Special Event: Four Noble Truths on Chökhor Düchen
July 18 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Four Noble Truths on Chökhor Düchen
Saturday, July 18, 2026
10:00am to 11:30am
In-person and on Zoom
Free event, but donations always welcome
About the Event
Chökhor Düchen is one of the four great occasions (Losar, Saga Dawa, Choekhor Duchen and Lhabab Duchen) celebrated by all Tibetan Buddhists. During those times, it is believed that the effects of positive or negative actions are multiplied ten million times. It falls in the Tibetan Lunar calendar in the 6th month, 4th day. Tradition has it that Buddha was not convinced that teaching what he had discovered through his meditations could be communicated in a way that would be of any benefit to others. It took the intercession of the sky goddesses called Dakinis, and the great Hindu gods, Brahma and Indra, to persuade him to do so for the benefit of all sentient beings. After seven weeks, the Buddha finally addressed the five people who had been his companions during the time spent with the forest yogins, and at Sarnath in India, he taught this first teaching–the Four Noble Truths. This is the foundational teaching of all of Buddhism.
Khenpo Karten Rinpoche, resident monk and spiritual director at the Manjushri Dharma Center will celebrate Chökhor Düchen – ‘The First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma’ with a teaching on the Four Noble Truths. This is rare public talk, and we invite all to attend.
Pre-Reading: Attendees may wish to read Rinpoche’s in-depth teaching on the topic, which covers the Four Noble Truths and the 12 Links of Interdependence. Essence of Buddhism As Related to the Four Noble Truths (http://www.khenpokarten.org/2019/10/normal.html)
About the Venerable Khenpo Karten Rinpoche
Khenpo Karten Rinpoche is an accomplished teacher and practitioner of the Karma Kagyu Lineage and is also trained in the Nyingma Lineage of Buddhism. He was born in the beautiful mountains of the Himalayas of Tibet. At the age of twelve, he was ordained at Japa monastery, where he began his formal education of reading, writing and ritual practice. At the age of fifteen having completed the basic studies, he furthered his studies in the Sutra and Tantric texts under the accomplished master Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche and Pema Tsewang Rinpoche for eight years. Subsequently Khenpo Karten Rinpoche went to the hermitage of anther accomplished teacher, who became his heart teacher and root guru, Japa Sangye Tenzin Rinpoche and completed five years of silent and solitary retreat under the great master. In recognition of his achievements, Sangye Tenzin Ringpoche bestowed upon him the title, Khenpo Karma Lekshe Tharchin in 1994.
In 1996, he left Tibet and traveled to Dharamsala, India to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Upon His Holiness’ advice, he spent another two years doing retreat. H.H Dalai Lama also recognizing his achievement, bestowed upon him the title Khenpo Rinpoche.
Khenpo Karten arrived in the United States in 2008, and taught in the Monterey Bay area for the first time in September of that year. After meeting a group of prospective students and seeing the hills of Big Sur which remind him of Tibet, he returned in 2009 to make the Monterey Bay his home. Rinpoche established the Manjushri Dharma Center in Pacific Grove, California, which has become his main teaching location and his home residence. Rinpoche and the Manjushri Dharma Center will be moving next year (summer 2027) to the Portland, Oregon area.
With unflinching faith in the precious Buddha Dharma, Khenpo Karten Rinpoche, now a U.S. citizen, bestows sacred teachings to thousands of people all over the world, with weekly teachings and events.