Brief Biography of Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Tsoknyi Rinpoche the third is an important lama of both the Drukpa Kagyu and Nyingma lineages. He was born in 1966 in Kathmandu, Nepal, to the family of the mahasiddha Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, who holds the Tsangsar Family Lineage, a special family lineage of tantric yogis which, by tradition, originated through the union of a deva and a human. Tsoknyi Rinpoche's great great grandfather was the treasure revealer Chokgyur Lingpa and Rinpoche has been trained in that family tradition by his father since an early age.

The first Tsoknyi Rinpoche was an emanation of Milarepa's disciple, Rechunga, and the Nyingmapa Terton Ratna Lingpa. He was born in Nangchen, Eastern Tibet, in the first half of the 19th Century and was a contemporary of the three great lamas of the time, Jamyang Khyentse, Jamgon Kongtrul, and Chokgyur Lingpa. . He fully mastered the practices of the Six Dharmas of Naropa and became the principal guru for the 7th Khamtrul Rinpoche, Tenpa'i Nyima, in those practices. He also practiced the Nyingma tradition of Ratna Lingpa with its special yogas as well as his own Nyingmapa practices. He established many centres for the practice of the Dharma in Tibet.

The second Tsoknyi Rinpoche was born into the family of the King of Nangchen in the first half of this century and received the teachings of Naropa from the 7th Khamtrul Rinpoche to whom he had transmitted the teachings in his previous incarnation. He was expert in in the Six Dharmas of Naropa and Mahamudra as well as his own Nyingmapa lineages.

The present Tsoknyi Rinpoche was recognised by H. H. Karmapa XVI at the age of eight. When he was thirteen he was brought to Khampagar Monastery at Tashi Jong in India, the seat of Khamtrul Rinpoche. Tsoknyi Rinpoche's principal teachers have been the 8th Khamtrul Rinpoche, Döngyu Nyima, H. H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and his father Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche.

Tsoknyi Rinpoche completed his formal studies and returned from India to Nepal in 1990. He established his seat in Kathmandu at Ngesdön Ösel Ling Monastery which he planned and built in consultation with his father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. He is widely recognized as a brilliant meditation teacher and is the author of Carefree Dignity.

Pundarika Foundation

For more information on all of these teachers, please visit the CTF's lineage tree.