The Shechen Rabjam incarnation line was established in the eighteenth century when the Second Shechen Rabjam, Gyurme Kunzang Namgyel was recognized as the reincarnation of Tenpai Gyeltsen, who founded a small monastery called Shechen Orgyen Chodzon. The Second Shechen Rabjam relocated and expanded the monastery to form Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling.
Biographies
The First Shechen Rabjam, Tenpai Gyeltsen
b.1650 - d.1704
Tenpai Gyeltsen, the First Shechen Rabjam, was a prominent Nyingma teacher, a student of the First Dzogchen Drubwang, Pema Rigdzin. Based in Kham, he first trained in the Sakya and Geluk traditions in U-Tsang, where he was a student and beneficiary of the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobzang Gyatso. He is credited with founding what eventually became Shechen Monastery.
