Center for Healthy Minds

Telo Tulku Rinpoche was born in Philadelphia USA to the family of Kalmyk Mongol immigrants. At the age of seven his parents sent him to India by the recommendation of H.H. the Dalai Lama to study at Drepung Gomang Monastery in South India. He is a key figure behind the establishment of connections between the Russian scientific community and His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. He is a main organizer of a series of dialogues between leading Russian scientists and Buddhist scholars, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama under the general title “Fundamental knowledge: dialogue between Russian and Buddhist scholars” (“Nature of Consciousness”, 2017, Delhi, India; “Understanding the World”, 2018, Dharamsala, India), as well as the first international forum “Animal Consciousness” (2023, Dharamsala, India) supervised by the full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Prof. Konstantin Anokhin. He has played a pivotal role in bringing together Tibetan Buddhist monasteries of India and Nepal and the Russian Meditation and Tukdam Research team ensuring mutual understanding and long-term cooperation between them since 2019 up to present. Telo Rinpoche has served as the Director of the Russian Meditation and Tukdam Research Project led by Svyatoslav Medvedev, which the Russian research team started independently in 2018 before His Holiness requested the CHM and Russian teams collaborate on the Joint Tukdam Research Project starting in 2020. From 1992 to 2023, Telo Rinpoche served as the Shadjin Lama (Supreme Lama) of Kalmykia. He supervised the construction of over 37 Buddhist temples and 120 stupas, including the main temple in the capital city, the Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni. He successfully restored the pure tradition of Vinaya (Monks Discipline) in Kalmykia. Since 2014, he has been serving as H.H. the Dalai Lama's representative to Russia, Mongolia and CIS countries. Telo Rinpoche is a Board Member of SEE Learning Mongolia, and serves as the CEO/Chairman of Dilova Hutught Foundation in Mongolia, where he is responsible for introducing the Social, Emotional and Ethical (SEE) Learning program developed by Emory University to the Ministry of Education of Mongolia and its successful implementation in public schools.