Tsem Tulku Rinpoche

Tsem Tulku Rinpoche (24 October 1965 – 4 September 2019) was a recognised tulku of Kalmyk descent, an incarnate lama of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, and the founder and spiritual guide of Kechara House Buddhist Association with its headquarters in Malaysia.^[1][2][3][4]

Rinpoche was born on 24 October 1965 in Taiwan to a Tibetan father and Mongolian mother, and was adopted by an American-Mongolian family. His adoptive name was Burcha Bugayeff.^[5] In 1987, at the age of 22, Rinpoche received full ordination from the 14th Dalai Lama and became a monk of Ganden Shartse Monastery in India. Starting in 1992 Rinpoche has lived in Malaysia where he commenced work on the establishment of Dharma Institutes.^[6] One of the institutes he founded is known as Kechara House Buddhist Association. He also founded a charity organization known as Kechara Soup Kitchen^[7][8] and the dharma retreat centre Kechara Forest Retreat.^[9]

In the meantime, Rinpoche took a stand against the position of the Central Tibetan Administration in the Dorje Shugden controversy and built the world's largest Dorje Shugden statue.^[10] Rinpoche strongly supported the Dorje Shugden religious practice,^[11][12] prohibited in 1996 by the Central Tibetan Administration, and was a critical voice advocating for the separation of politics and religion which is a feature of Tibetan Buddhism.^[13] He was known for his advice against the self-immolation protests by Tibetans in China.^[14][15] For his dissenting opinions,^[16] he was marked as a controversial Buddhist teacher^[17] although Rinpoche simultaneously advocated devotion for both the 14th Dalai Lama and the Dorje Shugden religious practice.

Rinpoche died on September 4, 2019, after a long illness.^[18][19]