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[[Image:KJP.jpg|thumb|'''Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok Jungné''' photo courtesy of Matthew Pistono]] '''Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok Jungné''' (Tib. འཇིགས་མེད་ཕུན་ཚོགས་འབྱུང་གནས་, [[Wyl.]] '' 'jigs med phun tshogs 'byung gnas'') (1933-2004) was an incarnation of [[Tertön Sogyal]] Lerab Lingpa and an emanation of [[Mipham Rinpoche]]. He revealed a number of [[terma]]s in Tibet, Bhutan, China, Nepal and India. He played an extremely important role in the revival of [[Buddhism]] in Tibet after the Cultural Revolution. In the later part of his life more than 10,000 students gathered around him at [[Larung Gar]] in [[Sertar]] in Eastern Tibet. 

==Biography==
Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok was born in 1933, the third day of the first month of the year of the Water Bird, in the [[Golok]] Sertar region of [[Kham]]. He is said to have come out of his mother’s womb in meditation posture, reciting the [[mantra]] of [[Manjushri]], “Om a ra pa tsa na dhi” as soon as he was born. (He would later go on to recite this mantra more than 13 billion times in the course of his life.)

At the age of five, Khenpo was recognized as the reincarnation of [[Tertön Sogyal]], and became a monk at Nubzur Gonpa, a branch of [[Palyul monastery]] in Sertar. At nine he took ordination from Khenpo Sonam Rinchen of Drakdzong<ref>This is according to [[Khenpo Namdrol]]. Nyoshul Khenpo says Khenpo Sonam Chödrup</ref> and received the name Thupten Lekshé Zangpo. 

Once, when he was fifteen, he was overcome by intense devotion for the [[Dzogchen]] teachings and especially for [[Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche]], who appeared to him in a vision, and granted his blessings so that Khen Rinpoche experienced the [[nature of mind]].

From the age of eighteen, he studied with  the great [[Khenchen Thubten Chöpel|Khenpo Thubga Rinpoche]] at Changma Hermitage in [[Dzachukha]], receiving teachings on [[Mahayoga]], [[Anuyoga]] and [[Atiyoga]]. At twenty-two he received full monastic ordination and at twenty-four he was enthroned as the abbot of Nubzur Monastery, which is a branch of [[Palyul Monastery]]. During the time of the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet, starting in 1950, Khenpo withdrew increasingly from normal monastic life until in 1959 he took to the remote mountains, herding a small flock of goats and sheep. There, for the next twenty years, he secretly engaged in meditation and occasionally taught small numbers of disciples, often basing his instructions on the [[Seven Treasures]] of [[Longchenpa]]. Throughout this time, he was able, through legendary exploits and means, to elude the Chinese authorities.

Then, in 1980, he founded [[Larung Gar]] in accordance with the prophecy of the [[First Dodrupchen Rinpoche]]. It went on to become the largest Buddhist teaching centre in the world. In 1987, Khenpo led hundreds of his disciples from the Institute on a pilgrimage to the sacred mountains of [[Wu Tai Shan]] in China's Shaanxi Province. En route in Beijing, he met the Tenth Panchen Lama, [[Chökyi Gyaltsen]], and gave teachings on the ''[[Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattvas]]'' to a crowd of over 5,000 people, including Tibetans, Chinese, Mongolians, and other Buddhist practitioners. At Wu Tai Shan, the audience for his teachings swelled to 10,000 on occasions. He also undertook retreats at sacred locations and caves. There are accounts of many extraordinary occurrences during this pilgrimage.

Khenpo made extensive travels across Tibet and China, teaching and revealing [[terma]]. In 1990, at the invitation of [[Penor Rinpoche|Kyabjé Penor Rinpoche]], he visited India, where he taught at various monasteries, including the [[Namdroling Monastery|Nyingma Institute]] in Mysore.  At Dharamsala, the [[Dalai Lama]] resumed the connections he and Khenpo had in their previous lives by receiving teachings from Khenpo for two weeks. In the summer of 1993, he visited various Dharma centres in Inida, Bhutan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, USA, Canada, and France, including [[Lerab Ling]], where he gave empowerments and teachings including the empowerments of Tertön Sogyal’s termas, [[Tendrel Nyesel]] and [[Vajrakilaya]], as well as his own terma treasures of Manjushri and [[Vajrakilaya]], and [[Dzogchen]] teachings. 

Finally, at the age of 71, on the fifteenth day of the eleventh Tibetan month, of the Water Sheep year (7th January 2004), he passed into [[parinirvana]] while seated in the posture of meditation.

==Students==
[[Nyoshul Khenpo]] writes in the ''[[A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems]]''<ref>page 476.</ref>:
:Among the students who maintain [the] lineage [of Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok] are [[Tulku Lungtok]] of Shukchung, Tulku Chökyi Nyima of Wané, [[Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche]], Tulku [[Tendzin Gyatso]], Tulku Rigpai Dorjé of Wané, [[Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö]], Khenpo Guru of Minyak, Khenpo Kunzang of Golok, Khenpo Chime Rigdzin of Mewa, and [[Khenpo Sherab Zangpo]] of [[Dergé]]. These and other living masters are still serving the teachings of the Victorious One.

[[Khenpo Sodargye]] is also one of Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok's closest students, and now teaches widely in China and the West. In 1987 he accompanied Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok during his pilgrimage to [[Wutai Shan]] and began to connect with Chinese disciples. From 1990 to 1999, he accompanied Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok during his teachings in many countries worldwide.

==Notes==
<small><references/></small>

==Publications==
*Jigme Phuntsok, ''Always Present—The Luminous Wisdom of Jigme Phuntsok'', edited by [[Khenpo Sodargye]] (Snow Lion, 2015)

==Further Reading==
===In English===
*Holly Gayley, "The ethics of cultural survival: A Buddhist vision of progress in Mkhan po 'Jigs phun’s Heart Advice to Tibetans for the 21st Century" in ''Mapping the Modern in Tibet: PIATS 2006: Tibetan Studies; Proceedings of the eleventh seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies'', Königswinter 2006
*Karma Phuntso, ''H.H. Khenpo Jigme Phuntsho: A Tribute and a Translation'', Journal of Bhutan Studies, 2004, Volume 11 Winter '04 Issue 11, pp. 129-136 
*Lopön Sonam Tsewang et al, ''5th Anniversary of Chöje Jigme Phuntsok Jungne: Prayer Ceremony for World Peace, Bodh Gaya, India, 2nd - 6th January 2008''
*[[Nyoshul Khenpo]], ''A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems: Biographies of Masters of Awareness in the Dzogchen Lineage'', Padma Publications, 2005, pp.475-476

===In Tibetan===
*''snga 'gyur 'od gsal'', Ngagyur Nyingma Institute, 1982, pp. 88-119

==External Links==
*{{LH|tibetan-masters/nyingma-masters/khenpo-jigme-phuntsok|Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok Series on Lotsawa House}}
*{{TBRC|P7774|TBRC Profile}}
*[http://www.treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Khenpo-Jigme-Puntsok/10457 Biography at Treasury of Lives]

[[Category:Contemporary Teachers]]
[[category:Nyingma Teachers]]
[[Category:Tertöns]]