Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche () is a lama in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism and abbot of the Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre, Scotland, the first and largest of its kind in the West.
Early years
Born in 1943 into a farming family in Kham, East Tibet, he was given the name Jamphel Drakpa, or Jamdrak for short. He spent his early childhood close to nature helping with the family sheep and yaks and playing with the other children in the village; the children received no education as such. This changed when at 12 years old he was selected to go with his elder brother Choje Akong Rinpoche—who had been recognised as a tulku by the 16th Karmapa—to the Dolma Lhakang Monastery where he was to receive an education. Although Akong was only three years older than Jamdrak, it was the tradition that where a tulku is the abbot of a monastery one of his brothers goes to assist him. It is claimed that many auspicious signs had been seen when Jamdrak was born and he had also been recognised as a tulku, but not officially confirmed due to the political turbulence of the time. At Dolma Lhakang Jamdrak was a reluctant but diligent scholar under a succession of lamas, but his studies were interrupted by the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959.
Escape to India
Jamdrak set off with his brother in a party of 300 to flee Tibet. As the Chinese occupied Lhasa the party was forced to take an alternative route which involved a perilous journey across the Himalaya mountains. The arduous journey involved high altitudes, raging rivers, evading capture and near starvation. Of the three hundred that set off only thirteen, including Jamdrak and his brother Akong Rinpoche arrived safely in India. The others were killed, captured or died of starvation. came to Samye Ling with a strange request. She was the owner of Holy Isle a small island near the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde. She wished to sell the Island and had had a vision of Mary, the mother of Jesus who asked her to approach the Buddhists at Samye Ling. Lama Yeshe visited the island in December and felt an immediate affinity for the rugged landscape, reminiscent of his homeland. Looking out over the lights of Lamlash bay, he was reminded of a vision he had while practising dream yoga on retreat. He had experienced flying over a beautiful island surrounded by lights. In April 1992 the Holy Isle was bought by the Rokpa Trust. Since then Lama Yeshe has been instrumental in establishing the Centre for World Peace and Health, an environmentally designed residential venue for courses, conferences and retreats on Holy Island, and a monastery on the southern end of the Island for nuns on three year retreats.