Kyabjé Nyingkula Künzang Wangdü

Kyabjé Nyingkula Künzang Wangdü (sKyabs rJe sNying ku la kun bZang dBang dus / སྐྱབས་རྗེ་སྙིང་ཀུ་ལ་བཟང་དབང་དུས་ / 1942-2018). The photograph shows Nyingkula Rinpoche with Ngakma Mé-tsal Wangmo and Naljorpa Ja'gyür Dorje — the disciples of Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen.

Ngak’chang Rinpoche had met with Nyingkula Rinpoche in 1976 when he was with Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche Jig’drèl Yeshé Dorje in Bodhanath Nepal.

Nyingkula Rinpoche was the son of Gyür’mèd and Thrin-lé. He was raised in Pangthang village near Bartsham in Tashigang. In the tradition of informal village education, he was taught as a child his by his grandfather Ngakpa Nyön-do la. He retained his parent’s pet Nyingkhula (སྙིང་ཁུ་ལ).

He grew up in the old Chador Lhakhang, which contains the statue of Chador-Tumpo, a gTérma of Pema Lingpa brought l as a wedding gift from Khar Yangkhar Ko-che.
He became one of the most learned and meditatively advanced Lamas of his age. He was unrivalled in his erudition and experience. His physical form dissolved into Chö-ku on the 6th of October 2018.

In a message paying tribute to him, Dzongar Khyentsé said “Although there are many peerless Lamas, Kyabjé Nyingkhula Künzang Wangdü was unmatched in meditation”.

During Nyingkhula Rinpoche’s final days in Genyenkha (དགེ་རྙིང་ཁ་) where he had lived for his last 13 years, HM The King and HM Gyalyum Tséring Yang-don Wangchuk visited him.

His services to Their Majesties as Lama-srung’khorpa (སྔགས་འཆང་སྲུང་འཁོར་བ mantra holder), from 1992 till his passing away, began with the conferral of the title of Lama-srung’khorpa by HM the 4th King.

Between 1995-2009, Nyingkula Rinpoche was a member-representative of the Gomchens, the gö kar chang lo’ dé (gos dKar lCang lo’i sDe / གོས་དཀར་ལྕང་ལོའི་སྡེ་) assemblies of non-celibate non-monastic Vajrayanists, in the Religious Council of the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs.

Nyingkhula Rinpoche was of the gomchen or ngakpa tradition which is widespread in Eastern Bhutan. The gö kar chang lo’ dé—stretching back to Guru Rinpoche—was one of the two communities of practitioners: monks (celibate and abstemious sutrayana practitioners) and ngakpas who non-celibate non-abstemious Vajrayanists. In 2009, Nyingkula Rinpoche was elected as a member of the Council of Nga-gyür Nyingma for three years during an assembly of heads of Nyingma Lamas.

The accomplishments of Nyingkula Rinpoche were not only due to his own insight — but also due to his long association with many distinguished Lamas.
He received teachings from Lama Pema Wangchen (Lama Nakulung), Lama Norbu Wangchuk, Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche Jig’drèl Yeshé Dorje, Chatral Sang-gyé Dorje, Lama Sonam Zangpo, Kyabjé Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and Kyabjé Dung-sré Thin-lé Norbu.

His practices included both Nyingma and Kagyüd. He studied the six yogas of Naropa from Lama Sonam Zangpo at Do Rangtha Hermitage. He mastered astrology comprehensively from Lama Norbu Wangchuk at Yonphu la and Dra-me-tsé. He absorbed many unique legacies (ཕྱག་བཞད་) from Kyabjé Dilgo Khyentsé Rinpoche་and Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche Jig’drèl Yeshé Dorje — particularly on ritual procedures.

Nyingkhula Rinpoche’s early education owes much to Lama Pema Wangchen of Bartsham. Lama Pema Wangchen’s biography by Khenpo Phüntsog Tashi explains that by 1954, Nyingkhula Rinpoche had become one of his young disciples. Lama Pema Wangchen guided him in studying techniques of Tor-zé (gTor bZe / གཏོར་བཟོ), dKyil’khor assemblage, chant, and Vajrayana orchestra.

He learnt linguistics and grammar from Lama Ten’dzin Künlegs, and Chörten architecture from Tshong Tshong Lopön. Others taught him xylographic book carving, wood sculpture, metal casting of statues, and calligraphy. Lama Pema Wangchen also imparted an extensive range of Vajrayana texts.

By 1961, with main disciples of Lama Pema Wangchen (Lopön Yeshé Döndrüp and Lama Ögyen Namdröl) Nyingkula Rinpoche received empowerments, transmissions and instructions for texts including Düd’jom gTérsar. Nyingkula Rinpoche then went into an eight year solitary retreat at Bartsham.

Nyingkula Rinpoche’s most prolific period as a writer and editor was from 1976 to 1986 while he was with Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche Jig’drèl Yeshé Dorje in Bodhanath Nepal and Kalimgpong India. As the main scribe and editor during that period he received many empowerments, transmissions and instructions in: Düd’jom gTérsar; the gTémas of Pema Lingpa, Jigling, Longchen Nyingthig, and complete cycles of Ngagyür Kama. He worked on various writing projects — such as editing anthologies under the guidance of Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche Jig’drèl Yeshé Dorje.

The writing projects, in which writing Nyingkula Rinpoche was involved, included collected works of the Düd‘jom Lingpa (1835-1904) in 27 volumes, collected works of Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche (1904-1987) in 25 volumes, and canonical collections of Ngagyür Nyingma in 57 volumes and the collected works of Sé-ra Khandro in seven volumes. Nyingkula Rinpoche, assisted other calligraphers, wrote and edited these massive volumes. Each volumes averaged 800 pages. Each volume was originally a manuscript, which was authored by Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche and calligraphed and edited by Nyingkula Rinpoche, for reprinting and distribution throughout the world.
Some of the volumes of Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche reflect his astounding erudition and poetic expression. As original edition ran out, Nyingkula Rinpoche republished them. The re-publication of the collected works of Düd’jom Lingpa and Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche Jig’drèl Yeshé Dorje in computerised fonts were sponsored by Nyingkula Rinpoche between 2004 and 2006. In some of the collected works of Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche the colophons describe their having been calligraphed in Monpa (ཡི་གེ་པ / the old name of Bhutan) by Künzang Wangdü — the name that Nyingkula Rinpoche had been given by Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche Jig’drèl Yeshé Dorje.

Towards the end of his life, Nyingkula Rinpoche was engaged in designing religious structures envisioned by HM the Fourth King and Their Majesties the Queens. In fulfillment of the vision of the Queen Mother, Gyalyum Tséring Yang-don Wangchuk, Nyingkula Rinpoche was responsible for the construction of Khamsum Yü-lé Namgyal Chörten in Punakha (1992-1999).

Between 1997-2001, Nyingkula Rinpoche was responsible for the restoration of Yongla Gönpa in Dungsam in accordance with the wish of HM the Fourth Druk Gyalpo.

Nyingkula Rinpoche led his community in Bartsham in the construction of a new, 6-storied Chador Lhakhang in 2006. With the support of the 4th King Nyingkula Rinpoche enlarged the scope of earlier gompa and increased the number of ngakpas. He always hoped that future practitioners would have good opportunities