Dilgo Khyentse

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Tashi Paljor (c. 1910 – 28 September 1991) was a Vajrayana master, Terton, scholar, poet, teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters. Head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism from 1988 to 1991, he is also considered an eminent proponent of the Rime tradition.

As the primary custodian of the vast collection of teachings both authored by and recovered by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, Dilgo Khyentse was the de facto custodian of a vast majority of Tibetan Buddhist teachings. He taught many eminent teachers, including the 14th Dalai Lama. After the Chinese invasion of Tibet, his personal effort was crucial in the preservation of Tibetan Buddhism.

Early life, ancestry
Dilgo Khyentse was born on the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month of the Iron Dog Year (1910), in the Denma region of Derge, in Denkok Valley, in Kham, Eastern Tibet, during a teaching on the Kalachakra Tantra given in his house by Ju Mipham. Ju Mipham conferred the name Tashi Paljor. The Dilgo family directly descended from Tibet's eighth-century King Trisong Detsen, and both his father and mother were children of ministers to the King of Dege, based in Derge. His family and their associates were major patrons of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. He had three brothers: the eldest brother Sanggye; another older brother who became the 9th Benchen Sanggye Nyenpa, Karma Shedrub Tenpai Nyima; and a third older brother that died at a young age.

When Dilgo Khyentse was a year old, he was declared to be a reincarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo by a disciple of Khyentse Wangpo's. Several high Rinpoches from the Nyingma, Karma Kagyu, and Sakya schools were to request Dilgo Khyentse be sent to their monasteries, but Ju Mipham advised his father to keep young Dilgo Khyentse Tashi Paljor at home.

In 1912, the 4th Shechen Gyaltsap Pema Namgyal (1871–1926) of Shechen Monastery requested Tashi Paljor for his monastery, and the request was accepted. Shechen Monastery is one of the six principal Mother Monasteries of the Nyingma school, where Dilgo Khyentse received novice vows in 1919, and where he was formally enthroned by Shechen Gyaltsab in 1925 as the tulku of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, and given the name Gyurme Tekchok Tenpai Gyeltsen.

During these years, Dilgo Khyentse travelled close to Shechen Monastery to receive teachings in Buddhist philosophy from several masters, including Shechen Kongtrul Pema Drime (1901-1960), the 11th Situ, Pema Wangchok Gyelpo of Pelpung Monastery, masters at Dzogchen Monastery, Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, and Khenpo Zhenga of Jyegu Dondrub Ling at Jyekundo.

His root guru was Shechen Gyaltsap Rinpoche, and Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro (1893–1959) was his other main spiritual master. He completed what is known as the Ngöndro, or Preliminary Practice.

His eldest brother Sanggye was his constant travelling and practice companion, and they entered many brief retreats between teachings which included the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra, the Madhamikāvatāra, Nagarjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, the Guhyagarbha Tantra, works by many masters including Ju Mipham, Terdak Lingpa, Mindroling, Guru Chowang, Jamgon Kongtrul, and by other great masters. His classic training would automatically include training in meditation, in the study of the Kangyur and Tengyur, and in the tantra teachings specifically. He also received training in grammar and poetics in addition to the numerous teachings, transmissions, and empowerments. He remained in close proximity to Shechen Monastery until 1926, when Shechen Gyaltsab passed.

From 1926 until 1934, Dilgo Khyentse remained in solitary retreat in a cave in Denkok, near his birthplace, but attended the enthronement of the 5th Shechen Gyeltsab at Shechen Monastery in 1925, and received the transmissions and teachings. Two years later a severe fever occurred at the age of 25, and he decided to become a tantric practitioner with a consort. He married Khandro Lhamo, a woman from a modest family while both Khyentse Chokyi Lodro and the 10th Zurmang Trungpa, Karma Chokyi Nyingche, had urged for this change. A teacher had prophesied that a cure for his illness would be marriage, despite the fact he was uninterested in it. Khandro Lhamo became a well-known expert in Tibetan medicine, a supporter of Shechen Monastery and his life-long companion. They had two daughters, the elder being Dechen Wangmo, and the younger being Chime Wangmo.

