Karma Chagme

Karma Chagme (1613–1678) was a scholar and meditation master, versed in both the Nyingma and Karma Kagyu traditions. While in a thirteen-year retreat, he recognized and enthroned Migyur Dorje, the great tertön, when Migyur Dorje was ten years old. Karma Chagme offered the child profound empowerments and teachings, and while they were in retreat together, he wrote down the Namchö cycle of teachings, as they were revealed and dictated to him by Migyur Dorje, comprising thirteen volumes.

Karma Chagme

Karma Chagme (1613–1678) was a scholar and meditation master, versed in both the Nyingma and Karma Kagyu traditions. While in a thirteen-year retreat, he recognized and enthroned Migyur Dorje, the great tertön, when Migyur Dorje was ten years old. Karma Chagme offered the child profound empowerments and teachings, and while they were in retreat together, he wrote down the Namchö cycle of teachings, as they were revealed and dictated to him by Migyur Dorje, comprising thirteen volumes.
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GUIDES

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche Reader's Guide

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche: A Guide for Readers

Tibetan Buddhism, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche (1933 – June 4, 2023) was an eminent teacher of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He was appointed by the Dalai Lama to be the personal tutor for His Holiness the Seventeenth Karmapa and has authored many books, including Tilopa’s WisdomNaropa’s WisdomThe Mahamudra Lineage Prayer, and Advice from a Yogi.

The importance of Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche on the Karma Kagyu tradition quite simply cannot be overstated.  Since he was recognized as a Tulku of the previous Thrangu Rinpoche in 1938 by the 16th Karmapa and 11th Tai Situpa, he engaged in the rigorous traditional study, practice, and retreat training.

To give a flavor of Rinpoche's qualities, here is Pema Chödrön giving a glimpse of him in her most recent book, Welcoming the Unwelcome:

"Once I attended a talk at Gampo Abbey by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, the abbot of the monastery. When he stopped speaking, one of the monks rang a gong to signify the end of the teaching. Although that is the custom at Gampo Abbey, Thrangu Rinpoche thought the gong indicated the beginning of a meditation session. So for the next hour and a half, he sat on his cushion, totally relaxed, shifting his weight from time to time. We audience members weren’t exactly sure what was happening, so we also sat there the whole time, in a state of not knowing. Was he waiting for us to end or were we waiting for him? Each of us must have had our own way of being in that situation—from relaxing with the groundlessness to wanting to shout out—but witnessing Thrangu Rinpoche’s ease gave me a deep appreciation for how one can become comfortable with nowness—with emptiness in everyday life."

The list of Rinpoche's books below is a demonstration of someone who has in many ways held a deep responsibility for the lineage.  Here we have a list of works explaining many of the most important texts of the Kagyu tradition including those authored by Tilopa, Naropa, the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje, the Eighth Karma Wangchuk Dorje, Jamgön Kongtrül the Great, and many more.  He has trained many of the next generation of Kagyu lamas and was an early teacher to  Orgyen Thinley, one of the two present Karmapas.

Thrangu Rinpoche's Monastery in Namo Buddha, Nepal
Thrangu Rinpoche's Monastery in Namo Buddha, Nepal

Thrangu Rinpoche's Advice—Works on Shamatha, Vipashyana, and More

Advice from a Yogi: An Explanation of a Tibetan Classic on What Is Most Important

The great Indian master Padampa Sangye famously gave these simple, direct verses as an appeal to the urgency of spiritual practice. This Tibetan Buddhist classic is an antidote to the tendency we all have to waste our precious human lives. Khenchen Thrangu’s lively commentary on the text brings to light its subtleties and amplifies its applicability to our daily struggles, showing how an understanding of its teaching on impermanence is the key to working with common difficulties such as loneliness, craving, betrayal, competitive colleagues, or squabbling families. It speaks to us today as profoundly as it did to the people of Dingri, Tibet, to whom it was first addressed a millennium ago.

Vivid Awareness: The Mind Instructions of Khenpo Gangshar

In the summer of 1957, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche was one of the grateful recipients of some extraordinary teachings by the revered Buddhist teacher and scholar Khenpo Gangshar.  Thrangu Rinpoche considers these teachings some of the most important he ever received.  Khenpo Gangshar had foreseen the difficulties that would soon fall upon Tibet and began teaching in a startling new way that enabled all those who heard him to use the coming difficulties as the path of Dharma practice. The teaching consisted of the essential points of Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen, both view and practice, presented in a way that made them easy for anyone to use, even in the most difficult of circumstances. Presented here, they include contemplations on the ephemeral nature of both joy and suffering, meditations for resting the mind, and guidance for cultivating equanimity in any situation.

