Rigdzin Gödem

Rigdzin Gödem Ngödrup Gyaltsen (T. rig 'dzin rgod ldem dngos grub rgyal mtshan རིག་འཛིན་རྒོད་ལྡེམ་དངོས་གྲུབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་) (1337-1408). A major tertön in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He discovered the Northern Treasures (Jangter) cycle of terma teachings.

He became known as Rigdzin Gödem because, at the age of twelve, three vulture feathers spontaneously grew from the crown of his head. When he was twenty-four, five more grew. Rigdzin Gödem literally translates as "Vidyadhara Vulture Feathers".

He was an emanation of Nanam Dorje Dudjom and a previous incarnation of Tertön Sogyal.

Further reading

Print publications:

• Dudjom Rinpoche, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, Its Fundamentals and History, trans. and ed. Gyurme Dorje (Boston: Wisdom, 1991), pages 780-783.
• Dr. Rigzin Ngodrup, རིག་འཛིན་རྒོད་ཀྱི་ལྡེམ་འཕྲུ་ཅན་གྱི་མཛད་རྣམ་མདོར་བསྡུས་, rig 'dzin rgod kyi ldem 'phru can gyi mdzad rnam mdor bsdus, Gangtok: Bulletin of Tibetology, No. 2, 1999
• Jurgen Wilhelm Herweg, The Hagiography of Rig 'dzin Rgod kyi ldem 'phru can and Three Historical Questions Emerging from It (M.A. thesis), University of Washington, 1994

Web publications:

• The First Dorje Drak Rigdzin, Rigdzin Godemchen, Treasury of Lives

• Rigdzin_Godem, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki
• Rigdzin Gödem, Rigpa Shedra Wiki
• Rig_'dzin_rgod_kyi_ldem_'phru_can, Tsadra Commons
• Rigdzin Gödem on Lotsawa House, Lotsawa House
• TBRC profile