With Dza Tsampa Trülku (c.1845–c.1928), Khenpo Kunzang Palden is one of the two heart sons of Dza Paltrül (1808-1887) who also later became a close student of Düdjom Lingpa in Lama Rung, thereby forging a living bridge between the Longchen Nyingtik and the Düdjom Tersar lineages.

A Heart Son of Dza Paltrül in Dzachuka

Khenpo Künpal was born in 1862 into a nomadic family in Gégong, in the upper Dza Chu Valley (Dzachukha) in eastern Kham. Although his family possessed substantial herds of sheep and yaks, they did not support his aspiration to pursue a religious life. At the age of seven or eight, he left his family’s yak-hair tent and journeyed on foot through snow and harsh conditions to seek refuge with the great Dzogchen master Dza Paltrül Orgyen Jikmé Chökyi Wangpo (1808–1887) at his dharma encampment, Rigdzin Chimé Drubdra Shédrub Gatsal—‘The Garden of Study and Accomplishment of the Deathless Vidyadharas’—which later became Gégong Monastery.

When the boy arrived, blood seeping from cracks in his frostbitten feet, Dza Paltrul immediately recognized the depth of his devotion and accepted him as a student. Too poor to afford lamp oil, the young Künpal studied outdoors by moonlight. As the moon sank behind the hills, he climbed higher up the ridge to prolong its light, often reaching the summit by dawn. Fellow students teased him: others climbed the mountain by day to tend their herds, but Kunpal climbed by night to tend his books.

Dza Paltrül cared for Kunpal as a son and instructed him in the Buddhist sutras and tantras and related arts and sciences. He bestowed the empowerments and reading transmissions of Rigdzin Jikmé Lingpa’s Longchen Nyingtik cycle of revealed teachings and instructed him in the practices of the Guhyagarbha Tantra, including the kyérim (creation) and dzogrim (completion) stages which involves visualization and yogic techniques as well as the of Dzogchen teachings in which the mind is trained to recognize and abide in its luminous essence.

Khenpo Künpal developed expertise in these practices through Dza Paltrül’s close supervision and during extensive retreats at Gégong Monastery––situated on a treeless mountain slope above the Dza Chu Valley at 4,200 meters above sea level––and at the higher-still Changma Ritrö, ‘Willow Tree Mountain Hermitage’. In the early 1880s he attended Dza Paltrül’s six-month course on Shantideva’s famous Bodhisattvacaryavatara (‘Entry into the Conduct of a Bodhisattva’) at Dzogchen Monastery. He later took full ordination from Dza Paltrül and was eventually awarded the title khenpo, marking his mastery of doctrinal study.

He remained close to his teacher as an attendant. In his memoirs he recalled that Dza Paltrül would lift his head from his pillow in the morning with his string of 108 mala beads already in hand. ‘What mantra he recited’, Kunpal wrote, ‘I do not know’.

He also described his teacher’s mastery of Tsalung (‘Channels and Winds’) meditation. ‘I saw him hold the gentle vase breath (jamlung) while reciting the Jampal Tsenjö (‘Chanting the Names of Manjushri’) three times without taking a breath. At times he appeared to nod off, even to snore, and I would continue chanting alone. But if I lost my place, his voice would suddenly resume precisely where I had faltered. This occurred many times. It showed that he remained constantly in Clear Light awareness.’

When Dza Paltrül passed away in 1887, Khenpo Kunpal was twenty-five. He completed his formal studies under Önpo Tenga Orgyen Tenzin Norbu (1841–1900), one of Dza Paltrül’s chief heirs, and maintained close ties with Nyoshul Lungtok Tenpé Nyima (1829–1901) and Dza Tsampa Tulku Kunzang Déchen Dorjé (1845–1928).

At seventy-seven, Khenpo Kunpal completed a substantial biography of his teacher, Dza Paltrül: Dépé Sömen Dütsi Bum Chü (‘A Vase of Nectar to Inspire the Faithful’) in which he praised Dza Paltrül as inseparable from Shantideva (c. 685–763) and Rigdzin Jikmé Lingpa (1730–1798). He opened with words of fervent devotion: ‘Overcome by devotion, I can barely utter his name; yet if doing so raises high the banner of Orgyen Jigme Chökyi Wangpo [Dza Paltrul] above existence, then I must speak.’

