The Dawn of a Spiritual Luminary
His Eminence Yeshe Rinchen ༼ཡེ་ཤེས་རིན་ཆེན་༽, whose name means "Transcendent Precious Wisdom," was more affectionately known as the Former Yangbi Lopen Chimi ༼ལས་ཚོགས་སློབ་བགྲེས་ཞིང་གཤེགས་འཆི་མེད་༽. Born on the 29th day of the 6th lunar month in the Wood Female Sheep Year ༼གནམ་ལོ་ཤིང་མོ་ལུག་ལོ་རང་ཟླ་དྲུག་པའི་ཉེར་དགུ༽ (August 16, 1955), he entered this world in the humble village of Ngache Gyakha (ཉ་ཕྱིས་འགྱེད་མཁར), nestled in Bhutan’s Wangdue district. His parents, Father Phub Dorji and Mother Kuenlem, cherished him as their only son, a beloved brother to his two elder sisters.
Despite being the family’s treasured youngest child, destiny had other plans. At the tender age of seven, during the spiritual reign of His Holiness the 64th Chief Abbot (Chabji-རྗེ་མཁན་པོ) Samten Pelzang (reign year 1961–1965), young Chimi was enrolled as a monk in Wangrab Dratshang—a branch of Bhutan’s Central Monastic Body. For eleven years, he immersed himself in sacred studies, mastering tantric dances (གར་), mandala artistry (ཐིག་), and ritual chants (དབྱངས་), while upholding monastic discipline with unwavering dedication.
The Quest for Ultimate Wisdom
By 1973, at nineteen, Chimi felt an irrepressible calling—to seek the deepest truths of existence and break free from the endless cycle of rebirth. With quiet resolve, he left the monastery without a word to his parents, fearing their love might hinder his spiritual quest. His journey led him to the revered Tango and Chari monasteries, where he met two towering figures: His Eminence Chabji Tenzin Dondrup (then known as Lopen Kuenley) and Geshe ༼དགེ་བཤེས༽ Gedun Rinchen, who would later become the 68th and 69th Chief Abbots of Bhutan, respectively. Under their guidance, Chimi received his first formal Buddhist teachings and began practicing Mahamudra ༼ཕྱག་ཆེན་༽—the Great Seal of enlightenment.
A Pilgrimage of Wisdom
At twenty-three, Chimi followed H.E. Tenzin Dondrup—the foremost lineage holder of the Drukpa Kagyu tradition—to Nepal. There, he received profound instructions in Mahamudra and Ati Yoga (Dzogchen). A chance encounter with his former friend, Gyeltshen ༼གྲུབ་ཐོབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན༽—later a celebrated yogi across the Himalayas—proved pivotal. Gyeltshen helped Chimi master the Six Yogas of Naropa, including:
- Tummo (inner heat),
- Gyulü (illusory body),
- Milam (dream yoga),
- Ösel (luminosity),
- Phowa (consciousness transference),
- Bardo (intermediate state).
As a blessing, he also received the Rechung Oral Transmission of Chakrasamvara teachings. For a year and a half, Chimi meditated at Swayambhunath ༼འཕགས་པ་ཤིང་ཀུན༽, Nepal’s sacred stupa, deepening his realization.
Meanwhile, H.E. Gedun Rinchen (then known as Geshe Jaku) was establishing Bhutan’s first three-year retreat center ༼སྒྲུབ་སྡེ་༽ at Tango Dzongkhar, generously supported by Her Majesty Queen Mother Ashi Phuentsho Choden—an emanation of the legendary Monmo Tashi Khyidren. Invited to join this historic retreat, Chimi returned to Bhutan, entering a transformative phase where his understanding of primordial purity ༼གནས་ལུགས༽ blossomed like a lotus in full bloom.
The Unyielding Path of a Bodhisattva
Later, obeying H.E. Tenzin Dondrup’s directive, Chimi ventured to Sikkim and North India to study under the illustrious scholar Khenpo Kuenga Wangchuck. Despite living in near destitution—surviving on meager scraps—he immersed himself in advanced Buddhist philosophy, mastering:
- Madhyamaka ༼དབུ་མ་༽ Middle Way philosophy,
- Pramana ༼ཚད་མ་༽ Logic and epistemology,
- Vinaya ༼འདུལ་བ་༽ Monastic discipline,
- Abhidharma ༼མངོན་པ་༽ Metaphysics,
- Bodhicaryavatara ༼སྤྱོད་འཇུག་༽ The Way of the Bodhisattva,
- Five Treatises of Maitreya ༼བྱམས་ཆོས་སྡེ་ལྔ་༽,
- Three-Level Bhavana Krama ༼སྒོམ་རིམ་ཐོག་ཐག་བར་གསུམ་༽, meditation stages.
After three arduous years, he graduated with the Amitra ༼མཁས་དབང་༽ title, achieving the highest monastic ordination (དགེ་སློང་) of the time.
