I am delighted to introduce you to the most wonderful teachers that I have had the exquisite fortune and good karma to come across and study with in this life. I feel deep gratitude to each one of these gifted teachers and very special people. It is an honor and a blessing to have been a part of their lives and to continue to be their student to this date. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and to many more years of relationship.

With deep love and devotion,
Rebeca

Reginald Ray

Dr. Reginald “Reggie” Ray draws on four decades of study and intensive meditation practice within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition to address the unique problems, inspirations, and spiritual imperatives of modern people. He is the founder and Spiritual Director of the Dharma Ocean Foundation, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the practice, study, and preservation of the teachings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and the practice lineage he embodied.

Dr. Reginald “Reggie” Ray is the Founder and Spiritual Director of the Dharma Ocean Foundation and University Professor (retired) at Naropa University.

Reggie received his B.A. in religion from Williams College (1965), and his M.A. (1967) and Ph.D. (1973) in the History of Religions from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, focusing on Indo-Tibetan Buddhism (Sanskrit and Tibetan languages). His dissertation advisor was the world-renowned scholar Mircea Eliade, one of the leading historians of religion of the 20th century. During his time as a graduate student in Chicago, Reggie also studied with senior Jungian analyst and author Dr. June Singer, spending some two years with her in intensive Jungian individuation work, which crystalized and deepened his understanding of the process and dynamics of spirituality as an unfolding life journey.

Reggie met Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in May of 1970, a few weeks after his arrival in the US, and became one of his first American students. After spending a year in India on a Fulbright-Hays research fellowship in 1973, he took up a tenure track position in the Religious Studies department at Indiana University. In the spring of 1974, at the invitation of Chögyam Trungpa, he moved to Boulder, Colorado where he became the first full-time faculty member and chair of the Buddhist Studies (later Religious Studies) Department at Naropa University. During his roughly three and a half decades at Naropa, he grew the department, developing with Trungpa Rinpoche many initiatives and projects that became signatures of Naropa. He also continued his active participation in the larger academic professional world through regularly presenting his research at scholarly conferences, writing for journals, and teaching part-time at the University of Colorado (graduate appointment). He twice received the prestigious year-long NEH Senior Research Fellowship in support of his research and scholarly writing, and in 1994 he published an internationally recognized, ground-breaking scholarly monograph, Buddhist Saints in India.

From the beginning of his study with Trungpa Rinpoche, Reggie held many roles in Rinpoche’s lineage—student, scholar, meditation instructor, and teacher. In the 1980’s, he led many Vajrayana programs (Vajra Assemblies, Mahamudra retreats, Fire Pujas) for Rinpoche’s most advanced students. At Rinpoche’s direction, Reggie has always combined his study and teaching with a strong meditation practice, including daily practice and annual solitary retreats of 1-3 months each year. He has accumulated some 6-7 years in solitary retreat, in which he has explored all of Trungpa Rinpoche’s practice teachings, and an equal amount of time in group retreats as a participant and leader.

In 1997, Reggie became the first teacher in residence at the Shambhala Mountain Center and, over his seven year tenure there, became well known for his intensive Winter Dathün retreats, his Vajrayana programs, his students, and for helping to build SMC into a major retreat center. In 2005, seeking a permanent home for a growing community of students, Reggie and his then wife, Lee Ray, moved to Crestone, Colorado, and co-founded Dharma Ocean.

In addition to his work with his root guru, Trungpa Rinpoche, Reggie has studied with many accomplished masters of the Nyingma and Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Zen. He has also worked with indigenous teachers from North and South America and Africa, including a close and transformative friendship with the gifted African shaman, Malidome Somé. Beginning when he was 20 years old, Reggie has explored somatic teachings east and west, traditional and modern, such as Yoga and Qi Gung (which he practices today) and traditions such as the work of Gerda Alexander, Rolfing, and Hakomi therapy and therapeutic techniques. He now incorporates much of the wisdom of these earth-based lineages and traditions into his teaching, because, as he says, Vajrayana is essentially an earth-based tradition already.

A pivotal event occurred in Reggie’s life, and in the life of Dharma Ocean, when he met Caroline Pfohl. From the very beginning, their friendship has flowed out into all areas of their work lives, Reggie’s into Dharma Ocean, Caroline’s into her philanthropic work. Their respective missions, to bring authentic spiritual teachings into the world to address the spiritual aridity and catastrophic dysfunction of our world, have since become one, as have their personal lives. As partners in life, on the path, and in their work, they collaborate as co-lineage holders of Dharma Ocean. (For their respective roles and functions, see “Joining Heaven and Earth.”)

Reggie has written extensively on the history and practice of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, including six books and many articles, essays, and reviews. His scholarly work Buddhist Saints in India was runner up (1994) for the “best first book” award of the American Academy of Religion and favorably reviewed in some 15 major academic journals. His two volumes on Tibetan Buddhism, Indestructible Truth and Secrets of the Vajra World, have become classics in Buddhist America and beyond, and are widely used in university classes on Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. His corpus of work on somatically-based meditation, the book Touching Enlightenment, the audio set Your Breathing Body, and his annual program Meditating with the Body have deeply influenced a generation of meditators, Tibetan Buddhists, spiritual practitioners of many faiths, body workers, somatic therapists, and others interested in the spirituality of the body. These works and others, including his most recent audio set, Mahamudra for the Modern World, and his many offerings over the internet, have made the highest teachings of Tibetan Buddhism accessible to modern people and effective in addressing their spiritual longings, aspirations and imperatives.

For more information: www.DharmaOcean.org

Frank Berliner

Frank W. Berliner is now an Associate Professor of Contemplative Psychology at Naropa University, where he has taught Buddhist and Western Existential Psychology, and the practice of meditation, to BA and MA students since 1995. Mr. Berliner pioneered the teaching of meditation online at Naropa, beginning in 1999. Between 2001 and 2007 he was the Buddhadharma columnist for elephant magazine.

He has published a memoir of his experiences as a ‘warrior apprentice’ to Chögyam Trungpa, “Falling in Love with A Buddha”.

Frank Berliner grew up in New York and was educated at Yale, where he received his BA, and Naropa University, where he earned an MA in Transpersonal Counseling. He has studied, practiced, and taught meditation for thirty-six years as a close student of the founder of Naropa, the Tibetan Buddhist meditation master Chogyam Trungpa. Over a twelve year period from 1980-1992, Mr. Berliner served as National Administrative Director of Shambhala Training, and the Executive Director and Resident Teacher of the Berkeley Shambhala Center.

Frank is also a psychotherapist and life coach in private practice in Boulder, Colorado.

For more information: www.FrankBerliner.com

Tory Capron

Tory guides and inspires her students to gently and courageously walk, speak, feel and be with this world, each other and ourselves exactly as we are. Her teachings give us many tools so that we may use mindfulness in learning how to relate to our surroundings, our struggles and our human-ness with kindness and depth.

Victoria (Tory) Wolf Capron is the principle teacher for the Golden Bowl Foundation. She will on occasion partner with other teachers and organizations to produce retreats and workshops.

Inspired by Buddhism, particularly the crazy wisdom teachings of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the body, nondual teachings, the natural world, and shamanism, Tory weaves together Buddhist practices, meditation, and psychology to challenge her students to be fearless and gentle in uncovering the truth of their own true nature and experiencing the sacredness of life.

Tory has been working with individuals, couples, women and groups for the last 20 years. From 1980-1996, her life and career was deeply connected with the natural world. She worked as a wildlife biologist, backcountry ranger, and wilderness guide. Tory has been practicing Buddhism since 1978, including 8 years of Zen training, 8 years of Vipassana, and since 1994 in the Tibetan tradition. Tory has studied with many teachers, and her root teachers are Chogyam Trungpa, Reggie Ray and Adyashanti. She became a Buddhist minister in 2000. Her Master’s degree in Buddhist studies included training in counseling, group facilitation, and chaplaincy. She is also certified in body-mind psychotherapy and Somatic Archeology. She has trained in shamanism, including shamanic journeying. Tory works with beginning students of meditation as well as being authorized to teach more advanced practices of the Vajrayana. She weaves deep embodiment and earth-based practices into all of her work. Lastly, Tory is director of the Threshold Choir, which offers the comfort of song to those at the thresholds of living and dying.

“I am a Buddhist body-oriented psychotherapist and teacher. I work with people in a compassionate and direct way to assist each person in recognizing their inherent sanity, healthiness, and goodness and in finding what is true and authentic for them. My goal is for my students to see and feel the absolute sacredness of all life, including all of our neurosis and wisdom. My work is mainly informed by Chogyam Trungpa, Reggie Ray, Pema Chodron, Adyashanti, numerous shamanic teachers, the body, the natural world, and improvisational theater.”

For more information: www.GoldenBowlSangha.org

Katharine Kaufman

Katharine Kaufman teaches yoga, meditation, and the movement arts at Naropa University, Studio Be, and the Boulder Shambhala Meditation Center and in Longmont at the Whole Free University. She also teaches retreats at Shambhala Mountain Center. She also teaches therapeutic yoga privately. Katharine studied in India with Pattabhi Jois and Dr. Shankaranayanna Jois . A long time student of Richard Freeman’s, she taught at the Yoga Workshop for 13 years. She has taught numerous people from heart disease patients to advanced Ashtanga practioners from all over the world.

Katharine has choreographed and directed over 40 group and solo works and seven full evening length concerts. She creates work for proscenium stage and specific sites. Her most recent works were for Naropa University’s faculty concert, Altona Grange Hall and Naropa president’s inauguration celebration. She received Pick of the Fringe, award for her 2006 performance piece, danced by Delisa Myles with original sound score collaborated with Toby Sinkson titled, Too Small to Tell at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. She was a member of Mariposa Collective and continues working with her mentor Barbara Dilley integrating embodied meditation with movement and words for performance. Well practiced in all the major modern dance techniques, Katharine holds a Masters in Fine Arts degree from Arizona State University in choreography and performance. She taught at Colorado State University. She currently teaches Contemplative Dance Practice at Naropa University.

Katharine is lay ordained in the Soto Zen tradition by Kobun Chino Roshi. She is also a published poet. Her chap book is titled, What I Spit Out on the World While Trying to Eat Like a Lady. Katharine is a warm and precise senior teacher with a creative flavor and gentle sense of humor.

For more information: www.KatharineKaufman.com

My Teacher’s Teachers

I feel strongly called to share my two main teacher’s (Reggie Ray and Frank Berliner) teachers. The reason for this is that in the lineage of Tibetan Buddhism that I have been trained in, the main teachings and practices are delivered from one person to another and the human teacher is extremely important. I have my teacher’s teachers to thank from the bottom of my heart for having trained my teachers so that I had the honor to study and learn from them. I also have my own strong connection to both of these completely enlightened and inspiring teachers even though I didn’t meet them in person.

With deep love and gratitude to these profound teachings of this powerful lineage that come through these very blessed human beings,

Rebeca

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (Wylie: Chos rgyam Drung pa; February 28, 1939 – April 4, 1987) 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 both by Tibetan Buddhists and by other spiritual practitioners and scholars as a preeminent teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, he was a major, albeit controversial, figure in the dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism to the West, founding Vajradhatu and Naropa University and establishing the Shambhala Training method.

Among his contributions are the translation of a large number of Tibetan texts, the introduction of the Vajrayana teachings to the West, and a presentation of the Buddhadharma largely devoid of ethnic trappings. Regarded as a mahasiddha by many senior lamas, he is seen as having embodied the crazy wisdom (Tib. yeshe chölwa) tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Some of his teaching methods and actions were the topic of controversy during his lifetime and afterwards.

The founder of Shambhala was Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987). Trungpa Rinpoche was the 11th descendent in the line of Trungpa tulkus, important teachers of the Kagyü lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Renowned for its strong emphasis on meditation practice, the Kagyü lineage is one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In addition to being a key teacher within the Kagyü lineage, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was also trained in the Nyingma tradition, the oldest of the four schools, and was an adherent of the rimay or “non-sectarian” movement within Tibetan Buddhism. The rimay movement aspired to bring together and make available all the valuable teachings of the different schools, free of sectarian rivalry. Throughout his life, Trungpa Rinpoche sought to bring the teachings he had received to the largest possible audience.

After completing a rigorous monastic education Trungpa Rinpoche was installed as the head of the Surmang monasteries in eastern Tibet. When the Chinese Communist party took control in 1959, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was forced to flee the country. At the age of 20, he escaped his spiritual home, leading a small party of monks on horseback and on foot on the difficult journey over the Himalayas to India.

In 1963, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche moved to England to study comparative religion, philosophy, and fine arts at Oxford University on a Spaulding Fellowship. During this time, he also studied Japanese flower arranging and received an instructors degree from the Sogetsu school of ikebana. In 1967, he moved to Scotland, where he founded the Samye Ling meditation centre, the first Tibetan Buddhist practice centre in the West. Shortly thereafter, a variety of experiences–including a car accident that left him partially paralyzed on the left side of his body–led Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche to the decision to give up his monastic vows and work as a lay teacher. In 1969, he published Meditation in Action, the first of fourteen books on the spiritual path published during his lifetime. The following year represented another turning point in Trungpa’s life, when he married Diana Pybus and moved to the United States, where he established his first North American meditation centre, Tail of the Tiger (now known as Karmê-Chöling) in Barnet, Vermont.

North America

The ancient teachings and practical instructions that Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche brought with him found an eager audience in the America of the 1970s, a decade during which he traveled nearly constantly throughout North America, published six books, and established three meditation centres and a contemplative university (Naropa University). He became renowned for his unique ability to present the essence of the highest Buddhist teachings in a form readily understandable to Western students.

During this period, Trungpa Rinpoche conducted six Vajradhatu Seminaries, three-month residential programs at which he presented a vast body of Buddhist teachings in an atmosphere of intensive meditation practice. The seminaries helped train many of his students to become teachers themselves. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche also invited other teachers to come to the West and offer teachings, including His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa–head of the Kagyü lineage.

Also during this period Trungpa Rinpoche founded Vajradhatu (headquartered in Boulder, Colorado), the umbrella organization for the many centres that were springing up throughout the world under his direction. In 1976, he appointed Thomas Rich to be his Vajra Regent, a traditional position giving someone the responsibility of carrying on the teaching legacy left by a teacher. Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin was the first westerner to be acknowledged as a lineage holder in the Kagyü tradition.

Beyond Buddhism

Late in the 1970s, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche expressed his long-held desire to present the path of meditation in secular terms. He developed a program called Shambhala Training, based on a legendary enlightened kingdom known as Shambhala. During the 1980s, while continuing teaching tours, Vajradhatu Seminaries, and book publication—and establishing a Buddhist monastery in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada—Trungpa increasingly turned his attention to the propagation of teachings that extended beyond the Buddhist canon. These activities included not only Shambhala Training, which was attracting thousands of students, but also Japanese archery, calligraphy, flower arranging, tea ceremony, health care, dance, theatre, and psychotherapy, among others. In planting the seeds for these many activities, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche sought to bring, in his words, “art to everyday life.” He founded the Nalanda Foundation in 1974 as an umbrella organization for these activities.

During the 1980s, Vajradhatu grew to more than 100 city-based centres (Dharmadhatus) spread throughout the world, which offered meditation and teaching programs and several rural contemplative centres where intensive meditation and study programs were held. At these various centres, which formed a large and somewhat informal network, students were introduced to the possibility of integrating meditation practice and study into their everyday lives. Depending on their interests and inclinations, students engaged in any of the many contemplative activities that are now part of the Shambhala organization–from traditional meditation practice to flower arranging and dance.

In 1986, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche moved to Nova Scotia, where hundreds of his students had settled. It would prove to be the last of his many moves. Not long after, in April 1987, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s life came to an end. His passing was marked in an elaborate day-long ceremony, attracting more than 3,000 people, held on the Vermont land where he had first established a foothold in the West. Several years later, the Vajra Regent passed away as well. During the period following these deaths, the community and its leadership turned for guidance to one of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s most revered and only living teachers, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, then supreme head of the Nyingma lineage.

A New Era

In 1990, at the urging of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s eldest son returned from a period of practice and study in Nepal to lead the community and direct the work Trungpa Rinpoche had begun. As the Shambhala lineage is passed from parent to child, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche had trained his eldest son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche (then known as the Sawang Ösel Rangdröl Mukpo), from childhood to take on this role. His first major directive as the Sawang was to bring the many activities of his father’s students throughout the world under the umbrella of Shambhala International and to call each meditation centre under his direction a “Shambhala Meditation Centre” offering spiritual training, meditation instruction, and cultural activities under one roof.

In May 1995, with the organization in its twenty-fifth year, Shambhala Meditation Centres expanding throughout the world, and a well-established Nova Scotian community, the Sawang Ösel Rangdröl Mukpo was formally installed as Sakyong, leader of both the spiritual and secular aspects of Shambhala. At his enthronement as the Sakyong, he was also recognized by Penor Rinpoche–then supreme head of the Nyingma lineage–as the reincarnation of Ju Mipham, a revered nineteenth-century Tibetan meditation master and scholar. This ceremony marked an important milestone in the history of Shambhala International, confirming the role of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in carrying on what his father envisioned when he set foot on North American soil twenty five years earlier.

