Khandro Tsering Chodron, Female Tibetan Buddhist Master, Dies

Some sad news via Michaela Haas on the Huffington Post,

Wherever she went, whether it be in a small park in India, or a hospital in Europe, inadvertently people would feel drawn to her. Not knowing anything about her, people would inquire as to who the petite Asian lady in the wheelchair was, noting they felt a special presence. In his bestselling book “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying,” her nephew, the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche, refers to Khandro Tsering Chödro as “the greatest woman master of our day.” In her, he goes on to say, “you see very clearly what years of the deepest devotion and practice can create out of the human spirit. Her humility and beauty of heart, and the shining simplicity, modesty, and lucid, tender wisdom of her presence are honored by all Tibetans, even though she herself has tried as far as possible to remain in the background, never to push herself forward, and to live the hidden and austere life of an ancient contemplative.”

Khandro Tsering Chödron passed away last Monday (May 30) in France. She was one of the few Tibetans whose unusual biography could still offer a glimpse into what life in an untouched, intact Tibet had been like. Born in a small village in the mountains of Eastern Tibet around 1929, early black-and-white pictures show a beautiful, young woman standing tall but with a slightly shy gaze. Those who knew her during those years say she was gentle and reserved, but at the same time endowed with a somewhat wild, playful and independent spirit.

Read the whole piece here.

Khandro Tsering Chodron will be missed terribly. Our support goes out to her family, friends, and Sangha.