Yangti Yoga Retreat Center

A Teaching series with H.E. Chung Rinpoche on Jigme Lingpa’s Yönten Dzöd, known in translation as the Treasury of Precious Qualities. Within the text the first 9 chapters are dedicated to sutra and the remaining 4 are dedicated to Tantra and Dzogchen. Part One will focus on the first 9 chapters on Sutra. 

We are very happy to host a series of teachings by His Eminence Chung Tulku Rinpoche on Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa’s Yönten Dzöd, or Treasury of Precious Qualities. In this text, Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798) presents a progressive vision of the Buddhist path in accordance with the general view according to the Nyingma tradition. Over the course of thirteen chapters, Jigme Lingpa brings us from Sutra to Tantra to Dzogchen in a way that is clear, pithy and essential. This text provides a helpful grounding in both Sutra and Tantra including training in the importance of ethics and cultivating Bodhichitta - two very important aspects of the path that allow practitioners of higher teachings to properly hold the container of their experiences in a way that brings actual benefit for other beings in a skillful way. 

Chung Rinpoche will offer these teachings as a means to help practitioners nurture and enrich their existing practice, no matter how high the level of experience. Whether it be practitioners new to the path, or those deep into the Yangti Nakpo or other dzogchen practices, these teachings, and Jigme Lingpa’s wisdom, will help create a stable ground upon which to further grow your realization. Rinpoche received the transmission and instruction on the Yönten Dzöd from Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche, one of the three great khenpos at Namdrolling Monastery, and a renowned teacher of impeccable training and qualities.

Chung Tulku Rinpoche himself has a fascinating and inspiring story. He is the third son among the seven sons, and the second tulku among the five tulkus in the family. Rinpoche was born to nomadic parents in northern Bhutan, and when he was born, there were many auspicious signs: rainbows in the sky, the black river of Dhur village became milky, and his umbilical cord covered his body in the shape of a vajra. At the age of five, Rinpoche would often cry until his mother took him to the path leading to his predecessor’s retreat house. When Rinpoche was six years old, His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche recognized his elder brother as Adzom Gyalsey Rinpoche, and he was taken along with his elder brother to Gelephu for a few months.

While in Gelephu, the disciples of Rinpoche’s predecessor asked HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche about the boy and Khyentse Rinpoche replied that the boy himself would indicate his previous life in about a week. After just about a week, Rinpoche recognized his predecessor’s possessions such as mala and other objects among the various other possessions to the amazement and pleasure of the disciples. Consequently, he was ordained as a monk and received vows in Shechen Monastery in Nepal where he stayed for five years.

Rinpoche then returned to Bhutan and stayed in Tamshing Lhakang, the original seat of Pema Lingpa, in Bumthang valley. He stayed for three years learning all the ritual arts from Lama Tsheten. In 1995, Rinpoche received the oral transmission and empowerment of Rinchen Terzöd from His Holiness Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche.

On the 27th of January 1996 (the 8th day of the 12th month of fire rat year), during the Nyingma Monlam Chenmo, Rinpoche was enthroned as the third mind reincarnation of Trulzhig Dongak Lingpa at the age of 14 near the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India by His Holiness Penor Rinpoche. There were thousands of monks and nuns present at his enthronement. Thereafter, Penor Rinpoche instructed Rinpoche to study at the Namdrolling Institute in Mysore in south India and received the Getsul (sanskrit shramanera) from HH Penor Rinpoche. He studied in Namdrolling from 1996 to 2008 and gained a Master’s degree in Buddhist Philosophy at the Namdrolling shedra. Rinpoche also received special oral instruction and training in dzogchen with His Holiness Chogtrul Thubzang Rinpoche in Tibet.

Rinpoche is one of the two major living holders of the Yangti Nakpo, one of the rarest and most profound cycles of dark retreat practice within the Vajrayana. Rooted in the Dzogchen tradition of Bhutan, Chung Rinpoche carries an unbroken transmission of Yangti practice that is among the most direct and complete available today.

He has trained under some of the greatest masters of the Nyingma and Kagyu tradition in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet and has devoted his life to preserving and transmitting the Yangti Nakpo lineage in its full integrity. In being the tulku of a well-known dark retreat yogin who was a student of Lochen Shukseb Jetsun Chönyi Zangmo and the mind reincarnation of Trulshik Dongak Lingpa, the important terton who was the Yangti Nakpo teacher of Lochen Shukseb Jetsun Chönyi and an important force in revitalizing the Yangti Nakpo lineage, Rinpoche’s primary focus is on the Yangti Nakpo.

The proceeds of this event will go to help support Chung Rinpoche’s nunnery in the Paro valley -  Tshogyel Lungtok Tengayling Nunnery - a community of dedicated female Yangti Nakpo practitioners whose continued work is itself an act of preservation of this rare and precious tradition. We are overjoyed to be able to support the nuns through this event.

These teachings will be recorded and uploaded onto the course platform and participants will have access to them for one year.