Vivid Awareness

$29.95 - Paperback

By: Khenchen Thrangu

Everyday Consciousness and Primordial Awareness

An introduction to Buddhist psychology, or abhidharma, and how the six consciousnesses detailed in abhidharma literature can be transformed into primordial awareness. This book is based on talks he gave explaining Mipham Rinpoche's famous abhidharma work Gateway to Knowledge as well as Rangjung Dorje's Distinguishing Consciousness from Primordial Awareness (rNam shes ye shes 'byed pa). Thrangu Rinpoche presents meditation practices that can powerfully influence and ultimately transform the mind into the purified mind of a Buddha. He clearly describes how consciousnesses operate in everyday perception and how at the time of Buddhahood, these same consciousnesses express the five primordial wisdoms of the five Buddha families.

The Practice of Tranquility and Insight: A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation

This is a practical guide to the two types of meditation that form the core of Buddhist spiritual practice. Tranquility (shamatha) meditation aims at stilling the mind, while insight (vipashyana) meditation produces “clear vision,” or insight into the nature of all phenomena. With masterful scholarship and the ability to make subtle ideas easy to understand and apply in practice, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche explains this unified system of meditation for students both beginning and advanced. These teachings are based on Book 8 of the Treasury of Knowledge by the great nineteenth-century master Jamgön Kongtrül. With Thrangu Rinpoche’s commentary, this complex, encyclopedic work is now made accessible to Western students of meditation.

For the shamatha section, it explains the prerequisites, the categories of shamatha, the proper posture, the four objects of meditation, the potential obstacles, and then details the specific stages of tranquility meditation. It then dives into identifying the experiences associated with this type of meditation including the five faults; the eight antidotes to the faults; the associated powers, levels, and engagements; the oral instruction tradition; and its accomplishment.

The vipashyana section covers the prerequisites for insight, and then details its different forms, categories, methods, and accomplishments.

The final section covers the union of these two types of meditation.

Essential Practice: Lectures on Kamalashila's Stages of Meditation in the Middle Way School

This book is an explanation of one of the most important texts of Tibetan Buddhism, the Indian master Kamalashīla's Stages of Meditation which he wrote a short, intermediate, and lengthy versions of.  These texts were written to put on paper the view established in the great debate between the gradual vs. sudden enlightenment approaches as set forth by the Indian and Chinese Buddhist traditions respectively.

The short version, also referred to as the First Treatise on the Stages of Meditation, covers three topics: (1) the need for compassion, (2) the need for the mind of awakening, and (3) the need for bringing this into experience through practice.

Kamalashīla’s intermediate length Second Treatise on the Stages of Meditation begins by teaching the way to generate compassion, continues by teaching the way to generate the mind of awakening, and concludes with an extensive discussion methods for cultivating a skillful practice to support these qualities of wisdom.

The second text in essence unpacks the first one and also gets into the view, presenting the selflessness of self and phenomena, the six perfections, and the fruit of realization.

Essential Practice

$21.95 - Paperback

By: Jules B. Levinson & Khenchen Thrangu

Medicine Buddha Teachings

This book is both an in-depth presentation of the practice of the Medicine Buddha, as well as an excellent overview of sadhana, or tantric practice. This text is a must have for anyone wishing to gain a foundational understanding of what the Medicine Buddha represents and practice Menla's sadhana.

On Buddha Essence: A Commentary on Rangjung Dorje's Treatise

The 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, wrote A Treatise on Buddha Nature, one of the Kagyu lineage’s oldest and most important texts, belonging to the tradition of the Six Yogas of Naropa. In the nineteenth century Jamgön Kongtrül composed a commentary to it, which Khenchen Thrangu uses as the basis for the teachings in this book, providing complete instructions on how to discover buddha essence in ourselves.

Works on Mahāmudrā, "The Great Seal," by Thrangu Rinpoche

The Mahāmudrā Works of the Ninth Karmapa

Wangchuk Dorje

The Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje  (1556-1603), wrote three definitive handbooks on how to attain the realization of Mahāmudrā, and thus nondual, nonconceptual meditative awareness: Ocean of Definitive Meaning, Pointing Out the Dharmakaya, and Eliminating the Darkness of Ignorance.

