Jinpa Gyatso Rinpoche

Master Jinpa was born in the village district of Patan in Kathmandu, Nepal, a place where the Newar people gather, often called a settlement of the Shakya clan. A month after his birth his mother passed away; at that time there were no hospitals in Nepal.

To be without a mother is very hard for a child — no food, no love, no milk; people said that as the mother had died, so would he. Later his father prayed sincerely to the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and a miracle occurred: he lived, and was afterwards raised by his grandmother.

From childhood Master Jinpa was recognized as the reincarnation of the seventh Karmapa, and so is called a tulku. As a child he studied the Dharma with his father, himself a master who prayed for the blessing of others. Master Jinpa later took ordination at a Shakya-clan monastery in Nepal, and at twelve went to a monastery near the Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu to study Vajrayāna Buddhism.

Master Jinpa took Chokyi Lingpa Rinpoche as his root guru and has followed him from childhood for more than forty years. In the course of studying Vajrayāna Buddhism he undertook many practices and spent eight years in retreat at Guru Padmasambhava's sacred sites in the Himalayas — emphasizing silence, abstaining from the internet, and not cutting his hair without his guru's permission — engaging in the most original form of practice.

The Master currently serves as abbot of the Jyatha Galli monastery in Lalitpur, in the Patan district of Nepal, continuing to spread the good Dharma and acts that benefit beings.