Chinpa Tenpel

Chinpa Tenpel (born Nico Hartman, Heusden, October 11, 1976) is a Dutch painter and scholar in the Nyingma and Sakya traditions of Tibetan Buddhism who lives and works in Thailand.
The Buddhist name of Chinpa Tempel meaning: “Generous One Who Spreads the Teachings” has been given to him during his religious study under the tutelage of Gelek Tarchin.
Early life
Nico Hartman was born in and lived his childhood in Heusden, Netherlands.
At age 18 -after the divorce of his parents- Nico left Holland being an angry young man in search for the meaning of life.
Nico travelled to Thailand and got introduced to Tibetan Buddhism while staying in Huahin. After 9 months of practising Tibetan meditation while working in a resort Nico was invited to visit the Dzogchen Monastery in Tibet after which he was invited to become a scholar.
Monastery Life
During the next few years Nico received full schooling from various tutors, in addition to training in meditation, and in the study of the Dharma in general, and of Tantra specifically.
His root Guru was Gelek Tarchin, and Tenzing Yongdu (1922-2009) was his other main spiritual master. After he completed what are known as the Preliminary Practices (Ngöndro), Nico Hartman spent most of the next seven years in silent retreat in remote hermitages and caves near the Dzogchen Monastery.
After completing his retreat at the age of twenty-nine, Nico - by then named “Chinpa Tenpel” - spent years with Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro.
After receiving from Khyentse Chokyi Lodro the many empowerment of the Rinchen Terdzo (the collection of Revealed Treasures or termas), Chinpa Tenpel requested to spend the rest of his life in solitary meditation. But Khyentse Chokyi Lodro's answer was: "The time has come for you to teach and transmit to others the countless precious teachings you have received" after which Nico established himself in Thailand.
Since 2011 Nico has been teaching Buddhist meditation techniques in Thailand and the Netherlands.
Painting career
In August 2006 Chinpa started painting without ever having received any formal training. His theme’s are mainly spiritual inspired and often depict scenes of his life as a Buddhist monk among his fellow scholars during his stay in the Dzogchen Monastery.
Chinpa Tenpel has said the following about his work:
“My painting is part of the spiritual discipline striving to encounter the incarnate Buddha in myself and life around me.”
And further about meditating:
“Although prayer is a great tool to use and a vital part of the communication process, it lacks effectiveness and becomes meaningless if done without faith. The prayer becomes empty words without any substance. The power of a prayer is in the feeling that is released or sent out. Prayer should not be a list of demands or a bargaining tool.
In addition to accepting the existence of spirits, we need to fine tune our spiritual senses. Since spirits operate on a dissimilar frequency than ours, it is important to fine tune our spiritual senses in order to link with them.
When you think of spirit communication, think of a radio. Imagine yourself turning the radio on, and trying to get to your favorite station. Before reaching your desire station, you find yourself between two stations. Unclear noise begins to come through. You continue to turn the knob until the correct frequency or desire station is reached.
The same process holds when you try to communicate with spirits. The two stations represent our world and spirit world. In the process of reaching out to the spirit world, the correct frequency is extremely vital. If the correct frequency is not reached a lot of incoherent noise or nil is received.
One way of achieving or reaching the correct frequency is through meditation. Meditation helps in calming the mind as well as the body. It is an important aspect because as adults we are inundated with so much mundane issues. Therefore, it is imperative to free our minds of such issues, in order to clear the way for spirit communication.
In a way, we need to connect to our inner child and become a child again. Children are innocent creatures who are free of mundane issues, and do not discriminate between the tangible and intangible. They freely accept without being analytical. They can receive spirit communication effortlessly.”
Chinpa Tenpel’s work has been displayed in exhibitions in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Japan.

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