In 1977, His Holiness Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa and head of the Kagyü lineage, confirmed the Vajra Regent's appointment as a lineage holder of the Kagyü. The Vajra Regent was the first Westerner to hold such a position.
Thomas F. Rich was born in 1943 in Passaic, New Jersey. He graduated in 1965 from Fordham University and then worked as a physical therapist in New York and Los Angeles. In 1966 he met Swami Satchidananda, a teacher of the Hindu tradition, and became one of his principle students, and was given the Hindu name, Narayana. He continued his studies in that tradition until 1971, when he first met Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, Colorado. With the blessings of Satchidananda, he moved to Tail of the Tiger, a residential community in Vermont founded by Trungpa Rinpoche.
Thomas Rich took the Buddhist vows of refuge while at Tail of the Tiger, receiving the name Ösel Tendzin, which means "luminosity holder of the teachings." He served on the executive committee of Tail of the Tiger and in 1972 was appointed director of the Maitri program, a therapeutic community in Elizabethtown, New York, founded by Trungpa Rinpoche. It was at Tail of the Tiger that Ösel Tendzin first learned of Trungpa Rinpoche's intentions for him, although he was not formally empowered as Vajra Regent until four years later.
In 1973 Ösel Tendzin attended the first Vajradhatu seminary program, a three-month residential program of meditation practice and study established by Trungpa Rinpoche for qualified students. Following that program, Ösel Tendzin moved to Boulder, Colorado, and soon after was appointed to the board of directors of the newly-founded Vajradhatu. Later, at the time of his empowerment as Vajra Regent, he was named executive vice-president of Vajradhatu and of Nalanda Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization founded in 1974 by Trungpa Rinpoche.
Following his empowerment as Vajra Regent, Ösel Tendzin began to travel and teach Buddhist doctrine and practice throughout North America and Europe, often joining with Trungpa Rinpoche in teaching programs. He was also the first of Trungpa Rinpoche's students empowered to conduct traditional Buddhist ceremonies and confer empowerments for advanced students.
In 1977, the year after the Vajra Regent's empowerment, Trungpa Rinpoche went on an extended retreat, leaving the management of Vajradhatu and Nalanda Foundation, as well as the primary teaching responsibilities, in the hands of the Vajra Regent. In the late 1970's, the Vajra Regent co-founded the Shambhala Training Program with Trungpa Rinpoche. The Vajra Regent also taught regularly at The Naropa Institute, a liberal arts college in Boulder, Colorado, founded by Trungpa Rinpoche, and worked closely with the institute's administration and faculty in shaping its development. He founded the Regent's Club, an association of major donors in support of the institute.
In 1981 Ösel Tendzin published Buddha in the Palm of Your Hand, based on talks he had given between 1976 and 1979. In addition to his teaching and administrative duties, the Vajra Regent practiced the arts of calligraphy, poetry and photography. He was also an avid golfer and participated in the annual Regent's Open Golf Tournament in Boulder, Colorado. In 1985, the Vajra Regent moved with his family from Boulder, Colorado, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to supervise the relocation of Vajradhatu's administrative headquarters there. A year later, when Trungpa Rinpoche moved to Halifax, he requested the Vajra Regent to preside over the final weeks of the 1986 Vajradhatu seminary program on his behalf.
After the death of Trungpa Rinpoche in 1987 Ösel Tendzin succeeded to the post of president of Vajradhatu and Nalanda Foundation. He continued to travel and teach and presided over the 1988 Vajradhatu seminary program. Following that program, his health, which had been poor for some time, declined further, and he moved with his family to Ojai, California. On the advice of His Holiness Dingo Khyentse Rinpoche, an eminent teacher of the Nyingma lineage, the Vajra Regent entered into retreat at his residence in Ojai. The Vajra Regent died on August 25, 1990.
Vajradhatu Recordings, a department of Vajradhatu, an association of Buddhist churches founded in 1973 by the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, was responsible for the creation, acquisition, custody, and use of sound recordings of the teaching and administrative activities of Trungpa Rinpoche, as well as of the Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin and other Buddhist teachers and administrators of Vajradhatu and of Nalanda Foundation. Until 1989, when they were transferred to the Vajradhatu Archives, sound recordings of the Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin were maintained in the custody of Vajradhatu Recordings (now Kalapa Recordings).
Fonds consists of sound recordings of the Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin created between 1976 and 1988, predominantly of public talks and seminars taught throughout North America and Europe. The fonds also includes sound recordings of traditional Buddhist ceremonies conducted by Ösel Tendzin; of interviews with groups of students to discuss various aspects of meditation practice and study; of talks at dathuns, month-long programs of meditation practice; of informal discussions on a variety of topics; of radio interviews; and of a small group of "mystery" recordings.
The fonds is arranged in the following series: 1. 1976 public talk or
seminar 2. 1977 public talk or seminar 3. 1978 public talk or seminar 4.
1979 public talk or seminar 5. 1980 public talk or seminar 6. 1981 public
talk or seminar 7. 1982 public talk or seminar 8. 1983 public talk or seminar
9. 1984 public talk or seminar 10. 1985 public talk or seminar 11. 1986
public talk or seminar 12. 1987 public talk or seminar 13. 1988 public
talk or seminar 14. Ceremony 15. Dathun talk 16. Informal discussion 17.
Meditation instruction audience or interview 18. Mysteries 19. Radio, magazine
or newspaper interview
Title based on contents of the fonds.
Extent includes duplicates.
Some audio reels show evidence of deterioration. As a conservation
measure a number of audio reels have been exercised and copied to both
digital and high-quality cassette formats.
Portions of the fonds are restricted to authorized students. Access
to those records is by arrangement with the Archives Director. Access to
other records is by permission of Lila Rich. Inventories accompany series
descriptions. For additional details see the Vajradhatu Archives Database
of Holdings.
Further accruals are expected.
Videocassette recordings related to portions of the fonds are in the
custody of the Archives.
Photographic records related to portions of the fonds are described
in the Vajradhatu and Nalanda Foundation Information Office Photographic
Fonds Finding Aid.
Related materials may be found in the following fonds of sound recordings:
the Vajradhatu fonds; the Vajradhatu Seminary fonds; the Nalanda Foundation
fonds; the Naropa Institute events fonds; the Shambhala Training events
fonds; and the Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin fonds.
An inventory of verbatim transcriptions of portions of the fonds exists.
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