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Khenchen Tashi Özer was an important figure in the Rimé movement. He served as a khenpo at the monasteries of Paljor and Palpung, the seat of the Tai Situ incarnations. He was a disciple of Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Patrul Rinpoche. When Jamgön Kongtrul wrote his auto-commentary to the Treasury of Knowledge in 1863, Khenchen Tashi Özer acted as his scribe. He was also in the presence of Jamgön Kongtrul when he passed into the samadhi of the clear light dharmakaya in 1899.
After offering the reading transmission for the entire Kangyur to the Fifteenth Karmapa at his seat of Tsurpu, he was rewarded with the fulfillment of any request, and took the opportunity to request that Karsé Kongtrul, the incarnation of Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye who had been born as the Karmapa's son be returned to his home monastery of Palpung. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Khenchen_Tashi_%C3%96zer Rigpa Wiki]) +
Drupon Khenpo Lodro Namgyal completed the 9-year Acharya program at Nalanda Institute, Rumtek Monastery. He studied under the guidance of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche and Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. After his graduation, he was appointed a Khenpo of Nalanda Institute where he taught for two years. Following that, he entered the three-year retreat at Pullahari Monastery under Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. When he completed the retreat, he was appointed Drupon (retreat master) of Kunzang Dechen Osel Ling, the Mahamudra retreat centre at Pullahari Monastery. The combination of immense learning and intensive meditation is clearly evident in his teachings. His way of making even the most complex and subtle Dharma subjects immediately accessible to students is a constant inspiration to all.
Drupon Khenpon Lodro Namgyal is now the principal of the Rigpe Dorje Institute of Higher Buddhist Philosophy at Kagyu Tekchen Ling, Lava, India, and personal tutor of philosophy to His Eminence the Fourth Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche. (Source: [https://www.jamgonkongtrul.org/section.php?s1=3&s2=4 jamgonkongtrul.org]) +
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Niguma was one of two great dakinis who founded the Shangpa Kagyu school of Vajrayana Buddhism.
In the tenth and eleventh centuries, Niguma was one of the most important Buddhist teachers and yoginis in India. While there are only brief glimpses of her life from sources and texts, Sarah Harding’s Niguma: Lady of Illusion surveys what little literature there is surrounding “the heiress of unimaginable qualities.”
Although not much is known about Niguma’s life, her teachings had a significant impact on Buddhism. Alongside the dakini Sukhasiddhi, she is one of two female founders of the Shangpa Kagyu school of Vajrayana Buddhism.
Niguma developed esoteric instructions, treatises, and practice manuals. Within the collection of commentaries in the Tibetan Buddhist canon, called the Tengyur — part of the core of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition — seventeen texts are attributed to Niguma, though they were likely written by her student Khyungpo Naljor. Niguma is said to watch over the holders of the lineage with impartial compassion, blessing them and compassionately overseeing the success of their activity.
Niguma’s birthplace was most likely near Kashmir, a hub of Buddhist tantric activity. She is thought by some to be the sister of Naropa, the famous Vajrayana Buddhist teacher, although others suggest that Niguma was Naropa’s consort. There is often confusion and overlap between the biographical details of Niguma and Naropa’s respective lives and accomplishments.
Although it is difficult to identify the woman behind the mystery of Niguma’s dakini image, Tibetan master Taranatha (1575-1634) wrote a short biography that helps shine light on her story:
The dakini Niguma’s place of birth was the Kashmiri city called “Incomparable.” Her father was the brahmin Santivarman. Her mother was Shrimati. Her real name was Srijnana. She had previously gathered the accumulations for three incalculable eons. Thus, in this life, based on the teachings of the instructions by the adept Lavapa and some others, she manifested the signs of progress in the secret mantra Vajrayana, and attained the body of union. So her body became a rainbow-like form. She had the ability to really hear teachings from the great Vajradhara. Having become a great bodhisattva, her emanations pervaded everywhere and accomplished the welfare of beings.
Harding points out that Niguma’s life story consists of only six folios, while that of her student Khyungpo Naljor consists of forty-three. According to scholars, Niguma had high-level realization, attained rainbow body, and received teachings directly from Vajradhara — the tantric form of Shakyamuni Buddha. It is said that Niguma cultivated the Buddhist path in previous lives, so that in her lifetime she directly saw the truth of the nature of phenomena just by hearing basic instruction from a few adept masters. (Source: Buddhadharma Magazine, Spring 2024)
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Orgyenpa Rinchen Pel (o rgyan pa rin chen dpal) was born in 1229 or 1230 in Tsang, the son of Won Jopen (dbon jo 'phan) and his wife Duggema (dug ge ma), who gave him the name Sengge Pel (seng ge dpal). His clan was the Gyu (rgyus). In his youth he trained in the Nyingma teachings of Mamo and Vajrakīlaya, and the sarma tantric cycles of Hevajra, Cakrasaṃvara, and Vajrapāṇi. At the age of sixteen he traveled to Bodong E monastery to study foundational Indian commentaries such as the Abhidharmakośa and the Abhidharmasamuccaya, and gaining a reputation as a formidable scholar.
