Gyalwang Drukpa

The Gyalwang Drukpa is the honorific title of the head of the Drukpa Lineage, one of the independent Sarma (new) schools of Vajrayana Buddhism. This lineage of reincarnated masters started from Tsangpa Gyare, the first Gyalwang Drukpa and founder of the school. The 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, Jigme Pema Wangchen, is the current lineage holder.

Spiritual origin

The Drukpa Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism traces its origin back to Vajradhara, the primordial Buddha. Its early founders include Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa Lotsawa, Milarepa, Gampopa, Rechung Dorje Drakpa, Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo and Lingchen Repa. Lingchen Repa was the guru of the first Gyalwang Drukpa, Tsangpa Gyare.

Tsangpa Gyare was recognized as the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion Avalokiteśvara in human form, as well as an incarnation of the first Buddhist King of Tibet, Songtsän Gampo, of the great saint Naropa and of Milarepa's sun-like disciple Gampopa. The Drukpa Lineage spread throughout Nepal, Tibet, Ladakh, North India and Bhutan.

Drukpa Lineage

The Drukpa Lineage (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་པ་དཀར་བརྒྱུད), or simply Drukpa, sometimes called either Dugpa or "Red Hat sect" in older sources, is a branch of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyu school is one of the Sarma or "New Translations" schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Within the Drukpa Lineage, there are further sub-schools, most notably the eastern Kham tradition and middle Drukpa school which prospered in Ladakh and surrounding areas. In Bhutan the Drukpa Lineage is the dominant school and state religion.

History

The Drukpa lineage was founded in west Tibet by Tsangpa Gyare (1161–1211), a student of Ling Repa, who mastered the Vajrayana practices of the mahamudra and Six Yogas of Naropa at an early age. As a tertön or "finder of spiritual relics", he discovered the text of the Six Equal Tastes, previously hidden by Rechung Dorje Drakpa, the student of Milarepa. While on a pilgrimage Tsangpa Gyare and his disciples witnessed a set of nine dragons (Tibetan: druk) roaring out of the earth and into the skies, as flowers rained down everywhere. From this incident they named their sect Drukpa.

His Holiness

His Holiness is a style and form of address (in the variant form Your Holiness) for supreme religious leaders, most notably the Pope.

Christian churches

His Holiness (Latin: Sanctitas) is the official style used to address the Roman Catholic Pope and the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, as head of the Orthodox community. In February 2013, the Holy See announced that former Pope Benedict XVI would retain the style "His Holiness" after resigning and becoming Pope Emeritus.

The term is sometimes abbreviated or "HH" or "H.H." when confusion with "His/Her Highness" is unlikely. The associated form of address is "Your Holiness".

It is also used for certain other Eastern Patriarchs, notably those who head a church or rite which recognizes neither Rome's nor Constantinople's primacy, notably any Catholicos of the East.

Other religions

The English language honorific "His Holiness", and as female version "Her Holiness", has commonly been used for religious leaders from other traditions, including Buddhism (notably for the Dalai Lama), Shinto and in Ahmadiyya Islam for the Caliph.