Due to the changing political situation in Eastern Tibet, he was taken to Tsurphu Monastery in Central Tibet, at the age of five. It was there that he performed his first Red Crown Ceremony, assisted by Ninth Sangyé Nyenpa Rinpoche. He stayed in Tsurphu Monastery for one year and then left Tibet with his attendants for Bhutan. Later, he went to Sikkim, to Rumtek Monastery, where he remained under the care of the Sixteenth Karmapa and received his formal religious training. He also received important transmissions from many great masters, notably Kalu Rinpoche, the Ninth Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Saljay Rinpoche, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, the late Drikung Khenpo Konchok, and the late Khenpo Khedup.
At the age of twenty-two, Situ Rinpoche assumed responsibility for founding his own new monastic seat, Sherab Ling Monastery, close to the Tibetan community of Bir, in Northern India. In 1980 he made his first tour to Europe, and has since traveled widely in North America, Europe and South-East Asia.
In 1992, Tai Situ Rinpoche recognized the Seventeenth Gyalwa Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, and enthroned him at Tsurphu Monastery in Tibet. He has become Orgyen Trinlé Dorje's main teacher in the Mahamudra lineage. (Source Accessed April 12, 2020)
Other names
- ཏའི་སི་ཏུ་བཅུ་གཉིས་པ་ · other names (Tibetan)
- ta'i si tu bcu gnyis pa · other names (Wylie)
- Tai Situpa, 12th · other names
Affiliations & relations
- Karma Kagyu · religious affiliation
- Karmapa, 16th · teacher
- Karmapa, 17th · student