At Golungpu (go lung phu) Orgyenpa met the Drukpa Kagyu ('brug pa bka' brgyud) teacher Gotsangpa Gonpo Dorje (rgod tshang pa mgon po rdo rje, 1189-1258). He offered him a copper pot and a piece of brown sugar, and became his disciple. Gotsangpa gave him Mahāmudrā teachings, and at the age of twenty Orgyenpa took full ordination at Bodong E, receiving the name Rinchen Pel. Bodong Rintse (bo dong rin rtse), Zang Samlingpa (zang bsam gling pa, 1189-1260), and Sonam Ozer (bsod names 'od zer) performed the ceremony.
For the next twelve years Orgyenpa studied Kālacakra, mainly in the traditions of Dro Lotsāwa ('bro lo tsA ba) and Chak Lotsāwa (chag lo tsA ba), and the major Kagyu doctrines with Gotsangpa. When Orgyenpa made his intention to travel to Shambhala known to Gotsangpa, Gotsangpa told him that he lacked the karmic propensity to do so, and guided him towards Oḍḍiyāna instead. Gotsangpa himself had traveled in the region, making a pilgrimage to Jalandhara, in the Ladakh region.
Orgyenpa traveled to Oḍḍiyāna via Kailash and Ladakh, suffering several nasty encounters with marauding Mongolian horsemen and experiencing visions of Vajravārāhī. Arriving Kashmir he escaped an attempt by the king to murder him. Returning to Tibet he found his teacher had passed away, he quickly put together a group of pilgrims to Bodh Gaya. According to the Blue Annals, in India he attained miraculous healing powers.
Returning to Tibet, he travelled through U and Yoru (g.yo ru) curing disease and subjugating demons. He was summoned to Mongolia to appear before Qubilai, on whom he bestowed a Kālacakra initiation, returning to Tibet despite the entreaties of the Emperor. While on that journey he encountered Karma Pakshi (kar ma pak shi, 1204-1283), the Second Karmapa, and became a disciple.
Orgyenpa served as an important early teacher to the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (karma pa 03 rang byung rdo rje, 1284-1339), and is often credited with identifying him as the reincarnation of Karma Pakshi, and giving him his name.
Orgyenpa passed away at the age of eighty, leaving numerous disciples in the Drukpa and Karma Kagyu traditions, who spread the “approach and accomplishment of the three vajras,” (rdo rje gsum gyi bsnyen sgrub), better known as the Orgyen Nyendrub (o rgyan bsnyen sgrub).
([https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Orgyenpa-Rinchen-Pel/2733 Source Accessed December 13, 2019])
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Patriarch of the Kagyu lineage. The so-called "moon-like“ disciple and foremost heart son of Milarepa. He met Milarepa at the age of eleven and spent many years studying and practising under the guidance of his master. He was a Repa (ras pa) like Milarepa, unlike Gampopa, who was a fully ordained monk. At one time he even was married to a local princess for a while, before taking to the homeless life of a wandering yogin again. Rechungpa travelled to India three times and obtained teachings and transmissions which Marpa had not managed to receive in his time. In fact he was prophecied by Naropa, who said to Marpa that a descendant of his lineage would eventually come to receive more instructions on certain teachings.... (continue reading on [https://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/Rechungpa RYWiki]) +
Götsangpa Gönpo Dorje (Tib. རྒོད་ཚང་པ་མགོན་པོ་རྡོ་རྗེ་, Wyl. rgod tshang pa mgon po rdo rje) (1189-1258) was a mahasiddha of the Drukpa Kagyü school, well known for his songs of realization and said to have been an emanation of Milarepa. He was born in southern Tibet, but moved to Central Tibet, where he met his main teachers Tsangpa Gyaré Yeshe Dorje and Sangye Ön. Following his studies, he travelled from one isolated hermitage to another, never staying in the same place twice. He founded the branch of the Drukpa Kagyü school known as the Upper Drukpa (སྟོད་འབྲུག་, stod 'brug). His students included Orgyenpa Rinchen Pal. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Götsangpa_Gönpo_Dorje Rigpawiki]) +
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Dharmakirti (Skt. Suvarṇadvīpa Dharmakīrti; Tib. ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་, Chökyi Drakpa, Wyl. chos kyi grags pa) or Dharmapala (Wyl. chos skyong) of Suvarnadvipa (b. 10th century) was the most important of Atisha's teachers. In Tibetan he is known simply as Serlingpa (Tib. གསེར་གླིང་པ་, Wyl. gser gling pa), literally 'the master from Suvarnadvipa'. Atisha is said to have stayed with him for twelve years receiving teachings on Lojong. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Dharmakirti_of_Suvarnadvipa Source Accessed Jun 21, 2022]) +
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Thangtong Gyalpo, also known as Tsöndru Zangpo, was a famous Tibetan siddha who travelled extensively in China, Tibet and other eastern countries, built numerous temples and metal bridges and founded monasteries at Dergé and elsewhere. He is said to be an emanation of the mind aspect of Guru Rinpoche, as well as an incarnation of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Thangtong_Gyalpo Rigpa Wiki]) +
