Sermey Khensur Lobsang Tharchin

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Sermey Khensur Lobsang Tharchin Rinpoche (1921-2004), was an eminent lama and renowned scholar of the Tibetan Gelukpa tradition.

Khen Rinpoche breathed his last in the early evening of December 1st, 2004, and remained in meditation until December 6th, at Rashi Gempil Ling Temple in Howell, New Jersey, which had been his principal residence for the past thirty years. A traditional cremation ceremony was held at the Temple on the following morning, the very day that commemorates the passing of Je Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelukpa tradition. The ceremony was officiated by Yongyal Rinpoche and Achok Rinpoche, two reincarnate lamas from Sera Mey Monastery.

Khen Rinpoche was born in Lhasa, Tibet 1 July 1921 and entered the Gyalrong House of Sera Mey Monastic University at the age of 7. After studying the great Buddhist treatises at Sera Mey for more than 20 years, he was awarded the title of Lharampa Geshe of the first rank with highest honors in 1954. He then entered Gyumey Tantric College in Lhasa and, after completing the full program of studies there, served in senior administrative positions.

In 1959, Khen Rinpoche fled communist-occupied Tibet together with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and tens of thousands of Tibetan refugees. Actively involved in the education of Tibetan children in India, he helped compile a series of textbooks for the Tibetan curriculum and taught at several resettlement schools, including those at Darjeeling, Simla, and Mussoorie.

In 1972, at the direction of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Khen Rinpoche came to Howell, New Jersey to assist in a translation project sponsored by the Institute for the Advanced Study of World Religions. Several years later, he accepted an invitation to become Abbot of Rashi Gempil Ling, a Buddhist temple established by Kalmuk Mongolians in the same community of Howell, New Jersey. For more than 30 years Khen Rinpoche taught extensively on a vast range of topics to students in America, having learned English at the age of 53. At the urging of his own root lama, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, he also initiated a number of projects dedicated to the restoration and support of the monks of Sera Mey Monastery that have resettled in South India. In 1991, at the age of 70, he was appointed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as Abbot of Sera Mey and returned to India where he served a two-year term.

Khen Rinpoche guided the translation and publication of more than a dozen texts and oral commentaries on important Buddhist topics. He founded the Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Center (MSTC) in Howell, NJ in 1980.