Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Tashi Paljor () (c. 1910 – 28 September 1991) was a Vajrayana master, Terton, scholar, poet, teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters. Head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism from 1988 to 1991, he is also considered an eminent proponent of the Rime tradition.
As the primary custodian of the vast collection of teachings both authored by and recovered by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, Dilgo Khyentse was the de facto custodian of a vast majority of Tibetan Buddhist teachings. He taught many eminent teachers, including the 14th Dalai Lama. After the Chinese invasion of Tibet, his personal effort was crucial in the preservation of Tibetan Buddhism.
Biography
Early life, ancestry Dilgo Khyentse was born on the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month of the Iron Dog Year (1910), in the Denma region of Derge, in Denkok Valley, in Kham, Eastern Tibet, during a teaching on the Kalachakra Tantra given in his house by Ju Mipham. Ju Mipham conferred the name Tashi Paljor. The Dilgo family directly descended from Tibet's eighth-century King Trisong Detsen, and both his father and mother were children of ministers to the King of Dege, based in Derge. His family and their associates were major patrons of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. He had three brothers: the eldest brother Sanggye; another older brother who became the 9th Benchen Sanggye Nyenpa, Karma Shedrub Tenpai Nyima; and a third older brother that died at a young age.
When Dilgo Khyentse was a year old, he was declared to be a reincarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo by a disciple of Khyentse Wangpo's. Several high Rinpoches from the Nyingma, Karma Kagyu, and Sakya schools were to request Dilgo Khyentse be sent to their monasteries, but Ju Mipham advised his father to keep young Dilgo Khyentse Tashi Paljor at home.
In 1912, the 4th Shechen Gyaltsap Pema Namgyal (1871–1926) of Shechen Monastery requested Tashi Paljor for his monastery, and the request was accepted. Shechen Monastery is one of the six principal Mother Monasteries of the Nyingma school, where Dilgo Khyentse received novice vows in 1919, and where he was formally enthroned by Shechen Gyaltsab in 1925 as the tulku of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, and given the name Gyurme Tekchok Tenpai Gyeltsen.
During these years, Dilgo Khyentse travelled close to Shechen Monastery to receive teachings in Buddhist philosophy from several masters, including Shechen Kongtrul Pema Drime (1901–1960), the 11th Tai Situ, Pema Wangchok Gyelpo of Palpung Monastery where he seriously studied, from masters at Dzogchen Monastery, Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, and Khenpo Zhenga of Jyegu Dondrub Ling at Jyekundo. Additionally, he received teachings on the ancient Guhyagarbha Tantra and its various commentaries from Khenpo Tubga at Kyangma Ritro. In all, he studied with more than 50 teachers from the Nyingma school's oral (kama) and practice lineages within Tibetan Buddhism.
His root guru was Shechen Gyaltsap Rinpoche, and Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro (1893–1959) was his other main spiritual master. He completed what is known as the Ngöndro, or Preliminary Practice.
His eldest brother Sanggye was his constant travelling and practice companion, and they entered many brief retreats between teachings which included the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra, the Madhamikāvatāra, Nagarjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, the Guhyagarbha Tantra, works by many masters including Ju Mipham, Terdak Lingpa, Mindroling, Guru Chowang, Jamgon Kongtrul, and by other great masters. His classic training would automatically include training in meditation, in the study of the Kangyur and Tengyur, and in the tantra teachings specifically. He also received training in grammar and poetics in addition to the numerous teachings, transmissions, and empowerments. He remained in close proximity to Shechen Monastery until 1926, when Shechen Gyaltsab passed.
From 1926 until 1934, Dilgo Khyentse remained in solitary retreat in a cave in Denkok, near his birthplace, but attended the enthronement of the 5th Shechen Gyeltsab at Shechen Monastery in 1925, and received the transmissions and teachings. Dilgo Khyentse requested to spend the rest of his life in solitary meditation. In response, Khyentse Chokyi Lodro told him that "(t)he time has come for you to teach and transmit to others the countless precious teachings you have received."
Two years later while in retreat, a severe fever occurred at the age of 25, and he then decided to become a tantric practitioner with a consort, which supported his transition as a terton. He married Khandro Lhamo, a traditional Tibetan medicine doctor (Amchi) from a modest Kham family"Khandro Lhamo Passes", Snowlion Newsletter, Spring 2003, https://www.shambhala.com/snowlion_articles/khandro-lhamo-passes/ while both Khyentse Chokyi Lodro and the 10th Zurmang Trungpa, Karma Chokyi Nyingche, had urged him to pursue terma treasure revelations. A teacher had prophesied that a cure for his illness would be marriage, despite the fact he was uninterested in it. Khandro Lhamo became a well-known expert in Tibetan medicine, a supporter of Shechen Monastery and his life-long companion. They had two daughters, the elder being Dechen Wangmo, and the younger being Chime Wangmo.Alex Gardner, "Dilgo Khyentse Tashi Peljor", Treasury of Lives, December 2009
Student and master Dilgo Khyentse then spent the next 21 years as an active Terton, while also traveling and teaching."The Reincarnation of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche", Spring 1996, Vol 11, No 2, Snow Lion Newsletter. In 1936, he revealed a section of "one of his most celebrated treasures", Pema's Heart Essence of Longevity (pad+ma tshe yi snying thig), which he discovered in the Kingdom of Nangchen. Additional sections were revealed the following year.
