Dr. Hun Lye

Dorlöp Rinpoché, Dr. Hun Lye (Könchok Yedor) was born in Penang, Malaysia, into a devout Buddhist family and spent his childhood accompanying his grandmother to a local nunnery. Fascinated by ritual and mythology, he explored Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna traditions, concluding—“Buddhism is Buddhism is Buddhism”—and practiced them without sectarian bias. At Penang Free School, he led the Buddhist Students’ Society (grounded in Sri Lankan, Burmese, and Thai Theravāda) and took lay precepts from Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, completing the required 50,000 prostrations as a teenager.

In 1989, Dr. Lye came to the U.S. for college and first encountered Tibetan Buddhism under Drupön Sonam Jorphel Rinpoché. While earning his Ph.D. in Religious Studies (specializing in Buddhism) at the University of Virginia in 2003, he served and studied closely with Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoché at the Tibetan Meditation Center in Frederick, Maryland.

After graduation, he taught Buddhism at two North Carolina universities and simultaneously nurtured an Asheville sangha. He led study tours and pilgrimages to Tibet, Ladakh, and Nepal. That community formally became Urban Dharma NC in 2011, and by mid-2012 Dr. Lye transitioned from academia to full-time Dharma teacher.

In 2013, His Holiness Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang Rinpoché appointed Dr. Lye as Dorjé Lopön (Vajra Master) of the Drikung Kagyü tradition, entrusting him with transmitting its core teachings. Soon after, he was sent to teach at Drikung centers in South America. Today, he splits his time between assisting His Holiness on global projects, leading retreats and teachings for Urban Dharma, and offering regular online instruction to communities in Malaysia, Peru, Guatemala, and the United States.