Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

From Rangjung Yeshe Wiki - Dharma Dictionary
(Redirected from Dzogchen Pönlop Rinpoche)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
the 7th Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche Ngedon Sungrab Tenpe Gyaltsen

རྫོགས་ཆེན་དཔོན་སློབ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།
rdzogs chen dpon slob rin po che


The first Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Namkha Ösel, is said to have been an emanation of, among others, the great yogis Repa Shiwa Ö (Twelfth Century C.E.) and Melong Dorje (1243-1303). The former was one of the eight heart sons of Milarepa. He worked together with the 1st Dzogchen Rinpoche, Pema Rigdzin, to establish Dzogchen Monastery in 1685. After the death of the latter, the 1st Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche then became abbot of Dzogchen Monastery. Since that time, the succesive Dzogchen Rinpoches have been the abbots of Dzogchen Monastery along with members of the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche line, and members of the Kushok Gemong Rinpoche line.

The current Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche was born in 1965 at Rumtek Monastery (Dharma Chakra Center) in Sikkim, Northern India and was raised from a young age by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rikpey Dorje, supreme head of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. His father was Dhamchö Yongdu, the General Secretary of His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa and his mother was Lekshey Drolma, who comes from a family of intellectuals and artists. His Holiness Karmapa prophesized his birth to his parents before he was conceived. Upon his birth, Karmapa immediately recognized him as the seventh in the line of Dzogchen Ponlop incarnations. As a heart son of the Karmapa, he is one of the highest ranking lineage holders of the Karma Kagyu tradition; he was enthroned at Rumtek Monastery in 1968, when His Holiness Karmapa formally empowered and officially proclaimed him as The Seventh Je-ön Ponlop Rinpoche. He is also a highly esteemed Nyingma master who received many of the Nyingma tranmissions from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and others.[1]

The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche was one of seven Rinpoches in the first graduating class from Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies (KSNI), the shedra of Rumtek Monastery,[2] and is widely recognized of one of the most brilliant scholars of his generation. In addition, he is also an acknowledged meditation master, poet and artist.

Rinpoche lecturing to Nitartha Int'l

As part of his effort to assist in the integration of computer technology with traditional Tibetan scholarship, Rinpoche founded Nitartha International in 1994. In 1998 he became director of the Kamalashila Institute of Germany, at the request of His Holiness, the Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa.

He currently resides in Seattle, USA, where he directs the Nalandabodhi sangha and a yearly shedra program, Nitartha Institute, which takes place in Canada.

Main teachers

Published Works

Media

Previous Incarnations

Alternate Names

References

Websites