August 9 - 11, 2025
Drupon Thinley Nyingpo
Yangzab Vajravarahi
Dzogchen Retreat, Empowerment
Pith Instructions and Practice
Sunray Peace Village
Lincoln, Vermont
Online and In Person
Drupon Thinley Nyingpo Biography
Drupon Thinley Ningpo was born in the Nagchu District of Tibet. He engaged in the study of a wide range of Drikung Buddhist traditions, including ritual practices, mandala and stupa design and construction and the art of producing bronze images of sacred beings. Subsequently, he was made director of the project to construct a new main stupa for the Brongngur monastery. After completing this project, he went on a pilgrimage to Drikung Thil Monastery where he met the great yogin and scholar, Drubwang Pachung Rinpoche. Drupon Thinley Ningpo was inspired to ask for the essential precepts for the higher spiritual practices. He was able to receive the profound essence instructions in the practice and mastery of the peerless Mahamudra from Drubwang Pachung Rinpoche.
In 1988, Drupon Thinley Ningpo went on a pilgrimage to the sacred places of Tibet. This brought him to the western regions where he took a fortuitous opportunity to escape to India. This was accomplished through a very perilous two-month journey on foot across the Himalayas. Once safely in India, he proceeded to the Drikung Kagyu Temple and entered into the institute of higher education. After completing his course of study, he was appointed as dean of the institute. He served in this capacity for six years.
Drupon Thinley Ningpo spent 1994 in spiritual retreat, during which time he accomplished all the preliminary practices of the Five-fold Mahamudra. He then went to the Dorje Redrubde hermitage in Alora where he entered into the traditional three-year retreat, where he accomplished the practices of the Five-fold Mahamudra and the profound path of the Six Yogas of Naropa. He participated in the Drikung Kagyu Snake Year teaching retreat where he received the entire body of Drikung Kagyu empowerments, transmissions, and instructions for advanced practice. In this way he completed the process of advanced training in all the profound and sacred traditions of the Drikung and earned the title of Drupon “master of spiritual attainment.”
Drupon Thinley Ningpo has a special connection with Yangzab Vajravarahi and received the complete Yangzab Dzogchen Treasure Cycle at the Snake Year Teachings in 2002 from HH Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, HE Garchen Rinpoche and HE Togden Rinpoche.
The Five Secret Heart Varahi Dakinis
The Five Secret Heart Varahi Dakinis practice in the Yangzab tradition contains the practices of the dakini from the perspectives of maha, anu, and ati yoga as taught to Padmasambhava by Vajravarahi herself. The mahayoga style dakini practice is an essential generation stage practice wherein we cultivate the realization of our body, speech, and mind as being the five Varahi dakinis. The Anuyoga style then introduces the practices of working with the subtle channels, energies, and essences of the body. Elaborately, there are the six dharmas of: inner fire tummo, luminosity of deep sleep, practice of dreams, illusory body, phowa, and the bardo that are connected to the completion stage of this dakini practice. The atiyoga style introduces the dakini as the primordially pure nature of the mind through the practice of cutting through conceptual thoughts (tregchö), and the Five Secret Heart Varahi Dakinis practice within the Yangzab tradition encompasses the teachings of the dakini from the perspectives of maha, anu, and ati yoga, as imparted to Padmasambhava by Vajravarahi herself.
In the mahayoga approach, the dakini practice is a crucial generation stage where we develop the realization that our body, speech, and mind embody the five Varahi dakinis. The anuyoga aspect then introduces practices focused on the subtle channels, energies, and essences of the body. This includes the six dharmas: inner fire (tummo), luminosity of deep sleep, dream yoga, the illusory body, phowa, and the bardo, all of which are connected to the completion stage of this dakini practice.
The atiyoga approach presents the dakini as the primordially pure nature of the mind, emphasizing the practice of cutting through conceptual thoughts (tregchö) and engaging with the mind’s spontaneous presence through the practice of directly crossing (tögal) into the visions of the three kayas. The mind’s spontaneous presence through the practice of directly crossing (tögal) into the visions of the three kayas.
The YangZab
The YangZab (The practices of the Very Profound Vision) is regarded as supreme among all the Yanas--it embodies the very essence of the tantric teachings. As a Dzogchen practice, it is unique within the Drikung lineage, as it was revealed by the Drikung Tertön (hidden treasure revealer), Rinchen Phuntsog and he is also the 17th throne holder of the Glorious Drikung Kagyu Order.
During the eighth century, King Trisong Deutsen of Tibet, an emanation of Manjushri, invited Guru Rinpoche to the Land of Snows in order to subdue demonic forces hostile to the Dharma. Having accomplished his wishes and having founded Samye Monastery, the king showed signs of approaching death, and soon passed away. The king's son, Prince Mutik Tsenpo (also known as Sena Lek) became king, and received the Yang Zab empowerments and instructions from Guru Rinpoche.
The youthful king found that his father"s duties were so numerous that he had little time to practice Dharma. Guru Rinpoche instructed him to put the practice into text form and prepare six copies on durable sheets of gold, turquoise, copper and other materials. These were then wrapped in precious materials and hidden by Yeshe Tsogyal in Zhoto Terdrom on the limestone massif to the north in the Great Assembly Hall of the Sky Dancers cave ( Khandro Tsok Khang Kiri Yang Zong Namkha Phug ) located in a towering peak. The terma was revealed by the Drikung Tertön Rinchen Phuntsog, himself an emanation of King Mutik Tsenpo, during the first half of the sixteenth century. The YangZab has been transmitted uninterruptedly down through the Drikung lineage to the present.