Ngak’chang Rinpoche

Ngak’chang Rinpoche with his son Robert, signing calligraphies

Ngak’chang Rinpoche is one of the Lineage Lamas (chief teachers) of Aro. He is also known as Ngakpa Chögyam.

You can read his biography on the Aro web site to learn more about him. In this section I describe my personal experience with him. Elsewhere I have described my first impressions of him and how I became his student. You might also like to read his family blog.

You may have found hostile web gossip about Aro. Almost all of it is actually directed at Ngak’chang Rinpoche, rather than Aro generally. It is very rare for anyone to make specific criticisms of what Aro teaches. Instead, it is said that it must be wrong, just because it came from him. There also been no criticism of the other Aro teachers.

So, what is supposed to be wrong with Ngak’chang Rinpoche? The two main accusations are:

• He invented the Aro gTér himself, and therefore it is invalid.
• He has not been authorized to teach by any Tibetan lama.

I have discussed doubts about the Aro gTér extensively earlier. It seems to have as good a claim to validity as other Tibetan Buddhist systems.

So this section of Approaching Aro is mainly about Ngak’chang Rinpoche’s formal qualifications to teach. Questions about this depend primarily on his relationship with his own teachers. I will go into great historical detail, based on interviews with many witnesses. I will also present many relevant documents.

My conclusion is that Ngak’chang Rinpoche was, in fact, authorized to teach by several lamas. You can make up your own mind, based on the evidence I have collected.

I will also address the nature of the hostility to Ngak’chang Rinpoche. Mostly it seems not to be based on any specific problems with him, but rather on jealousy and visceral dislike.