The Zhabdrung Sungtrul incarnation line represents the speech incarnation of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, the seventeenth century Tibetan-born Drukpa Kagyu leader who was recognized as an incarnation of Pema Karpo. When the Tsang Desi challenged the recognition, Ngawang Namgyel fled to Bhutan. The Zhabdrung Sungtrul line, one of several incarnation lines of the Zhabdrung, was established in the eighteenth century. The Second Zhabdrung Sungtrul, Shakya Tendzin founded Sang Chokhor Monastery, which became a seat of the line, in Paro.
Biographies
Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel
b.1594 - d.1651
The First Zhabdrung Sungtrul, Chokle Namgyel
b.1708 - d.1736
The Second Zhabdrung Sungtrul, Shakya Tendzin
b.1734? - d.1780
Shakya Tendzin was the Second Zhabdrung Sungtrul, was the reincarnation of Chokle Namgyel, himself the speech incarnation of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel. He served as abbot of Taktsang, and established the Sang Chokhor temple in Paro.
The Third Zhabdrung Sungtrul, Yeshe Gyeltsen
b.1781 - d.1830
The Fourth Zhabdrung Sungtrul, Jigme Dorje
b.1831 - d.1850
The Fifth Zhabdrung Sungtrul, Yeshe Ngodrub
b.1851 - d.1917
Yeshe Ngodrub, the Fifth Zhabdrung Sungtrul, was an accomplished visual artist. He served as the fifty-seventh Desi, from 1903 to 1906, and the fifty-third Je Khenpo, from 1915 to 1917. He established Kunga Choling below the seat of his lineage, Paro Sang Chokhor.
The Sixth Zhabdrung Sungtrul, Jigme Tendzin
b.1919 - d.1949