Pema Lingpa and His Incarnations: Gangteng Trulku, Sungtrul and Thuksey Rinpoche

In the Tang valley of Bumthang there is a gorge where the river widens into a dark pool called Mebartsho, the Burning Lake. Here, the story goes, a young blacksmith named Pema Lingpa dived into the water holding a butter lamp before a doubting crowd, and came up with a casket of hidden teachings in his arms — and the lamp still burning.

The treasure-revealer

Pema Lingpa (1450–1521) was born at Chel in the Tang valley. He became the greatest of Bhutan’s tertöns, revealers of the teachings, objects and images that Guru Padmasambhava is believed to have hidden for later ages. Tradition holds that he had an inventory of 108 major treasures and brought about half of them to light. In Bhutanese Nyingma practice he is regarded as second in importance only to Guru Rinpoche himself.

In 1501 he founded Tamzhing in Bumthang, whose murals are among the oldest in the country. The masked dances he is said to have seen in visions are still performed at festivals across Bhutan.

The royal connection

Pema Lingpa’s family became one of the great lineages of Bhutan’s nobility. The Wangchuck dynasty traces its descent to him through his fourth son, Kunga Wangpo, and the Dungkar Choje clan that descended from him. When the Project 108 office announced the lineage’s offering in 2026, it noted exactly this: that the royal house traces its line to Pema Lingpa, whose legacy continues to shape Bhutan’s religious and cultural life.

Three lines: the Peling Yab-Sey-Sum

Pema Lingpa’s spiritual legacy continues through three lines of incarnate lamas, the Peling Yab-Sey-Sum — “father, son and grandson”. They are often described in popular usage as the emanations of his body, speech and mind.

• The Sungtrul — Pema Lingpa’s own line of rebirth. Its historic seat was Lhalung in Lhodrak, Tibet; since 1960 it has been Tamzhing. The present, 11th Sungtrul Rinpoche, was born in Bumthang in the late 1960s and also heads Drametse, famous for its masked dance.
• The Thuksey — the line of Pema Lingpa’s son, Thuksey Dawa Gyeltsen. The 10th Thuksey Rinpoche passed away in Thimphu in 2010.
• The Gangteng Trulku — the line of his grandson, Gyalse Pema Thinley (1564–1642), who in 1613 founded Gangteng Gonpa above the Phobjikha valley, home each winter to the black-necked cranes. Gangteng is the main seat of the Peling tradition.

The 9th Gangteng Trulku

Kunzang Rigdzin Pema Namgyal, the 9th Gangteng Trulku, was born in 1955 in the Trongsa region, became a monk at seven and was enthroned at sixteen. He was recognised by the 16th Karmapa, Dudjom Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and studied under Je Khenpos of Bhutan and the great Nyingma masters of his time.

From the mid-1980s he led the restoration of Gangteng, completed in 2008 at a cost of Nu 700 million. He consecrated it himself on 10 October 2008, in the presence of His Majesty the Fourth King. He oversees more than thirty-five monasteries and hermitages, founded a monastic college beside Gangteng, and founded near Pema Lingpa’s birthplace a nunnery with the first shedra for women in Bhutan’s history. His international network, Yeshe Khorlo, carries the teachings abroad.

In Gelephu

Both the Gangteng Trulku and the Sungtrul lead spiritual projects in the Gelephu Mindfulness City: the Gangteng Trulku a Kurukulla centre, and the Sungtrul the Peling Dzogchen Lingka. And in 2026 the three lines of the lineage — Gangteng Trulku Rinpoche, Sungtrul Rinpoche and Thuksey Trulku Rinpoche, with the sangha and disciples of the Pema Lingpa tradition — offered one Jangchub Chorten to Project 108 together. The full list of masters is in Project 108 Masters.