We met Dungsey Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche (b. 1970) during our visit to Bhutan during the Global Peace Prayer Festival last November. He was born from the union of his Tibetan father of an illustrious and august Ripa heritage and a Bhutanese noblewoman, Chimed Dolkar. His Eminence Namkha Drimed Rabjam Rinpoche, who we also interviewed, is a revered terma (treasure) revealer tertön who settled in India in 1958. As his son, Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche exudes a striking yet serene aura, projecting wisdom, as well as forthright compassion. He is equally welcome in both India and Bhutan, an observation that was driven home by his presence at an evening reception several days after our interview at the Indian embassy in Bhutan.
The Ripa tradition is a hereditary Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. The lineage was founded on Ripa Pema Deje Rolpa’s 13th Tibetan Rabjung Cycle from the 17th century. In the 19th century, the fifth Ripa lineage holder, Jigme Tsewang Chokdup, ushered in a new era of flourishing for lay adepts after marrying the yogini Sangyum Palden Tsomo, granddaughter of one of Tibet’s great saints, Drubwang Shakya Shri.
The lineage, currently led by Namkha Drimed Rabjam Rinpoche, emphasizes a householder yogic tradition based on Taksham Samten Lingpa’s vast Terma cycle of revealed teachings, which include the most detailed account of the life of Padmasambhava’s consort, Yeshe Tsogyal. According to the Ripa Ladrang Foundation website, the Taksham teachings themselves come from a time prior to Pema Deje Rolpa and are a Nyingma Cycle of teachings originating from Yeshe Tsogyal and her primary consort Arya Sale. (Ripa Ladrang Foundation)
His Eminence is also the revealer of the complete cycle of teachings on the life of Gesar of Ling, the enlightened warrior-king of Tibet. His lineage is now active worldwide through the Ripa Ladrang Foundation and its three monasteries in Nepal and Tibet—both of which are named Rigon Tashi Choeling—and Rigon Thupten Mindrolling in India, the main seat of the lineage.
When we asked him about the Global Peace Prayer Festival, Rinpoche declared: “It was beyond my words to even describe. I’ve attended several of these kinds of gatherings, at the invitation of many organizations. This big event was in theory not so different from others, but for me, the fact that it was in Bhutan made a complete difference. I’ve always deeply admired Bhutan. Bhutan talks about what I would call an ecosystem of mindful living. In the West and other countries, we have specific centers and locations of mindfulness practice. But Bhutan has a national ecosystem built in a way that is focused on mindful living,” he observed.
“We in Bhutan have the privilege of having one of the only few explicitly Buddhist kings in the world. Our democratically elected government constitutionally serves the Buddhist king and the Buddhist Dharma. We have unique national ideas and discourses like Gross National Happiness (GNH) while also being at the forefront of global concerns like reaching carbon zero. This confluence of factors makes the country special. Bhutan was truly the right host to promote world peace.”
Rinpoche is deeply interested in the social work aspect of the Ripa lineage. “I was born in India and hold Indian nationality, though I was born as a half-Bhutanese, half-Tibetan. I have always felt that serving humanity is a core part of our practice. Luckily, I had the opportunity to attend schools in my community as a child. Traditionally, the lamas are brought up in a monastic tradition. But I had this chance to go to local schools and looking back, those were my happiest years. And I really felt that it helped me a lot to understand human-to-human connection and social bonds.”
As Rinpoche grew up, he began assuming more responsibility. He credits this process as turning him into a socially conscious person. “For me, what’s important is how you connect to people, how you serve the people in their most difficult periods.” But he characterizes this as a functional, practical compassion, which doesn’t require overthinking on ethics or philosophy. “You don’t need academic training or so much philosophical deliberation. You don’t have to talk about philosophy where there’s a difficulty right in front of you. You act on it, whatever you can. If someone is really completely thirsty, you give a glass of water. You don’t teach. And for me, that is important,” he said.
“For example, in India, as I was growing up, we had also great difficulties as a community. We didn’t have much to eat in school back then. But we managed to secure a donation from an international team of researchers from the 1970s–80s. They were coming from Japan and Germany to research one of our manuscript treasures. With this donation, we built our first water facility for our monastery. Like traditional monasteries, ours is among a village and so we were in regular touch with the villagers. In one house lived a grandmother who is no longer with us now. She saw me and she was asking, ‘What is going on here?’ And I said, ‘That’s the water pipe. We are building one for our monastery.’ And she replied, ‘How nice it would be if I get the water pipe too.’ That really moved me and touched me deeply,” he recalled.
“I said to her, realizing her deep wish, ‘Yes, of course. It’s not fair for just the monastery to have water. We are a community.’ So, we pumped the water from the monastery to other sources and ensured that everybody had pipe running through their area. That’s the first time I became interested in water access as a critical need for wellbeing and health. From then on, I made a promise,” Rinpoche continued. “That I would serve the community first. That’s how I became socially engaged. My entire person was born out of that, not out of my philosophical training.”
Rinpoche believes that compassion must always be there when a situation or issue arises. If we are not able to act on the situation, even going on intense retreat in a remote area will not help our spiritual development, he notes. This is what Rinpoche believes is the best of his tradition: a life devoted to, and known for, social engagement. He launched the Pure Water Project, which is an ambitious program aiming to provide sustainable access to drinking water in rural communities in Odisha and other locations in India and Nepal. He also has launched initiatives to provide educational programs and housing for deprived communities.
When he looks back on his life and work, he remembers fondly his grandmother, a formative figure in his life. “I was very young back then. But I’ve never forgotten how she would receive many guests in her room, since she was revered as a saintly figure. But almost immediately after receiving gifts from visitors, she would give them away. When my auntie asked her why, she said that she always gave with joy, and for that reason she was never poor.”
Rinpoche’s smile is a knowing one. “And she was right. As soon as she gave her presents away, another person would come with even more. And that really touched me deeply. So, my inspiration, again, is from a living situation. Giving with joy. . . Now I see my grandmother’s wisdom. Having grown up and travelled the world, I now know that you become poorer by not giving. But if you keep giving, you’ll stay rich in the most important way.”
See more
Brief History of Ripa Lineage (Ripa Ladrang Foundation)
Pure Water Project (Ripa Ladrang Foundation)
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