The Drukchen incarnation line, also known as the Gyelwang Drukpa, originated in the fifteenth century when the Gya clan that controlled Ralung Monastery identified a boy of the clan, Kunga Peljor, as the reincarnation of the monastery's founder, Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje, and gave him the title of the Second Drukchen. The Third Drukchen was found outside of the Gya clan, which continued to control Ralung, and henceforth the line was based elsewhere.
Biographies
The First Drukchen, Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje
b.1161 - d.1211
Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje is considered the founder of the Drukpa Kagyu tradition, named after the Druk Monastery, one of three monasteries he established, the most famous being Ralung, which he founded in 1180. A member of the Gya clan that would continue to control Ralung until the seventeenth century, he was the most important disciple of Lingrepa, a student of Pakmodrupa. He is counted as the first in the line of Drukchen incarnations, although the second Drukchen would not be born until a few centuries after his death, when the Gya family line ended. As an author Tsangpa Gyare is best known for his spontaneous songs of realization, rich with spiritual advice. He discovered treasure texts written by Tipupa for Rechungpa, The Six Cycles of Equal Taste, still an important teaching of the Drukpa Kagyu today.
