories of the lives of bodhisattvas he feel like the most delicious, nutritious food for his mind and he were determined to follow the conduct of a bodhisattva right in his early; threfore love and compassion became true companions on his journey. Most of his activity were bodhisattva conduct.
In the early age Hungkar Dorje was recognized His Holiness Orgyen Kusum Lingpa, His Holiness Dodrupchen Rinpoche, Penor Rinpoche, and later by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as a reincarnation of Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje, the mind emanation of the great Nyingma Dzogchen Master Jigme Lingpa. He completed his early education in Buddhist Philosophy with his father Orgyen Kusum Lingpa, H.H. Dodrupchen, Penor Rinpoche, and Akong Khenpo. From 1990-1994 he studied towards a Geshe degree at Drepung Monastery in India. In 1994 Hungkar Dorje officially become the abbot of Lung Ngon Thubten Chokhorling Monastery in the Gande region of Golok Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. As president of the Mayul (Qinghai) Gesar Foundation for Virtuous Activity, a charity run by Tibetans in Golog, he has helped design and overseen construction of the Great Stupa for World Peace, one of the largest stupas in the world. He founded the Dharma Institute, a nine-year advanced Buddhist training program for lay people. In 2005, he founded the first Buddhist nunnery in Golok history. He has also recently established a vocational school for Tibetans.
Rinpoche teaches the Buddhist sutras and tantras in many areas of Tibet and also travels to other countries where he has numerous students.
His teachings focus particularly on kindness and compassion and he is a heartfelt advocate for vegetarianism and non-violence, and believes it is important to educate people on such subjects as harmony amongst humanity.
With the motivation to maintain Buddha Dharma and Tibetan Culture, Rinpoche has founded the Multi-Disciplinary Technical School in Golog to provide free education for people in Golog.
Rinpoche has arranged the free distribution of food and clothes a number of times each year to hundreds of monks, nuns, the poor, and aged who are in need, and also the free distribution of medicine, which has been received by thousands of lay people.
He is concerned not only with the welfare of humans, but also of all animals. He has succeeded in having an increasing number of people in Tibet and elsewhere give up hunting and selling meat and skins and has established a regular series of ransoming and saving ever-greater numbers of animals.
Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche says that as he considers himself to be a philanthropist and educator, it is his voluntary responsibility to find ways to genuinely help people. In particular, he feels that he should take responsibility and the initiative for the welfare of his own homeland in response to the conditions there.
These have proved to be not just words, for he is generally perceived to be a dedicated philanthropist that has accomplished evident beneficial results for the people of his home region and all over Tibet.