Thrangu Rinpoche has two books that take different approaches on the most comprehensive of these works, the Ninth Karmapa's Ocean of Definitive Meaning (Ngedon gyamtso): The Ninth Karmapa's Ocean of Definitive Meaning and An Ocean of the Ultimate MeaningIn addition, he has a commentary on the companion text to The Ocean of Definitive Meaning: Pointing Out the Dharmakaya.

The Ninth Karmapa's Ocean of Definitive Meaning

Thrangu Rinpoche's book was not meant to be a systematic presentation of the Ocean of Definitive Meaning in detail, but rather an introduction to its contents, emphasizing and presenting in-depth commentary on those parts of the book that Rinpoche felt would be most beneficial to those who were in attendance at the retreat where it was given. It therefore emphasizes the actual practice of Mahāmudrā in its two stages—the Mahāmudrā versions of shamatha (tranquility or calm abiding) and vipashyana (insight).

This book includes sections of commentary on pointing out the mind within stillness, pointing out the mind within movement, and pointing out mind within appearances. There is also commentary on enhancing the practice of Mahāmudrā; on cognizing, avoiding, and dispelling hindrances or obstacles to proper practice and realization; on making progress on the path; and on the manner in which fruition manifests. This commentary does not for example, contain descriptions of the preliminary practices of Mahāmudrā.

An Ocean of the Ultimate Meaning: Teachings on Mahamudra

Unlike the work above, this text covers the preliminaries, the actual practice, how to remove obstacles, and ultimately, how to attain buddhahood. It includes detailed instructions on shamatha and vipashyana meditation. This commentary presents details on the entire text as well as supplemental explanations of Mahāmudrā practice.

Pointing Out the Dharmakaya: Teachings on the Ninth Karmapa's Text

This text, in Tibetan Choku Dzuptsuk, is the most concise of Wangchuk Dorje's three connected works and is meant to be a companion to the Ocean of Definitive Meaning above.  As Thrangu Rinpoche explains, "because of its brevity, the text is a convenient practical manual for Mahāmudrā practitioners. It is easy to use, and it is easy to keep the instructions in mind. The instructions enable the practitioner to get directly at the nature of his or her mind."

The book includes a section on the preliminary practices, but the majority is devoted to the main practices of shamatha and vipashyana—the insight aspect of Mahāmudrā.

More Books by Thrangu Rinpoche on Mahāmudrā

Luminous Clarity: A Commentary on Karma Chagme's Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen

This is a commentary on Karma Chagme’s text Meaningful to Behold: The Essential Instructions of the Compassionate One on the Union of Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen. Thrangu Rinpoche explains in lucid detail the advanced meditation practices of Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen and also their similarities and differences, including advice on how to safely perform some of the more advanced Dzogchen practices.

It has chapters on cultivating bodhicitta, generation stage practice, shamatha and vipashyana, the nature of mind, trekchö and Mahāmudrā, signs of practice, and more.

Paired with transmission from a qualified teacher this is an invaluable text.

Luminous Clarity

$19.95 - Paperback

By: Karma Chagme & Khenchen Thrangu

The Mahāmudrā Lineage Prayer: A Guide to Practice

Vajradhara from Mahamudra Lineage PrayComposed by Pengar Jampal Zangpo, tutor to the Seventh Karmapa Chodrak Gyatso, The Mahāmudrā Lineage Prayer is one of the most beloved and oft-recited prayers in the Kagyu tradition.  It is at once a supplication to the Mahāmudrā lineage and a concise guide to Mahāmudrā practice and the stages of the path to enlightenment.

In this commentary on the prayer, Thrangu Rinpoche teaches in his down-to-earth yet direct manner the importance of the Mahāmudrā lineage, how to develop renunciation and devotion through the common and uncommon preliminary practices, and how to practice calm abiding (shamatha) and insight (vipashyana) meditation in the Mahāmudrā tradition. He explains that Mahāmudrā teachings are easy to practice yet are very powerful, and are especially appropriate for serious Western Dharma students.