Meeting Düdjom Lingpa and his Sons

Not long after Dza Paltrül’s death in 1887, Khenpo Kunpal left his homeland in Dzachuka and travelled to Lama Rung, the mountain hermitage that Düdjom Lingpa had established during the 1880s near his birthplace in the Ser Chu Valley. He may have journeyed together with Dza Tsampa Tulku Kunzang Déchen Dorjé, who was seventeen years older and likewise became a close disciple of Düdjom Lingpa after Dza Paltrul’s death. He was to remain for about fifteen years with Düdjom Lingpa.

His connection with Düdjom Lingpa’s family, however, predated this move. In 1873 he witnessed Dza Paltrül enthrone Düdjom Lingpa’s eldest son, Sönam Tendzin—later known as Dodrubchen Jikmé Tenpé Nyima (1865–1926)—as an eight-year-old reincarnation of the Second Dodrubchen Jikmé Püntsok Jungné (1824–1863). Khenpo Kunpal, then eleven, formed a lifelong bond with the young trülku; the two studied together for twelve years under Dza Paltrül’s guidance at Dzagyal Püntsok Norbu Ling, Dza Paltrül’s dharma encampment in Dzachuka.

Khenpo Kunpal had also met Düdjom Lingpa third son, Khyentsé Trülku Dzamling Wangyal (1868–1907) after he had been recognized as an incarnation of the unconventional yogin Do Khyentsé Yéshé Dorjé, who Dza Paltrül considered to be one of his principal teachers. In 1878, the then ten-year-old Khyentsé Trülku Dzamling Wangyal traveled with his father from Dodrubchen Tsangchen Monastery––where Khyentsé Tulku was first enthroned––to Dzagyal Püntsok Norbu Ling Monastery where Dza Paltrül received them after a long retreat. During a tantric feast offering (tsok), Dza Paltrul hinted that he himself would return as a future son of Düdjom Lingpa—a prophecy fulfilled a decade later with the birth of Paltrül Namkha Jikmé (1888–1960), who Khenpo Kunpal would later teach.

Residency at Lama Rung

Following Dza Paltrül’s death in 1887, when Khenpo Kunpal was twenty-five, he traveled to Düdjom Lingpa’s mountain hermitage at Lama Rung in the Ser Chu Valley. This move was a natural consequence of the bond he had already established with Düdjom Lingpa himself and with two of Düdjom Lingpa’s sons during his earlier residence at Dzagyal Püntsok Norbu Ling. He may have undertaken the journey together with Dza Tsampa Tulku Kunzang Déchen Dorjé, who likewise became a student of Düdjom Lingpa after Dza Paltrül’s passing.

Their approximately 180-kilometer journey east from Dzagyal Püntsok Norbu Ling in Dzachuka would have followed the wind-scoured terraces of the upper Dza Chu, fording its glacial tributaries before climbing over high, scree-covered passes into the broad grasslands that undulate toward the Ser Chu Valley. After days of traversing treeless plateau under vast skies and camping near nomadic encampments, they would have descended along narrowing streams into the wider pastures and scattered settlements of the Ser Chu Valley.

After his arrival at Lama Rung, situated above the left bank of the Ser Chu, Khenpo Kunpal requested Düdjom Lingpa to compose a Guru Yoga practice dedicated to Dza Paltrül, through which his students could invoke, visualize, and merge their minds with the enlightened wisdom of their teacher, recognizing him as the embodiment of all buddhas and the very nature of their own awareness. Khenpo Kunpal specifically asked that the practice be grounded in the Longchen Nyingtik lineage figures of Longchen Rabjam Drimé Özer (1308–1364), Rigdzin Jikmé Lingpa (1730–1798), and Jikmé Gyalwé Nyugu (1765–1843), the latter being Dza Tsampa’s previous incarnation.

