Khyongla Rato

Khyongla Rato
Khyongla Rato teaching at The Tibet Center in September 2014 (with his translator, Tenzin Gelek, on the right)
Religion	Tibetan Buddhism
School	Gelug
Dharma names	Nawang Losang
Personal
Nationality	American (previously Tibetan)
Born	1923 (age 93–94) Kham, Tibet
Senior posting
Title	Rinpoche
Predecessor	9th Khyongla Rinpoche
Religious career
Teacher	Ling Rinpoche
Reincarnation	1st Khyongla Rinpoche
Students	Joseph Campbell, Richard Gere, Adam Yauch, Nicholas Vreeland

Khyongla Rato, also known as Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, Rato Khyongla Rinpoche, Khyongla Rinpoche, and also as Nawang Losang, his monk's name, is a scholar and teacher in the Gelugpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in what was then the Kham region of Tibet and was recognized as an incarnate lama at an early age. He spent over 30 years of his life as a monk studying in the monasteries of Tibet and receiving teachings from many highly qualified lamas.

In 1959, after the Chinese communists took over, Khyongla Rato left Tibet, crossing the Himalayas to India. Eventually he came to Europe and then the US, and in 1968 he starting living in New York City. In 1975 he founded The Tibet Center, a center for the study of Buddhism. For more than 30 years he was the director and main teacher at the Tibet Center, teaching primarily in English. As of 2014, he still teaches at The Tibet Center whenever his schedule permits.

In 1977 Khyonlga Rato's autobiography, My Life and Lives, was published. In 1993 he appeared in the Bertolucci film, Little Buddha. In 2014 he appeared in a documentary film about one of his students Nicholas Vreeland, Monk with a Camera.

Khyongla Rinpoche is considered to be the 10th incarnation of a lama (the first Khyongla) who was born in 1510, and who as a child was known as Jigme; later in life he became widely known for his teaching of the dharma, and then people started calling him the "Lama from Khyong Yul" or "Khyongla".

The name Rato is a reference to Rato Monastery, aka Rato Dratsang, where Khyongla Rato studied.