The Mahamudra Lineage Prayer

$16.95 - Paperback

By: Khenchen Thrangu

Tilopa's Wisdom: His Life and Teachings on the Ganges Mahamudra

Most traditions of Mahāmudrā meditation can be traced back to the mahasiddha Tilopa and his Ganges Mahāmudrā, a “song of realization” that he sang to his disciple Naropa on the banks of the Ganges River more than a thousand years ago. In this book, Khenchen Thrangu, a beloved Mahāmudrā teacher, tells the extraordinary story of Tilopa’s life and explains its profound lessons. He follows this story with a limpid and practical verse-by-verse commentary on the Ganges Mahāmudrā, explaining its precious instructions for realizing Mahāmudrā, the nature of one’s mind.

Tilopa's Wisdom

$19.95 - Paperback

By: Khenchen Thrangu

Naropa's Wisdom: His Life and Teachings on Mahamudra

Naropa is famously the student of Tilopa, and here Thrangu Rinpoche first tells the extraordinary

story of Naropa’s life and then goes on to explain its profound lessons. He follows this with commentaries on two of Naropa’s songs of realization.

Naropa's Wisdom

$19.95 - Paperback

By: Khenchen Thrangu

Other Works by Thrangu Rinpoche

Thrangu Rinpoche has an essay in Recalling Chögyam Trungpa where he reflects on the impact Trungpa Rinpoche made to establishing Dharma in the west.  He also includes a prayer he wrote shortly after Trungpa Rinpoche's death that reflects on his qualities and activity, Fulfilling the Aspirations of the Vidyadhara.

Recalling Chogyam Trungpa

$24.95 - Paperback

By: Fabrice Midal & Chogyam Trungpa

Learn More About Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

Khenchen ThranguKhenchen Thrangu Rinpoche has a group of students who privately publish some other books and host a wealth of resources of his teachings.  Learn more at https://namobuddhapub.org or discover more about Thrangu Rinpoche's life and legacy at https://rinpoche.com/.

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Kharchen Pelgyi Wangchuk

The biography in the Treasury of Lives site, like several other sources, alludes to Kharchen Pelgyi Wangchuk possibly being Yeshe Tsogyal's brother.

However, in Yeshe Tsogyal's biography by Gyalwa Changchub and Namkhai Nyingpo which was discovered by the Terton Samten Lingpa and published in English as Lady of the Lotus-Born, Kharchen Pelgyi Wangchuk was the chieftain of one of the seven fiefdom's of Tibet's rulers, and had a vision along with his wife while "at play in the delights of love. " After this there were dreams and sometime later Yeshe Tsogyal was born.

Later, he became a disciple of Guru Rinpoche. In Naked Awareness, Karma Chagme relates how Kharchen Pelgyi Wangchuk achieved liberation. Guru Rinpoche said to him: " €˜Palgyi Wangchuk, listen! The mind is primordially insubstantial, without anything on which to meditate. To the intellect it is ungrounded and unmodified. Let it be self-arisen and self-displaying. Dwelling in that state, you become a Buddha without rejecting the cycle of existence.' Thus Palgyi Wangchuk was liberated. "

He is also briefly discussed in the second volume of the second volume of the Treasury of Knowledge.

Furthermore, in The Ruby Rosary Kyabje Thinley Norbu Rinpoche offers a commentary on a short prayer written by his father H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche illuminating the lives of great yogis, scholars, and masters of the Buddhist lineage in addition to describing the early spread of Buddhism in Tibet beginning with the direct disciples of Guru Rinpoche such as Kharchen Pelgyi Wangchuk.

Kharchen Pelgyi Wangchuk, from the Shechen Archives

Naked Awareness

$34.95 - Paperback

By: Karma Chagme & Lindy Steele & B. Alan Wallace

The Ruby Rosary

$39.95 - Hardcover

By: Thinley Norbu

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Langdro Konchok Jungne Reader's Guide

Langdro Konchok Jungne, also known as Langdro Lotsawa, was another of the twenty-five main disciples of Guru Rinpoche and was minister in the court of King Trisong Deutsen.

As Arthur Mandelbaum relates on his short profile on the Treasury of Lives site:

According to legend, as a result of his practice he could send lightning bolts like shooting arrows wherever he liked. He is said to have liberated both humans and non-humans, and that at his death he manifested as an expanse of light and left no body behind.

Langdro Konchok Jungne, from the Shechen Archives

In Lady of the Lotus-Born, we hear how Guru Rinpoche "gave the Chinlap Lamai Druplung and the sadhanas of Tamdrin Sangwa Kundu and Tanak Trekpa, telling them to practice in the caves of Yeru Shang ". The book also relates how, when it was time for the disciples to show signs of accomplishment, Langdro Konchok Jungne "brought down thirteen thunderbolts and aimed and shot them as if they were arrows ".

In Sky Dancer: The Secret Life and Songs of the Lady Yeshe Tsogyel, he is discussed in several places including the time where Guru Rinpoche instructs him on several specific practices.

In Naked Awareness, Karma Chagme relates the circumstances of Langdro Konchok Jungne's liberation. "Guru Rinpoche said to him "The mind-itself is substantial and originally pristine. It is empty of inherent nature and is without modification. Rest in the state without an object of meditation or a meditator. From that alone, the result of spiritual awakening is achieved'. Thus he was liberated ".

Langdro Konchok Jungne's subsequent lives echo through the centuries.

In Enthronement, Jamgon Kongtrul identifies Ratna Lingpa as his reincarnation and this is confirmed testified in many other sources as well.

In Sacred Ground, Jamgon Kongtrul relates how his contemporary, Ontrul Rinpoche of Phalpung monastery, was the emanation of Langdro Konchok Jungne.

In The Life of Shabkar, Shabkar identifies one of his teachers, Ngawang Lobsang Tendzin Rinpoche, as an emanation of Langdro Konchok Jungne as well.

In Dudjom Rinpoche's biography, The Light of Fearless and Indestructible Wisdom, the 17th century terton Longsal Nyingpo is also said to be Langro Lotsawa's emanation. And Dudjom Rinpoche's teacher, Dudjom Namkhai Dorje is identified as the reincarnation of Langdro Konchok Jungne.

Furthermore, in The Ruby Rosary Kyabje Thinley Norbu Rinpoche offers a commentary on a short prayer written by his father H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche illuminating the lives of great yogis, scholars, and masters of the Buddhist lineage in addition to describing the early spread of Buddhism in Tibet beginning with the direct disciples of Guru Rinpoche such as Langdro Konchok Jungne.

Sky Dancer

$32.95 - Paperback

By: Keith Dowman

Naked Awareness

$34.95 - Paperback

By: Karma Chagme & Lindy Steele & B. Alan Wallace

Enthronement

$24.95 - Paperback

By: Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye & Ngawang Zangpo

Sacred Ground

$24.95 - Hardcover

By: Ngawang Zangpo

The Ruby Rosary

$39.95 - Hardcover

By: Thinley Norbu

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Odren Pelgyi Wangchuk Reader's Guide

52848979.Odren Palgyi WangchukImage courtesy of Treasury of Lives.

Odren Pelgyi Wangchuk is another of Guru Rinpoche's twenty-five disciples, though not that much material on him is available in English. A short bio is available on the Treasury of Lives site. There is also a limited amount of resources on the TBRC site.

He is mentioned in some key texts, including Gyalwa Jangchup's Lady of the Lotus Born where Guru Rinpoche bestowed the outer, inner and secret root sadhanas of the Mamos and the Newap and Legye, and entreating him to practice in the caves of Yerpa.

In the Ri-me Philosophy of Jamgon Kongtrul, Ringu Tulku explains how Rongzompa and Jamgon Kongtrul identify him as being a key link in the Ma and Nyak lineage of transmitting the inner tantras from India, particlarly for Samyak Heruka.

Karma Chagme in Naked Awareness relates how Odren Pelgyi Wangchuk was liberated when Guru Rinpoche gave  the following advice:

"The spirit of awakening appears but is empty; it is empty, clear light; and it is without anything to modify or cultivate.  Rest in the state of self-arisen, great, primordial wisdom.  Not shifting away from this is called spiritual awakening."

Treasury of Lives is a biographical encyclopedia of all known past masters of Himalayan religion. We at Shambhala Publications are working with them to bring you this blog series to bring together our books and the art collected by the Treasury of Lives. This is the third installment. Past installments can be found in the Treasury of Lives category under From the Editors. TreasuryofLiveslogo

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SNOW LION NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

Kunsang Odsal Palyul Changchub Choeling

The following article is from the Autumn, 1987 issue of the Snow Lion Newsletter and is for historical reference only. You can see this in context of the original newsletter here.

