Grant your blessings that my mind may turn towards the dharma.
Grant your blessings that dharma may become the path.
Grant your blessings that the path may dispel delusion.
Grant your blessings that confusion may reveal as wisdom.
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche (1920-1996), holder of the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages and considered one of the most eminent Dzogchen teachers of the twentieth century, taught these Four Dharmas of Gampopa at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling in December 1980. He was accompanied by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, one of his four sons and a schoolmate of Lama Jigme Rinpoche. In fact, they had studied The Entry to the State of a Pandita together!
Born in Nangchen, in the eastern Tibetan province of Kham, Tulku Urgyen was recognized by the 15th Karmapa Khakyab Dorje as both the reincarnation of Chowang Tulku, one of the five Terton Kings, the main revealers of secret texts hidden by Guru Rinpoche, and an emanation of Nubchen Sangyé Yeshe, one of Padmasabhava’s twenty-five main students. From his earliest age, he remembered his wish to live in caves and practice meditation, and his deep trust in Milarepa and Longchenpa. Attending the teachings given by his father Tsangar Chime Dorje, he received the transmissions of the Kangyur (the collection of the Buddha’s words), and Chokgyur Lingpa’s New Treasures, a text that he transmitted many times in his life. He later studied Dzogchen with his uncle, Tulku Samten Gyatso, the grandson of Chokgyur Lingpa, who became his main teacher. He went on to study with great lamas of both the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions. After fleeing Tibet, Tulku Urgyen settled in Nepal at Nagi Gompa, an hermitage above the Kathmandu Valley, where he completed two decades of retreat. He established six monasteries, including Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling in Kathmandu, consecrated by the 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje in 1974, as well as several three-year retreat centers. He transmitted the Dzogchen Desum teachings to the 16th Karmapa, as well as to Dudjom Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and to numerous disciples.[1]
At the request of the 16th Karmapa, who instructed him to “make the sun of wisdom rise in western skies,” Tulku Urgyen travelled for the first time to Europe and North America in 1980 to give teachings on Dzogchen and Mahamudra. His visit to Dordogne was part of this first tour. From the following year onwards, Urgyen Rinpoche organized annual seminars for his students at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling in Kathmandu, a tradition maintained by his son Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. He recounts his life journey in his spiritual memoir, Blazing Splendour, a living testimony to Tibetan Buddhism, passed down through several generations of realized masters, and the embodiment of the wisdom and compassion of the buddhas.
Urgyen Rinpoche is recognized both for his profound realization of meditation and for his concise, spontaneous way of teaching Buddhist philosophy and practice—not without a touch of humor, placing them in the context of his students’ personal experiences in order to introduce them to the true nature of their minds. “All we need to do is totally let be and recognize our nature right now,“ he writes in his memoirs.[2]
Thus, Dhagpo Kagyu Ling’s newsletter reports that Urgen Rinpoche taught The Four Dharmas of Gampopa by encouraging dialogue, “In this way, he allows students to discover by themselves and within themselves the nature of their minds.” These four dharmas—succinct and easy to memorize—include a vast and profound body of teachings and describe the path to enlightenment.
In addition, the Dorje Purba ritual was celebrated for a week. Also known for his artistic talents, particularly as a sculptor, Urgyen Rinpoche created a mask of the protector Mahakala during his stay at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling, which was displayed in the historic temple. The mask is now kept at Dhagpo Kundreul Ling.
Mask of the protector Mahakala, created by Urgyen Rinpoche
The visit of this great master in the early years of Dhagpo Kagyu Ling contributed to anchoring the precious Dharma in the West in a spirit of openness and depth, thereby sowing seeds of blessing for present and future generations. During his public talk last November 9 that traced back all the conditions that enabled the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa’s activity to unfold and spread in the West, Lama Jigme Rinpoche notably cited the close relationships he kept with Dudjom Rinpoche and Dilgo Kyentse Rinpoche, eminent Nyingma masters who had also settled on the Côte de Jor.
[1]
https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Tulku-Urgyen/12839
https://francais.tergar.org/about/la-lignee-tergar/tulku-orgyen-rinpotche/
[2] Blazing Splendor. The Memoirs of the Dzogchen Yogi Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, as told to Erik Pema Kunsang and Marcia Binder Schmidt. Rangjung Yeshe Publications, Hong Kong, 2005.
These photos come from our archives or were collected as part of the research for Dhagpo Kagyu Ling’s 50th anniversary. We have not been able to identify all the authors. The use of these photos is solely for informational purposes within the context of Dhagpo Kagyu Ling’s 50th anniversary celebration. Their use is limited to this event and our website and is not for commercial purposes.
These photos come from our archives or were collected as part of the research for Dhagpo Kagyu Ling’s 50th anniversary. We have not been able to identify all the authors. The use of these photos is solely for informational purposes within the context of Dhagpo Kagyu Ling’s 50th anniversary celebration. Their use is limited to this event and our website and is not for commercial purposes.
