Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche was born in northern India into a family of the Longchen Nyingtik lineage of the Nyingma school. His father was the third incarnation of the treasure revealer Chokgyur Lingpa, and his first teacher was his mother, who had completed thirteen years of retreat before she married. At nine he was recognised as an incarnation of Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and the 16th Karmapa.

He grew up in a monastic environment and received training in the full range of Buddhist doctrine. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was his root teacher, and he also studied with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche and the scholar Khenpo Rinchen.

In 1989 he moved to the United States with his family and spent five years at Naropa University as a professor of Buddhist philosophy, the first holder of its World Wisdom Chair. During that time he founded Mangala Shri Bhuti, an organisation set up to establish the Longchen Nyingtik lineage in the West. Its main centres are in Colorado and Vermont, with others in Brazil and India and study groups elsewhere. He also paints, and treats art as an extension of practice.

His books deal with self-reflection and the compassionate path. They include It’s Up to You, Light Comes Through, Uncommon Happiness, The Intelligent Heart, Training in Tenderness (Shambhala, 2018) and Peaceful Heart.