The Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche was born in the Sichuan Province of China near the Tibetan border in 1925. At the age of seven, he was recognized as a "tulku" or a consciously reincarnated spiritual being, and was reinstated as Tulku of Dhomang Monastery. Rinpoche spent many years in retreat with some of Tibet's greatest Lamas and is a fully qualified teacher of Vajrayana Buddhism.

In 1959, due to the Communist Chinese invasion of Tibet, Rinpoche fled his homeland and lived in India for twelve years. In 1972, he came to teach in America at the request of H.H. the Dalai Lama. In 1976, H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche appointed Gyatrul Rinpoche as his spiritual representative and Director of Pacific Region Yeshe Nyingpo.

Rinpoche has established several centers on the West Coast and continues to travel and teach thousands of students abroad and in the United States. With his direct style, inimitable sense of humor and genuine humility, Rinpoche's teachings provide a bridge into the direct insights of practical Buddhism.