Winfried Kopps was born in 1951. Raised in a liberal Catholic Christian family, at the age of 16 Kopps read a book entitled What is Buddhism?. Since then until today Buddhism has been a central theme in his life. At 22, inspired by Goethe, Hesse, Hoffmann, Kerouac and others, he travelled to the East on a pilgrimage. In India he met the great Tibetan magician Penor Rinpoche and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He also heard about Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche for the first time and recognized him as his guru, the most intimate bond to Buddha and his teachings. Winfried Kopps then spent a period of intense private study of several Hindu traditions, Anthroposophy and the like but mainly of different Buddhist schools, first of all the Shambhala Buddhist Tradition. After some time he started to formally study Central Asian Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany.
He has been teaching Buddhism in different European countries for over 25 years during which time he has been a member of the boards of several Buddhist organisations. One of his main interests is education and, in particular, how to teach religion to young people. Winfried Kopps is a single father of two boys. He is also a business advisor and lives in Marburg, Germany.