Khensur Rinpoche Nicholas Vreeland
Venerable Khensur Nicholas Vreeland is the Director of The Tibet Center. He holds a Ser Tri Geshe Degree from Rato Dratsang, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Karnataka, India, where he studied for 15 years. In 1998, he returned to New York City to assume administrative and teaching responsibilities. He is the editor of the books, An Open Heart, a New York Times best seller, and the recently released, A Profound Mind, both authored by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Khensur Rinpoche has been a photographer since he was 13 years old, and assisted Irving Penn and Richard Avedon. The recent exhibition of his work, entitled Photos for Rato, toured major cities around the world and raised most of the funds needed for the construction of Rato Monastery’s new campus and temple, which was inaugurated by the Dalai Lama on January 31, 2011.
View his photos exhibited at the Leica Gallery NYC, NY...
Return to the Roof of the World
On April 20, 2012 His Holiness the Dalai Lama appointed Geshe Vreeland, as the new Abbot of Rato Monastery. This was an historic moment; the first time that a Westerner had been appointed as abbot of an important Tibetan Buddhist monastery. On making the appointment, The Dalai Lama stated, “Your special duty (is) to bridge Tibetan tradition and Western world.”
At the Center, Khensur Rinpoche offers classes in Buddhist practice and theory on a weekly schedule. Ancient Indian and Tibetan texts are taught together with methods for integrating them into daily meditation and practice.
Khyongla Rato
Khyongla Rato was a reincarnate lama and scholar of the Gelugpa order of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in 1923 in the southeastern Tibet in the region called Kham. In 1928, senior Gelugpa monks divined that a five-year old boy living in this remote part of Tibet was the reincarnation of the ninth Khyongla of Tibet.
On his sixth birthday, monks on horseback took him from his parents’ home to a monastery some distance away where he was installed as its spiritual head. For over three decades he lived the sober life of a monk, studying at the most famous monasteries in Tibet and earning the Lharampa Geshe degree. In 1959, along with thousands of monks, as well as the Dalai Lama, he fled on foot over the Himalayas to safety and to a radically different life in India, and eventually the United States.
In 1975, he founded The Tibet Center, the oldest Tibetan Buddhist Center in New York City. In the ensuing years, Rinpoche gave lectures at the center, with the purpose of keeping the Dharma flourishing and evolving to suit the needs of the modern world. Rinpoche’s lectures, twice a week was the main vehicle he used to that end. He taught all who came, free of charge.
He penned his autobiography, My Life And Lives, giving a rare insight into the life of a modest Buddhist monk, his narrow escape over the Himalayas due to the Communist Chinese invasion of Tibet, and his eventual life in America.
Rinpoche passed away May 24, 2022 in Dharamsala. Soon after Rinpoche’s transition, His Holiness the Dalai Lama composed, “A Prayer for a Swift Return”. Rinpoche’s students at the center and around the world recite this prayer to hasten Rinpoche's return to preside over The Tibet Center in the future.
OUR MISSION
Khyongla Rato Rinpoche founded The Tibet Center in New York City in 1975 to keep the dharma flourishing and evolving to meet the needs of the modern world through free talks and discussion on Tibetan Buddhism. Its offerings have expanded to encompass a wide-range of teachings, including a focus on secular ethics at the behest of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Khyongla Rato Rinpoche
Founder
Khyongla Rato Rinpoche was a reincarnate lama and scholar of the Gelugpa order of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in 1923 in the southeastern Tibetan region of Kham. In 1928, senior Gelugpa monks divined that a five-year-old boy living in this remote area was the reincarnation of the ninth Khyongla of Tibet.
On his sixth birthday, monks on horseback took RInpoche from his parents’ home to a monastery where he was installed as its spiritual head. For over three decades he lived the life of a monk, studying at the most famous monasteries in Tibet and earning the Lharampa Geshe degree. In 1959, he fled the Chinese takeover of Tibet on foot over the Himalayas to India — along with The Dalai Lama and thousands of monks. He later came to the United States.
In 1975, he founded The Tibet Center to keep the dharma flourishing and evolving to meet the needs of the modern world through free talks and discussion, teaching classes twice weekly. His autobiography My Life and Lives was published in 1977, offering rare insight into his years as a modest Buddhist monk, his narrow escape from Tibet, and his life in the United States.
Rinpoche died May 24, 2022 in Dharamsala, India. At the time of his death, Rinpoche was living in a hotel, within view of the home of the Dalai Lama. The cremation ceremony was held on May 29 at the Gyuto Tantric Monastery near Dharamsala.
Soon after his transition, His Holiness the Dalai Lama composed, “A Prayer for a Swift Return” to hasten Rinpoche’s homecoming to preside over The Tibet Center in the future. His students at the Center and around the world recite it in his honor.
His Eminence the 7th Kyabjé Yongzin Ling Rinpoche
Spiritual Director
In 2019, Khyongla Rato Rinpoche asked Venerable Ling Rinpoche if he would assume leadership of The Tibet Center. Ling Rinpoche agreed, but only upon Khyongla Rato Rinpoche’s 100th birthday. Rinpoche died just short of that milestone.
His Eminence the 7th Kyabjé Yongzin Ling Rinpoche was born in India on November 18, 1985. After the death of his mother, he was brought to the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala. He lived there until he was five when His Holiness the Dalai Lama recognized him as the reincarnation of his principal teacher — H.H. the 6th Kyabjé Yongzin Ling Rinpoche — who died in 1983.
Venerable Ling Rinpoche entered Drepung Monastic University in South India in 1990 and began his monastic studies when he was ten. Rinpoche received his Geshe degree in 2016 and enrolled at Gyuto Tantric College in Dharamsala for a year of tantric studies that traditionally follow the completion of a Geshe degree, completing his education in 2018.
Learn more about His Eminence Ling Rinpoche.
Khensur Rinpoche Nicholas Vreeland
Director
Venerable Khensur Rinpoche Nicholas Vreeland holds a Ser Tri Geshe Degree from Rato Dratsang, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Karnataka, India, where he studied for 15 years. In 1998, he returned to New York City to assume administrative and teaching responsibilities at The Tibet Center in support of his teacher Khyongla Rato Rinpoche. He became director of the Center in 1999.
In 2012, the Dalai Lama appointed Khensur Vreeland to be the abbot of Rato Dratsang, the first Westerner to be appointed an abbot of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery.
He is the editor of several books by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, An Open Heart (a New York Times best seller) and A Profound Mind.
A gifted photographer, Khensur Vreeland has had a camera in his hand since he was 13. He served as an assistant to both Richard Avedon and Irving Penn. An exhibition of his work, “Photos for Rato,” toured major world cities to raise funds for the construction of the Rato Monastery’s campus and temple. In 2014, he was the focus of the documentary film Monk with a Camera.
Khensur Vreeland divides his time between New York and India. He teaches bi-weekly at The Tibet Center, mostly recently focusing on His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s book Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World.
View his photos online.
Anthony Spina
Board Member / Treasurer
Anthony Spina began studying with Khyongla Rato Rinpoche in the late 1970s. He has been the Treasurer of The Tibet Center since 1975 and Vice President of the Rato Dratsang Foundation since 1986.
Spina leads The Tibet Center’s bi-weekly classes when Khensur Vreeland is out of the country, as well as the Center’s bi-weekly White Tara meditation.