In
1957 Ato Rinpoche broadened his studies, spending some time at Thargye Gonpa, a
Sakyapa monastery near his home, then travelling to Lhasa, where he studied at
Sera Monastery and also at Tsurphu Monastery, where he became an attendant to
His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa. In 1959 he left Tibet for India, where he was asked by His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa to become the Kagyupa Representative in the Religious Office of H. H. the Dalai Lama in Dharmsala. Later, he was placed in charge of the Young Lamas' Home School in Dalhousie, which provided both a general education and also appropriate teaching for Tulkus from all four lineages of Tibetan Buddhism.
In 1967 he married and moved to Cambridge where he lives with his wife and daughter. He worked as a nurse at Fulbourn Psychiatric Hospital, until his early retirement, due to injury, in 1981.
Ato Rinpoche has since divided his time between teaching Buddhism and Meditation in the West and re-establishing Nezang Monastery in Kham, which has involved both re-building the fabric and giving teachings and initiations to the next generation of monks at Nezang and other monasteries.
Still based in Cambridge, he runs a monthly meditation class that is open to anyone who is interested. He often teaches at Centres abroad and also sees pupils at his home.