Khyongla Rato Rinpoche (1923–2022)
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery mourns the loss of Khyongla Rato Rinpoche (1923–2022), founder of the Tibet Center in New York, reincarnate lama, scholar of the Gelugpa order of Tibetan Buddhism, and spiritual mentor to artist Charmion von Wiegand.

Charmion von Wiegand (1896–1983) met Khyongla Rato in 1967 in New York City, and he became her teacher in the tradition of Mahayana Buddhism until her death. In the 1960s and 70s, the artist traveled to Tibet and India, where she had an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala. Many of her works from these decades incorporate symbols and schematics drawn from Theosophical prismatic color charts, Chinese astrology, and tantric yoga. When von Wiegand died in 1983, she bequeathed her estate to Khyongla Rato. As Charmion learned the teachings of the Buddha from Khyongla, he learned the value of art from her; in his foreword for the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery exhibition catalogue Charmion von Wiegand: Spirituality in Abstraction, 1945–1969 he stated, “Seeing the way she applied her creative sensitivity to objects so meaningful to me, my appreciation for her painting began to grow. …I try to honor her kindness and generosity by acting in a likewise manner by helping to present her art to the world and by continuing to share with others my small knowledge of the teachings of the Buddha.”
 
Khyongla Rato was born in 1923 in the Dagyab region of Kham, Tibet. When he was five years old, senior Gelugpa monks recognized him as the reincarnation of the ninth Khyongla and he spent the next thirty years training in Tibetan Buddhist tenets. Khyongla earned his Lharampa Geshe degree, the highest degree attainable for spiritual leaders of the faith, and entered the Gyuto Tantric college. In 1959, he fled the Chinese invasion of Tibet, initiating a journey that would take him through India, Europe, and, eventually, New York City, where he settled in 1967. In 1975, he founded a center for Buddhist study and meditation on the Bowery in Manhattan, now known as The Tibet Center. Since its founding, it has expanded to include the teachings of the Buddhist Chan, Theravadan, and Zen traditions, and has welcomed non-Buddhist teachers of the Jain, Hindu, and Christian faiths. In 1991, His Holiness the Dalai Lama accepted the Center’s invitation to bestow the Kalachakra initiation, a two-week-long blessing considered to be the most important ritual in the faith.

Khyongla passed away peacefully on May 24 in Dharamshala, India. He was attended through the stages of death by Rato and Gyuto monks, and a prayer for his Swift Return was composed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Those interested to learn more about Khyongla Rato’s life can read his obituary or pick up a copy of his autobiography (written at the behest and with the encouragement of von Wiegand and with a foreword by Joseph Campbell), My Life and Lives: The Story of a Tibetan Incarnation.

Since 1998, the gallery has been honored to represent the Estate of Charmion von Wiegand, partnering with Khyongla on all endeavors to preserve and further her legacy. It has been a privilege to have known him and we will continue to be guided by his trust, faith, and vision in the years ahead.

Read Khyongla Rato Rinpoche's Obituary