Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima

Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima (T. rdo grub chen 'jigs med bstan pa'i nyi ma རྡོ་གྲུབ་ཆེན་འཇིགས་མེད་བསྟན་པའི་ཉི་མ་), the Third Dodrupchen Rinpoche (1865-1926). A renowned author and teacher, and a key figure in the Longchen Nyingtik lineage, one of several Dzogchen lineages within the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Ringu Tulku states:

Even among great masters, the Third Do Drupchen, Jigme Tenpe Nyima, is very highly regarded. The present Dalai Lama, for example, often quotes him and remarks that, of all the Tibetan masters, he finds the writings of Do Drubchen most logical: he says that the deepest teachings and most profound philosophies are put forward particularly clearly and comprehensibly in his texts. Do Drubchen is known for that, especially regarding the most profound tantras.

Biography

Jikmé Tenpé Nyima was born in East Tibet as the son of Dudjom Lingpa. He was recognized by the fourth Dzogchen Rinpoche, Mingyur Namkhé Dorje, and others, as the incarnation of the previous Dodrupchen Jikmé Puntsok Jungné and was enthroned at Dodrupchen Monastery, where he remained for the rest of his life. He received many teachings from Patrul Rinpoche, and also Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, Mingyur Namkhé Dorje, Dzogchen Khenpo Pema Vajra, Mipham Rinpoche and Jamgön Kongtrul, and he became extremely learned in both New and Old Tantras. He built up the Dodrupchen Monastery, to the extent that it became a renowned centre for study and practice.

He gave teachings for many years, after which because of ill-health he lived in seclusion at a hermitage called Gephel Ritrö. Among his students was the great Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, who came twice for several months to receive teachings from him. He is known for the scholarly treatises he wrote on many subjects, for example his famous "Outline Commentary on the Guhyagarbha Tantra". The Thirteenth Dalai Lama said of him "a writer of his quality is very rare in this age", and HH the fourteenth Dalai Lama, who often quotes him and praises him as having written amongst the greatest scholarly works on the Nyingma teaching, calls him "a very special being... an amazing Lama free from bias concerning the views of Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Geluk".

Writings

• Bringing happiness and unhappiness onto the path (T. skyid sdug lam khyer). A treatise on mind-training (lojong).
• Key to the Precious Treasury. A commentary on the Guhyagarbha Tantra.
• The Lamp of Clarity: Notes on the Difficult Points of the Yeshe Lama Instruction Manual (khrid yig ye shes bla ma'i dka' gnas zin bris gsal ba'i sgron me ཁྲིད་ཡིག་ཡེ་ཤེས་བླ་མའི་དཀའ་གནས་ཟིན་བྲིས་གསལ་བའི་སྒྲོན་མེ།)
• From the Dzogchen Section (Tib. རྫོགས་ཆེན་སྐོར་, Wyl. rdzogs chen skor), an essay on the Ground and the appearances of the Ground. Partially translated in Dzogchen, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Sources

• Dahl, Cortland (2009), Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary Practices, Shambhala 
• Ringu Tulku (2018), Meeting Challenges: Unshaken by Life’s Ups and Downs (Heart Wisdom Series Book 10). Bodhicharya Publications.

Further reading

• Nyoshul Khenpo, A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems: Biographies of Masters of Awareness in the Dzogchen Lineage, Padma Publications, 2005
• Tulku Thondup, Masters of Meditation and Miracles (Boston: Shambhala, 1996)
• Gyatso, Janet. “Letter Magic: A Peircean Perspective on the Semiotics of Rdo Grub-chen’s Dhāraņī Memory” in In the Mirror of Memory: Reflections on Mindfulness and Remembrance in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, ed. by Janet Gyatso (Albany: SUNY, 1992), 173-213
• Klein, Anne Carolyn. "Assorted Topics of the Great Completeness by Dodrupchen III" in David Gordon White (ed.) Tantra in Practice, Princeton University Press, 2000

External links

• Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima, Treasury of Lives

• Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima, Tsadra Commons
• Dodrupchen Jikme Tenpe Nyima, Rigpa Shedra Wiki
• Dodrupchen Jikme Tenpe Nyima's Collected Works, Rigpa Shedra Wiki
• Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima Series, Lotsawa House
• TBRC profile