Narayan Prasad Rijal is the Assistant Holder of the Dharma of the Byoma Kusuma Buddhadharma Sangha. He received the title from Acharya Mahayogi Shridhar Rana Rinpoche in 2008 for his in-depth knowledge of Buddhism. He has been practicing under the guidance of Acharya Mahayogi Sridhar Rana Rinpoche for 20 years and is responsible for disseminating dharma teachings and guiding new and old students in their meditation practices.

Narayan Rijal, also known by his refuge name Buddha Vajra, is a profound scholar of Sanksrit. He was educated under the traditional Gurukul system from the age of 3 in Swarga Dwari, Pyuthan district in Nepal. He was brought up in an orthodox Brahman family that rendered services in the main temple.

Following his higher education in Benares, India, he moved to Kathmandu in 1986. There, he met with Acharya Mahayogi Sridhar Rana Rinpoche in July 1990 and received teachings on Buddhism and various initiations from H.E Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, H.E Chobgay Trichen Rinpoche, H.H Sakya Trizin Rinpoche, and H.E Karma Thinley Rinpoche.

Narayan Rijal began disseminating teachings on behalf of Acharya Mahayogi Sridhar Rana Rinpoche after Rinpoche entered his retreat in April 1996. Since then Narayan Rijal has been mainly responsible for translating and disseminating Rinpoche’s monthly discourses titled ‘Bodhipushpanjali’, conducting dharma discourses, and guiding students in their meditation practices. He has also translated many classical Buddhist texts and prayers from Sanskrit into Nepali and English such as the Bodhicharyavatara, Munimataprakash and numerous esoteric practices of Buddhist deities.

He was personally invited by H.E. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche to teach ‘Comparative Philosophy of Buddhism and Hinduism’ for a period of 10 days at the Deer Park Institute in Himachal Pradesh, India in October 2009. His visits to Deer Park are now an annual event.

He also presented talks in the United Kingdom in April 2010 on: ‘Challenges of presenting Tibetan Buddhism to a Nepali Audience’ at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, Oxford University; ‘Comparative Philosophy of Buddhism and Hinduism’ in Northampton University; a session on ‘Mindfulness Meditation’ at the Institute of Education (IOE), University of London; and ‘Buddhism for Beginners’ at the Sakyaling Centre, Reading and the Byoma Kusuma Buddhadharma Sangha, London.

Narayan Rijal also teaches Physics at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal.