Venerable Jampa Kunchog at Kopan, 1976. Credits Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive

Venerable Jampa Kunchog (Delsturtz Theadore “Yogi” Pryor) died of prostate cancer on April 20, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia, US.

An early student of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Ven. Jampa devoted more than five decades to Dharma study, monastic life, translation work, and the preservation of Tibetan Buddhist teachings. He studied for many years at Sera Je Monastery in South India and later founded the Scholastic Institute Chökyi Gyaltsen University (SICGU) in the United States.

Obituary compiled and edited by Nick Ribush

Memories of Venerable Jampa Kunchog from His Old Friend, Scott Brusso

In the early 1970s, Jampa was known as Yogi. He and I lived in lower Dharamsala and every morning without fail would walk up to the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives to attend Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey’s one-hour classes. During the 1973–74 winter break we went to Bodhgaya for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Kalachakra initiation. There we were very fortunate to meet Lama Yeshe and attend his talk at the Japanese temple. It was very mystical and with Geshe Dhargyey’s blessing we both decided to attend the sixth Kopan course that spring. After the course we took Lama Yeshe’s Heruka Vajrasattva initiation and teachings and did the Kopan group retreat. 

After the retreat we decided to be ordained as monks. Yogi (and five other Kopan students) took novice ordination from Lati Rinpoche in March 1975, and later full ordination from H.H. the Dalai Lama, becoming known as Jampa Kunchog. He remained a monk his entire life. I received novice ordination from H.H. Trijang Rinpoche a year later in 1976. After that we lived at Kopan, where Lama Lhundrup was kind enough to teach us debate. During that time, we also taught English to the young monks and they taught us Tibetan. 

International Mahayana Institute group at Kopan 1974. Jampa is still a layman. Credits: Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Around 1978 Yogi went to Sera monastery to study philosophy and debate. I don’t know the details of his years there, but it’s a tribute to his dedication and perseverance that he bore the poor conditions there in order to study to become a geshe, not only studying Buddhist philosophy but also becoming fluent in the Tibetan language, partly by refusing to speak English. He lived exactly as the Tibetan monks did, working in the fields as necessary and eating the same food.

Tushita Dharamsala, March 1975. Ordination group with Lati Rinpoche. Credits: Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

SICGU logo

He returned to the United States in the early 90s and from 1994 to 1995 served as the translator for Geshe Losang Tsultrim (Tsulga) at Boston’s FPMT center, Kurukulla. After that he moved to Atlanta with the wish to start a Buddhist University, which he called the Scholastic Institute Chökyi Gyaltsen University (SICGU). He also taught several students and translated and self-published a number of books. 

IMI group, Kopan, 1977.

About three years ago he began getting sick, having a very hard time walking or even standing. He entered a hospital in the Atlanta area where they had difficulty finding out what was causing his symptoms. Physical therapy was not successful. In improving his condition. Jampa also suffered a heart issue, from which he recovered. 

By this point we were talking on the phone weekly, but Jampa would not let the doctors or his family probe further. He was taking Tibetan medicine and did not let the doctors investigate further in order to diagnose what was going on. However, about six months ago they discovered advanced aggressive metastatic prostate cancer and recently he was admitted to hospice. I was still able to talk to him up to a few days before he passed away at around 7:40 pm on April 20. Jampa was unable to sit up but appeared to be meditating on the absorption process. He appeared very peaceful and was saying something about the light. It was his wish to not make a big announcement and to be cremated. He asked that his ashes be buried with his father’s remains.  

March 1975. Post-ordination with H.H. the Dalai Lama at his residence. Credits: Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Memories of Venerable Jampa Kunchog from His Former Colleague from Sera, Ian Coghlan

I met Jampa Kunchog when I first went to Sera in 1980. He was living in House One, the house of Khensur Dhondup Topgyal. I lived in House Fifteen as arranged by Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey. I got to know him better when Geshe Losang Thupten from house Sixteen invited us to attend teachings on Tibetan grammar—Sum Chupa and Takkyi Jugpa—while he was still finishing his three-year retreat. 

IMI audience with His Holiness, May 1975. Credits: Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Sera Monastery was very poor in those days: no toilets, no bathrooms, electricity for an hour or two, water pumped for an hour to fill large earthen pots buried in the ground, and the food was basic. It was hard physically but easier mentally. Everything in Sera focused on study and absorbing the Dharma. Jampa Kunchog had a great zeal for study to which he applied great energy. He had a nickname, Mahe, meaning water buffalo, for his impressive physical strength, which he often displayed in the debate ground when warding off half his debate class while making a debate point! He also had a useful ability to find ways of remaining in India when all doors appeared closed. Later, he set up a computer club, with the thought to use its potential in study. His dedication to Jetsun Chökyi Gyaltsen, the author of the Sera Je debate manuals, was immense, and later when he returned to the US he founded SICGU (Scholastic Institute Chökyi Gyaltsen) in his honor. My enduring impression and my greatest point of respect for Jampa was his genuine resolute exertion in the study of Dharma. 

Memories of Venerable Jampa Kunchog From Tedra Pryor, His Sister

On April 20, 2026, at 7:40 p.m., Dr. Jampa Kunchog departed this life. Born Delsturtz Theadore Pryor on January 1, 1953, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the family eventually settled in Hartford, Connecticut after living in Oahu, Hawaii for several years. 

Venerable Jampa Kunchog, South India, 1980s. Credits: Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Jampa was the most adventurous of the four children born to Dr. Theadore M. Pryor, and Sophornia Mary Pryor. At the age of 19, he withdrew from Tuskegee University to trek across Europe. After spending two years in Europe, he traveled through Western Asia to India, which would become his home for approximately 20 years. 

Sera Monastery, Bylakuppe, India, early 80s. Credits: Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

He first lived in Dharamsala in 1973 and studied at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. His teacher was Geshe Ngwang Dhargyey. In the spring of 1974 he attended a one-month meditation course taught by Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery outside of Kathmandu, Nepal. In 1975, Jampa received ordination from Lati Rinpoche, and later full ordination from the Dalai Lama. After that he lived and studied at Kopan Monastery until deciding to enter Sera-je Monastery in Mysore around 1978. While in India he received his undergraduate degree, Master’s Degree, and Doctorate Degree in Eastern Philosophy from Sera. He was one of the few Westerners to go through such a rigorous program. Jampa was also instrumental in translating certain Tibetan teachings into English and preserving Buddhist transcripts to his computer to ensure their preservation. This had never been done before. 

Venerable Jampa Kunchog with Geshe Tsulga, Massachusetts, 1994. Credits: Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Venerable Jampa Kunchog, Kurukulla Center, Boston, 1995. Credits: Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Upon his return to the United States he began making guest appearances to speak on Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. He published books and conducted online classes on these topics. You will find his picture in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.  Jampa was well known and respected in many parts of the world. Before he passed, his hope was to establish a university for Tibetan Buddhist studies in Massachusetts. However, his teachings will be carried on through his students and religious followers and friends who shared his vision and philosophy. 

With grateful thanks to Scott Brusso, Ian Coghlan, Tedra Pryor, and Nick Ribush for this moving tribute. 

In Venerable Jampa Kunchog’s own words: “Back in the years 1958–1962, my sister and I were the first Black children to integrate schools in both the North and the South. The picture displayed was taken after I received my first communion in North Carolina. We were accepted into the all-white school because our parents wanted us to have the best opportunity for education. We walked into the school; there were no police, no army to break up protesting crowds, and no overt discrimination. We were simply accepted. We believe we were the first example of Black integration into all-white schools. This was in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1961. I entered this school in 1960; my sister, the year before.” Photo courtesy of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive

Please pray that Venerable Jampa Kunchog may never ever be reborn in the lower realms, may he be immediately born in a pure land where he can be enlightened or to receive a perfect human body, meet the Mahayana teachings and meet a perfectly qualified guru and by only pleasing the guru’s mind, achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible. More advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche on death and dying is available, see Death and Dying: Practices and Resources (fpmt.org/death/).

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