His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen Sakya Rinpoche (the founder and Principal Guru of Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism in Seattle, WA) was born into the Phuntsok branch of the Khön lineage in 1929 in southwestern Tibet. As imminent successor to the throne of Sakya and future head of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism, under the guidance of his father and other distinguished Lamas, Dagchen Rinpoche received instructions in the Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana systems of Buddhism. Upon completion of this comprehensive training, Dagchen Rinpoche received the unbroken Sakya lineage transmission of the Sakya Vajrakilaya and Hevajra initiations and the complete Lamdre Tsogshe (Path and Fruit), which are the main teachings of the Sakya tradition. Following this period of intensive study and initiations, Dagchen Rinpoche went into a long series of study and meditation retreats. He then conferred the Lamdre Tsogshe to monks, nuns, and lay people of Sakya.

After the passing of his father, Dagchen Rinpoche took a leave of absence as ruler of Sakya in order to travel to East Tibet to increase his knowledge and experience of the Dharma, by studying with the renowned teachers of that area. Two of these lamas also became Dagchen Rinpoche's root gurus, Dzongsar Khyentse Jamyang Chökyi Lodrö and Dilgo Khyentse Rabsal Dawa. These two highly realized masters helped to formulate Dagchen Rinpoche's non-sectarian approach to Buddhism. After completing his major religious studies, Dagchen Rinpoche bestowed initiations and teachings throughout East Tibet and established 17 Sakya colleges and 10 retreat centers in that region. In 1955, he conferred the Lamdre Tsogshe, for a second time, to over 1200 practitioners in Minyag, East Tibet.

Entrance to the Phuntsok Phodrang Sakya Heritage Society in New Delhi, India.

In 1959 Dagchen Rinpoche, his wife H.E. Dagmo Kusho Sakya, and their family were forced to flee to India, where Dagchen Rinpoche became the Sakya representative to the Tibetan Religious Office in Exile, which was instrumental in arranging for the resettlement of Tibetan refugees. The following year he was invited to participate in a research project on Tibetan civilization at the University of Washington sponsored by a Rockefeller Foundation grant.

Dagchen Rinpoche has resided in Seattle since 1960 along with his wife, five sons and other family members. Appreciating the benefits of American freedom and prosperity, he works actively to help preserve and share the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. To this end he has given extensive empowerments and teachings throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. In 1974 Dagchen Rinpoche co-founded with Deshung Rinpoche the original Dharma Center called Sakya Tegchen Choling. In 1984, the group reorganized and the name Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism was adopted. H.H. Jigdal Dachen Sakya established Sakya Monastery as a seat of cultural and religious learning in the West.

His Holiness Trinly Sakyapa was born in the Phuntsok Palace of Sakya in the third month of the Wood Dog year. His father was Trichen Ngawang Thutop Wangchuk, throne holder of Sakya, and his mother was Gyalyum Dechen Dolma. Rinpoche had one older brother, H. H. Jigdal Dagchen Sakya, and five sisters: Thubten Wangmo who has passed away, Kalzang Wangmo, Tsegen Wangmo and Chime Wangmo, Seattle residents: and Konchog Yangki, who lives in Indiana.

In Rinpoche's previous birth he was the monk Jamyang Thubten Zangpo, the younger brother of Sakya Trichen Dragshul Trinley Rinchen, who was the grandfather of the present Sakya Trizen. His residence was the mansion Nagtse Labrang, a branch of the Dolma Podrang. In that life Trinly Rinpoche took both novice and full monk's vows from the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, and because of his monastic commitment he brought into this life a propensity for becoming a monk once again.

Trinly Rinpoche's education was the traditional one for members of the Khon lineage - it began with the transmission of a Manjushri empowerment from his father, underscoring the close connection between Manjushri and the Sakya hierarchs. Then, after being taught to read and write, Trinly Rinpoche memorized the Hevajra Tantra. When he had recited it to the satisfaction of his father and the officials of the North Monastery in Sakya, he was presented the written text and other gifts by his father. Like Manjushri, Hevajra has an especially important connection with the Sakya lineage.

As his root lama, Trinly Rinpoche's father gave him the scriptural reading, the explanation, and the empowerment for all the tantras which Trinly Rinpoche learned in Sakya. After receiving each of these, he performed the requisite meditational retreats. In addition, he received from his father the Lamdre Tsogshe, the main teaching of the Sakya Tradition. During his youth Trinly Rinpoche accompanied his father on journeys to religious sites in Western and Central Tibet, India, and Nepal.

