Lama Dorje Namgyal Rinpoche

Lama Dorje Namgyal Rinpoche was born at Dorshol Pongyi Ngabhang in Upper Kham, Tibet, to father Sonam and mother Kyima. Both his parents passed away when he was only one year old, and he was raised by an older sister, whom he would console by advising her on karma with intelligence far beyond his years.

He joined the Nyingmapa Drongmo Gon Monastery, where he learned reading, writing, grammar and Buddhist rituals, then completed a three-year retreat there, mastering Dzogchen. He made a six-month pilgrimage by prostrations to U-lha-den Jowo monastery in gratitude to his parents. While on pilgrimage he met Kyabje Chatral Rinpoche and spent seven years practicing the Longchen Nyingthik and Dzogchen with him, becoming a very close disciple.

In 1959 he left Tibet, arriving in Balapung, Assam. He went to Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche's Zangdok Palri Monastery in Kalimpong, receiving the Nyingma Kama empowerments and transmissions. When Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche bestowed the Rinchen Terdzö empowerments at Tso Pema, Rinpoche served as the ritual master before thousands of devotees.

Arriving in Odisha on instruction from Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche along with Lama Sherab Rinpoche, Chagdud Tulku and others, he built a clay house as a monastery, which was then named Dundul Raptenling by Kyabje Rinpoche. He served for many years as president; it was during his tenure that the three-story monastery that stands today was built. He made a rule — still observed today — that all funeral rites are conducted at no cost.

Renowned for his ritual mastery, he was named the Mendrub Lama after the highly successful Mendrub Drubchen at Payul Namdrolling in 1982. In 1985 he opened the three-year retreat center Namdrol Choeling near Dundul Raptenling. Lama Rinpoche passed into parinirvana near the Boudha Stupa in Nepal at the age of sixty-one.