Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen

Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen are the Lineage Lamas, or principal teachers, of Aro.

Ngak’chang Rinpoche is the reincarnation of Aro Yeshé, the son of the extraordinary female visionary Lama Khyungchen Aro Lingma, who founded the Aro lineage.

Between 1970 and 1984, Ngak’chang Rinpoche spent extended periods in the Himalayas receiving teachings and transmissions from many of the most revered teachers of the Nyingma Tradition. During this time he accomplished all the traditional practices, and received all the necessary empowerments and transmissions, of a Nyingma Lama. Hailing from a financially disadvantaged background, he funded his trips entirely through factory work and manual labour in Britain. He completed—in varying sections—four years in solitary retreat – often living in extremely basic conditions with little to eat.

With the encouragement of his Lamas, he began teaching in 1979. In 1989, he was awarded a doctorate in Tibetan Tantric Psychology from the University of West Bengal. He has been a visiting lecturer at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in California and has contributed articles to several books, journals, and magazines on the subject of Vajrayana Psychology. He has given several keynote presentations at international psychology conferences for the British Psychological Society, and the Association of Transpersonal Psychology in the USA

Ngak’chang Rinpoche is the author of six books, many co-written with Khandro Déchen. He is a Vajrayana calligrapher, poet, thangka painter, multi-talented Vajrayana craftsman, and exponent of Yogic Song and Lama-dance.

Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen are the parents of two children. They make it a priority in their teaching activities—as a couple—to help students to view their relationships and family lives as spiritual practice. As representatives of a lineage founded by a woman, they are keen to help women become spiritual practitioners and teachers.

Khandro Déchen is a uniquely gifted thangka painter and teacher. She regards this as her major means of teaching and influence. Her thangkas and line drawings can be seen in the Aro Encyclopædia. Her life’s work is dedicated to painting the entire Aro gTér cycle of one hundred and eleven yidams.

Khandro Déchen rode horses as a girl and is a keen horsewoman – both in the area of jumping and dressage. She is currently studying the curriculum of the British Horse Society in riding and stable management – and encourages horse riding apprentices in the meditative dimension of horseriding.

Before assuming the shared pastoral care of apprentices she was a Macmillan Nurse, with a university degree in nursing.

Khandro Déchen inspires people through her radiance and startling simplicity rather than through giving formal public teachings. She is known for her warmth, her playfulness, and the humour of her approach with individuals. She prefers to speak personally with individuals rather than to address groups – but often makes dazzling interjections when Ngak’chang Rinpoche is teaching.

Read about: apprenticeship with Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen.