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Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche Biography
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.Dilgo Khyentse Tashi Paljor was born in 1910 in the region of Derge, in Kham, to the Dilgo family, which claimed to be descended from the royal lineage of the ninth century king Trisong Detsen. His parents had been supporters of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo1.
While still in his mother’s womb, he was recognized by the great master Mipham Rinpoche as the mind emanation of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and was one of the closest disciples of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo’s activity emanation, Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (1893-1959).
His father, Tashi Tsering, was opposed to letting his son be recognized as a lama, despite repeated indications that he was indeed a tulku. In 1912 the Fourth Shechen Gyaltsab, Padma Namgyal asked his father to give Tashi Paljor to Shechen Monastery. This request he accepted, although Tashi Paljor remained with his family for several more years.
In 1919 Tashi Tsering brought his family to Shechen to meet with Adzom Drukpa, who administered novice vows to Tashi Paljor and gave him the transmission for the preliminary practices of the Longchen Nyingtik2. At both Shechen and Dzogchen Monastery Tashi Paljor met high lamas who gave transmissions and foretold that obstacles would arise were he not to ordain.
At age six, while playing in the kitchen, Tashi Paljor was severely scalded on the left leg when he knocked over a large cauldron of boiling water, and he was bedridden for half a year. The result of the accident was that Tashi Paljor declared that he wished to ordain and this time, his father agreed. A disciple of Ju Mipam gave the boy the novice vows.
Khenpo ShengaAt the end of Tashi Paljor's convalescence Khenpo Shenga visited his family. Considering that boy to be the reincarnation of his own master, Wonpo Tenga, Khenpo Shenga urged him to join him to Sakya monastery in Jyekundo where he was to establish a monastic college. He did so and began his formal studies. In 1919 he took novice vows with Khenpo Zhenga, receiving the name Jigme Rabsel Dawa Kyenrab Tenpa Dargye.
Tashi Paljor first studied the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra3 and Madhyamakāvatāra 4.
At the end of 1920 Tashi Paljor moved with Khenpo Zhenga to a hermitage above Dzogchen Monastery. There the boy studied Patrul Rinpoche’s “Words of My Perfect Teacher” and Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā5. For the next few years, he continued to receive teachings from lamas of Dzogchen Monastery and did short retreats.
In 1924 Tashi Paljor traveled to Shechen to meet the Fourth Shechen Gyaltsab, Padma Namgyal, who introduced him to the teachings about the true nature of the mind, which transformed his perception and made him want to give up all mundane concerns of life and stay in solitude and realize the Great Perfection.
He also received empowerments from Shechen Kongtrul Padma Drime, and Tashi Paljor memorized the root Guhyagarbha Tantra. With his brother Sangye Nyenpa, Tashi Paljor went to Palpung Monastery to receive additional teachings from Khenpo Zhenga and the 11th Tai Situ Rinpoche Padma Wangchok Gyalpo.
When Tashi Paljor was fifteen, Shechen Gyaltsab recognized him as a tulku of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and enthroned him at Shechen Monastery. From that day on he was known as Khyentse Rinpoche.
In 1926 Khyentse Rinpoche learned that his Guru, Shechen Gyaltsab had passed away. Deeply saddened, he felt like an abandoned orphan, but his understanding of impermanence deepened. He wrote to his parents: “You gave me birth with all the freedoms and advantages of human life, and you have cared for me with love since my infancy. Since you introduce me to an authentic teacher it is thanks to your kindness that I have encountered on the path to Liberation.”
Khyentse Rinpoche with his family at Lhasa, before leaving for Bhutan. Following his master's death, Khyentse Rinpoche went into secluded retreat in a cave in Denkok with his brother Shedrub and two attendants. He would wake up at three o’clock in the morning and meditate on the life of his perfect Teacher. He wanted to spend his life in solitude and wilderness, but his teachers advised him to uphold, preserve and expound the doctrine to the faithful. He honored the advice of his teachers, a commitment that lasted until the end of his life.
In 1934, at the age of twenty-five, Khyentse Rinpoche went ill and suffered a severe fever that brought him close to death.
Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö advised him that taking a consort and living the life of a tantrika6 would improve his health. He renounced his novice monastic vows and took Khandro Lhamo as consort, with whom he had two daughters.
The following year he revealed7 the first section of one of his most celebrated treasures, Padma's Heart Essence of Longevity. The revelation was completed the following year at Padma Shelpuk, a treasure site opened by Khyentse Wangpo and Chokgyur Lingpa near Dzongsar Monastery.
In 1944 Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö gave him the transmission for the Nyingma Kama and for Jamgon Kongtrul's Treasure of Knowledge. At the start 1945, Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö gave him and one hundred other lamas the transmission and empowerments for the Rinchen Terdzö8, the collection of revealed treasures compiled by Jamgon Kongtrul.
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche in 1960. In the early years of the Communist rule in Kham, Khyentse Rinpoche continued his religious activity. After the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa fled, Khyentse Rinpoche and his family also left Tibet, as the Chinese were increasingly threatening. Leaving behind his precious texts and his own writings, they fled with other families and members of the Khampa guerilla fighters to Bhutan, then continued to Kalimpong, India.
Shortly after Khyentse Rinpoche arrived in 1959 in Buthan, his teacher Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö passed away in Sikkim. He took care of the funeral rites of his teacher and enshrined his remains in a stupa.
In 1962 his brother Sanggye Nyenpa passed away in Sikkim, and then he learned that his youngest daughter, Dechen Wangmo, was ill. She died in Lucknow, in early 1963.
In 1965, Gelong Padma Dorje of Nyimalung monastery in Bumthang invited Khyentse Rinpoche to Bhutan which became his main residence for the remainder of his life.
One evening Khyentse Rinpoche had a dream in which Shechen Rabjam, Shechen Kongtrul, and Shechen Gyaltsab, who had all died in Chinese custody, appeared together. They told Khyentse Rinpoche that they would all three incarnate into one person.
Later he recognized his grandson, Jigme Chokyi Sengge, born in 1967 to his daughter Chime Wangmo, as the incarnation of three of his own teachers; the boy was given the title of the Seventh Shechen Rabjam. Khyentse Rinpoche raised his grandson as his spiritual heir from the age of five.
For the next three decades Khyentse Rinpoche dedicated himself to preserving the Nyingma tradition, traveling across Bhutan, India, and Nepal to give teachings, transmissions, and empowerments.
He first visited the West in 1975. He made three trips to North America and numerous visits to Europe, especially to France, where he established a three-year retreat center in the Dordogne region.
Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche In 1985 Khyentse Rinpoche was able to visit Tibet, after almost thirty years of exile. He visited every monastery he was invited and gave teachings, empowerments and reading transmissions.
In 1988 and 1990 he made two more trips to Tibet to continue his mission. With the agreement of the Chinese government he helped rebuild monasteries regardless of their tradition. Samye, the most important monastery, was restored to its ancient glory.
In 1991 he cancelled a fourth trip to Tibet, saying that “I still have much work to do, but this composite body of mine is not keeping up with me.” He chose to do three months retreat in Buthan and asked his closest disciples to visit him and ask any remaining questions they may have.
Khyentse Rinpoche passed away on September 27, 1991, in Bhutan. Thirty-six hours after his last breath, his disciples considered his last meditation completed and enshrined his body. He was cremated a year later to enable devotees to see him for the last time.
Khyentse Rinpoche’s main lineage holders are his grandson Shechen Rabjam, and many other lamas who spent years receiving teachings and empowerments from him.
His reincarnation, Dilgo Yangsi, was born on June 30, 1993, the son of the Fourth Tsike Chokling, Mingyur Dewai Dorje and the grandson of Tulku Orgyen Tsewang Chokdrub Pelbar, and enthroned at Shechen in December 1997.
Termas Revealed
• Jampal Nyingtik, the 'Heart Essence of Manjushri'
• The 'Fortress Ravine of Nectar Medicine'
• Green Tara (outer, inner and secret sadhanas)
• Guru Drakpo (sadhana, empowerment, activity, and feast offering of Guru Drakpo with the lower part of his body in the shape of a dagger)
• Lhatsun Lhadrup
• Pema Tseyi Nyingtik
• Rangjung Pemé Nyingtik
Publications in English
• Dilgo Khyentse, Jamgon Mipham, Lion of Speech: The Life of Mipham Rinpoche (Boston & London: Shambhala Publications, 2020)
• Dilgo Khyentse, The Collected Works of Dilgo Khyentse (Boston & London: Shambhala Publications, 2010)
• Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Zurchungpa’s Testament (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2006)
• Dilgo Khyentse, Heart of Compassion—The Thirty-Seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2007)
• Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Padampa Sangye, The Hundred Verses of Advice—Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2006)
• Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Enlightened Courage—An Explanation of the Seven-Point Mind Training (Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, republished 2006)
• His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Pure Appearance—Development and Completion Stages in the Vajrayana Practice (Halifax: Vajravairochana Translation Committee, 2002). Republished (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2016)
• His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Primordial Purity—Oral Instructions on the Three Words That Strike the Vital Point (Halifax: Vajravairochana Translation Committee, 1999). Republished (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2016)
• Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Guru Yoga: According to the Preliminary Practice of Longchen Nyingtik (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1999)
• Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, The Excellent Path to Enlightenment (Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1996)
• Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel—The Practice of Guru Yoga According to the Longchen Nyingthig Tradition (Boston: Shambhala, 1999)
• Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Patrul Rinpoche, The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones (Boston: Shambhala, 1993)
Sources
• https://rtz.tsadra.org/
• https://www.tibetanbuddhistaltar.org/
• https://treasuryoflives.org/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilgo_Khyentse
• https://youtu.be/3gREgVem-TQ
Footnotes
1. Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo was a major treasure revealer—the last of the Five Sovereign Tertöns—and one of the most eminent masters of the nineteenth century. He was a contemporary of Chokgyur Lingpa (1829-1870) and Jamgön Kongtrul the Great and was regarded as the combined reincarnation of Vimalamitra and King Trisong Deutsen. He became the founder of the Rimé (ecumenical) movement.
2. The Nyingtik teachings are the innermost secret teachings of Dzogchen. The Dzogchen teachings were revealed to Garab Dorje by Vajrasattva, and passed down through an unbroken lineage to present day masters. Within the Dzogchen teachings, there are three categories of teachings suitable to students of different capacity. The Nyingtik is the innermost secret cycle of teachings of the Category of Pith Instructions; this cycle is the most direct approach for students of the highest capacity.
3. Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra translated into English as A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, is a Mahāyāna Buddhist text written in 700 CE in Sanskrit verse by Śāntideva, a Buddhist monk at Nālandā Monastic University in India. It has ten chapters dedicated to the development of bodhicitta (the mind of enlightenment) through the practice of the six perfections (Skt. Pāramitās). It is included among the so-called "thirteen great texts", which form the core of the curriculum in most shedras and on which Khenpo Zhenga provided commentaries.
4. Madhyamakāvatāra, The ‘Entrance to the Middle Way’, a text by Candrakīrti which relates the Madhyamaka doctrine of Nagarjuna on emptiness (śūnyatā). The text contains ten chapters, each devoted to one of the ten perfections (pāramitā) practiced by a Bodhisattva while advancing through the ten stages (bhūmi) to Buddhahood.
5. Mūlamadhyamakakārikā or Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, is a foundational text of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna philosophy, composed by Nāgārjuna in approximately the second-third century CE. A collection of 27 chapters in Sanskrit verse, it is widely regarded as the most influential text of Buddhist philosophy.
6. Orthodox traditions teach renunciation of householder life, a mendicant's life of simplicity and leaving all attachments to become a monk or nun. In contrast, the Tantrika traditions hold that "both enlightenment and worldly success" are achievable, and that "this world need not be shunned to achieve enlightenment".
7. A Treasure Revealer (Tertön) is someone who have produced scripture or objects known as treasure (terma) through visionary experience, memory, or physical extraction. Generally, these treasures are said to have been concealed by an earlier historical figure, with the intention that they would be recovered for use by future generations. Although most common in the Nyingma and Bön traditions, there have been treasure revealers in all traditions of Tibetan religion.
8. The Rinchen Terdzö Chenmo is the largest of the Five Treasuries that Jamgön Kongtrul the Great (1813-1899) compiled throughout his life. This extraordinary collection is comprised of the main Rediscovered Treasures (terma) of Tibetan Buddhism and the texts necessary to bestow the related empowerments and explanations to practice them. Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo traveled for thirteen years throughout Central and Eastern Tibet in order to collect the texts and receive the transmissions for the many lineages that had become almost extinct and held by only a few people. The actual redaction and editing of the Rinchen Terdzö was accomplished by Jamgön Kongtrul at the monastery-hermitage of Dzongshö Deshek Dupa, a secluded mountain retreat located between Dzongsar and Kathok, where Khyentse Wangpo had revealed a set of termas related to the Eight Herukas.
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