Legacy

The legacy of the Vidyadhara, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche remains vital today in the institutions he founded, the teachings he presented, and the dedicated practice of his students. It is also being preserved for the benefit of future generations in the following ways:

The Shambhala Mandala

One of the greatest accomplishments of the Vidyadhara, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was the establishment of the Shambhala mandala, a global basis for the transmission of the vision, teachings and practices he brought to the world. The teachings and transmissions passed on by the Vidyadhara are studied and explored in the expanding association of centres, groups and other entities he founded and which are now directed by his son and spiritual heir, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. In addition to centres and groups on five continents, the Shambhala mandala includes a range of other programs and institutions, reaching out into education, health care, social work, organizational change and innovation, publishing, and a broad spectrum of the arts.

Naropa University

Founded by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1974, Naropa is the first of its kind as a Buddhist-inspired university in North America that integrates ancient traditions of wisdom into the curriculum of modern education. Since its inception, Naropa has been dedicated to contemplative education in which awareness of thought processes, sense perceptions and emotions are integrated into the study of specific disciplines.
www.naropa.edu

Shambhala Archives

The Shambhala Archives is dedicated to preserving original records pertaining to the life and teachings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and other prominent Tibetan Buddhist teachers. It is a repository and resource for transcripts and audio-visual collections of Buddhist teachings. Currently, an Audio Recover Project is underway that will remaster and preserve in perpetuity more than 1,500 recordings of talks given by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
www.shambhalashop.com/archives/

Shambhala Publications

In The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa, Shambhala Publications brings together in eight volumes the writings of one of the first and most influential and inspirational Tibetan teachers to present Buddhism in the West. Organized by theme, the collection includes full-length books as well as articles, seminar transcripts, poems, plays, and interviews, many of which have never before been available in book form. From memoirs of his escape from Chinese-occupied Tibet to insightful discussions of psychology, mind, and meditation; from original verse and calligraphy to the esoteric lore of tantric Buddhism. The impressive range of Trungpa’s vision, talents, and teachings is showcased in this landmark series.

Nalanda Translation Committee

Since 2001, the Nalanda Translation Committee has been dedicated to the preservation and translation of early writings by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s nephew, Karma Senge, spent fifteen years searching out and compiling the writings composed by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche before his escape from Tibet. The collection totals about 400 pages and spans diverse topics, including liturgies, songs, and practical advice.
www.shambhala.org/ntc/projects/collected_writings.htm

Rebuilding Surmang

The Konchok Foundation is dedicated to preserving the unique spiritual tradition of Surmang Dutsitil, the home monastery of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in eastern Tibet. Initial efforts are focused on supporting the education of the 12th Trungpa Tulku (the successor to Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche at Surmang) and to rebuilding a shedra, or monastic college, there. The medical needs of the local community are being addressed by a sister organization, the Surmang Foundation.
www.konchok.org

Rigden Abhisheka

The Shambhala teachings, first revealed by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1976, are being actively propagated through Shambhala Training and the teachings of his spiritual heir Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. Terma or “treasure” texts are dense kernels of wisdom that often require oral explanation and elaboration into a complete path of meditation. In the case of the Shambhala terma, the Sakyong arranged and bestowed the first Rigden Abhisheka in the summer of 2005 as a prerequisite to advanced practices related to the Shambhala teachings as originally revealed by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
www.shambhala.org/ntc/projects/early-terton.htm

Great Stupa of Dharmakaya

Dramatically transforming the landscape of Shambhala Mountain Center, The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya is an expression of the aspiration for peace, harmony and equanimity for all beings and the largest and most elaborate example of Buddhist sacred architecture in North America. Since its consecration in 2001, the Great Stupa has attracted thousands of visitors a year from all over the world.
www.shambhala.org/stupa.php

Chronicles Project

The Chronicle Project is a repository for a rich array of stories, interviews, travelogs, and features about the founder of Shambhala, Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche and his legacy. Its goal is to tell the story of his life in a detailed year-by-year account, to gather the oral history from those who knew him, and to preserve a record of his extraordinary legacy for future generations.
www.chronicleproject.com

