1. The Sakyong was recognized by Penor Rinpoche in 1995 as the tulku of Ju Mipham Gyatso, a Rime teacher of the late 19th century who said he would be reborn only in the legendary Kingdom of Shambhala.
35 Facts About Sakyong Mipham
1. 2.
Sakyong Mipham was born in 1962 in Bodh Gaya, India, where Konchok Peldron lived.
3.
Sakyong Mipham's mother moved to the Tibetan refugee colony and Buddhist center at Bir, India.
4.
The Sakyong Mipham led Shambhala International, a worldwide network of Buddhist meditation centers, retreat centers, a monastery, and other enterprises.
5.
The Sakyong Mipham moved to Nepal, where he teaches his international sangha and offers online teachings.
6.
Sakyong Mipham was born Osel Rangdrol Mukpo in Bodh Gaya, India on the 15th day of the 10th Lunar month, in November 1962, although his mother was uncertain of the exact Western date.
7.
Sakyong Mipham's father, Chogyam Trungpa, was a Buddhist monk who escaped from Tibet in 1959 at age 20.
8.
Sakyong Mipham's mother, Konchok Paldron, was a nun who met Trungpa in 1959 in Tibet and was among those who escaped with him to India.
9.
Sakyong Mipham's father left India in early 1963 to study at Oxford University.
10.
Sakyong Mipham resided there until Social Services could conduct a home inspection in the US Osel was released to his father's custody in 1972 after more than two years of separation in Britain.
11.
Sakyong Mipham has two stepbrothers, Ashoka Mukpo and David Mukpo, sons of Diana Mukpo and Mitchell Levy.
12.
The Sakyong Mipham spent six months each year in the east in his studies, and six months in the west relating to the sangha.
13.
Sakyong Mipham began by talking about the singularity of the Shambhala teachings and Buddhism, which had previously been taught separately.
14.
Sakyong Mipham trained and ran in nine marathons, including Big Sur, Chicago, and the New York and Boston Marathons in 2005.
15.
In 2005 the Sakyong Mipham met and married Semo Tseyang Palmo Ripa, daughter of the Tibetan Buddhist Terton Namkha Drimed Rabjam Ripa Rinpoche, a Nyingma master and holder of the Ripa family lineage, who is seen as the manifestation of Atara Sale.
16.
The Sakyong Mipham's mother knew the Ripa family and had close ties to the bride's paternal uncle, though the Sakyong Mipham did not meet them until this time.
17.
In late 2008 and early 2009 the Sakyong Mipham received the Rinchen Terdzo, the complete cycle of terma teachings of the Nyingma school of Buddhism, from Namkha Drimed Rinpoche in Orissa, India.
18.
Sakyong Mipham continued to write and teach on this cycle until 2018.
19.
Sakyong Mipham's father had died at the age of 47, and he marked this milestone by going into retreat in Nepal.
20.
The Sakyong Mipham came out of retreat to teach, including giving an empowerment at Shambhala Mountain Center in the summer of 2010, and then returned to teaching full time in 2012.
21.
Namkha Drimed Rinpoche bestowed the Nyingma Kama empowerments on the Sakyong Mipham, which represent the oral transmission the Nyingma received from India from the time of their arrival in Tibet.
22.
The Sakyong Mipham received the Gongter, or Mind Terma of the Terton, Namkha Drimed Rinpoche in the fall of 2015.
23.
Sakyong Mipham has written several books, including the national bestseller Turning the Mind into an Ally, Ruling Your World, Running with the Mind of Meditation, The Shambhala Principle, and The Lost Art of Conversation.
24.
Sakyong Mipham resumed teaching with a small group of students in the Netherlands late in 2019, and then in March 2020, instructing a group of 108 students in Nepal.
25.
Sakyong Mipham's teachings have continued regularly in person and online since then.
26.
In 2000, the Sakyong Mipham began talking about Shambhala Buddhism as a single entity and path, with no separation between spiritual and secular.
27.
Later that year, thangka painter Cynthia Moku, under the Sakyong Mipham's direction, released the first Thangka of the Primoridal Rigden deity.
28.
The Sakyong Mipham stopped teaching his father's Kagyu teachings, which he held and had offered through the 1990s.
29.
In 2009 the Sakyong Mipham sent a letter to the community providing guidelines and restrictions on inviting teachers from other lineages to teach at Shambhala centers.
30.
Sakyong Mipham subsequently said he would cease teaching for the "foreseeable future".
31.
Sakyong Mipham returned to teaching in March 2020, leading a pilgrimage to Nepal and instructing a group of 108 students.
32.
The Sakyong Mipham is the second in the family to hold this title and has the responsibility of propagating the teachings of Shambhala.
33.
Sakyong Mipham is called the "Druk Sakyong", or "Dragon Earth-Protector".
34.
Sakyong Mipham received this ritual empowerment from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche in Boulder, Colorado.
35.
Sakyong Mipham was first empowered as "Sawang" by his father in 1979.