Tilopa. (T. Ti lo pa) (988–1069). An Indian tantric adept counted among the eighty-four mahāsiddhas and venerated in Tibet as an important source of tantric instruction and a founder of the Bka' brgyud sect. Little historical information exists regarding Tilopa's life. According to his traditional biographies, Tilopa was born a brāhmaṇa in northeast India. As a young man he took the vows of a Buddhist monk, but later was compelled by the prophecies of a ḍākinī messenger to study with a host of tantric masters. He lived as a wandering yogin, practicing tantra in secret while outwardly leading a life of transgressive behavior. For many years Tilopa acted as the servant for the prostitute Barima (in truth a wisdom ḍākinī in disguise) by night while grinding sesame seeds for oil by day. The name Tilopa, literally "Sesame Man," derives from the Sanskrit word for sesamum. Finally, Tilopa is said to have received instructions in the form of a direct transmission from the primordial buddha Vajradhara. Tilopa instructed numerous disciples, including the renowned Bengali master Nāropa, who is said to have abandoned his prestigious monastic position to become Tilopa's disciple, undergoing many difficult trials before receiving his teachings. Those teachings were later received by Marpa Chos kyi blo gros, who brought Tilopa's teachings to Tibet. As with many Indian siddhas, Tilopa's main instructions are found in the form of dohā, or songs of realization. Many of his songs, together with several tantric commentaries and liturgical texts, are included in the Tibetan canon. Among the teachings attributed to him are the bka’ ’babs bzhi ("four transmissions"), the lus med mkha’ ’gro snyan rgyud chos skor dgu ("nine aural lineage cycles of the formless ḍākinīs"), and the Mahāmudropadeśa. (Source: "Tilopa." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 914. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Tsarchen Losal Gyatso was the founder of the Tsar subschool of the Sakya tradition and of its main monastery, Dar Drangmoche Monastery in the province of Tsang. A number of his writings survive such as his compositions on the Hevajra visualization (Tib. ཉི་མའི་འོད་ཟེར, Wyl. nyi ma'i 'od zer) and on the Vajrayogini teachings. His biography was written by the Fifth Dalai Lama. His chief disciples were Jamyang Khyentse Wangchuk, who is compared to the sun, and Mangtö Ludrup Gyatso, who is likened to the moon, as well as Yol Khenchen Shyönnu Lodrö, the Third Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso, and Bokarwa Maitri Döndrup Gyaltsen. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Tsarchen_Losal_Gyatso Rigpa Wiki]) +
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Vagishvarakirti was one of the six gate keeper panditas of the university of Vikramashila. He was the guardian of the southern gate when Shantipa was guarding the eastern gate and Prajñakaramati the northern gate, at the time Drokmi Lotsawa and Taklo Shyönnu Lodrö were sent there. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Vagishvarakirti Rigpa Wiki]) +
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Gyalwa Yang Gönpa Gyaltsen Pal (Tib. ཡང་དགོན་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་དཔལ་, Wyl. yang dgon pa rgyal mtshan dpal) (1213-1258 or 1287) was a great yogin of the Drukpa Kagyü school and one of the foremost disciples of Gyalwa Götsangpa (1189-1258). He also studied with Godrakpa (1181-1261), who is considered the first great non-sectarian master of Tibet, Drikung Chenga Rinpoche (1175-1255) of the Drikung Kagyü school, Sakya Pandita (1182-1251), and Sangye Repa, and other masters. He is known as one of the 'three victorious ones', the other two being his teacher Gyalwa Götsangpa and Gyalwa Lorepa. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Yang_Gönpa Rigpawiki]) +
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Śavaripa was a hunter. In order to convince him to abandon his wrong livelihood, the bodhisattva of compassion Avalokiteśvara took the form of a hunter himself and killed one hundred deer (which he magically created) with a single arrow. When Śavaripa asked to learn this skill, the bodhisattva told him that he must first give up eating meat. Avalokiteśvara eventually taught Śavaripa how to meditate on love and compassion, granting Śavaripa and his wife a vision of hell, where they saw themselves burning for the sin of killing animals. When Śavaripa asked how they could be saved from this fate, the bodhisattva taught him about the law of karma and that through protecting rather than taking life, he could achieve liberation. Śavaripa meditated for
twelve years and entered the bodhisattva path, awaiting the advent of Maitreya. (Source: Lopez Jr., Donald S. ''Seeing the Sacred in Samsara: An Illustrated Guide to the Eighty-Four Mahāsiddhas''. Boulder: Shambhala Publications, 2019: p. 53.) +