The World Prayer Center

the Fully Awakened Glorious Dharma Place of Absolute Clear Light

Of the many lineages which have come to the West, the Palyul lineage is one of the most recent and least known. Palyul was one of six major monasteries of the Nyingma and was the practice site of many great bodhisattvas: both the practice cave of Yeshe Tsogyal and the Sangdag Secret Accomplishment cave of Padmasambhava are found there. Many images of Vajrapani and the syllable Hung are found imprinted in the rocks around the monastery.

Establishing Palyul Monastery

 

The lower part of Palyul Monastery

Author NoGhost From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository; License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

In 1665, E.E (Lhachen Jampa Phuntsog) the first dharma king of Dege invited Vidyadhara Kunzang Sherab, (b. 1636 C.E.), the dharma regent of both Karma Chagme Rinpoche and Terton Migyur Dorje as well as the owner of numerous termas, to head Palyul Namgal Changchub Choeling, a newly constructed monastery.

Having received the title of Vajra Acharya from Terton Migyur Dorje as well as his prophecy that this monastery . . .

will become an exhaustless source of dharma, propagating the Nyingma doctrine...

Kunzang Sherab took charge of the monastery. In this endeavor, he was assisted by his sister, Genyenma Ahkon Lhamo, who was also a direct student of Migyur Dorje.

The Third Drubwang Pema Norbu ("Penor") Rinpoche

The Third Drubwang Pema Norbu ("Penor") Rinpoche

With the passage of time, the lineage continued to flourish and prosper. The main monastery grew to house over 800 monks while the total number of monks practicing in branch monasteries and retreat centers numbered over 100,000. (List of Throneholders of Palyul Monastery.)

Living the Dharma in Exile

At the time of the destruction of the monastery and community by the Communist Chinese in 1959. His Holiness Padma Norbu (Penor) Rinpoche, the eleventh throneholder of the Palyul lineage, managed to escape to India with only twelve followers. Here he began the arduous process of building a new monastery.


prominent Nyingma lamas came to give further teachings which deepened ties to traditional Dharma and particularly to the Nyingma school.

On the other side of the globe: In Washington, D.C., in the summer of 1982 a group of twelve people began to meet once a week in order to pray for the world. They were not affiliated with any particular religion or tradition, but were united only by their desire to be of service and the belief that they could somehow be effective.

At their request, Catharine Burroughs began to lead the group and give regular teachings in meditation and contemplative prayer. By the next spring, several more classes had begun.


Rinpoche found that in philosophical outlook and in much of their practice, they already adhered to the essence of the Buddhas' teaching

Through an amazing set of circumstances, the business manager of Palyul Namdroling monastery, Kunzang Lama, visited the Center in the Fall of 1984. As a result scores of young monks and refugee children received sponsorship by Center members and area residents. The Center also began to sell Tibetan carpets made at the monastery. This marked the beginning of their relationship with Palyul Namdroling and H.H. Penor Rinpoche.

The next spring, His Holiness accepted an invitation for his first visit to the West and included a short visit to Washington. During that time Rinpoche talked with the teachers and members of the Center and found that in philosophical outlook and in much of their practice, they already adhered to the essence of the Buddhas' teaching:

"Compassion for all life and meditation on the essential transcendent nature of all phenomena."

After that visit, the teachings and practices of the group became totally Buddhist as this system so perfectly fit the goals and aspirations of the Center as well as its members. Shortly thereafter, several other prominent Nyingma lamas came to give further teachings which deepened ties to traditional Dharma and particularly to the Nyingma school.

As the first Western Palyul Dharma center, Palyul Changchub Choling is the sight of His Holiness' throne and the seat of the Palyul lineage in the West.

A Palyul Dharma Center in the West

In the meantime the membership and activities continued to grow until a large facility was purchased in 1985. Located just outside of Washington, D.C. and situated on eight acres surrounded by state parks and forests, the center is a beautiful place for practice and study of Dharma.

In the spring of 1987, Catherine and Michael Burroughs visited H.H. Penor Rinpoche at the monastery in South India. During that visit, he formally accepted the center as a Palyul dharma center and gave it the name Kunzang Odsal Palyul Changchub Choling, the Fully Awakened Glorious Dharma Place of Absolute Clear Light.

