Jigme Rinpoche

Jigme Rinpoche (*1949) is the older brother of the 14th Shamar Rinpoche. He was born
in Kham, Eastern Tibet. Already in his childhood he moved to Tsurphu Monastery, the seat
of the Karmapa in Tibet and later escaped during the invasion of the Chinese in the 16th
Karmapa’s entourage to Bhutan and then to Sikkim, where Karmapa founded his main
monastery in exile: Rumtek. Rumtek was built on a land Karmapa received from Sikkim’s
King Tashi Namgyal, near Gangtok.

In Rumtek Jigme Rinpoche was educated as a monk and received all the main transmissions
and teachings of the Karma Kagyü lineage from his root lama, the 16th Karmapa. In addition, he received teachings from Gendün, Pawo, Kalu and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoches as well as other high spiritual Buddhist masters. They gave him teachings and empowerments and played an important role in his early years.

After the 16th Karmapa visited Europe in 1974, he received a piece of land in Dordogne in
France which he named Khagpo Kagyü Ling. He asked Jigme Rinpoche to take responsibility
for this project of Buddhist studies and meditation in a more traditional monastic style.

Jigme Rinpoche became the official representative of the 16th Karmapa in Europe.
Karmapa said, ”In the person of Lama Jigme Rinpoche, I leave you my heart.“ Gendün and
Pawo Rinpoches joined him in helping to fulfill Karmapa’s wishes shortly.

The 17th Karmapa appointed Jigme Rinpoche as his General Secretary in charge of his
administrative duties for the Karma Kagyü lineage worldwide in 2012.
In this role, he continues to travel. Since the 14th Shamarpa passed away in 2014, Jigme
takes care of the education system that Shamarpa built in India.
Beside his teaching activities around the world, Jigme Rinpoche is the author of several
books.