Lama Jigme Namgyal

Lineage

The Buddhist teachings and methods are handed down from teacher to pupil following an oral tradition, a tradition that is ultimately traceable all the way back to the Buddha Shakyamuni himself. This tradition gives us an assurance of quality and authenticity.

In light of the importance placed on the lineage, it is customary to introduce a teacher by first introducing his own masters. Lama Jigmé Namgyal has had many Buddhist teachers since his childhood. Out of all Lama Jigmé’s many great teachers, Khenpo Jigmé Phuntsok Rinpoche was the most pivotal.

Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche

Khenpo Jigmé Phuntsok Rinpoche started giving teachings in the 1980s in a valley in eastern Tibet. Many Tibetans, Chinese and Westerners travelled to the valley to follow his teachings, which culminated in the foundation of the Buddhist Institute Serthar Larung Gar. In 2001 more than 8,000 monks and nuns lived there. Under Khenpo Jigmé Phuntsok Rinpoche’s tutelage, thousands of devotees matured into becoming teachers in their own right. Serthar Larung Gar was an ecumenical institution, where the various Tibetan Buddhist schools were taught in a spirit of harmony and mutual understanding.

In 1990 Khenpo Jigmé Phuntsok Rinpoche travelled to India and Nepal, at which time he re-established his connections with HH the Dalai Lama. As the recognized re-incarnation of the Bodhisattva Manjusri, Khenpo Jigmé gave teachings to HH the Dalai Lama. Khenpo Jigmé passed away on 7 January 2004 at the age of 70.

Lama Jigme’s other teachers

In Tratsok monastery, Lama Jigmé Namgyal also studied with many other great teachers. When Lama Jigmé was nine years old, he met his first teacher, the great yogin Siddhi Lama Shenphen Dewe Nyima. He received from him the Dudjom Tersar of Dudjom Lingpa and accumulated the preliminaries under him.

He obtained the Dzogchen lineage from Lama Tokden Rinpoche, also at Tratsok.

As for Lama Pema Samten, he instructed Lama Jigmé to teach the doctrine. In front of a big assembly of laymen and practitioners, he bestowed on him a ceremonial scarf (khatak) and the title of a preceptor (mkhan-po). Although Lama Jigmé wasn’t particularly happy about this, as by nature he preferred to do intensive practice in mountain retreats, Lama Pema Samten told him that his destiny was to teach others. On their last meeting, he told him that they were unsure to meet again and advised him not to forget his home region. He asked him to be the head of Tratsok monastery. At the time, Lama Jigmé replied that although he didn’t have the capacity to do so then, he would try to support the monastery in the future. This was to be their final meeting.

Lama Jigmé received the aural lineage of Dzogchen from Khenpo Munsel (1916-1993) the outstanding disciple of Khenpo Ngakchung (1879-1941; alias Khenpo Ngawang Pal Zangpo).

He then went on to study for nine years at the university of Sertar Lharung Gar, under the guidance of his root teacher Khenpo Jigmé Phuntsok Rinpoche. After arriving in Nepal and India, he received teachings from HH the Dalai Lama, from Penor Rinpoche, Dodrupchen Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche, Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche, as well as from Minling Trichen Rinpoche, Sakya Trizin and the 17th Karmapa. These are some of the masters Lama Jigmé Namgyal studied with.

Lama Jigme Namgyal

Lama Jigmé Namgyal was born in 1973 into a nomad family in Golog, in the eastern part of Tibet. At eight years of age he entered Tratsok monastery, and ten years later he left for Serthar Larung Gar, the Buddhist Institute of Khenpo Jigmé Phuntsok Rinpoche. It was here that he studied Buddhist philosophy and Tantra, among many other great teachings. Lama Jigmé subsequently gave teachings to countless monks and lay people within Tibet.

After consulting his teachers, Lama Jigmé Namgyal decided to leave Tibet for Europe. This was a huge step, since he didn’t speak any European languages, nor did he know anything about European culture. While working to earn his living here, he quickly learned English and gained insight into the culture. He then went on to found two centers in Europe, one in Luxembourg (Centre Culturel Tibétain) and another in Rotterdam (Phuntsok Chö Ling).

Apart from being a teacher of meditation, Lama Jigmé has much experience in spiritually accompanying the dying and is also deeply interested in interreligious dialogue.