http://www.garchen.net/teachers.html
http://www.rigdzin.com/teachers.htm
A Brief Biography
Traga Rinpoche founded RigDzin Dharma Foundation in February 2005. Rinpoche is an accomplished Dzogchen master, having received profound teachings from some of the greatest masters of Tibetan Buddhism -- including His Holiness Chetsang Rinpoche, His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche, Khenchen Jigme Phuntsog and many others. He has completed more than ten years of retreat.
From Garchen Rinpoche, Traga Rinpoche received teachings on all Drikung Kagyu texts on regular Dharma service and practice, the five-fold Mahamudra, the entire Dzogchen Yangzab teachings, and many profound pith instructions. He then did his Dzogchen Yangzab retreat at Lho Miyel Gon monastery.
In early 1984, Traga Rinpoche received full gelong ordination from the Nyingma master Khenpo Munsel, who gave him the detailed teachings on Dzogchen Cutting Through the Resistance to Primordial Purity. Khenpo Munsel gently looked at Traga Rinpoche and said, your karmic propensity is to practice Dzogchen. I am your karmic lama. If you can meditate, you have today found the way to liberation in one life. You will never find something like this even if you went to look for it with your horse's hooves encased in steel. Spend one year near me and meditate. For the next seven years, he did retreat near Khenpo Munsel, and practiced Cutting Through, Passing Over, and many other advanced practices.
In 1998, Lamchen Gyalpo Rinpoche -- determined to make Traga Rinpoche's vast knowledge and profound experiential understanding of the highest level of Dzogchen teachings accessible to as many students as possible -- enthroned him as Lopon Rinpoche (Precious Master), with lavish praise for his hard work and outstanding achievements. His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche selected Traga Rinpoche as the retreat master and resident lama at the Garchen Buddhist Institute in Chino Valley, Arizona, and asked his students to have full confidence in Traga Rinpoche, just as, Garchen Rinpoche said, "I have full confidence in him."
www.nechung.org
Nechung Dorje Drayang Ling "Immutable Island of Melodious Sound" is a Buddhist temple and retreat located on 25 acres in Wood Valley, the Ka'u District of the Island of Hawai'i. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has visited and taught here twice. Many other well known Tibetan lamas of all lineages are invited yearly to teach programs open to the public.
Wood Valley Temple, as it is known locally, has a Guest House with 9 rooms. It accommodates 15 people or a small group comfortably. Guest rooms have an Asian Pacific decor, and original works of art grace the facility. Quiet, charming and peaceful - this is a wonderful place to relax, reflect and meditate. Staying here is a memorable experience and everyone is welcome!
Established in 1973 by the Venerable Nechung Rinpoche, Nechung Dorje Drayang Ling is a center for the dissemination of the Buddhist teachings, a place for great masters to teach and for students to receive and actualize these instructions through contemplation and meditation.
The temple has hosted numerous retreats with head and lineage lamas of all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Seminars and meditation programs cover a wide range of subjects, from foundational philosophy to the Highest Yoga Tantras and Dzogchen. His Holiness the Dalai Lama dedicated Nechung Dorje Drayang Ling in October, 1980; and visited once again in April, 1994, giving a public talk to a crowd of several thousand people.
The main temple at Drayang Ling was built at the turn of the century as a Japanese Nichiren Mission. Once a populated plantation village, today Wood Valley is in one of the most secluded areas in Hawai'i.
The Guest House is a two story building - the upper level, originally a Shingon shrine in lower Pahala, was relocated to its present site in 1978. Two guest rooms on this floor overlook the main temple and beautiful grounds. A carpeted meditation hall dedicated to Tara can be used for various activities. Additional rooms, a screened kitchen and dining area are on the ground floor.
Throughout the years, consistent efforts have been made to maintain these historic structures; and to landscape the grounds into the beautiful park it is today. Most of the land is covered with towering eucalyptus, and many varieties of palms and bamboo. Exotic fruit trees encircle the brightly painted temple and enclave of buildings. The vivid colors of tropical flowers punctuate the rich green foliage, and often, the scent of wild jasmine, ylang ylang and ginger blossoms permeate the entire space. There is an extraordinary peaceful ambience here - an intangible feeling of serenity and refuge from the ordinary world.
The future is a vision in support of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's message of individual responsibility in the global community through personal clarity, insight and altruistic actions.
Nechung Dorje Drayang Ling will continue to develop programs to address the spiritual and environmental concerns of the local and international community; build the necessary facilities to hold such events; and offer a conducive environment to give human beings the inspiration and favorable circumstances for the cultivation of compassion and wisdom, to accomplish the highest human potential and the results of happiness and world peace.