Ngari Rinpoché

Tenzin Choegyal (; March 1946 – 17 February 2026) was a Tibetan tulku and politician.

The younger brother of the 14th Dalai Lama, he was known as Ngari Rinpoche .

Life and career Born in Lhasa in March 1946, Ngari Rinpoche had an older brother who died at the age of two due to smallpox; he was considered to be the child's reincarnation. Three days after his birth, his parents held a celebration, which attracted the likes of Heinrich Harrer. He was recognized as the 16th Ngari Rinpoche and entered the Drepung Monastery at the age of seven.

On 10 March 1959, amidst the Tibetan uprising, he was driven in a Soviet car from Drepung Monastery to the military camp where a performance was to be given in honor of the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama canceled his attendance due to the unusual demands to attend without his ministers or bodyguards. Tendzin Choegyal observed that all the Chinese and pro-Chinese Tibetans were armed and described General Tan Guansan as furious at the Dalai Lama's absence. Rinpoche's mother sent a servant to fetch her son after the performance, asking him to join her under the pretext that she was unwell. They both joined the Dalai Lama at Norbulingka the following day. Without renouncing Tibetan Buddhism, he became an adherent of Hinayana and frequented the same school as Tenzin Geyche Tethong. He served as a spiritual leader of the Karsha Monastery, the most important in Zanskar. He was a member of the Mind & Life Institute, where he served as an honorary member until his death. Apart from his brother, the Dalai Lama, and his sister, Jetsun Pema, he is survived by his wife Rinchen Khando Choegyal, their daughter Tenzin Choezom and son Tenzin Lodoe (also known as Tenzin L. Choegyal).

Publications His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama: An Illustrated Biography (with Tenzin Geyche Tethong, Gautam Pemmaraju, and Jane Moore, 2021)