Tertön Sogyal

Tertön Sogyal Lerab Lingpa (1856-1926) was a Tibetan Buddhist tertön and a teacher of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama.

Biography

Tertön Sogyal was born in the year of the Fire Dragon of the fourteenth calendrical cycle (1856) in Upper Nyarong in Kham. His father was Dargye from the Shyipa family and his mother was Orgyen Drolma. He quickly learned to read and write, and sought teachings from Nyala Pema Duddul and from Patrul Rinpoche and Khenpo Pema Vajra at Dzogchen Monastery. These masters recognized the child as an incarnation and requested that he be sent to a monastery, but his father would not allow his only son to leave home and insisted that he take up worldly pursuits and hunting instead. After the boy had had several visions and fallen ill, his father finally relented. [http://www.lotsawahouse.org/tertonsogyalbio.html]

He went to a remote hermitage where he discovered his first terma, a mind treasure of the lion-faced dakini Simhamukha. From the age of 13 to 18, he stayed in retreat. After the retreat, he travelled to Kathok with Lama Sonam Thayé and others and received empowerments from Tenpé Gyaltsen and other transmissions from Kathok Getsé Tulku. He met Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo who declared him to be an authentic tertön and gave him empowerments. He then received further instructions from Patrul Rinpoche’s disciple, Nyoshul Lungtok Tenpé Nyima and from Mipham Rinpoche.

In 1888, he went to Lhasa and met the Thirteenth Dalai Lama for the first time. [http://www.lotsawahouse.org/tertonsogyalbio.html] . He returned to Lhasa several times in the following years, in 1891, 1896 and 1898-9 and 1901, each time offering instructions and sacred terma objects to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama.

In the later years of his life, he stayed near Dodrupchen Monastery, often exchanging teachings with Dodrupchen Jikmé Tenpé Nyima.

He died on the tenth day of the first lunar month of the year of the Fire Tiger (1926).

Disciples

His disciples included the Thirteenth Dalai Lama Thubten Gyatso, Jamgön Kongtrul, the Fifth Dzogchen Rinpoche, Dzogchen Khenpo Pema Vajra, Mipham Rinpoche, Nyoshul Lungtok, Dzahka Choktrul Rinpoche, Tertön Drimé, Kathok Situ, Minyak Khenpo Kunzang Sonam, Dodrupchen Jikmé Tenpé Nyima, Demo Rinpoche, Dorje Drak Rigdzin Nyamnyi Dorje (1886-1932/5), Minling Trichen Rinpoche, Sakya Trichen, the Fifteenth Karmapa Khakhyab Dorje, Amdo Geshe Jampal Rolwe Lodrö and Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö. [http://www.lotsawahouse.org/tertonsogyalbio.html]

His disciples also included Tulku Tsultrim Zangpo (aka Tsüllo) of Shukjung Monastery, who composed a biography of Tertön Sogyal which is more than 700 pages long. His lineage also passed on to his sons, such as Rigdzin Namgyal and Chöpel Gyatso, and to his grandson, Tromgé Tulku Dechen Dorjé, who currently lives at the Tromgé encampment in eastern Tibet.

Reincarnations

There were three main incarnations of Tertön Sogyal: Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, Sogyal Rinpoche and Gendün Rinchen (1926-1997) [http://lotsawaworld.blogspot.com/search?q=Rinchen] , the late Je Khenpo of Bhutan.

References

*Tulku Thondup (1999), Masters of Meditation and Miracles, Shambhala Publications. ISBN-10: 1570625093

External links

* [http://www.lotsawahouse.org/terton_sogyal.html Tertön Sogyal series on Lotsawa House]