Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok

H.H. Jigme Phuntsok (1933–2004) was a prominent teacher in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism who was recognized as a terton (treasure revealer) and renowned for his mastery of Dzogchen. Unlike many Tibetan masters who fled to India and the West, Jigme Phuntsok remained in China throughout the Cultural Revolution and played a major role in maintaining and reviving Buddhism in the region. He established a nonsectarian Buddhist community called Larung Gar near the town of Sertar in China’s Sichuan Province, where he taught thousands of students, many of Han Chinese ethnicity.

Khenpo Sodargye

Khenpo Sodargye was born in 1962 into a nomadic family in a small valley of the Tibetan region of Kham. He was ordained in 1985 and went on to become a lineage holder of the Great Perfection (Dzogchen) tradition, as well as a preeminent practitioner and scholar at Larung Gar Five Sciences Buddhist Academy in Sertar. Khenpo Sodargye was the great Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche’s chief Tibetan-Chinese translator. He has traveled extensively in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia to offer teachings at Dharma centers and universities.

"Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche was a truly incredible and inspirational master. Through his visionary activity, Rinpoche created one of the largest monastic settlements the world has ever seen—a vibrant center that has contributed enormously to the recent resurgence of Buddhism in Tibet and China. Now that this wonderfully pithy collection of his teachings has been made available through the efforts of his extraordinary spiritual heir, Khenpo Sodargye, I have no hesitation in wholeheartedly recommending it to all seekers of truth and sincere followers of the Buddhadharma." —Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying