Mindrolling Trichen

Trichen Jurme Kunzang Wangyal
Religion	Tibetan Buddhism
School	Nyingma
Personal
Born	1930 Lumo-ra, Kham, Tibet
Died	February 9, 2008 Dehra Dun, India
Senior posting
Title	11th Mindrolling Trichen His Holiness

The eleventh Mindrolling Trichen (pronunciation: Mìn-drolling), Trichen Jurme Kunzang Wangyal Standard Tibetan: འགྱུར་མེད་ཀུན་བཟང་དབང་རྒྱལ་ (1930, Lumo-ra, Kham, Tibet – February February 9, 2008,Dehra Dun, India) was a lama of the Nyingma-school, the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism and had been responsible for the administrative affairs for the school in exile as the ceremonial head of the lineage. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest Tibetan masters.

Trichen Jurme Kunzang Wangyal was born in Lumo-ra in Kham (East-Tibet) and his father was the tenth Mindrolling Trichen. After his father died the family went to Central Tibet and he started his education in the monastery. When he was 18 he went into retreat, lonesome meditation in a cave, and spend a total of fourteen years in retreat during his education. He continued his education with Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö. During this period, he fell in love and married. Within Buddhism celibacy is only a requirement for ordained monks and nuns. Some lamas of the Nyingma lineage are not monks and are married, many of them women. He excelled in his studies and discovered the terma (hidden treasure) of the Compassionate One, "Jigten Wangchuk Pema Garwang." As a Tertön, he was therefore instructed to pass the teachings on eleven times to fortunate and worthy students.

In 1959 he escaped from Tibet and arrived in India where he was installed as the Eleventh Mindrolling Trichen in 1962. In the years that followed he worked with many other lamas like Dudjom Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and the 16th Karmapa, who previously received his education from his father. In 1976 he and his family moved to Dehra Dun in order to oversee the building of the Mindrolling monastery.

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