A remarkable life
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was born in 1910 in Kham, Eastern Tibet. Upon his birth, he was blessed by the renowned master Mipham Rinpoche. At Shechen, one of the six principal monasteries of the Nyingmapa School, he met his root teacher, Shechen Gyaltsap Rinpoche (1871-1926), who formally recognized and enthroned him as the mind incarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and gave him countless teachings. It is also there that Khyentse Rinpoche meet Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, his second main teacher, who had also come to receive teachings from Shechen Gyaltsap.
Khyentse Rinpoche himself was to become the archetype of the spiritual teacher, someone whose inner journey led him to an extraordinary depth of knowledge and enabled him to be, for whoever met him, a fountain of loving kindness, wisdom and compassion. To achieve these extraordinary qualities, Khyentse Rinpoche spent more than twenty years in retreat, in remote hermitages and caves.
After and in between his retreats, he worked constantly for the benefit of all living beings with tireless energy. He became one of the main teachers of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, of the Royal Family of Bhutan, and of countless disciples. He was thus a master among masters. His knowledge of the enormous range of Tibetan Buddhist literature was probably unparalleled, and he manifested unparalleled determination to preserve and make available texts of all traditions, particularly those in danger of disappearing.
Profoundly gentle and patient though he was, Khyentse Rinpoche's presence, his vastness of mind and powerful physical appearance, inspired awe and respect. He passed away in 1991 and his remains were cremated near Paro in Bhutan, in November 1992, at a ceremony attended by some fifty thousand devotees.
Khyentse Rinpoche was someone whose greatness was totally in accord with the teachings he professed. However unfathomable the depth and breadth of his mind might seem, from an ordinary point of view he was an extraordinarily good human being. His only concern was the present and ultimate benefit of others. Here was a living example of what lay at the end of the spiritual path the greatest possible inspiration for anyone thinking of setting out on the journey to enlightenment.
After Khyentse Rinpoche's death in 1991, his close students had naturally turned to Trulshik Rinpoche, his most senior and accomplished disciple, to find his incarnation. Since that time, Trulshik Rinpoche had had dreams and visions that clearly indicated the identity of the incarnation. According to these indications it soon became clear that Khyentse Rinoche was reborn in 1993 as the son of Tsike Chöling Rinpoche and the mayum Dechen Paldrön.
In December 1997, the formal enthronement of the young Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi was held at Shechen monastery in Nepal. It attracted over fifteen thousand people from forty nationalities and more than a hundred eminent lamas representing all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
Since then, the young incarnation, reared by Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, has been studying in Bhutan and at Shechen Monastery in Nepal and, like a flower that reveals its beauty as it blossoms, is gradually manifesting qualities that will make him able to work vastly for the benefit of beings just like his predecessor.
Khyentse Rinpoche himself was to become the archetype of the spiritual teacher, someone whose inner journey led him to an extraordinary depth of knowledge and enabled him to be, for whoever met him, a fountain of loving kindness, wisdom and compassion. To achieve these extraordinary qualities, Khyentse Rinpoche spent more than twenty years in retreat, in remote hermitages and caves.
After and in between his retreats, he worked constantly for the benefit of all living beings with tireless energy. He became one of the main teachers of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, of the Royal Family of Bhutan, and of countless disciples. He was thus a master among masters. His knowledge of the enormous range of Tibetan Buddhist literature was probably unparalleled, and he manifested unparalleled determination to preserve and make available texts of all traditions, particularly those in danger of disappearing.
Profoundly gentle and patient though he was, Khyentse Rinpoche's presence, his vastness of mind and powerful physical appearance, inspired awe and respect. He passed away in 1991 and his remains were cremated near Paro in Bhutan, in November 1992, at a ceremony attended by some fifty thousand devotees.
Khyentse Rinpoche was someone whose greatness was totally in accord with the teachings he professed. However unfathomable the depth and breadth of his mind might seem, from an ordinary point of view he was an extraordinarily good human being. His only concern was the present and ultimate benefit of others. Here was a living example of what lay at the end of the spiritual path the greatest possible inspiration for anyone thinking of setting out on the journey to enlightenment.
After Khyentse Rinpoche's death in 1991, his close students had naturally turned to Trulshik Rinpoche, his most senior and accomplished disciple, to find his incarnation. Since that time, Trulshik Rinpoche had had dreams and visions that clearly indicated the identity of the incarnation. According to these indications it soon became clear that Khyentse Rinoche was reborn in 1993 as the son of Tsike Chöling Rinpoche and the mayum Dechen Paldrön.
In December 1997, the formal enthronement of the young Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi was held at Shechen monastery in Nepal. It attracted over fifteen thousand people from forty nationalities and more than a hundred eminent lamas representing all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
Since then, the young incarnation, reared by Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, has been studying in Bhutan and at Shechen Monastery in Nepal and, like a flower that reveals its beauty as it blossoms, is gradually manifesting qualities that will make him able to work vastly for the benefit of beings just like his predecessor.