Achi Chokyi Drolma was an eleventh-century practitioner born in Drigung into the prestigious Nanam clan, who, following her death, became regarded as one of the principal protectors of the Drigung tradition, alongside Mahākāla and Tsiumar. In life she turned her back on her inheritance and went to Kham where she married and had four children, one of whom was the grandfather of Jikten Sumgon, the founder of the Drigung Kagyu tradition. Beginning in the sixteenth century, she became particularly linked with Vajrayoginī practices, serving as the central deity in multiple different protector practices.

Lama Lodro Rabsel was a twenty- and twenty-first-century Nyingma lama of Gyelpak Monastery. He was a student of the Second Adzom Drukpa and Khenpo Jigme Puntsok.

Dhogon Sangda Dorji was a professor of Classical Tibetan Literature at Tibet University in Lhasa, as well as a Professor of Tibetan Literature and Poetry at Inalco in Paris, France. His Manual of Poetics: A Feast for the Eyes and Mind, is the primary reference book in universities teaching Tibetan poetics in the People's Republic of China. His Manual of Standard Tibetan: Language and Civilization, written with Nicolas Tournadre, is a leading global resource for learning both spoken and written Tibetan. In 2006, he received the title of State Professor by the ministry of Education, the highest academic honor given in the People's Republic of China.

The Drigung Khandro Sherab Tarchin was an important twentieth-century meditation master, whose life and activities bridged one of the most transformational periods in Tibetan history. In her early life, Sherab Tarchin was part of the last generation of women to pursue Buddhist training at the Drigung nuns' community of Terdrom prior to the disruptions of the Chinese Communist invasion and the Cultural Revolution. By her early twenties, Sherab Tarchin had become a refugee in India, where she went on to form connections with a range of influential Buddhist teachers and practitioners—chief among then Khunu Lama—and where she helped to nurture the flourishing of the Drigung tradition in exile.

Chodron Wangmo was the Eighth Dorje Pakmo, a line of female incarnations of the Bodong tradition based at Samding Monastery. She was the niece of the Tenth Zhamar and the Sixth Paṇchen Lama, who gave her Nenying Monastery in Gyantse. She received her novice vows from the Seventh Dalai Lama, as well as teachings from the Fifth Ganden Ritro Tulku, and the Fourth Jorra. She received the empowerment of nine Yamāntakas from the Panchen Lama and was invited to the Qing court by the Qianlong emperor, though it is unknown whether she actually visited China.