Turning inward to the depths of his awareness, Düdjom Lingpa extracted three practices from the Chönyi Namkha Long Dzö (‘Treasury of the Vast Expanse of Dharmata’) terma cycle. Khenpo Kunpal and Kunzang Tenzin served as scribes for this Guru Yoga, which comprised three interconnected texts: a supplication prayer entitled Söldeb Jinlab Charbeb; a reparative confession practice entitled Kangwa Nyamchak Rangdrol (The Fulfillment ‘Self-Liberation of Impairments and Broken Commitments’); and the principal sadhana, Lamé Drubpa Ngödrub Gyatso (The Lama Practice ‘Ocean of Spiritual Attainments’). This sadhana invokes the Guru principle in accordance with the three kayas, or dimensions of realization: the unborn openness of the Dharmakaya, the unceasing clarity of the Sambhogakaya, and the non-dual unity of the Nirmaṇakaya.

In 1889, together with Düdjom Lingpa’s close disciples Ngawang Trinlé (c. 1840–c. 1910) and Rebkong Alak Gendün Gyatso (1870s–1940s), Khenpo Kunpal requested Düdjom Lingpa to elucidate a Manjushri practice entitled Jampal Sangwa Düpa (‘Compendium of Secrets’) from the Zabsang Khandro Nyingtik (‘Profound Secret, Heart Essence of the Dakinis’) terma cycle. Düdjom Lingpa had originally revealed this cycle some thirty years earlier at Shadrak Dorjé Dzong, a mountain sanctuary in a forested region of the Ser Chu valley. Only at this later time did the collective aspirations and auspicious conditions fully converge for the complete disclosure of this vision.

As recorded in the colophons, Khenpo Kunpal played a direct role in the revelation of five specific texts belonging to the Jampal Sangwa Düpa cycle. In the colophon to the Khajang Salwé Adarsha (‘Lucid Mirror Guide to the Compendium of Secrets’), Traktung Düdjom Lingpa states that the text was revealed ‘at the request of my noble close disciples Kunzang Chökyi Drakpa [Khenpo Kunzang Palden] and Ngawang Trinlé’. This work serves as an introductory gateway to the cycle, describing the visions experienced by Düdjom Lingpa at the time of the terma’s revelation and containing prophetic statements concerning his mission as a tertön and his future activity. The colophon to the empowerment section further records: ‘Finally, upon the earnest request of the lords of the teaching, Kunzang Palbar [Khenpo Künpal] and [Rebkong Alak] Gendün Gyatso, it was purely established at Lama Rung in the Ser Chu Valley. Virtue! Virtue! Virtue!’

Khenpo Kunpal also requested that Düdjom Lingpa transmit to his students a lesser-known terma cycle, the Rigdzin Nyingi Yangtik (‘The Vidyadhara’s Innermost Heart Essence’).

A decade later, in 1897, after Düdjom Lingpa had relocated to Dartsang Kalzang Monastery in the Do Chu river valley—a tributary system within the greater upper Yangtze watershed of eastern Kham and Golok—Khenpo Künpal again served as scribe. On this occasion, he recorded the practice texts Tukdrub Dükyi Pungjom Dorjé Trengwa Lé Sangdrub Dorjé Gyachen and Palchen Dorjé Zhönnü Kuljang Zhingchu Tsarchö, which Düdjom Lingpa had revealed and subsequently reconcealed at Shadrak Dorjé Dzong thirty-eight years earlier.

Together with his close Dharma companions Chödak Dongpön Lhündrup Dorjé, Chönjuk Lama (1816–c.1904), and Lingtrul Péma Lungtok Gyatso (1856–1920s), Khenpo Kunpal further requested Düdjom Lingpa to disclose additional teachings from the Zabsang Khandro Nyingtik. He subsequently served as scribe for an Aparajita (‘Invincible One’) practice entitled Terdak Yizhin Khorlo Aparé Sok Wang Nangsi Wangjé.