A Legacy of Sacred Education
Upon returning to Bhutan, H.H. the 68th Chabji Tenzin Dondrup (reign year 1986–1990) assigned Chimi to:
- Lead the retreat center at Langmo Seekha (Wangdue),
- Serve as Principal of Tango Shedra (then in its infancy).
In 1987, while deepening his Mahamudra practice in solitude, he was summoned again—this time to establish a new Shedra (monastic college) at Sha Chungney Gonpa ༼ཁྱུང་གནས་དགོན་པ༽ [27°30’56.9″N 89°56’56.4″E]. For a decade, he renovated temples, built new structures, and nurtured generations of scholars. Today, his students illuminate the world as eloquent Dharma teachers.
By 1997, following visions of H.H. the 69th Chabji Gedun Rinchen (reign year 1990–1996) and directives of H.H. the 70th Chabji Trulku Jigme Choedrak ( reign year 1996–present), the Shedra was relocated to Khothang Rinchenling ༼མཁོ་ཐང་རིན་ཆེན་གླིང་༽ [27°26’03.3″N 90°00’31.0″E]—one of eight sacred retreats blessed by Longchen Rabjam (1308–1363), the Great Dzogchen Master.
The land was overrun by wild blue pines, the old temple long vanished. Yet, with a mere 75,000 Ngultrum (≈$2,000 then) seed fund, Chimi orchestrated a miracle. Through his unwavering resolve, student labor, and the grace of Her Majesty Queen Mother Ashi Kesang Wangmo Wangchuk, who along with other generous donors, contributed millions, Rinchenling Shedra arose in just three years. Today, it stands as a beacon of Buddhist scholarship, recognized by Bhutan’s Central Monastic Body and Royal University.
Ascension to Spiritual Leadership
In 1999, H.H. Jigme Chodrak appointed Chimi as Lam Neten (Chief Sthavira) of Wangdue Dratshang. Facing chaos—lawless monks, outdated traditions—he restored discipline, modernized education, and revitalized the monastery.
By 2002, Chimi ascended to Yangbi Lopen (later renamed Laytshog Lopen), one of Bhutan’s four highest monastic ranks (equivalent to a cabinet minister). For twelve years, he:
- Modernized monastic education,
- Introduced Buddhist studies in secular schools,
- Founded youth Dharma initiatives,
- Authored Kesang Yekyi Gatoen ༼སྐལ་བཟང་ཡིད་ཀྱི་དགའ་སྟོན་, The Banquet of Fortunate Youths༽, a beloved motivational book.
He even served as Mantrika ༼སྲུང་འཁོར་བ་༽ for His Majesty the Fourth King during Bhutan’s 2003 conflict and contributed to drafting Bhutan’s first Constitution (2005–2006).
A Lifetime of Compassion: Final Years
Retiring in 2014, Chimi refused rest. Instead, he:
- Established Bhutan’s first charitable old-age home at Tsho Chagsa [27°32’08.6″N 89°53’39.3″E], Punakha.
- Founded a new Drubdey (retreat center) in 2022.
He resided there until his passing in September 2024, at the age of 68, leaving behind auspicious signs of spiritual accomplishments and numerous legacies. His life proved that enlightenment is attainable in one lifetime—if one walks the path with unwavering devotion.
A Telescopic View of His Legacy
- Excelled in Buddhist philosophy, earning the Amitra title.
- Received full monastic ordination.
- Attained profound realization in Mahamudra and Dzogchen.
- Renovated multiple temples and established two major Shedras.
- Reformed Bhutan’s monastic education system.
- Introduced Buddhism in all secular schools.
- Founded youth Dharma programs.
- Authored an inspirational book for youth.
- Built Bhutan’s first old-age home.
- Established a new Drubdey in 2022.
Perfunctory Timeline
- 1955–1962: Childhood in Ngache Gyakha.
- 1962–1973: Monastic training at Wangrab Dratshang.
- 1973–1976: Studied under H.E. Tenzin Dondrup & Gedun Rinchen.
- 1977–1978: Dharma expeditions to Nepal.
- 1979–1981: First Drubpon of Drolung Gonpa.
- 1982–1984: Advanced studies in India.
- 1985: Drubpon of Langmo Seekha.
- 1986: Principal of Tango Shedra.
- 1987: Returned to Langmo Seekha.
- 1988–1999: Established Chungon & Rinchenling Shedras.
- 1999–2002: Lam Neten of Wangdue Dratshang.
- 2002–2014: Served as Yangbi Lopen.
- 2014–2022: Founded old-age home & Drubdey.
- 2024: Entered nirvana in September
A Humble Closing
This short biography་is based on Lopen Rinpoche’s autobiography (A Brief Chronicle of Former Laytshog Lopen’s Life), Southern Dharma Shastra ༼ལྷོའི་ཆོས་འབྱུང་༽, Rigpawiki, Rangjung Yeshe, and other sources.
By the merit of this work, may all beings awaken Bodhicitta and walk the path of wisdom—just as His Eminence did.
By: Rigzin Karma
Edited for Clarity and Poetic Flow