Student and master
Dilgo Khyentse then spent 20 years in retreat. He completed another retreat at the age of 28, then afterwards Dilgo Khyentse spent many years as a student of Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro. After receiving from Khyentse Chokyi Lodro the many empowerments of the Rinchen Terdzod, a collection of Revealed Terma Treasures, Dilgo Khyentse requested to spend the rest of his life in solitary meditation. In response, Khyentse Chokyi Lodro told him that "(t)he time has come for you to teach and transmit to others the countless precious teachings you have received."

Additionally, he received teachings at Palpung Monastery from the 11th Tai Situ Rinpoche, and full instruction on the ancient Guhyagarbha Tantra and its various commentaries from Khenpo Tubga at Kyangma Ritro. In all, he studied with over 50 teachers from the Nyingma school's oral (kama) and practice lineages within Tibetan Buddhism.

Later on, the 14th Dalai Lama regarded Dilgo Khyentse as both his principal teacher of the Nyingma school lineage, and his Dzogpa chenpo teacher. Dilgo Khyentse was also one of the main teachers of Chögyam Trungpa, whom is held in high regard. After his passing, many of Chogyam Trungpa's students became Dilgo Khyentse's students. Dilgo Khyentse was also a considered a master to many qualified teachers from all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Escape from Tibet, teachings in exile
In the mid-1950s, when widespread rebellions broke out in Kham and the Chinese Communists began bombing monasteries and massacring people and livestock, Dilgo Khyentse and his family migrated with masses of other Tibetans to Central Tibet, leaving behind his library of dharma books and most of his own writings. Shechen Monastery in Kham was destroyed by the Chinese forces.

Then, during the 1959 Tibetan uprising, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Lhasa, and Khyentse together with his family and a few students also escaped from Tibet, including his brother, the 9th Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche and Tenga Rinpoche. They headed for Bhutan where the royal family of Bhutan invited him to stay and teach, and he became their advisor.

Later, as he made frequent visits to India to give teachings to the 14th Dalai Lama at Dharamasala, he began giving teachings all around the Himalayas, India, Southeast Asia and the West. He also engaged in scholarship and composed numerous poems, meditation texts and commentaries. He was a terton (a discoverer of spiritual treasures) and is credited with discovering numerous termas. He was one of the foremost masters of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, for which he bestowed pith instructions, and one of the principal holders of the Longchen Nyingtik lineage.

In 1980, he rebuilt Shechen Monastery in Nepal, where he founded the Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery in Boudhanath, Kathmandu. There, he rebuilt the Shechen Monastery near the great Jarung Kashor stupa of Boudhanath, in Kathmandu valley which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He gave many teachings over the years to hundreds of other monks, nuns, lamas, Khenpos and Khenmos, Rinpoches, disciples, and to numerous international students. His senior student is Trulshik Rinpoche, whom he named as a spiritual heir.

During this same period and until his paranirvana in 1991, Dilgo Khyentse was involved in publishing as many Tibetan Buddhist teachings as possible, counting more than 300 volumes altogether. Shechen Publications continues to be a highly regarded imprimatur.

Final years
He was one of the few great Tibetan Rinpoches accorded the honorific title Kyabje, or "His Holiness". Following the death of Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche in 1987, he became the head of the Nyingma School, and remained so until his death in Bhutan on 28 September 1991.

Student Matthieu Ricard remarked:

"'his disciples were as numerous as stars in the autumn sky...we felt that the sun had vanished from the world.'"

In November 1992, the ritual cremation ceremony for Dilgo Khyentse was consecrated for three-days near Paro in Bhutan, and was attended by over 100 lamas and ordained monks and nuns, the Royal Family and ministers of Bhutan, 500 western disciples and 50,000 devotees and lay people.

Preservation of lineages
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was a perfect example of an impartial preserver of Tibetan Buddhist lineages, and a Rime master, since in exile he was instrumental in safeguarding all of the lineages of Tibetan Buddhism without partiality. He received and gave empowerments, and wrote volumes of texts that revitalized and interpreted important transmissions and teachings from all four Tibetan Buddhist schools.

Gyatrul Rinpoche (b. 1924), in a purport to Karma Chagmé Rinpoche (, fl. 17th century), conveys Dilgo Khyentse's samaya, diligence and humility in receiving empowerments (Tib: དབང, Wylie: dbang) and oral Dharma transmissions (Tib: ལུང, Wylie: lung). B. Alan Wallace elaborates:

"With respect to oral transmissions, even if the lineage is impure, it is not a problem. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche often sought out and received any oral transmission he thought was on the verge of disappearing. It made no difference who was giving it. He would receive it and, in turn, pass it on to make sure that the lineage remained unbroken."

Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche
The Yangsi of Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche is formally named Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Ugyen Tenzin Jigme Lhundrup (Tib. ཨོ་རྒྱན་བསྟན་འཛིན་འཇིགས་མེད་ལྷུང་གྲུབ་, Wylie o rgyan bstan 'dzin 'jigs med lhun grub), and informally called Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche. He was born in Nepal on the 11th day of the 5th lunar month of the Female Water Bird Year (30 June 1993) in Kathmandu, on the day following Guru Rinpoche's birthday. His father is Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche, the son of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and his mother is Sangyum Dechen Paldron. His siblings are Phakchok Rinpoche, Mingyur Paldron, and Kelsang Bhuti.

"Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche was born in Nepal on June 30, 1993. When Khyentse Rinpoche passed away, his close students requested Trulshik Rinpoche, his most senior and accomplished disciple, to find his incarnation."

Trulshik Rinpoche is said to have had numerous visions concerning the Yangsi, which he shared with Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse's grandson. His recognition was also confirmed by the 14th Dalai Lama. On 29 December 1995 Trulshik Rinpoche performed the Yangsi's formal name offering ceremony, in Nepal. Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche was enthroned in December 1996. Trulshik Rinpoche also offered a Long Life prayer which he composed for Dilgo Khyentse II of Shechen, at the sacred Maratika Cave.

Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche personally supervised the upbringing of Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche, in Nepal and also in Bhutan where Khenpo Yeshe Gyaltsen focused on providing Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche's Shedra education.

In 2010, Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche marked the century anniversary of the birth of Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and his own 17th year, with celebrations in Nepal and Bhutan and with a major tour of Europe, North America, and Asia. The tour began in France at La Sonnerie in the Dordogne, since La Sonnerie is the main European seat of Dilgo Khyentse, and is the French seat of Dudjom Rinpoche.

Afterwards, Dilgo Khentse Yangsi Rinpoche visited and gave teachings at Lerab Ling in France, before continuing with Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche and Matthieu Ricard to the Americas - U.S., Canada and Mexico. The North American leg of the tour included events in New York state, in Boulder, Colorado, Vermont, and in Canada before the tour traveled to Mexico.

In 2014, Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche and Matthieu Ricard gave talks and teachings in France and in the U.K.. At Nyima Dzong in Paris, an empowerment was given for the Dilgo Khyentse Terma of Vajra Vidharana (Dorje Namjon), and Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche celebrated his birthday. Afterwards, teachings were given at Lerab Ling and at Chanteloube. In the U.K., talks were given at Rigpa London, and a series of talks and empowerments were given at the newly opened Buddhist Community Centre UK in Aldershot, hosted by the Nepali Buddhist Community.

Later in July 2014, Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche returned to Mexico and to his center Shechen Mexico, and held two talks and gave a teaching on Rangjung Pema Nyingtik ngondro practice. In Toronto, Canada, at Riwoche gompa, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche gave empowerments on Namgyalma and Vajrakilaya.

In July 2024, Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche gave an eight-day Kurukulle, Guru Padmasambhava, and Yeshe Tsogyal drubchen and puja, in the historic E Maha Viraha ("Yempi Mahaviraha") in Patan, Kathmandu, Nepal, where Guru Padmasambhava had taught.

Film
The film Spirit of Tibet: Journey to Enlightenment, The Life and World of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was released in 1998. It was made by Matthieu Ricard, a French student, photographer, Buddhist monk, and author who had traveled with Khyentse for 14 years. It tells Dilgo Khyentse's story from birth to death, to rebirth. The film also tells of his escape from Tibet, following China's brutal invasion of Kham and Central Tibet, and of Dilgo Khyentse's determination to preserve and transmit Buddhist teachings far and wide. The film reveals Tibet's profound and sacred art, ritual philosophy, and the sacred cham dances. Along with rarely photographed areas of Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal, the film features interviews with the 14th Dalai Lama, who also speaks about his own spiritual life.

The film Brilliant Moon: Glimpses of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, written and directed by Neten Chokling Rinpoche, and narrated by Richard Gere and Lou Reed, uses animation, previously unseen archival footage and photos along with new interviews of Tibet's qualified masters to tell Dilgo Khyentse's life story.