Participating in the Enthronement of Paltrul Namkha Jigmé

According to the prophecies of several eminent masters, including Dza Paltrül himself, Düdjom Lingpa’s seventh son, Paltrül Namkha Jikmé (1889–1960), was recognized as an incarnation of Dza Paltrül, Khenpo Künpal’s first teacher. Based on a prophecy that Dza Paltrül had given to Düdjom Lingpa a decade earlier, this recognition was formally confirmed by Dza Tsampa Tulku Kunzang Déchen Dorjé, who had become the presiding lama of Dzagyal Püntsok Norbu Ling Monastery after Dza Paltrül’s passing in 1887.

In his Namtar Salwé Melong Zhal Sungma (‘Clear Mirror of Liberation: An Oral Autobiographical Narrative’), Düdjom Lingpa recounts that in 1891 a dakini instructed him to enthrone his son as Dza Paltrül’s incarnation at Dza Paltrül’s former seat, Dzagyal Püntsok Norbu Ling. In 1895, Dza Tsampa—then head of the monastery and already convinced of the boy’s identity as the tulku of his former teacher—arranged for Düdjom Lingpa to bring his son to Dzagyal Püntsok Norbu Ling for the formal enthronement.

Dza Tsampa and his consort, Yéshé Wangmo, established a tent encampment near the monastery to receive Düdjom Lingpa and Paltrül Namkha Jikmé. When Düdjom Lingpa arrived in Dzachuka—dressed in black lambskin, riding a white mule, and accompanied by his consort Akyab Dza and two of his children—he was welcomed by an elaborate procession of one hundred mounted horsemen, along with monks playing musical instruments and bearing offerings of silk khatas, butter lamps, and incense.

Khenpo Kunpal, then thirty-three, was among those accompanying Düdjom Lingpa and his family on the 150-kilometer journey west from Dartsang Kalzang, in the Li Gorge of the Do Chu, to Dzagyal Püntsok Norbu Ling in Dzachuka. After the enthronement, Paltrul Namkha Jikmé remained at Dzagyal Püntsok Norbu Ling—the very monastery where Khenpo Künpal had studied as a child under Dza Paltrul. Khenpo Künpal returned with Düdjom Lingpa to Dartsang Kalzang Monastery, where he was later joined by two other former students of Dza Paltrül––Ling Lama Chökyi Jorpa (c.1850s–c.1920s) and Chönjuk Lama (1816–c.1904).

In 1912, at the age of fifty, following the passing of Düdjom Lingpa and after extensive travels throughout Kham, Khenpo Künpal resettled at Gegong Monastery near Dzagyal Püntsok Norbu Ling and became one of the principal tutors of Paltrul Namkha Jikmé, thus assuming responsibility for the education of his own teacher’s reincarnation.

A Scholar in the Heart of Kham

Khenpo Kunpal remained connected with Düdjom Lingpa at Lama Rung and Dartsang Kalzang until Düdjom Lingpa’s passing in December 1903. Thereafter, he traveled widely throughout Kham to receive transmissions, empowerments, and instructions from many of the region’s most illustrious teachers, continuing a pattern of study he had begun earlier in life during journeys undertaken with Dza Paltrül.

He deepened his earlier training in the Longchen Nyingtik at Rudam Orgyen Samten Chöling (i.e., Dzogchen Monastery) with Khenchen Péma Vajra (1807–1884), by seeking teachings from Thubten Chökyi Dorjé (1872–1935) – The Fifth Dzogchen Tulku and fifteenth presiding lama of Dzogchen Monastery’s renowned Shri Singha College.

Following his practice of the Zabsang Khandro Nyingtik, the terma cycle that Düdjom Lingpa had revealed at multiple sites in Golok during the 1860s, Khenpo Kunpal undertook extensive practice of Guru Rinpoché’s Khandro Nyingtik (‘Heart Essence of the Dakinis’), one of the ‘Four Sections of Nyingtik’ (Nyingtik Yabshi) and one of the main practices of Dzogchen Monastery.

At Dzongsar Monastery, he received further instruction in the Longchen Nyingtik under Jamyang Khyentsé Wangpo (1820–1892), the last of the Five Sovereign Tertöns, and one of the most eminent Buddhist masters of the nineteenth century. He received additional training from Shenpen Chökyi Nangwa (1871–1927), the presiding head of the Dzongsar Shedra, or monastic college of philosophy and scriptural study.

