Origins & Early Life

Ngawang Namgyal (Tibetan: ཞབས་དྲུང་ངག་དབང་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་, Wylie: zhabs drung ngag dbang rnam rgyal; alternative spellings include Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel; 1594–1651), known colloquially as The Bearded Lama, was a Tibetan Buddhist Drukpa Kagyu school Rinpoche, and the unifier of Bhutan as a nation-state. He was later granted the honorific title Zhabdrung Rinpoche, approximately "at whose feet one submits". In addition to unifying the various warring fiefdoms for the first time in the 1630s, he also sought to create a distinct Bhutanese cultural identity separate from the Tibetan culture from which it was derived. Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal was born at Ralung Monastery (Wylie: rwa lung), Tibet, as the son of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage-holder Mipham Tenpa’i Nyima (Wylie: 'brug pa mi pham bstan pa'i nyi ma, 1567–1619) and Sönam Pelgyi Butri (Wylie: bsod nams dpal gyi bu khrid), daughter of the local ruler of Kyishö (Wylie: sde pa skyid shod pa) in Tibet.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Through his father’s line, Ngawang Namgyal was a direct descendant of Tsangpa Gyare (1161–1211), the founder of the Drukpa Lineage. During his youth, Ngawang Namgyal was enthroned as the eighteenth Drukpa...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

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