The first Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche

Lodro Thaye

Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye was one of the most brillant stars in the galaxy of scholars and siddhas from Tibet, the land of snow. Predicted by the Buddhas, he was the crown jewel in the rime (non-sectarian) movement of Buddhism in Tibet. He was born on December 14, 1813, to Sonamphel and Tashitso in front of Mount Pema Lhatse, one of the eight sacred places in Kham (eastern Tibet).

Lodro Thaye became learned in the ten ordinary and extraordinary branches of knowledge, and it became his responsibility to explain and compose texts, which incorporated a great number of teachings from both the old and new traditions, including the lineages of oral teachings, hidden treasures (terma), and teachings of pure vision. These were all brought together in Lodro Thaye's great Five Treasuries of Knowledge.

Like a second Buddha, he served all traditions of Dharma without any bias, through his teaching, practice, and activity. At the age of eighty-seven on January 19, 1899, he passed away.