Sounds of Transformation: Mantras and Meditation

Tibetan Buddhist practitioners repeat mantras to purify negative energy and to bring forth joy, love, and good karma. Join Lama Rapjee Wangchuk in the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room to listen to, learn about, and participate in his chanting practice, which he dedicates to world peace.

Lama Rapjee Wangchuck is a Tibetan Buddhist teacher from the Namdroling Monastery in Mysore, India and the Palyul Retreat Center in upstate New York. He is featured as a chant master in the exhibition The World Is Sound. This program is a rare opportunity to hear him chant live.

The program will begin with a tour of the exhibition The World Is Sound led by Tashi Chodron, who oversees Himalayan heritage programs for the Rubin.

About the Chant Master

Lama Rapjee Wangchuck is a master of chanting and ritual instruments, with deep knowledge of many aspects of Vajrayana Buddhism. Born in Pemakod, India he began his Buddhist education at a young age, doing preliminary practices including Ngöndro. He then went to Namdroling, currently has around four thousand monks and nuns, the monastic seat in India of H.H. Penor Rinpoche, late Head of the Nyingma tradition and 11th Throne holder of the Palyul lineage.

There he studied many forms of Vajrayana ritual and became especially well known for his skills in the Palyul masked dances (cham). Then he completed the monastery’s shedra, a nine-year college of higher Buddhist philosophical studies, graduating with the degree of Loppön (acharya or professor).

After receiving this title, Lopön Rapjee was chosen by H.H. Penor Rinpoche as a personal attendant. He served His Holiness for over two decades, and traveled with him all over the world including United States, the Palyul Summer Retreat in Upstate New York, where he assisted in ritual practices including Sand Mandala creation, chanting, lama dance, and ritual sounds all over the world. In 2015 Lama Rapjee led the Sand Mandala demonstration at the Rubin Museum with three other monks from Palyul for two days and Mandala art making in the theater to a sold out audience in 2016 as part of the Himalayan Heritage program.