Lamas
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
By Karma Dorje
Jul 7, 2006, 23:34

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

DZIGAR KONGTRUL RINPOCHE was born in 1964 in Northern India. He was recognised at the age of nine as an incarnation of the great nineteenth century Rime master, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye. He received extensive training in all aspects of Buddhist doctrine. His studies majored in the teachings of the Longchen Nyingthik lineage of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism by his root teacher, His Holiness, the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Rinpoche also studied extensively under Ven Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche and the great scholar Khenpo Rinchen.

In 1989 Rinpoche moved to the United States with his family and in 1990 began a five-year tenure as a professor of Buddhist philosophy at the Naropa Institute. During this time he founded Mangala Shri Bhuti and later established Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, a long-term retreat center in Southern Colorado to further the wisdom and practice of the Longchen Nyingtik lineage.

Currently, he has centres for study and retreat in Vermont, USA, India and Brazil. Rinpoche spends much of his time in retreat and guides students in long-term retreat practice. When not in retreat, Rinpoche travels widely throughout the world teaching the dharma and furthering his own education. His best known student in the West is Pema Chodron, who took him as her primary teacher years after the death of her root guru,  Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

His first book, which came out in 2005 is called “It’s Up to You: Self Reflection on the Buddhist Path.”  In 2009 Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening to our Natural Intelligence was published. See also http://thebuddhadharma.com/issues/2005/summer/haunted_dominion.html