Khandro Tare Lhamo had connections with the Dudjom lineage through her root teacher, Dzongter Kunzang Nyima (1904-1958), who was the grandson and speech emanation of Dudjom Lingpa (1835-1904), and through her first marriage to his son, Mingyur Dorje (1934-1959). In the early 1990s, Khandro Tare Lhamo recognized one of the reincarnations of Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (1904-1987), the renowned reincarnation of Dudjom Lingpa who served as the head of the Nyingma lineage in exile.

Dudjom Lingpa was a terton (treasure revealer) and a towering figure in the Golok treasure scene and his eight sons all became important religious figures in the region. Several years ago, I wrote a series of three short essays for the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (TBRC) website on the Dudjom lineage according to historian Pema Osal Thaye. Since the transformation of the TBRC to the BDRC, Buddhist Digital Resource Center, these essays no longer exist online. A revised version and synthesis has recently been published as “All in the Dudjom Family: Overlapping Modes of Authority and Transmission in the Golok Treasure Scene.” In Histories of Tibet: Essays in Honor of Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp, edited by Kurtis R. Schaeffer, Jue Liang, and William A. McGrath. Wisdom Publication, Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, 2023.

Statue of Dudjom Lingpa at Tsimda Monastery, photo by Holly Gayley.