Chimé Rigdzin

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Chimé Rigdzin Rinpoche, known as C. R. Lama, was an Indian Buddhist teacher (1922–2002) in the Nyingma school. He held the Northern Treasures lineage. At age four he was recognized as the 4th incarnation of Khordong Terchen Nüden Dorjé Dropen Lingpa, the main reincarnate lama of Khordong Monastery in Kham (now part of Sichuan). By seven he had begun uncovering terma, spiritual treasures said to be hidden by Padmasambhava. He trained mainly with Tulku Tsul khrims bzang po and finished his studies at 19 as Dorje Lopön Chenpo. He then left the monastery for a three-year retreat at Tsö Pema (Rewalsar) in India. He traveled as a wandering ngakpa to Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan and India before settling with his family in Kalimpong, West Bengal, becoming an Indian citizen.

From 1954 to 1987 he led the Indo-Tibetan studies department at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan. In the late 1950s Giuseppe Tucci invited him to teach in Rome, and he met Pope John XXIII. He was later invited to Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich by Helmut Hoffman. In the 1970s he taught European and American students at Visva-Bharati, including James Low and Ngakpa Chögyam, who became his disciples. After retiring in 1987, C. R. Lama often visited Europe to guide small groups of students in different countries.