KHENCHEN THRANGU was born in Tibet in 1933. At the age of five, he was formally recognized by His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa and Tai Situpa as the ninth incarnation of the great Thrangu tulku. At twenty-seven, Thrangu Rinpoche was forced to flee to India. He was called to Rumtek monastery in Sikkim, where he was given the task of preserving the teachings of the Kagyu lineage. He was appointed by H.H. the Dalai Lama to be the personal tutor for the Seventeenth Karmapa and the four principal Karma Kagyu tulkus. Thrangu Rinpoche established the fundamental curriculum of the Karma Kagyu lineage taught at Rumtek and founded numerous monasteries and nunneries, schools for Tibetan children, and medical clinics. He has taught extensively throughout the world and is the abbot of Gampo Abbey.