I met my teacher, Lama Sonam Tsering, in 1997 and began training in the Dharma arts shortly thereafter. I have trained in the Karma Gardi and Mendri styles of thangka painting under the strict and intensive guidence of Lama Sonam Tsering. I have studied the ritual arts under various Dudjom lineage authorities at Tashi Choling in Ashland Oregon and served for several years as head chopon (shrine master). In 1999 I began working with gold leaf, gilding statues and working on statue restoration. I have worked on many art projects at Tashi Choling, Orgyen Dorje Den (Alameda, CA) and Tara's Refuge (Mt. Shasta, CA). I have taken some of these project home to work on including 18 four foot tall prayer wheels now installed in the garden at Tashi Choling and numerous small statues and other items for gilding and painting. I am happy to share the pictures of some of these project with you here. I have gilded numerous statues, furniture, and tormas.
Lama Sonam Tsering was born and raised in the Yolmo Region of Nepal. He began his training in the arts and Buddhist ritual at an early age under the guidance of his father, Lama Tenzin Chopel. At the age of 8, Lama Sonam's studies expanded when he began to receive teachings and study dharma with his guru, the great yogi Yedrol Dorje Rinpoche. When Lama Sonam was 16, his father, having recognized his extraordinary potential for accomplishment in the arts, sent him to study with the master Bhutanese sculptor Cheku, who was a student of Lopon Omtong. After 2 years of intensive study with Cheku, Lama Sonam began working on his own, utilizing both his painting & sculpting skills. He worked primarily at monasteries in Nepal until 1993 when he was invited to the United States by Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche and began working at Tashi Choling in Oregon. Lama Sonam has worked continuously for the last 29 years building stupas and creating statues as well as painting thangkas and murals in Nepal, India, Mexico, Australia and the United States.