Masters

PRAHEVAJRA (dGa’ Rab rDo rJe)  is a Nirmāṇakāya,  manifested body of the Buddha appearing as the first human master of Dzogpa Chenpo. According to Dzogpa Chenpo sources, Prahevajra was born to a daughter of the king of Oḍḍiyāṇa, which was located, according to some scholars, somewhere around the Swat Valley in present-day Pakistan.

MAÑJUSHRĪMITRA (’Jam dPal bShes gNyen) was born in a brahman family in the city of Dvikrama to the west of Bodhgayā in India. His father was Sādhushāstrī, and his mother was Pradīpālokā. He became a scholar of al the five scholarly fields.

MASTER Shrīsiṃha (dPal Gyi Seng Ge) was born in a city called Shokyam on Sosha Island in China. His father was Gewe Denpa (Virtuous One) and his mother was Nangwa Salwa Raptu Khyenma (Clear and Wise One). At the age of fifteen, he went to the Bodhi Tree of China and studied with master Haribhala for three years, and he became well versed in the five subjects.

JÑĀNASŪTRA (Ye Shes mDo) was born in the eastern city of Kamalashīla in eastern India. His father was Shāntihasta (Hand of Peace), and his mother was Kalyāṇachitta (Virtuous Minded), in a shūdra (lowest-caste) family. He became learned and went to Bodhgayā, where he lived with five hundred scholars. Among them was Vimalamitra, with whom his relations were very close because of their previous lives.

VIMALAMITRA (Dri Med bShes gNyen) was born at the Forest of Elephants (Glang Po’i Tshal) in western India. His father was Deden Khorlo, and his mother was Dak-nyid Salma. He became a scholar of both Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna.

GURU RINPOCHE, one of the greatest adepts of Buddhist India, is the founder of Buddhism in Tibet. He is known as Padmasambhava (Padma ’Byung gNas), the Lotus-Born, and Guru of Oḍḍiyāṇa. In Tibet he is popularly known as Guru Rinpoche, the Precious Master. The Nyingmapas respect him as the second Buddha.

Longchen Rabjam was an incarnation, or tülku, of Princess Pemasal, a daughter of King Trisong Detsen, to whom Guru Rinpoche had entrusted the transmission of the Khandro Nyingthig. In her series of lives, the incarnation directly preceding Longchen Rabjam was Pema Ledreltsal, who rediscovered the Khandro Nyingthig teachings as a ter.

RIGDZIN Jigme Lingpa was the incarnation (tülku) of both King Trisong Detsen (790–858) and Vimalamitra. He is also known as Khyentse Özer, Rays of Wisdom and Compassion. He discovered the vast and profound Longchen Nyingthig cycle of teachings as mind ter.

DO KHYENTSE Yeshe Dorje was the mind incarnation of Jigme Lingpa. He demonstrated the power of his enlightened mind in the form of amazing miracles, and in this respect he was the greatest master of the Tibetan tantric Buddhist tradition during the last many centuries.

THE First Dodrupchen Rinpoche Jigme Thrinle Özer was the principal doctrine-holder (rTsa Ba’i Ch’os bDag) of the Longchen Nyingthig cycle of teachings.

Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo is the body incarnation of Jigme Lingpa. He became one of the greatest masters, in whom the lineages of all of Tibetan Buddhism find their confluence. He became a prominent propagator of Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyü, and other teaching lineages. He was recognized as the rebirth of Jigme Lingpa (1730–1798) by the Nyingmapas and the Nesar Khyentse (1524–?) and Thartse Champa Namkha Chi-me by the Sakyapas. As Jigme Lingpa, he was also the manifestation of King Trisong Detsen, Vimalamitra, and many other masters. He was the master of thirteen lineal orders and was regarded as one of the five kings among the hundred major tertöns of the Nyingma tradition.

PRAHEVAJRA (dGa’ Rab rDo rJe)  is a Nirmāṇakāya,  manifested body of the Buddha appearing as the first human master of Dzogpa Chenpo. According to Dzogpa Chenpo sources, Prahevajra was born to a daughter of the king of Oḍḍiyāṇa, which was located, according to some scholars, somewhere around the Swat Valley in present-day Pakistan.