The Popularity of Tibetan Buddhism in China Today

Despite a lack of religious belief in China today, Tibetan Buddhism has become popular. Stanford University presents Khenpo Sodargye Rinpoche, who will examine the the reasons and factors for this development.

Khenchen Sodargye, from Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, is a Tibetan Buddhist mentor, translator and charitarian.

Khenpo was born in Luhuo county of Sichuan in 1962. After having studied at Ganze Normal School, Khenpo was ordained by His Holiness Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche at Sertar Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in 1985.

In the past 30 years, Khenpo has taught Buddhadharma of different subjects for more than 15,000 hours. While having been trained systematically in Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Khenpo has also embraced worldly knowledge, such as medicine, literature, psychology, physics and other fields in modern sciences.

Since 1990s, Khenpo has started to propagate the Buddhadharma and guide meditation in different countries around the world; particularly putting efforts to interact with university students and professors, Khenpo has given almost a hundred talks in prestigious universities in China, the United States, Germany and Southeast Asia.

In recent years, khenpo has often have intellectual exchange with scholars on topics like environmental protection, morality, life and belief, and initiated, organized and participated in “The World Youth Buddhist Society,” integrating the truth of Dharma with modern sciences in the hope of enhancing the happiness of all living beings.