We are delighted to invite you to join us to celebrate the birthday of Tonpa Shenrab Miwoché in prayer and practice on Saturday, January 31 and February 1, 2026. With Khenchen Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche and our lamas at Shenten. The teaching will be broadcasted online via Zoom and registration is free of charge.

On this occasion, on Saturday, January 31, the eve of the anniversary of Tonpa Shenrab, Khenchen Rinpoche will teach us about the prayer to Tonpa Shenrab, written by the great master Lachen Drenpa Namkha, and about the importance of this prayer.

Yungdrung Bön is the original spiritual and cultural tradition of Tibet and the Himalayan borderlands, and it is one of the world’s oldest living religions. According to the Bön Scriptures, it was founded by Buddha Tönpa Shenrab Miwo, who lived over 9,000 years ago in the land of Olmo Lungring. Ol symbolizes the unborn, Mo the undiminishing, Lung denotes the prophetic words of Tönpa Shenrab, and Ring, his everlasting compassion. From Olmo Lungring his teachings first spread to Tazik and from there to Zhang Zhung, the sprawling ancient kingdom, whose territory included large parts of present-day Tibet, the Himalayan region and central Asia.

Tönpa Shenrab propagated his doctrine more than 6,500 years before the Indian Buddhism came to Tibet in the 7th century, and his teachings have strongly influenced the development of Tibetan Buddhism over the centuries. The ultimate goal of his teachings is to achieve the pure and perfect state of mind known as Buddhahood and to help liberate all sentient beings from suffering. His wisdom has shown countless beings the path to liberation and allowed them to achieve Buddhahood, Sanggye in Tibetan. Sang means the pure state free from all negativities and Gye means perfected in all enlightened qualities.

This extraordinary spiritual tradition has been passed down from Tönpa Shenrab to the present day in an unbroken lineage of the enlightened Bön masters up until the present lineage holder and living Buddha, H.E. Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche.

The hagiography of Tönpa Shenrab is preserved in three versions. The earliest and shortest one is known as Dodu, the medium one in two volumes as Zermig and the third one known as Zi Jid is the most extensive in twelve volumes. These hagiographies depict how Tönpa Shenrab achieved the state of Sang Gye and how he took rebirth to benefit all sentient beings.