The Dezhung incarnation line began with the Second Dezhung, Lungrik Nyima, who was considered a reincarnation of a lama named Jamyang Tenzin, or possibly Jamyang Nyima. The line was based at Dezhung Monastery in Kham, although the Third Dezhung Rinpoche, Kunga Tenpai Nyima, was primarily eucated at Tarlam Monastery. He taught at the University of Washington for many years, training some of North America's best scholars of Tibet. In some sources Lungrik Nyima is enumerated as the first of the line and Kunga Tenpai Nyima is the second.