Khenpo Kunpal subsequently trained with the Third Mura Péma Déchen Zangpo, a direct disciple of Khenchen Péma Vajra and Dza Paltrül, renowned for his unobstructed clairvoyance and his ability, it was said, to mold stones with his bare hands. From him, he received profound instructions on Rigdzin Jikmé Lingpa’s Yéshé Lama (‘Unexcelled Wisdom’), a detailed guide to the Dzogchen Heart Essence practices of Kordé Rushen, Trechö, and Tögal, through which the the practitioner distiguishes samsara and nirvana and comes to abide in the mind’s unobstructed essence. He also studied at Adzom Gar, on the southern banks of the Dzing Chu in Tromtar, under the long-haired Dzogchen master and Longchen Nyingtik lineage holder Adzom Drukpa Drodül Pawo Dorjé (1842–1924).

A Heart Disciple of Ju Mipham Namgyal

During his many years of study in Kham––first under Dza Paltrül in the 1870s until 1887, and later at Dzogchen and Dzongsar Monasteries after Dudjom Lingpa’s passing, Khenpo Kunpal formed a close connection with the prolific Nyingma scholar Jü Mipham Namgyal (1846–1912).

In the seclusion of his private quarters at Katok Dorjé Den––founded in 1159 on the eastern slopes of a mountain range in the Kingdom of Dergé, with numerous branch monasteries in Golok––Jü Mipham confided to Khenpo Kunpal that in previous lives he had once been a great Persian emperor and later the Shambhala king Kalki Vijaya Namgyal, whose reign had been marked not by conquest but by spiritual clarity and compassionate strategy. He then transmitted to Khenpo Künpal highly esoteric cosmological doctrines of the Kalacakra (‘Wheel of Time’) Tantra, which Khenpo Künpal would later impart to dedicated practitioners at Gégong after his return in 1912.

Their relationship was exceptionally close. On one occasion, the great Bön Dzogchen master Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen (1859–1934), seeing them together, publicly remarked that it was as if father and son had been reunited. He based this declaration on his claim that Jü Mipham had once been the seventh-century Dzogchen yogi Garab Dorjé, while Khenpo Kunpal was an emanation of Manjushrimitra, Garab Dorjé’s closest disciple.

At Jü Mipham’s request, Khenpo Kunpal became head of Shédrub Norbu Lhünpo, a teaching institute at Katok Dorjé Den founded in 1906 by the twenty-six-year-old Third Katok Situ, Chökyi Gyatso (1880–1925). Assisted by the younger Khenpo Ngawang Palzang (1879–1941), he directed the institute from 1906 to 1909. He introduced an extensive curriculum known as the One Hundred Treatises of Katok, comprising more than one hundred commentaries on classical Indian and Tibetan works. During this period, he lived in close proximity to Katok Situ Chökyi Gyatso, regularly exchanging teachings with him and other prominent khenpos. Through these exchanges, the influence and activities of the Katok tradition spread widely.

In 1909, after three years as head of the Shédra, Khenpo Künpal traveled to Jü Mohor Sangngak Chöling (Junyung Monastery) in northern Dzachuka, where Jü Mipham had entered prolonged retreat in a small cabin—the ‘Namgyal Cave of Karmo’—perched on a rocky escarpment above the monastery. Khenpo Kunpal remained with him for the next three years as his private secretary.

On one occasion, while Jü Mipham was reciting the Tengyur (commentaries on the words of the Buddha), Khenpo Kunpal observed that in the time it took him to drink a single clay pot of tea, Ju Mipham had already recited an entire volume effortlessly and without confusion of either words or meaning.