At the age of 34, Dilgo Khyentse spent two years with Dzongzar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, receiving teachings and revealing terma. He was a close student, and specifically received Jamgon Kongtrul's Rinchen Terdzod, a collection of Revealed Terma Treasures, and his Treasury of Knowledge (shes bya kun khyab). In 1946, Dilgo Khyentse travelled in Kham and strengthened his connections to the lineage of another Terton, Chokgyur Lingpa when he discovered and decoded a sheet of paper which became the treasure cycle of the Kabgye (bka' brgyad).
He continued his revelations as a Terton while travelling and teaching at Derge, Nangchen, Rebkong, Amye Machen, and other places in Do Kham during the early years of China's invasion. His treasure cycle of Nyak Kilaya (gnyag lugs phur ba) was revealed in Nangchen.
Later on, the 14th Dalai Lama regarded Dilgo Khyentse as both his principal teacher of the Nyingma school lineage, and his Dzogpa chenpo teacher. Dilgo Khyentse was also one of the main teachers of Chögyam Trungpa, whom is held in high regard. After his death, many of Chogyam Trungpa's students became Dilgo Khyentse's students.The Chronicles of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, The Chronicle Project Organization. Dilgo Khyentse was also a considered a master to many qualified teachers from all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
Escape from Tibet, teachings in exile In the mid-1950s, when widespread rebellions broke out in Kham and the Chinese Communists began bombing monasteries and massacring people and livestock,Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Born in Tibet, Boulder: Shambhala PublicationsFrançois Robin, Le monde au reflet du Tibet : le journal 'Le miroir des nouvelles' . Open Edition Journals, 36:46-47, December 2013. the Chinese forces were also specifically hunting certain tulkus, among them Dilgo Khyentse. Khandro Lhamo refused to divulge his whereabouts for weeks in 1956, before Dilgo Khyentse and his family spontaneously migrated with masses of other Tibetans to Central Tibet and Lhasa, leaving behind his library of dharma books and most of his own writings. Shechen Monastery in Kham was destroyed by the Chinese forces.
Then, during the 1959 Tibetan uprising, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Lhasa, and Dilgo Khyentse together with his family and a few students also escaped from Tibet, including his brother, the 9th Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche and Tenga Rinpoche. They headed for the border at Bhutan where they stayed in camps before being permitted to cross into India, where they moved and stayed for several years with Dudjom Rinpoche at Kalimpong. From 1961 to 1962, he taught in Bhutan in response to an invitation, and later he was again invited to Bhutan by Nyimalung Monastery in 1965 after which Bhutan became his primary home.
He made frequent visits to India to give teachings to the 14th Dalai Lama at Dharamasala, and he dedicated himself to preserving the Nyingma school lineage by travelling extensively in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. His first journey to the West was in 1975, and he established a three-year retreat center in the Dordogne, France.
He also engaged in scholarship and composed numerous poems, meditation texts and commentaries. He was a Terton, a discoverer of spiritual treasures, and is credited with discovering numerous termas. He was one of the foremost masters of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, for which he bestowed pith instructions, and is one of the principal holders of the Longchen Nyingtik lineage.
In 1980, he reconstructed Shechen Monastery in Nepal, when he founded the Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery in Boudhanath, Kathmandu, which was the earliest of the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in Boudhanath to be built. He rebuilt the Shechen Monastery near the great and spiritually significant Jarung Kashor stupa of Boudhanath, in Kathmandu valley, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
He travelled to Tibet three times, in 1985, 1988, and 1990, during which he funded and advised rebuilding projects, including the consecration of a statue of Padmasambhava at the Jokhang, the re-consecration of Samye Monastery, the re-consecration of the Derge printing house, and he visited several rebuilt Nyingma school monasteries including Dzogchen, Palyul, Katok, and Shechen Monastery where he was able to stay and bestow public teachings. In between his travels to Tibet, he gave many teachings over the years to hundreds of other monks, nuns, lamas, Khenpos and Khenmos, Rinpoches, disciples, laypeople, and to numerous international students. His senior student is Trulshik Rinpoche, whom he named as a spiritual heir.
During this same period and until his paranirvana on 27 September 1991 in Bhutan, Dilgo Khyentse was also involved in publishing as many Tibetan Buddhist teachings as possible, counting more than 300 volumes altogether.
Final years He was one of the few great Tibetan Rinpoches accorded the honorific title Kyabje, or "His Holiness". Following the death of Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche in 1987, he became the head of the Nyingma School, and remained so until his death in Bhutan on 27 September 1991.
Student Matthieu Ricard remarked:
In November 1992, the ritual cremation ceremony for Dilgo Khyentse was consecrated for three-days near Paro in Bhutan, and was attended by over 100 lamas and ordained monks and nuns, the Royal Family and ministers of Bhutan, 500 western disciples and 50,000 devotees and lay people.
Preservation of lineages
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche has been described as a perfect example of an impartial preserver of Tibetan Buddhist lineages, and a Rime master, since in exile he was instrumental in safeguarding all of the lineages of Tibetan Buddhism without partiality. He received and gave empowerments, and wrote volumes of texts that revitalized and interpreted important transmissions and teachings from all four Tibetan Buddhist schools.Brilliant Moon, foreword by Sogyal Rinpoche, Shambala Boston and London 2009 p. xxxvi