S.Em.ª Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
Chagdud Gonpa
H.E. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche (1930-2002) belongs to the last generation of teachers to have been fully trained in Tibet in the vast wealth of Vajrayana teachings and methods. He held superb teaching lineages, primarily in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Vajrayana, which he taught unceasingly throughout his life. The main emphasis in whatever he taught was pure motivation.
After the Communist conquest of Tibet in 1959, Rinpoche went into exile in India and Nepal. During the next twenty years, in various refugee camps and settlements, Rinpoche served as lama who administered to the refugees’ spiritual needs, as a camp leader who organized work projects, and as a physician Tibetan medicine.
Rinpoche traveled to the United States in 1979. The combination of his warm personality, his depth of knowledge, and his meditative realization magnetized thousands of students. His tireless teachings led him to Europe, Russia, Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, and South America.
He resettled in Brazil in 1995 after successfully establishing numerous centers and meditation groups in the United States and other places. In order to maintain his lineage teachings, he ordained a number of his Western students as teachers and gave them specific authorizations to teach. Since Rinpoche's Parinirvana on November 17, 2002, the extensive Brazilian network of centers—many with their own resident lamas—and meditation groups have been under the spiritual direction of Chagdud Khadro, Rinpoche's wife, whom he ordained as a lama in 1997.
Rinpoche’s work is maintained by Chagdud Gonpa Foundation in North America, by Chagdud Gonpa Brasil, and by Chagdud Gonpa Hispanoamerica in Spanish-speaking Latin America. The Mahakaruna Foundation administers support for Chagdud Gonpa and associated monasteries in Tibet and Nepal.
Chagdud Khadro
Lama Tsering Everest
Her warm and humorous style reflects Rinpoche's own humor and empathy, with focus on cultivating compassion, training the mind, and applying the dharma in daily life. She teaches and conducts retreats in many cities across Brazil, Chile, New Zealand and Australia as well as returning each year to fulfill the requests of her students in North America.
Lama Tsering is the resident lama and director of Chagdud Gonpa Odsal Ling in São Paulo and is currently coordinating the construction of Odsal Ling's temple in Cotia along with her husband Lama Padma Norbu.
Lama Norbu
Born in Denver, U.S.A. in 1948, Lama Norbu (David Everest) was educated and worked as an electrical engineer during his early years.
He met his teacher, H.E. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche in 1980 and, after completing the cycle of Dzogchen teachings and retreats, was ordained a lama in the Vajrayana tradition in 1995.
For twenty years he worked with his teacher to carry out various projects such as the construction of retreat centers and the Khadro Ling temple in Southern Brazil. He later completed a solitary two year retreat under Rinpoche's guidance, and was encouraged to give teachings and share his experience in integrating Buddhist principles with the challenges of daily life.
He and his wife, Lama Tsering Everest, currently live in São Paulo, Brazil, where he divides his time between the construction of the Odsal Ling Temple, various children's projects, and teaching.
Lama Sherab
Ordained by H.E. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche in 2002, Lama Sherab Drolma has become a respected teacher with obvious depth of guru yoga and spiritual discipline. She served Rinpoche as his translator, personal attendant, and as an administrator of his dharma activities.
She is a resident lama of Khadro Ling, and travels throughout Brazil supporting practitioners through teaching, spiritual counseling, and practice.
She is also an extraordinary lama dancer who authentically expresses the meaning of meditation through movement.
Lama Yeshe
Lama Yeshe has been a student of H.E. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche’s since 1990. After meeting Rinpoche in Brazil, she traveled to Rigdzin Ling in California, where she participated in several important retreats and quickly mastered excellent English.
She returned to Brazil with Rinpoche in late 1994, serving as a translator to both Rinpoche and Chagdud Khadro. During this time in Brazil she also became a fine performer of the traditional sacred dances of Vajrayana Buddhism.
Ordained in 2002, at Rinpoche’s request she interrupted an extended personal retreat to serve, along with her husband, Lama Rigdzin, as resident lama at Chagdud Dorje Ling in Curitiba, Paraná