歷代祖師
Key Figures
བོད་ཀྱི་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་རྣམས།
Founders, lineage masters, scholar-sages, and contemporary teachers who shaped and transmitted the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. 22 profiles.
པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས།
Padmasambhava
蓮花生大士
8th century CE
Founding Master of Tibetan Buddhism
Established Tibetan Buddhism as a living tradition; transmitted Dzogchen; concealed Terma teachings for future generations
ཞི་བ་འཚོ།
Śāntarakṣita
寂護
725–788 CE
First Abbot of Samye; Founder of Tibetan Monasticism
Established monastic Buddhism in Tibet; ordained first Tibetan monks; synthesised Indian philosophy for Tibetan context
ཁྲི་སྲོང་ལྡེ་བཙན།
Trisong Detsen
赤松德贊
742–797 CE
Dharma King who established Buddhism in Tibet
Established Buddhism as Tibet's state religion; built Samye; sponsored Sanskrit-Tibetan translation project
མི་ལ་རས་པ།
Milarepa
密勒日巴
1052–1135 CE
Supreme Kagyu Yogi-Poet; Exemplar of Liberation Within One Lifetime
Living proof that complete enlightenment is possible in one lifetime; established the profound link between devotion and realisation in Kagyu
མར་པ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ།
Marpa Lotsawa
瑪爾巴譯師
1012–1097 CE
Founder of the Kagyu Lineage in Tibet
Established Kagyu in Tibet; transmitted Mahamudra and Six Dharmas; exemplified the householder as valid holder of tantra
སྒམ་པོ་པ།
Gampopa
岡波巴
1079–1153 CE
Systematiser of Kagyu; Merging Mahamudra with Lojong
Created monastic Kagyu institution; wrote the definitive Kagyu textbook; merged gradual and direct paths
ས་སྐྱ་པཎྜི་ཏ།
Sakya Pandita
薩迦班智達
1182–1251 CE
Scholar-Sage; Forged the Mongol-Tibetan Patron-Priest Relationship
Established Tibet as a centre of Buddhist scholarship; forged the Mongol-Tibetan patron-priest relationship; left definitive works on logic and epistemology
རྗེ་ཙོང་ཁ་པ།
Je Tsongkhapa
宗喀巴大師
1357–1419 CE
Founder of the Gelug School; Great Reformer of Tibetan Buddhism
Founded the Gelug school and Ganden Monastery; wrote definitive systematic presentations of Sutra and Tantra; reformed Tibetan monasticism
ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས།
Longchenpa
龍欽巴
1308–1364 CE
Supreme Systematiser of Dzogchen; Nyingma's Greatest Philosopher
Most comprehensive systematisation of Dzogchen; definitive philosophical articulation of the Nyingma view; foundational for all subsequent Dzogchen transmission
བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ།
14th Dalai Lama
第十四世達賴喇嘛
1935 – present
Temporal and Spiritual Head of Tibet; Global Buddhist Ambassador
Preserved Tibetan culture in exile; engaged Buddhism with global modernity; advocated non-violent resolution of Tibet issue; Nobel Peace Prize 1989
ཆོས་རྒྱམ་དྲུང་པ།
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
創巴仁波切
1939–1987
Pioneer of Tibetan Buddhism in the West; Founder of Shambhala Buddhism
Brought authentic Kagyu-Nyingma transmissions to the West; founded Naropa University and Shambhala International; articulated Buddhism for Western secular culture
དིལ་མགོ་མཁྱེན་བརྩེ།
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
頂果欽哲仁波切
1910–1991
Supreme Head of the Nyingma School; Dzogchen Master of the 20th Century
Preserved Nyingma transmissions after Cultural Revolution; rebuilt Shechen Monastery; teacher to the Dalai Lama and Karmapa; living exemplar of Dzogchen
བདུད་འཇོམས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།
Dudjom Rinpoche
敦珠仁波切
1904–1987
Supreme Head of the Nyingma School; Terton; Compiler of the Nyingma Canon
Compiled and preserved the Nyingma canon; revealed the Dudjom Tersar cycle; established Nyingma in the West
ཀ་ལུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།
Kalu Rinpoche
噶盧仁波切
1905–1989
Shangpa Kagyu Lineage Holder; Established 3-Year Retreats in the West
First to establish 3-year retreat programme in the West; transmitted complete Kagyu empowerments globally; pioneer of authentic Western Dharma
ནམ་མཁའི་ནོར་བུ།
Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
南開諾布仁波切
1938–2018
Dzogchen Master; Brought Dzogchen to Europe; Scholar of Tibetan Culture
Established Dzogchen Community globally; transmitted authentic Dzogchen to Western students; pioneered scholarship bridging Bön and Buddhism
བསྟན་འཛིན་དབང་རྒྱལ།
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
滇津旺扎仁波切
1961 – present
Pre-eminent Western Teacher of Bön Dzogchen
Founded Ligmincha International; made authentic Bön Dzogchen available to Western practitioners; pioneered Bön scholarship in English
ཀརྨ་པ་བཅུ་བདུན་པ་འོར་རྒྱན་ཕྲིན་ལས་རྡོར་རྗེ།
17th Karmapa — Ogyen Trinley Dorje
第十七世噶瑪巴·鄔金欽列多傑
1985 – present
17th Karmapa of the Karma Kagyu School; Head of the Black Hat Lineage
Youngest major tulku to escape Tibet; dual recognition by Dalai Lama and Chinese government; championed environmental Buddhism and gender equality; represents the continuity of the Karma Kagyu lineage for the 21st century
མགར་ཆེན་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།
Garchen Triptul Rinpoche
噶千仁波切
1936 – present
Drikung Kagyu Lineage Holder; Living Example of Compassion Under Oppression
Survived 20 years in Chinese labour camps while secretly perfecting Mahamudra practice; living testimony that liberation is possible under any conditions; transmitted the complete Drikung Kagyu cycle to thousands of Western and Asian students
ཡོངས་དགེ་མི་འགྱུར་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
詠給明就仁波切
1975 – present
Kagyu-Nyingma Master; Pioneer of Contemplative Neuroscience
Collaboration with neuroscientists proved measurable neurological effects of advanced meditation; undertook secret wandering retreat as modern mahasiddha; made Tibetan Buddhist practice accessible to contemporary practitioners through scientific framing
མིང་གྲོལ་གླིང་མཁའ་འགྲོ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།
Mindroling Khandro Rinpoche
敏珠林空行母仁波切
1967 – present
Nyingma Lineage Holder; Pre-eminent Female Vajrayana Teacher
One of the most respected female Vajrayana teachers of the 21st century; embodies the ḍākinī principle in contemporary practice; maintains the unbroken Mindroling Nyingma transmission; teaches the importance of authentic realisation over performative practice
ཏི་ལོ་པ།
Tilopa
帝洛巴
988–1069 CE
Founding Guru of the Kagyu Lineage; Mahasiddha Who Received Mahamudra Directly from Vajradhara
Ultimate human source of the entire Kagyu Mahamudra transmission; demonstrated that realisation can arise outside monastic frameworks; his Ganges Mahamudra remains a definitive pointing-out instruction for the nature of mind
ནཱ་རོ་པ།
Naropa
那洛巴
1016–1100 CE
Transmitter of the Six Yogas; Second Patriarch of the Kagyu Lineage
Transmitted the complete Kagyu practical cycle (Six Yogas and Mahamudra) to Marpa the Translator, who brought them to Tibet; his Six Yogas remain the definitive Kagyu system of inner yoga practice; demonstrated that scholarly brilliance requires living realisation to be complete