Gyatrul Rinpoche
Venerable Dhomang Gyatrul Rinpoche was a senior lama of the Palyul and Dudjom lineages of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was recognized at a young age by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö as the incarnation of Sampa Künkyap, and is also held to be the incarnation of Kunzang Sherab, the first throne-holder of the Palyul lineage.
After training at Palyul Domang Monastery, he fled the Chinese Cultural Revolution in Tibet in 1959, serving as an elected representative of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism who had congregated in Buxa, India. In 1972, he was appointed by H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche as the spiritual director and representative of the Yeshe Nyingpo centers on the west coast of the United States and of Tashi Choling Center for Buddhist Studies in southern Oregon, where he remains as of 2012.
“The foundational Vajrakilaya is the sun shining in the sky behind the clouds. The path Vajrakilaya is the removal of the clouds from the sky through the force of wind and rain, or whatever; it is the path of method and wisdom, combined. And the resultant Vajrakilaya is the nature of your mind, the nature of your rigpa, which is the same mind as the mind of the primordial buddha, Kuntuzangpo. The path Vajrakilaya is the removal of the adventitious veil of obscuration that covers rigpa. Applying the method by practicing generation stage (kyerim) and completion stage (dzogrim), accumulating merit and purifying negative karma, removing that veil, is the path. The result is realizing that ones own self nature is buddha. So the result is the same as the foundation. In the beginning you are buddha, and in the end you are buddha.”