Guiding Trinly Rinpoche's education was Ponlob Shedrup, who belonged to the Pentsangpa, a group of the 16 foremost Buddhist practitioners from Sakya's North Monastery. Ponlob Shedrup directed Trinly Rinpoche's memorization of tantras and his study of religious dance, music, philosophy, and kingkor (mandala) drafting - the laying out of the yidam's palace.

Trinly Rinpoche received instructions from the former Abbot of the South Monastery of Sakya, Champa Jampal Zangpo, in such texts as the Bodhicaryavatara and the Madhyamikavatara, and commentaries on these two treatises.

In 1906, the Fire Horse Year, H. E. Deshung Rinpoche was born in the mountainous Ga region of East Tibet into a family famous for its skilled physicians. When he was only five years old, Rinpoche appealed to his parents to be sent to a monastery so that he could devote his life to the Buddhist path. Impressed by his request, Deshung Rinpoche's parents realized that this was no ordinary person, but one destined to a very special religious role. He then went to study and live with his uncle, Ngawang Nyima, a monk who spent most of his life in retreat at the Thaglung Monastery in Ga. Deshung Rinpoche began to learn letters and memorization and did chores for his uncle.

As a boy Deshung Rinpoche read the biography of Milarepa in whom his uncle had strong faith, and he was so inspired by the life of this great saint, Deshung Rinpoche himself wished to become a yogi. Instead, his future responsibilities bounded him to a more traditional approach to the Dharma. Much later in life, Deshung Rinpoche expressed his continued devotion to Milarepa with a pilgrimage to all places of importance in that saint's life.

Deshung Rinpoche's reincarnation, Sonam Wangdu, was born in Seattle, Washington on November 12, 1991. He was formally enthroned at Tharlam Monastery on March 8, 1994. His tonsure ceremony was performed by H. H. Sakya Trizin on April 6th of that year. At the same time he was given his formal name, Ngawang Kunga Tegchen Chokyi Nyima, by H. H. Jigdal Dagchen Sakya. He now resides and studies at Tharlam Monastery.

H. E. Dagmo Kusho, known by her friends as Dagmola, was born in eastern Tibet. Raised in a loving family of moderate affluence, her way of life and education were pervaded by the spirit of Buddhism. In a society in which most education was of a religious nature, available chiefly to monks, she had the unusual good fortune to receive a fine education from an early age.

Dagmola's childhood came to a swift end. As a very young woman she went on pilgrimage from Kham, her homeland, to Sakya, the headquarters of one of the four major orders of Tibetan Buddhism. She was introduced to the politics of the Sakya ecclesiastical hierarchy, and she was eagerly courted by a young religious nobleman of the Phuntsok Palace who was being prepared to become the Head Lama of the Sakya Order, H. H. Jigdal Dagchen Sakya. As a result of her marriage she accepted the heavy burden of entering the ranks of Tibetan nobility and of representing the ancient tradition of this spiritual lineage.

While the young Dagmola accustomed herself to her new way of life, the freedom of the Tibetan people began to be eroded by the infiltration of Chinese Communists into eastern Tibet. Before long, open hostilities between the communists and the Tibetans became more prevalent, and the Chinese responded with increased oppression and flagrant disrespect for the native culture. The carefree days of Dagmola's youth had now vanished.

Upon returning to Central Tibet, Dagmola witnessed the severe oppression, deceit, and manipulation the communists perpetrated upon her people. As violence erupted in Lhasa, where she and her family were visiting, they were forced to flee for their lives. Optimistic like many other Tibetans that they would return home once hostilities had subsided, they fled south, but as they received reports of the growing violence in the Tibetan capital, these hopes vanished. Enduring extreme hardship and fear in their flight from Tibet, her family frequently relied on prayer for their safety and looked to divinations and omens to guide them to freedom. Even in such dire circumstances her family displayed a resilience and courage common among the Tibetan refugees. With an abiding faith in the Buddha, they opened themselves in trust to an unknown future which presented itself in an offer to H.H. Jigdal Dagchen Sakya to come to the United States to collaborate in research at the University of Washington.

During the years since their arrival in the United States, Dagmola selflessly devoted herself to bringing up her five sons and assisting her husband in his many religious activities, in particular, the establishment of Sakya Monastery. She also quietly devoted herself inwardly to spiritual practice under the guidance of her revered uncle, H.E. Deshung Rinpoche. H.E. Deshung Rinpoche encouraged her to begin teaching Buddhism and granting empowerments. Thus, Dagmola is authorized to accept the role of Lama by one of the foremost Tibetan Buddhist masters of the Sakya Order and by other esteemed Tibetan Lamas.

Dagmola regularly bestows empowerments and teaches at Sakya Monastery. She has founded the Mother Tara Center/Tara Ling in San Gabriel, California and established centers in Kona, Hawaii; Flagstaff, Arizona; and Mexico City.