Top: Looking north from Surmang Dutsi Til. Photo by Surmang Khenpo

Left: 12th Trungpa Tulku, Chokyi Senge. Photo by Marvin Ross.

The Twelfth Trungpa and the Trungpa Lineage

For some six hundred years, the lineage of Trungpa Rinpoches has served as the abbots of Surmang Dutsi Til monastery in Kham (eastern Tibet).

The twelfth in this lineage, Chokyi Senge, was born in 1989 in the Derge region.  He was recognized as a child as the next Trungpa by Tai Situ Rinpoche at Palpung monastery, the seat of the Tai Situ lineage.

During his youth, he studied at Palpung;  also a personal tutor assisted in Trungpa XII Rinpoche’s education at Surmang Dutsi Til.  He subsequently also attended the shedra (school) at Surmang Namgyaltse.  Since 2008, Trungpa XII Rinpoche has been studying at Serta monastery in Golok, which became the largest monastery in the world under the leadership of Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche. 

Trungpa XII Rinpoche's shrine at his home in Serta. 

The large photo is of Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche. photo by Jon Ransohoff

Trungpa XII Rinpoche has periodically returned to Dutsi Til during his time at Serta, for example, to lead the annual Chakrasamvara meditational dance.

He will take his seat as the abbot of Dutsi Til once the new shedra is fully in operation.

Trungpa 12 Rinpoche at his laptop in his room at Serta.  photo by Jon Ransohoff

Chogyam Trungpa XI Rinpoche (1939-1987) served as the abbot of Surmang Dutsi Til until he had to flee Tibet for India in 1959.  He subsequently moved to England and then, in 1970, to North America.  He was instrumental in bringing the vajrayana and Shambhala teachings to the West.  He taught thousands of students, either directly or through his many books.  More information about him can be found here

The Vidyadhara, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

The Surmang group of monasteries was started in the fourteenth century by Trungmase, a student of the fifth Karmapa.  The first Trungpa, Kunga Gyaltsen, was a principal student of Trungmase.  Kunga Gyaltsen was an incarnation of the Indian teacher Dombhipa, who had foretold the location of Surmang Dutsi Til monastery.

Surmang is closely connected with the teachings of such remarkable Kagyu teachers such as Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa, and the Karmapas.  Many of the Trungpas carried forth this tradition by themselves becoming renowned teachers.  For example, Kunga Namgyal, Trungpa IV, was considered the most important Kagyu teacher of his time and wrote extensive commentaries on mahamudra.  The eighth Trungpa was one of the major thangka painters of the Gadri school of artists.  The tenth Trungpa was an important link in the ongoing Rime movement.  The eleventh Trungpa, Chökyi Gyatso, was already an accomplished teacher in his teens.  Forced into exile at age 19 in 1959, he went on to become a seminal figure in the spread of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, the founder of Shambhala International and author of numerous dharma books.  He was empowered as a Vidyadhara by the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa.

His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa

Other teachers who traditionally reside at the Surmang monasteries and are thus closely connected with the Trungpas include the Garwang, Tenga, Rölpe Dorje, and Chetsang (Aten) lineages.  The first Garwang Rinpoche was a foremost student of Trungmase and became abbot of Surmang Namgyaltse monastery, a tradition that continues to the present day.  The current Garwang Rinpoche, who resides in Sikkim and has started dharma centers in SE Asia, met the Shambhala sangha at the consecration of the Great Stupa at Shambhala Mountain Center.  Other examples of well-known teachers from these lineages were the third and fifth Chetsang Rinpoches, who were renowned artists, and the sixth Chetsang Rinpoche, who was said to have been the most prominent teacher in Kham (eastern Tibet) in his time.  The first Rölpe Dorje was the teacher of the Tai Situ Rinpoche of that time.

Tenga Tulku, Surmang Garwang Rinpoche, and the 12th Trungpa Rinpoche 2008  Photo by Surmang Khenpo

In addition to the current incarnations of these teachers, other important figures in the young twelfth Trungpa’s life include Karma Senge Rinpoche (who is a nephew of the eleventh Trungpa), Khenpo Tsering Gyurme, and the monks of Dutsi Til, notably Kenla and Dorje.

Khenla, photo by Gary Allen

Surmang Dutsi Til is noted for its close association with the meditational deities Chakrasamvara and Vajrayogini, who are embodied in the Dutsi Til landscape.  Surmang is the principal center for the Chakrasamvara dance, which is once again performed at Dutsi Til each year.  Surmang is also closely associated with the teachings of the six yogas of Naropa.   Another practice attribute of Surmang is the presence of hidden teachings (terma).  The eleventh Trungpa was a major terma discoverer (terton).  An important site where he recovered terma was near Kyere monastery, another monastery of the Surmang group whose abbot, Damchö Tenphel Rinpoche, is the Vidyadhara’s younger brother.

Surmang was a major participant in the Rime (nonsectarian) movement, which was started in the nineteenth century by Khyentse, Jamgon Kongtrul, Mipham, and Paltrul Rinpoches, among others.  The Jamgon Kongtrul and Trungpa tulkus have since intertwined as teacher and student for several generations.  The current Mipham Rinpoche is Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the son of the Chogyam Trungpa and now leader of Shambhala International.  Another of Chögyam Trungpa’s sons, Gesar, is the current Jamgon Kongtrul of Sechen.

The multiple ties between Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, his family, and by extension, his students, to the Shambhala and Gesar lineages include his familial membership in the Mukpo clan, the clan of Gesar, the famous warrior king of Tibet.

Although it has its own particular sets of teachings and teachers, Surmang has had historically close ties to numerous other monasteries of the Nyingma and Sakya, as well as Kagyu schools, and their teachers and practice traditions.  These include Palpung, Karma, Benchen, Thrangu, and Khampagar monasteries, along with many others.  Particularly notable for the eleventh Trungpa was Sechen, whose lineage holders Jamgon Kongtrul, Khyentse, Rabjam, and Gangshar Rinpoches were major dharma figures in his life.

This complex interweaving of dharma heritages is the inheritance of the twelfth Trungpa.