By: David Shankar
Homage to the Guru, Deva, Dakini. The Vanaprastha Rigdzin Karma entered the world on August 27, 1985, into a landscape of stark beauty and equally stark poverty. His was a Himalayan childhood defined by absence—first by his father, a stray Tibetan refugee who vanished soon after his birth, and later by the crushing weight of generational decline. Though both his parents hailed from lineages of wealth and success, they had settled into a life of nomadic indifference, avoiding the world's demands, including taxation, but also its opportunities.
Orphaned by his mother's death when he was ten and his grandparents' passing two years later, the world offered him a new home in 1998: the hallowed halls of Druk Khamsum Wandue Choekyi Phodrang, a monastic school. There, the solitary boy revealed himself to be an extraordinary student, his mind a fertile ground for sacred knowledge. His promise soon earned him a transfer to the rigorous Monastic Institute of Chungoen Dongak Dargay Ling.
Under the guidance of his first master, Yeshey Rinchen, Karma spent four years in devoted study and physical labor, helping to build a new institute. When his master was transferred, Karma’s path led him to Riwo Druzing Nyipa and his second teacher, Lekshed Jamtsho. Their time together was brief, but it was a catalytic encounter. Here, Karma’s intellect ignited, unlocking a savant-like mastery of Buddhist grammar, poetry, and philosophy.
In 2003, his seeking heart found its true north at Dechenchoeling Monastery. He met Khenpo Namkar Donkuen Drubpa, who would become his root guru. For three years, the master generously entrusted Karma with the profound treasures of the Longchen Nyingtik lineage. Following this period of immersion, Karma ascended into mountain retreat, to the "Towers of Hidden Paradise," seeking solitude for meditation.
But solitude, he discovered, was an external condition; the internal world was harder to tame. One evening, as a radio’s distant melody carried the illusion of modern life to his ears, his resolve crumbled. His body was in retreat, yet his mind remained a prisoner of human desire. “Am I wasting my life?” he pondered, staring into the sunset. By morning, a decision was made. He would descend and explore the world he had renounced.
In the capital city, he found a new kind of wilderness. Despite his impeccable command of the national language, he learned that meritocracy was an echo; the gates to stable employment were guarded by Western degrees or high-level connections, neither of which he possessed. Surviving on odd jobs, he began a new journey, diving into English language, science theories, and overall Western literature.
By 2006, worn down by hardship and a lifetime starved of affection, Karma found solace in a Christian community whose welcome was warm and unconditional. For nearly fifteen years, he walked this path, continuing his relentless self-education while moving across the globe. He eventually made a home in North America, but in 2020, a severe illness brought him face-to-face with the grim reaper not once, but twice.
In that liminal space between life and death, a stark clarity emerged: none of his pursuits would matter in his final hour. After two weeks of profound inner conflict, he resolved to return to the Dharma.
His return was one of atonement and fervent practice. He sought forgiveness and accumulated merits through hundreds of thousands of prayers, butter lamp offerings, and gifts to monasteries. He resumed long-abandoned sadhanas and plunged into the study of the twelve vehicles of Rigpa Dzinpa, deepening his understanding. He returned to the wilderness for weeks of solitary meditation. Though all his earthly masters had passed, he felt their presence through countless tell-tale signs, a subtle guidance that never left him.
This guidance became explicit in dreams. Two of his masters appeared, instructing him that the true essence of practice lay not in mindless recitation, but in studying the sutras. "True Buddhism is learning, training, and thus knowing," one dream revealed. "All else is symbolic, meant for those who cannot yet read, write, and understand." Heeding this wisdom, Karma shifted his focus from ritual to rigorous study. Through this lens, and with his understanding of modern science and quantum physics, he began to see the universe as a manifestation of the trikayas.
Today, Rigdzin Karma is an ardent poet, translator, and commentator, primarily on Dzogchen. Embracing a life of radical simplicity, he is entirely relinquishing the shackles of attachment, dependence, connection, and all but the most fundamental mundane necessities. Though he quietly guides a handful of students—doctors and lawyers from the Western world—his heart resides in the private, serene, and tranquil space he has cultivated, a final retreat not of place, but of spirit.
