104. After Adopting 123 Kids, Former Buddhist Monk Transforms Education with Gen-la Lobsang Phuntsok

There is nothing quite as enlightening as listening to the insights of someone who has been to the edge and back. Today’s guest - Lobsang Phuntsok - had been to many edges of human existence. He was abandoned at birth, left under dry leaves by his 13 year old mother, but rescued to grow up as a Buddhist Monk. After an amazing journey of insight, he is now “Dad” to 123 children in an amazing family that is also a school and community that could fundamentally change the goals of education worldwide.  Eventually found himself being one of 10 young monks trained, under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to share Tibetan Buddhism with the West.  He lived in the U.S. and Canada for more than a decade. In 2006, he felt called to leave his life as a spiritual teacher in the United States, and returned to the region of his birth with a dream of rescuing unwanted children like he once was.  His work took him to North America on behalf of the Dalai Lama,  High up in the Himalayan mountains of northeast India, on the border with Bhutan, is a small school for abandoned children that is changing the world.