During this period, Khenpo Kunpal became especially close to Lama Ösel, Jü Mipham’s lifelong attendant. On March 1, 1912, Jü Mipham concluded what had been a thirteen-year meditation retreat. He confided to Khenpo Kunpal and Lama Ösel that for seventeen years he had suffered from a heart condition that caused severe pain and disturbed the function of his inner energy channels (tsa), attributing it to karmic imprints yet to be fully released. Knowing he had only a few months to live, he opened his quarters to visitors and, with Khenpo Künpal’s assistance, composed final testaments for his disciples. He instructed Khenpo Künpal to return eventually to Gégong Monastery, where his own training had begun.

Before his passing, Jü Mipham gathered his chief disciples and imparted his highest insights into Dzogchen and Mahamudra, teaching that all phenomena are sealed with the inseparable unity of wisdom and emptiness. He declared that he would not be reborn in Tibet and that his disciples should not search for his tulku. Instead, he said, he had reason to journey to Shambhala, the spiritual kingdom evoked in the Kalacakra Tantra. In the aftermath of the Chinese Revolution of 1911, he also shared prophetic warnings concerning a coming period of darkness on the Tibetan Plateau:

‘In thirty years [1942], a mad storm of hatred will grow like a fierce black thundercloud in the land of China, and in a further decade [1852], this evil shall spill over into Tibet itself so that lamas, scholars, disciples, and yogis will come under terrible persecution. Due to the demon-king Pehar taking power in China, darkness and terror will come to our sacred land, with the result that violent death shall spread like a plague through every village. Then the three lords of materialism and their cousins will seize power in Tibet, spreading war, famine, and oppression. No one will be safe. Now, very soon, my mind-stream will be gathered up in the pure land of Tushita, from whence many emanations [of myself] shall then come forth in future years. I shall not take rebirth in Tibet. In twenty years, seek me in the northern lands of distant Uttarakuru [one of the great mahadvipas or continents, said to be a place of great abundance], and elsewhere, east, west, north, and south. Fear not, we shall be reunited again, as father and sons. Now go!’

After Jü Mipham’s passing, Khenpo Kunpal assisted Lama Ösel in compiling his teacher’s works, which filled more than thirty volumes. He composed a concise biography and catalogue of Jü Mipham’s writings entitled, Gangri Trökyi Mawé Sengé Chikpo Jamgön Mipham Gyatsö Namtar Nyingpo Düpa Dangsung Rabkyi Karchak Ngagyur Tenpé Dzégyen (‘A Concise Essential Biography and Extensive Catalogue of the Collected Works of Jamgön Mipham Gyatso, the Lion of Speech in the Snowy Land, the Supreme Ornament of the Ancient Translation Teachings’). He also wrote a commentary on Jü Mipham’s Ngeshé Drönmé (‘Beacon of Certainty’), an exposition of Nyingma philosophy that Jü Mipham is said to have composed at the age of six.

At the request of the Third Katok Situ, Khenpo Kunpal composed his celebrated commentary on Shantideva’s Bodhisattvacaryavatara, entitled Jamyang Lamai Zhelung Dütsi Tikpa (‘Nectar Drops of Manjushri’s Oral Instructions’), based on notes from teachings he had received from Dza Paltrül, Jü Mipham, and other Nyingma luminaries. This work proved crucial in preserving Dza Paltrül’s oral commentary on Shantideva’s classic text.

A Fountain of Nyingma Scholarship in Gegong

Following Jü Mipham’s instruction, Khenpo Kunpal returned to Gégong Monastery, where he had begun his studies at the age of seven. He remained there until his passing in the Tibetan Water Sheep year (1943), at eighty-one.

During these years he conferred teachings and empowerments on a wide range of students, including members of the nomadic community into which he had been born. He emphasized compassion and transmitted pith instructions drawn from his own meditative experience and from the oral teachings of Dza Paltrül and Jü Mipham. He came to be regarded as one of the foremost propagators of the Longchen Nyingtik lineage, integrating its contemplative practices with rigorous monastic discipline.

In later life he became completely blind, yet this did not trouble him. He devoted himself increasingly to meditation, dressing simply in a black chuba like his teacher Dza Paltrül and sitting in the sun beside rows of mantra-carved mani stones outside the monastery. Before him stretched the vast grasslands of Dzachuka and the distant mountains marking Tibet’s frontier. At his death he displayed extraordinary signs and is said to have attained the rainbow body, leaving behind numerous ringsel—bead-like crystalline relics—regarded as signs of profound realization.

