Sakyong Mipham

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

Sakyong Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche, Jampal Trinley Dradul (born Osel Rangdrol Mukpo in 1962) is the head of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage and Shambhala International, a worldwide network of urban Buddhist meditation centers, retreat centers, monasteries, a university, and other enterprises, founded by his father, the Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (XI Trungpa Tulku). Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is a high lama in the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He is believed to be the second incarnation of Mipham the Great, who is revered in Tibet as an emanation of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom. Rinpoche is an honorific (meaning "precious one" in Tibetan) commonly afforded to tulkus.

Biography

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche was born Ösel Rangdröl Mukpo in 1962 in Bodhgaya, India. He spent his early years with his mother, Lady Kunchok Palden, in a Tibetan refugee village in northwest India, where he began his study of Buddhism. At the age of seven, he went to live with his father in the United Kingdom. His father moved to the United States in 1970, and Osel Mukpo rejoined him there two years later, where his education continued. He also began to receive training in various contemplative arts such as kyūdō (Japanese archery), calligraphy, and horsemanship.

The Sakyong also received many teachings from many of the great contemporary teachers of Tibetan Buddhism, in particular Penor Rinpoche, supreme head of the Nyingma lineage. The Nyingma teacher, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, was like a grandfather to the Sakyong. After the death of his father in 1987, the Sakyong moved to Nepal and studied with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche until Khyentse's death in 1991.

In 1995, with many dignitaries in attendance and much celebration, Ösel Rangdröl was formally enthroned as Sakyong and confirmed as the rebirth of Mipham the Great. Penor Rinpoche performed the ceremony.

Dharma activity

In 2001 Sakyong Mipham visited Tibet for the first time. Here he was greeted by thousands of people, not only as the Sakyong and the rebirth of Mipham, but also as living proof of the vitality of Buddhism, returning to the place that his father had left in 1959. Huge audiences gathered to hear his teachings and receive his blessings. Choseng Trungpa, the Twelfth Trungpa Tulku, along with the other tulkus and leaders of Surmang, asked him to assume stewardship of the Surmang monasteries and their people. While in Tibet he was also asked to assume responsibility for Weyen monastery, the Gesar orphanage, and the Mipham Institute in Golok, and Khamput Monastery in Kham; his support for all of these is now directed through the Kunchok Foundation.

In 2004 he returned to India to meet for the first time with Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, and also journeyed back to Tibet to visit the monasteries under his care.

The Sakyong continually maintains his personal meditation, study, and writing. He travels extensively, teaching throughout the world. He is a poet and an artist. He enjoys golf, running, horseback riding, and yoga.