Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
Encyclopedia
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche (b. 23 Oct 1964) is the title of a tulku
Tulku
In Tibetan Buddhism, a tulku is a particular high-ranking lama, of whom the Dalai Lama is one, who can choose the manner of his rebirth. Normally the lama would be reincarnated as a human, and of the same sex as his predecessor. In contrast to a tulku, all other sentient beings including other...

 lineage of Tibetan Buddhist lama
Lama
Lama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru .Historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of monasteries...

s. They originate with Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, one of the most illustrious lamas of recent history, known for his central role in the rimé
Rime
Rime is a coating of ice:*Hard rime, white ice that forms when water droplets in fog freeze to the outer surfaces of objects, such as trees*Soft rime, similar to hard rime, but feathery and milky in appearance...

 or non-sectarian movement in 19th Century Tibet. Jigme Namgyel (b.1964) is the present Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. He is the second or third incarnation, depending on whether Lodro Thaye is counted (he was not known as "Dzigar Kongtrul" -- that lineage is one of five distinct subsequent variants beginning after his death).

The 2nd Dzigar Kongtrul

The second Dzigar Kongtrul, Lodrö Rabpel, was recognized by his root guru the 15th Karmapa, Khakyab Dorje
Khakyab Dorje
The fifteenth Karmapa, Khakyab Dorje , spoke the mantra of Chenrezig "Om mani peme hung" at his birth in Sheikor village in Tsang province in Central Tibet. Five years later he was able to read the scriptures....

, along with Karsey Kongtrul. He was the younger brother of Dzigar Chogtrül, a Drukpa Kagyü of a long incarnate lineage.

His bases of activity were Palpung Monastery
Palpung Monastery
Palpung is the name of the congregation of monasteries and centers of the Tai Situpas as well as the name of the monastic seat in Tibet in Dege. Palpung means "glorious union of study and practice"...

, Tsanda Rinchen Drag and Dzong Shö, and later he founded a monastery known as Rango Tsokha near Neten Gön, the monastery of the 2nd Neten Chokling Rinpoche to whom he was very close. According to Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche . A contemporary Buddhist master of the Kagyü and Nyingma lineages, who lived at Nagi Gompa hermitage in Nepal, Urgyen Rinpoche was considered one of the greatest Dzogchen masters of our time.-Life:...

, a contemporary master who died in 1996, Lodro Rabpel was renowned throughout Derge
Dergé
Dêgê County is a county in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in China's Sichuan province. Its county seat is the town of Dêgê. It was once the location of the Kingdom of Dêgê.-External links:*...

 for his eloquence.

The 3rd Dzigar Kongtrul

The present Dzigar Kongtrul was born in the Northern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n province of Himachel Pradesh to Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

an refugee parents; his father was the third Neten Chokling Rinpoche and his mother, Mayum Tsewang Palden, practiced all her life, even in the midst of raising five children. Rinpoche grew up in a monastic environment. He was trained in the Longchen Nyingtik lineage of the Nyingma
Nyingma
The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as Nga'gyur or the "old school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century...

 school as well as the Khyen-Kong Chok-Sum lineages (those of Jamgon Kongtrul, Khyentse Wangpo and Chokgyur Lingpa—the three primary figures in the rimé movement) by his root guru H.H. Dilgo Khyentse
Dilgo Khyentse
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was a Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, teacher, and head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism from 1987 to 1991.-Biography:...

 Rinpoche. Rinpoche also studied extensively under Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche . A contemporary Buddhist master of the Kagyü and Nyingma lineages, who lived at Nagi Gompa hermitage in Nepal, Urgyen Rinpoche was considered one of the greatest Dzogchen masters of our time.-Life:...

, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche and the great scholar Khenpo Rinchen. He moved to the United States in 1989 with his family and began a five-year tenure as a professor of Buddhist philosophy at Naropa University
Naropa University
Naropa University is a private American liberal arts university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher and Oxford University scholar Chögyam Trungpa, it is named for the eleventh-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda.Naropa describes itself as...

 (then Institute) in 1990.

Not long after arriving in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Rinpoche founded Mangala Shri Bhuti, an organization established to further the practice of the Longchen Nyingtik and Khyen-Kong Chok-sum lineages. He established a mountain retreat center, Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, in southern Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, where he spends much of his time in retreat and guides students in long-term retreat practice. When not in retreat, Rinpoche travels widely throughout the world teaching and furthering his own education.

His most well-known student in the Western world is Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön is a notable American figure in Tibetan Buddhism. A disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, she is an ordained nun, author, and teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage which Trungpa founded....

, who took him as her primary teacher years after the death of her root guru, Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was a Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, the eleventh Trungpa tülku, a tertön, supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and originator of a radical re-presentation of Shambhala vision.Recognized...

 Rinpoche.

Mangala Shri Bhuti, Rinpoche's organization, has a total of five centers. Three are study and practice centers -- Phuntsok Choling in Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...

, Pema Osel Do Ngak Choling in Vershire, Vermont
Vershire, Vermont
Vershire is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States, created under Vermont Charter of August 3, 1781. The population was 629 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

, and the Guna Institute in Bir, India. The remaining two are retreat centers -- Longchen Jigme Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado
Crestone, Colorado
Crestone is a statutory town in Saguache County in Southwestern Colorado, United States. The population was 73 at the 2000 census. It is a small village at the foot of the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo Range, in the northern part of the San Luis Valley. Crestone was a small mining town, but...

, and Guna Norling in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.

Artistic pursuits

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is also an abstract expressionist painter. Kongtrul Rinpoche views creativity as "something very large - the essence of everything". His training in the arts began at an early age with the practice of calligraphy, music, ritual dance and other traditional Tibetan arts. After his introduction to Western culture, Rinpoche became increasingly interested in modern art, particularly abstract painting and the work of Picasso and Kandinsky. He began painting under the guidance of his teacher, Yahne Le Toumelin in the mid 1990’s. Mrs. Le Toumelin,who is based in Dordogne, France, is herself a renowned abstract expressionist painter who was introduced by Andre Breton in the 1960 as one of the few women painters to make a mark in her generation. Mrs. Le Toumelin teaches a unique style of oil paint mixed with glue applied with special palettes. She regards Rinpoche as her most significant student and an artist whose fearlessness and brilliance are incomparable.

Integrating art and wisdom

In his book Natural Vitality, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche speaks about how the creative process and meditation can merge. The outcome is not only profound works of art, but an added dimension for our spiritual growth.


The essential practice of meditation is to allow the mind to express itself freely without fear or judgment. In each moment of awareness we encounter impressions of the outer world through our sense perception as well as our inner world of thoughts, feelings and emotions. When, through the process of meditation, we are able to let this incredible array of experience be, without trying to reject what we fear or pull in what we feel attracted to - when we relax into experience without trying to manipulate it in any way - we have a complete experience of mind, naked and unaltered. Art, when it is free of such notions of beauty and ugliness, ‘shoulds’ and ‘shouldn’ts’ can be used to express this complete experience of mind. When art evolves from this understanding it provides the possibility for those who see it to also experience the natural and unfabricated nature of their own awareness. –Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

External links

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