A Legacy of Exceptional Disciples

Like his teachers Dza Paltrül and Jü Mipham, Khenpo Kunpal became an extraordinary scholar whose writings continue to be widely studied.

At Katok Dorjé Den Monastery, his prominent disciples included Khenpo Ngawang Pelzang (1879–1941), later regarded as an emanation of Vimalamitra and one of the most influential Dzogchen masters of modern times; the Third Katok Situ Chökyi Gyatso (1880–1925); and Katok Khenpo Lekshé Jorden (1899–1959). At Dzogchen Monastery, his students included Tekchök Loden (1879–1955), Ngawang Norbu (1886–1958), and the Fourth Mura Tulku Péma Norbu (1918–1958). At Zhéchen Monastery, he trained the Fourth Zhechen Gyaltsap Péma Namgyal (1871–1926), who became the root teacher of Dilgo Khyentsé and one of the principal teachers of Jamyang Khyentsé Chökyi Lodrö (1893–1959). He also taught Khunu Lama Tendzin Gyaltsen (1895–1977), later a prominent teacher of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Thubten Gyatso and holder of Dza Paltrül’s lineage of the Bodhisattvacaryavatara.

Among his noteworthy disciples at Gégong were the Fourth Dodrubchen Rigdzin Tenpé Gyaltsen (Rigdzin Jalü Dorjé, 1927–1961) and the Fourth Dodrubchen Thubten Trinlé Palzang (1927–2022). They traveled to Dzachuka in 1937 to receive transmissions from Khenpo Kunpal, who was then seventy-five. Despite blindness and declining health, he transmitted both the Longchen Nyingtik and the Nyingtik Yabzhi to them, declaring with joy: ‘My transmissions of the Nyingtik teachings are unique in their authenticity and closeness. Now I have been able to hand over the inheritance of the father to his two sons!’

Shortly before Dza Paltrül’s death in 1887, Khenpo Künpal had asked how he might recognize his teacher’s reincarnation. Dza Paltrül replied that he would not return and that no search should be undertaken for his reincarnation. Yet he added, ‘It is certain that a monk carrying a sack will arrive whom you will think is me—claim him!’ Years later at Gégong, when a monk named Pöpa Trülku Do Ngak Tenpé Nyima (1895/1900–1959) appeared carrying a sack and seeking instruction in the Longchen Nyingtik according to Jü Mipham, Khenpo Kunpal recognized him as Dza Paltrül’s incarnation. He trained him thoroughly and, shortly before his own passing, appointed him as a teacher at Gégong Monastery. Pöpa Trülku continued his activity as an esteemed scholar and teacher until his death in 1959 during the upheavals that followed the Chinese Communist invasion of Tibet.

Display of extraordinary signs

Until his death in December 1943, in the Tibetan Year of the Water Sheep, Khenpo Kunpal continued to transmit the teachings he had gathered over a lifetime. He is said to have displayed extraordinary signs at the time of his passing, dissolving his physical body into light and leaving behind ringsel as objects of devotion. In early 1944, upon hearing of his teacher’s death, Jamyang Khyentsé Chökyi Lodrö composed a lament entitled ‘Lightning Beams of Compassion – A Song of Lament for Khenchen Kunzang Palden Thupten Chökyi Drakpa’, praising his life and requesting his swift return amid the gathering darkness soon to engulf the Tibetan Plateau,

‘Great beings are vanishing like the sun and moon setting over western peaks, and the corrupting influence of errant views is rising. Lord of Dharma, you are like a sovereign among the constellations, but now that you have passed into the absolute sphere, we are bereft . . . Consider us well with your wisdom and love, and manifest, I beseech you, in a wondrous emanation with the splendor of an immortal vajra, shine as resplendently as the moon amidst the stars and with the qualities of a great master cause the lotus of the Nyingma (Ancient Translation) teachings to blossom so that we attain supreme essential realization of your secret wisdom mind.’

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