Chögyam Trungpa Legacy Project

The Chögyam Trungpa Legacy Project is a newly founded project, dedicated to preserving and promoting the dharma legacy of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche through the preservation, propagation and publication of his dharma teachings. The Legacy Project also plans to initiate new projects and programming, to create a comprehensive virtual archive and learning community, and to create the financial base for current and future generations to support this mission. Through this process, the Legacy Project will enhance, enrich, and further inspire existing institutions and other manifestations of the Shambhala world that Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche created.
www.chogyamtrungpa.com

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chögyam_Trungpa and http://www.shambhala.org/teachers/chogyam-trungpa.php

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910–1991) was a highly accomplished meditation master, scholar, and poet, and a principal holder of the Nyingma lineage. His extraordinary depth of realization enabled him to be, for all who met him, a foundation of loving-kindness, wisdom, and compassion. A dedicated exponent of the nonsectarian Rime movement, Khyentse Rinpoche was respected by all schools of Tibetan Buddhism and taught many eminent teachers, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He tirelessly worked to uphold the Dharma through the publication of texts, the building of monasteries and stupas, and by offering instruction to thousands of people throughout the world. His writings in Tibetan fill twenty-five volumes.

His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was born in 1910 in Denkhok Valley, eastern Tibet, to a family descended from the royal lineage of the ninth century King Trisong Detsen. While still in his mother’s womb, he was recognized by the great master Mipham Rinpoche as an extraordinary incarnation.

He was one of the last great masters to have completed his entire training in Tibet. He entered Shechen Monastery in Kham, east Tibet, at the age of eleven and there his principal master, Shechen Gyaltsap Gyurme Pema Namgyal, formally enthroned him as an incarnation of the wisdom mind of the first Khyentse Rinpoche, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892). ‘Khyentse’ combines two Tibetan words: མཁྱེན་པ་, khyen, meaning wisdom, and བརྩེ་བ་, tsé, meaning compassion.

In Shechen, Khyentse Rinpoche spent many years studying and meditating in a hermitage above the monastery. He received teachings and transmissions from over fifty teachers from all four lineage traditions. From the ages of fifteen to twenty-eight, he lived in silent retreat, in remote hermitages and caves, actualizing all the teachings he had previously received. Later, he spent many years with his second root teacher Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, also an incarnation of the first Khyentse, who named him his Dharma heir.

When he left Tibet and went into exile, he travelled all over the Himalayas, India, southeast Asia, Europe and North America, transmitting and explaining the teachings to his many disciples. He was not only a principal holder of the Longchen Nyingtik lineage of Dzogchen, but a lineage holder of teachings from all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. This, together with his exemplary activity within the non-sectarian Rimé movement, meant that there was hardly a practitioner in the Himalayas who did not receive teachings from him. He was the master of masters — His Holiness the Dalai Lama considers him as his main teacher of Dzogchen — and also became spiritual advisor to the royal family of Bhutan. He passed away in Bhutan in 1991.

In addition to his tireless teaching activity, Khyentse Rinpoche supervised an exceptional publishing programme, making available over 300 volumes of teachings. The destruction of so many texts during the early sixties in Tibet meant that by taking such pains to publish them, Khyentse Rinpoche ensured their survival for future generations.

Khyentse Rinpoche also initiated a vast building programme. He established his main seat near the great stupa in Boudhanath, Nepal — Shechen Tennyi Dargye Ling, a magnificent monastery with over one hundred monks, now directed by Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, his grandson and Dharma heir. All the great communal practices and sacred dances of Shechen Monastery in Tibet have been revived, and are regularly performed by the monks who pay particular attention to every detail to make sure the tradition is kept completely pure and authentic.

In India, he built a stupa in Bodhgaya, at the site where Buddha attained enlightenment. In Bhutan, he built several temples and large stupas. And in Tibet itself, he re-consecrated the monastery of Samye, inaugurated the rebuilding of Shechen monastery, and contributed to the restoration of over two hundred other monasteries and temples throughout the country.

In addition to all these achievements, he composed numerous poems, meditation texts and commentaries. He was a tertön, a discoverer of the teaching ‘treasures’ preserved by Padmasambhava. Throughout his life, he showed himself to be a true embodiment of enlightened activity; he would regularly give his attention to several tasks at the same time, and whatever he was doing seemed to flow effortlessly from his view, meditation and action. His teaching and his life were one.

His reincarnation, Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche, was born in Nepal in 1993.

Sources: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Dilgo_Khyentse_Rinpoche and http://www.shambhala.com/authors/g-n/dilgo-khyentse.html