Wangdu Nyingpo

Who was Wangdu Nyingpo?

Wangdu Nyingpo, Tuchen was a Patriarch of the Khon Family, the 29th Sakya Trizin, and the second Padmasambhava of this age.

He was a renowned Terton, and was surrounded by tutelary deities and the figures of previous lives.

His sons were Padma Dudul Wangchug and Kunga Rinchen who founded the present day palaces, the Drolma and Puntsog respectively as these are depicted at the top of the illustration shown above.

At the top center is the primordial Buddha Vajradhara, blue in colour, with the Indian Mahasiddha Virupa at the left and Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, first of the five Sakya patriarchs, at the right.

At the bottom left of the Wangdu Nyingpo portrait is an unidentified Sakya lama wearing the traditional white lower garment of the Khon family consisting of a pandita hat with lappets and a kila tucked into the waist sash. On the bottom right is a monk—believed to be Nyingpo's chief monk—who is wearing his monastic robes.

Following Wangdu Nyingpo's death around 1806 his small palaces were divided between his sons of the Khon family lineage.