Namo Buddha Publications was formed In 1989 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, all-volunteer organization which had the mission to collect and make available all of Thrangu Rinpoche’s teachings at a reasonable price.

All royalties and profits from the sale of these teachings go towards publishing more of his teachings and supporting Rinpoche’s charitable activities. To make the teachings much more accessible to practitioners all over the world, we have : 

1. All books now include FREE POSTAGE and handling (in US) and a $ 5.00 postage discount to our friends outside the US.
2. All BOOKS and all E-BOOKS are now available as PDFs for only $ 1.25 each.
3. We now have over 60 free PDFs.
4. Our Practice Materials now include 43 items covering 12 different practices.
5. We have placed video sets of complete teachings of Rinpoche they include Thrangu Rinpoche teaching in Tibetan, an English language translator, and the audience questions free on YouTube 
   youtube.com/NamoBuddhaPublications
6. Our photos of deities can now be downloaded for $.50. 

Thrangu Rinpoche at 86th Birthday

The Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche was born in Kham, Tibet, in 1933. At the age of five, he was formally recognized by His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa and Tai Situpa Rinpoche as the ninth incarnation of the great Thrangu tulku. He entered Thrangu monastery at the age of five and from the ages of seven to sixteen, he studied reading, writing, grammar, poetry, and astrology, memorized ritual texts, and completed two preliminary retreats. Because of the Cultural Revolution Thrangu Rinpoche, in 1959 he had to flee to India to Rumtek monastery in Sikkim, where the Karmapa has his seat in exile. Because of his great scholarship and unending diligence, he was given the task of preserving the teachings of the Kagyu lineage so that one thousand years of profound Buddhist teachings would not be lost.

Rinpoche continued his studies in exile, and at the age of thirty-five he took the geshe examination before 1500 monks at Buxador monastic refugee camp in Bengal and was awarded the degree of Geshe Lharampa. Upon his return to Rumtek, he was awarded the highest Khenchen degree. Because many of the Buddhist texts in Tibet were destroyed, Thrangu Rinpoche engaged in the recovery of these texts from Tibetan monasteries outside of Tibet. He was also the personal tutor of the four principal Karma Kagyu tulkus: Shamar Rinpoche, Situ Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and Gyaltsab Rinpoche and established the curriculum of the Karma Kagyu lineage. He also taught with Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche and with Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, now head of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in Woodstock, the seat of His Holiness Karmapa in North America.

In 1980, Thrangu Rinpoche began teaching in the West. He has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States having taught in over 25 countries and has 17 centers in twelve countries. He is especially known for making complex teachings accessible to Western students and being a recognized master of Mahamudra meditation. In 2010, he was appointed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to be the personal tutor for His Holiness the Seventeenth Karmapa.

Thrangu Rinpoche entered parinirvana in June 4th (2023) and performed Tukdam which is a very advanced practice. Tukdam begins when the lama’s heart and breathing stops, but the lama stays upright without without any deterioration of the skin and the body becomes cold except around the heart area which remains warm. Thrangu Rinpoche was in Tukdam for 4 days and then Rinpoche's body began to slowly shrink over time in perfect proportion (including his bones).   At the cremation Thrangu Rinpoche’s body had shrunk to half his size.  He was cremated on a holy day on November 4th and on November 7th his ashes were collected.  In these ashes were found hundreds of ringsels of five different colors. Ringsels are crystalized compassion which are usually white spheres the size of a grain of rice that cannot be found anywhere on the planet, except where advanced practitioners have displayed great compassion.