The Kalu Rinpoche incarnation line began when the First Kalu Rinpoche, Karma Rangjung Kunkhyab, was identified as the reincarnation of Jamgon Kongtrul. His seat was Tsadra Rinchen Drak, Jamgon Kongtrul's hermitage and three-year retreat center. The current Kalu Yangsi was born in 1990.
Biographies
Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye
b.1813 - d.1899
Jamgon Kongtrul is often described as one of the greatest scholars in the history of Tibet. A Karma Kagyu lama and model of rime ecumenical activity, he collaborated closely with the Sakya lama Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and the Nyingma treasure revealer Chokgyur Lingpa, in the opening of sacred sites and the revelation of treasure. His prodigious literary output, categorized as the Five Treasuries, cover the entire range of Tibetan Buddhist theory and ritual as well as numerous other topics, and preserved scores of Tibetan religious traditions that were at the time in danger of being lost. Based primarily at Pelpung Monastery, in Derge in eastern Tibet, he built the nearby hermitage of Tsadra Rinchen Drak, which became his personal seat. Multiple incarnation lines were recognized after his death, including the main Jamgon Kongtrul line, based at Pelpung, the Dzogchen Kongtrul line and the Dzigar Kongtrul line.
Kalu Rinpoche Karma Rangjung Kunkhyab
b.1905 - d.1989
Kalu Rinpoche was one of the most prominent Tibetan lamas of the twentieth century, active in both exile communities and in the West. As a young man he spent over a decade in isolated retreat, coming out only to serve as retreat master at Tsādra Rinchen Drak. Although never formally enthroned, he was commonly recognized as a reincarnation of Jamgon Kongtrul. In exile he settled in India, where he was a primary teacher to many contemporary Kagyu lamas and served as the main propagator of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition. In the later decades of his life he traveled multiple times to Europe and North America, where he established dharma centers and three-year retreat centers and initiated the translation of Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge into English.