The First Western Female Tulku

At that time, His Holiness also recognized Catherine as the incarnation of Genyenma Ahkon Lhamo. He stated that during that lifetime, Ahkon Lhamo was recognized as a primordial wisdom dakini who demonstrated many miraculous signs of accomplishment and was still known throughout Kham. Thus, Catherine became the first Western female tulku.

As the first Western Palyul Dharma center, Palyul Changchub Choling is the sight of His Holiness' throne and the seat of the Palyul lineage in the West. While Jetsunma continues to be the main teacher, other lamas such as the Ven. Gyaltrul Rinpoche and the Ven. Khenpo Rinpoches Palden Sherab and Tsewang Dongyal continue to visit regularly, giving teachings, empowerments, and transmissions.


Our commitment is to do all that we can for the upliftment of all life and the liberation of minds and hearts from the ravages of anger, greed, and delusion.

At the heart of the center's activities is the maintenance of a round-the-clock vigil of prayer and meditation for the earth. The members have been continuously practicing in two-hour shifts since April of 1985.

Jetsunma has stated,

"Our commitment is to do all that we can for the upliftment of all life and the liberation of minds and hearts from the ravages of anger, greed, and delusion. We believe that this must be the foundation of any real change or lasting peace on this earth. We will continue this vigil until that goal is achieved. The doors to the prayer room will always remain open to anyone who shares in this commitment."

 

In the summer of 1988, H.H. Penor Rinpoche returned to America for an extended tour. He visited Ven Gyaltrul Rinpoche's temple, Tashi Choeling, in Ashland, Oregon to give the Nyingma Kama empowerments and transmissions. In the fall, he planned to visit Palyul Changchub choeling outside of Washington, D.C. to give the empowerments of the Rinchen Terdzod, a collection of all the major revelations which the Padmasambhava left in Tibet. This will be first time the Rinchen Terdzod has been given in the west and it is also the first time His Holiness has given this teaching in this lifetime. Those interested in attending the Rinchen Terdzod should contact P.C.C.


The stories of the dedication, perseverance and miraculous accomplishments of great bodhisattvas are very inspiring to those endeavoring to establish Dharma in the East.

At the request of H.H. Penor Rinpoche, the history of the Palyul lineage in Tibet and India was written down and translated. Snow Lion will soon publish,

A Garland of Immortal Wish-fulfilling Trees.

This is a complete account of the lives of the eleven throne holders plus other lamas, such as Karma Chegmed and Migyur Dorje who have contributed to the founding and flourishing of the Palyul lineage. The stories of the dedication, perseverance and miraculous accomplishments of great bodhisattvas are very inspiring to those endeavoring to establish Dharma in the East. This long overdue account of one of the major lineages of the Nyingmapa school will be welcomed by practitioner and scholars alike.

For more information

Click on the following links of interest:

Palyul Changchub Choeling

Rinchen Terdzod

Nyingma Kama

Penor Rinpoche

His Holiness Penor Rinpoche (1932–2009) was one of the most well-known Nyingma and Dzogchen masters of the twentieth century. Rinpoche was the third head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism and the eleventh throne-holder of the Palyul lineage. Considered an incarnation of Vimalamitra, Rinpoche received his full spiritual training in Tibet before escaping to India in 1959. He subsequently established Namdroling Monastery in Southern India and also taught extensively throughout the world. Rinpoche had many Tibetan and international students, and in the 1980s he recognized the first Western female reincarnate lama, Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo (Alyce Louise Zeoli).

Karma Chagmé was a major lineage-holder of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, and his writings have also become central to the Payul Nyingma order, making him an ideal figure to integrate two of the great meditation systems of Tibet: Mahamudra and Atiyoga.

Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche

Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche, along with Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche, is a founder and director of Padmasambhava Buddhist Center based at Padma Samye Ling in upstate New York. PBC is a worldwide Buddhist meditation and study network that includes local centers as well as retreat centers and monastic institutions.

Khenchen Palden Sherab

Khenchen Palden Sherab, along with Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, is a founder and director of Padmasambhava Buddhist Center based at Padma Samye Ling in upstate New York. PBC is a worldwide Buddhist meditation and study network that includes local centers as well as retreat centers and monastic institutions.

Related Books and Media on the Palyul Lineage

Penor Rinpoche's Ocean of Blessings

Hear translator Ani Jinba Palmo discuss the 2017 release of Penor Rinpoche's first book in English, An Ocean of Blessings.

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