Lama Sherab Dorje Rinpoche

Lama Sherab Dorje Rinpoche aka Rebkong Ngagchang Sherab Dorje was a yogi of Repkong Monastery in Amdo, Tibet. He was one of the main disciples of Dudjom Rinpoche. Lama Sherab Dorje went to India as a Tibetan refugee in the 1960s. At that time, due to the fact that all yogis and ngakpas were having trouble with their dreadlocks adjusting to India’s humidity and sanitation (epidemics of head lice were rampant), Dudjom Rinpoche ordered all of them to keep their hair combed and tied back. Lama Sherab wished to cut his dreadlocks when he arrived in Orissa, but Dudjom Rinpoche instructed Lama Sherab not to cut his hair. In accord with his Guru’s command, Lama Sherab kept his long dreadlocks for the rest of his life.

Lama Sherab Dorje arrived in Orissa, India, in 1963, when Dudjom Rinpoche was building Dundul Raptenling. Lama Sherab Dorje was invited to Bhutan and instructed by Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche to do the ground breaking ceremony there for the Thimphu Memorial Stupa. When he returned from Bhutan and Nepal, Lama Sherab Dorje was appointed the second president of the monastery. He spent the rest of his life teaching the dharma to the people of Odisha.

Lama Sherab Dorje was also the uncle of Lama Tarchin Rinpoche (1936-2013), the founder of the Vajrayana Foundation (Pema Osel Ling) in Watsonville, California. Lama Sherab Dorje Rinpoche’s son (who was born in Orissa) is Lopön Jigme Thutop Namgyal, who lives in Marin County, California with his wife and four children.