Pema Lingpa
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Pema Lingpa (Tibetan: པད་མ་གླིང་པ་; Wylie: Pad-ma Gling-pa) (1450-1521) is a famous saint of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is a preeminent terton (discoverer of ancient texts), foremost of the Five Terton Kings.
He was judged to be the immediate reincarnation of Longchen Rabjampa and ultimately an incarnation of Guru Rimpoche, founder of Tibetan Buddhism. Guru Rimpoche, also known as Padmasambhava, prophesied that Pema Lingpa would recover 108 sacred texts (termas) although due to adverse circumstances the actual number was limited to 32.
The most famous story of Pema Lingpa tells of his diving with a lighted butter lamp into Membartsho, the so-called flaming lake in the Bumthang district of Bhutan (actually a deep pool in a river). He told onlookers that if he was a false spirit his lamp would be extinguished. Disappearing to the bottom of the dark pool and feared drowned, he returned to the surface with his butter lamp still burning brightly, bringing with him a new sacred text.
He founded a number of temples in the Choekhor valley of Bumthang including Tamshing Lhakang.
Notable descendants of Pema Lingpa include the Bhutanese royal family and the 6th Dalai Lama.
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