The Drukpa lineage was founded in the Tsang region of Tibet by Tsangpa Gyare (1161 – 1211),a student of Ling Repa, who masteredthe Vajrayana practices of the Mahamudra and Six Yogas of Naropa at an early age. As a tertön or “finder of spiritual relics”, he discovered the text of the Six Equal Tastes, previously hidden by Rechung Dorje Drakpa, the student of 11th century most renowned and realised yogi of Tibet Milarepa. While on a pilgrimage, Tsangpa Gyare and his disciples witnessed a set of nine dragons (Tibetan: druk) roaring out of the earth and into the skies, as flowers rained down everywhere. From this incident they named their sect Drukpa. His Holiness The 12th Gyalwang Drukpa is the supreme holder of this lineage and head of Drukpa sect. His Holiness The 12th Gyalwang Drukpa Rinpoche was born in Rewalsar, India, a sacred place of Guru Padmasambhava. His Holiness is an active environmentalist, educator and the spiritual head of the Drukpa Lineage, one of the main Buddhist schools of the Himalayas founded by the great Indian saint Naropa (1016–1100CE) with more than a thousand-year legacy in India. One of His Holiness the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa’s main focuses is on environmental preservation and education, which vividly demonstrates the core Buddhist principle that all beings are interconnected and interdependent.
His Eminence Khamtak Rinpoche Jigme Tenzin Wangpo was born in Thiksey in the Goba family and was recoginised by H.H The Dalai Lama and H.H The 12th Gyalwang Drukpa Rinpoche. Khamtak Rinpoche completed his studies in Druk Sang-Ngag Choling Monstery in Darjeeling and pursued further studies in Bhutan. In 2015, he returned to Ladakh after graduating in Buddhist Rituals and Philosophy from Dodeydrak Buddhist Institute and Tango Monastic College in Bhutan. Currently, he is the chairperson of the Druk Tul-Juks Dho Ngag-Ling Project at Ladakh and the abbot of Chumathang monastery under the guidance of
H.H The 12th Gyalwang Drukpa.
In particular, the aims and objective of the Society is:
Padmasambhava, the lotus born Guru Padmasambhava, helped establish Buddhism in Tibet in the early 8th century by exercising his Tantric powers to subdue demons. Believed to be an emanation of Buddha Amitabha, he is believed to have emerged from a lotus blossom. After his time on earth, he retreated to the Copper Mountain Paradise, home to the cannibal trolls, where he reigns as the second Buddha who turned the Vajrayana Wheel of Buddhism.
