Orgyen Chowang Rinpoche

Orgyen Chowang Rinpoche grew up in a remote village in Eastern Tibet, and at fourteen began nine years of intensive study at Larung Gar in Serta under Jigmed Phuntsok Rinpoche, one of the great Dzogchen masters of the twentieth century. In 1990 he completed the khenpo degree — the highest Buddhist study credential — as one of only fifty-five graduates from a class of over a thousand.

After teaching in Nepal and receiving further instruction from Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, he arrived in California in 1996 and settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2011 he founded the Pristine Mind Foundation, and published his first book, Our Pristine Mind, in 2016.