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Full Bio
Lama Rangdrol is the only African-American teacher of Buddhism recognized by the First Conference of Tibetan Buddhist Centers in North and South America, convened by the Office of Tibet and attended by the Dalai Lama. He was honored as a special invited guest to the Dalai Lama's teachings on World Peace Through Inner Peace in Miami, Florida.
He was born in Bellevue hospital, New York, America’s oldest maternity ward founded in 1799. The hospital is also famous for its attempts to bring humane treatment to the mentally ill since 1826. His mother, a single parent social worker in Harlem, moved their small family to Los Angeles County, California in 1961 where she pursued a career as a counselor for women in prison,  retiring with distinction.
Lama insulated himself from gangs that emerged in his neighborhood by exploring his passion for music. By the end of middle school he had won the John Phillips Sousa Award for Band and the American Legion Award for Music. As the player of several brass instruments he was selected to tour with the Southern California Junior High School Honor Band. He first encountered Buddhism on a youth tour to Japan where he visited Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo and camped at the base of Mount Fuji. After encountering a tremendous typhoon he was evacuated to Buddhist temples for several weeks.
 He spent his early twenties working full time as a licensed psychiatric technician to fund his arts education, which included the Un iversity of Redlands School of Music (B.A.), graduate work in Multicultural Theater at  Sacramento State University, and certificates of study from the National Shakespeare Company (New York), and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (London). He appeared in classical plays such as Euripides' The Bacchae, produced by the director of the National Theater of Greece while also taking time to tour Northern California farm country in productions of Luis Valdez's Actos for the United Farm Workers.
 Lama Rangdrol pursued both his interest in psychology and the arts, working as a psychiatric technician and Drama Therapist in departments of psychiatry including UCLA Neuropsychiatric Hospital, USC University Hospital, and numerous acute psychiatric hospitals and clinics serving severely mentally ill, developmentally disabled, and homeless populations. He has also served as a group home manager for DD clients, home health caregiver for paraplegic and hemiplegic stroke clients, and director of independent and supportive living services for dually diagnosed individuals.
When his mother became critically ill with cancer, he moved back to his hometown to oversee her hospice care. It was during this time that he decided to share his classical arts education with the community by founding a school of performing arts. This was at the start of the Los Angeles breakdance movement, and he quickly found that the youth were more interested in breakin’ than Shakespeare. He managed young talent appearing in both Breakin’ 1 & 2 films and worked for the  premiere retail phenomenon For Breakers Only headquartered at the corner of Hollywood and Vine, in Hollywood, California. Lama also worked to formally integrate Grafitti Art into the design of Los Angeles' Metro Transit System facilities as well as coordinated a Financial News Network (FNN) segment on the valuation of Graffiti Art from LA to Basquiat.
When David Wolper produced the 1984 Olympic Closing Ceremonies in Los Angeles, Lama Rangdrol responded to his call for breakdancers by sending his performers  and personally assisting in the production. This was the beginning of Lama’s work in the entertainment industry where he became employed by Radio City Music Hall Productions’ west coast events.
 Lama went on to support productions of large scale event ceremonies including the 1986 Statue of Liberty Centennial Celebration, the (1988) Beverly Hills 75th Diamond Jubilee, 1992 Superbowl XXVII Halftime Show, and 1994 World Cup Soccer Opening and Closing Ceremonies. As a result he was able to support shows starring Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Kenny G and may others at the height of their careers and work with many corporate sponsors.
 In 1995, he had a vision of Tibetan Buddhist deity, Padmasambhava, and the lama who would be his first teacher. In Jungian style, he stepped away, pursuing the
meaning of that vision by entering Buddhist retreat at Pema Osel Ling in California under the tutelage of Dzogchen lineage holder Lama Tharchin Rinpoche. He was given the Tibetan name "Choyin Rangdrol" - naturally liberating enlightenment. He remained in the seculsion of the forest for two years, immersed in the Dudjom Tersar lineage. During this time he received teachings from other Dzogchen masters including Khenpo Orgyen Tinly Rinpoche (Khenpo Chozod), Tulku Thubten (Anam Thubten), Lama Nawang, Lama Gyaltsen, Lama Namkhar, Lama Yeshe Wangmo, and Thinley Norbu. He discovered a special connection with a lama who didn't speak much English and affectionately referred to him as "Sasquatch" - Khenpo Yurmed Tinly.
 In 1998, he became Khenpo Yurmed Tinly's private student and remained with him until the Khenpo's death in 2005. The Venerable Khenpo Gyurmed Trinley Rinpoche was a Dzogchen master, a Chöd-pa, monk, and a scholar in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism as well as being trained in the Kagyu, Shakya, and Gelugpa schools. At a very early age, Khenpo began training at HH Dudjom Rinpoche's monastery at Tso Pema. After leaving Tibet, Khenpo trained under the guidance of the Venerable Tsondru Rinpoche in Dehra Dun, India. He later received his advanced (Khenpo) degree from Sanskrit University (founded by HH the Dalai Lama), where he later taught. Khenpo prayed for World Peace at the United Nations in August, 2001, and founded a center, Osel Dorje Nyingpo in Marin County, California.
 1998 was also the year Lama envisioned Rainbowdharma as an emerging activity to include people of color in the American Buddhist community, a lingering issue that was subsequently covered by Buddhist magazines Turning Wheel, Tricycle, and Shambhala Sun. It also prompted major Buddhist organizations to create diversity components charged with addressing the needs of people of color within their own institutions.
Today, known for his clarity of insight and talent for easily communicating complex ideas, Lama Rangdrol has taught Buddhism to Tibetan, Zen, Vipassana, SGI, ecumenical, Christian, Yoruba, Astrologist, Interfaith, non-sectarian, and secular communities. Lama is the recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award. The award was presented jointly by Buddhist and Christian organizations in the city of Oakland, California, for his ground-breaking commentary on KPFA radio, "Oakland Is" cable series, and community work on Buddhist peace.
His work in the field of masculinity was also recognized through his essay in What Makes a Man: 22 Writers Imagine the Future edited by Rebecca Walker (Riverhead Books). They subsequently attended the International Conference on Masculinity, Tallin, Estonia.
He has authored five books, written two music albums, and his recent documentary, Festival Canceled Due to Heavy Rain won the Aloha Accolade Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at the Honolulu International Film Festival.
 Through his achievements Lama has helped to change the face of American Buddhism forever. His work to uncover and liberate racism in American Buddhism is considered by some as provocative and controversial, but Lama Rangdrol feels that we must liberate ourselves from all our cultural illusions including race to create a true refuge for sentient beings - including ones who don't necessarily think, act, or fit the model of the American Buddhist norm.
His activity is solely supported by his family and dedicated students who have gained insight from his teaching and living example. His work is  contrastingly known in America’s urban streets and prisons, the American Buddhist community, the Cambodian jungle, European city centers, and according to Google tracking has been visited by students and professors from over 450 universities in 100 countries including America’s most prestigious institutions.
Lama Rangdrol is the father of a multiracial family including four children and three grandchildren. He lives in retreat on the slope of a dormant volcano in the Hawaiian Islands, USA.
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