7 min
Documentary · Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
Heading West
Seven minutes from his own organisation on how he came out of Tibet and ended up teaching in the West.
Overview
What does nyingma point to?
Nyingma means "the ancient ones", and it is the oldest of the Tibetan schools, tracing itself to the first transmission of Buddhism to Tibet in the eighth century and to Padmasambhava.
Its best-known teaching is Dzogchen, the great perfection, which starts from an unusual place: that the mind's awake nature is already complete and does not have to be built. Practice is then less construction than recognition, which sounds easy and is not.
Nyingma is also the home of the terma tradition — teachings said to have been concealed to be found in a later age, by a treasure revealer who is ready for them. And unlike the other schools it has always carried a strong non-monastic line: the ngakpa, married yogic practitioners with long hair and full training, standing alongside the monasteries rather than beneath them.
What you are looking for is what is looking.A central teaching within Nyingma
Teachers
Teachers across every lineage of Nyingma.
Nyingma holds many schools and lineages beneath it. Its teachers are gathered below.
AT
Nyingma
Anam Thubten
Nyingma-trained teacher and founder of the Dharmata Foundation, offering Dzogchen-inspired meditation to Western audiences outside a monastic structure.
SchoolNyingma
In memoriam
Nyingma
Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
Tibetan lama of the Nyingma school (1930–2002), born Padma Gargyi Wangchuk in the Tromtar region of Kham and recognised at the age of three as the sixteenth Chagdud tulku. His mother, Dawa Drolma, was held to be an emanation of Tara. He entered a three-year retreat at eleven, left Tibet after the Chinese occupation, and from 1979 built the Chagdud Gonpa Foundation in the West. In 1994 he moved to Brazil and founded Khadro Ling in Rio Grande do Sul, where he died in 2002. He was a sculptor, a painter and a physician as well as a teacher, and wrote the autobiography Lord of the Dance.
SchoolNyingma
In memoriam
Nyingma
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu
Tibetan Dzogchen master and scholar who brought the Dzogchen teachings to the West, founding the International Dzogchen Community and the Shang Shung Institute.
SchoolNyingma
TeachingsDzogchen
In memoriam
Nyingma
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Nyingma master and one of the most influential Tibetan Buddhist teachers of the 20th century (1910-1991), who preserved and transmitted Tibetan teachings after fleeing China's invasion of Tibet.
SchoolNyingma
Nyingma
Dr. Nida Chenagtsang
Tibetan physician and teacher of Sowa Rigpa (traditional Tibetan medicine) and the Yuthok Nyingthig within the Nyingma tradition, leading Sorig Khang International's network of centres worldwide.
SchoolNyingma
DK
Nyingma
Dza Kilung Rinpoche
Tulku of the Kilung Monastery lineage in Tibet, founder of the Kilung Foundation, teaching Tibetan Buddhist meditation adapted for modern, secular audiences.
SchoolNyingma
Teachings
Not everything belongs in one tree.
Teachings can cross school boundaries. They are shown here as editorial context, not forced into the taxonomy, until browsing by teaching becomes useful in its own right.
Teaching path
Dzogchen
Direct recognition of the nature of awareness, especially prominent in Nyingma and also present in Bön.
Shown as teaching context, not a separate taxonomy branch.
Talks & videos
Watch across nyingma.
Documentaries, interviews and talks connected to this path and its sub-paths.
12 min
Interview · Khenpo Sodargye
Why Should I Care About My Enemies?
A Harvard student asks the obvious objection to compassion, and gets a straight answer.
25 min
Talk · Khenpo Sodargye
Emptiness and the Nature of Mind
Twenty-five minutes at Temple University, pitched at people who have never meditated.
56 min
Talk · Khenpo Sodargye
The True Meaning of Taking Refuge
What refuge means once it stops being a ceremony you went through.
Listen
Recordings from across nyingma.
Talks, guided meditations and podcast conversations from the teachers within this lineage.
Lama LenaNyingma
S Spotify
Live from New Orleans — Vajrasattva
A teaching on Vajrasattva, recorded live in New Orleans, from Lama Lena's own podcast.
From the podcast Lama Lena Teachings
Lama LenaNyingma
S Spotify
The Six Paramitas from a Dzogchen Perspective, Part 2
The second half of a teaching on the six paramitas seen from within Dzogchen.
From the podcast Lama Lena Teachings
Tsoknyi RinpocheNyingma
S Spotify
(#196) Tsoknyi Rinpoche: Insights from My Father and Teacher, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Tsoknyi Rinpoche as a guest on The Wisdom Podcast.
From the podcast The Wisdom Podcast
Lama Surya DasNyingma
↗ beherenownetwork.com
Awakening Now with Lama Surya Das – Ep. 95 – Mahamudra and Dzogchen
Lama Surya Das compares the Mahamudra and Dzogchen approaches to recognising the nature of mind in this episode of his own podcast.
From the podcast Awakening Now with Lama Surya Das
Upcoming events
Events across nyingma.
Events tagged to an unpublished school or lineage automatically remain discoverable here while that level stays unpublished.
06NOV
Rest and Restore: A Fall Meditation Retreat
Hot Springs, Montana, United States · Weekend retreat
See event pageWeekend retreat
06NOV
5-Day Dzogchen Retreat
Petaluma, California, United States · Retreat
See event pageRetreat
08NOV
Demons in Love: How to Transform Relationship Challenges into Wisdom
Online · Online course
See event pageOnline course
13NOV
Public Talk in Bozeman
Bozeman, Montana, United States · Public talk
See event pagePublic talk