His Eminence Luding Khen Rinpoche is an excellently qualified, wise, and compassionate Dharma teacher, and a member of one of the great families of Tibetan Buddhism. His mother is Her Eminence Jetsun Kushog Chime Luding, the sister of His Holiness the Sakya Trizin, and his father is Sei Kushog, the brother of the senior abbot of Ngor Monastery in India.

As a child, Luding Khen Rinpoche was selected to be trained as the successor to the abbot of the Ngor Monastery and was sent to Ngor monastery in Manduwala, India to undergo the rigorous training that is a prerequisite for lineage holders. For the next two decades, he trained intensively under the daily tutelage of the senior Ngor abbot Jamyang Tenpei Nyima. He also received many teachings and empowerments directly from His Holiness the Sakya Trizin.

Luding Khen Rinpoche’s training as a lineage holder included all of the common and uncommon teachings of the Sakya tradition. From the tantra, he studied and mastered the precious Lam Dre teaching, the Collection of All the Tantras, Collection of All the Sadhanas and many others, and accomplished all of the many retreats required for a vajra master. From the sutra, he spent many years at Sakya College studying religious philosophy under the direction of the famous Khenpo Migmar Tsering. As a result, Luding Khen Rinpoche is exceptionally well trained in both tantra and sutra.

Having completed his training as successor to headship of Ngor Monastery, in March, 2000, Luding Khen Rinpoche was enthroned as abbot. At that time, the senior Ngor abbot, Jamyang Tenpei Nyima retired from active service as the abbot, a post that he had held wisely and well for over 40 years. Ngor Monastery and students throughout the world continue to be blessed his teachings, wisdom, and guidance. As one of the major lineage holders of the Sakya tradition, Luding Khen Rinpoche travels widely to bestow ordination, initiation, and teachings throughout the world. Recent teaching tours include bestowing the Collection of All the Sadhanas and hundreds of ordinations in Tibet, as well as major teaching cycles in Southeast Asia and Australia. He is scheduled to bestow the Collection of All the Sadhanas in Taiwan in the near future. Rinpoche’s last teaching tour of the United States was in 1998, when he bestowed the complete Vajrayogini initiation and teaching cycle at Sakya Phuntsok Ling in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The Ngor Abbacy: A Long Line of Spiritual Masters