Captured on photo as a child in the above picture, Drupon Sangye spent the earlier part of his life as a small monk in Lamayuru Monastery in Ladakh. Lamayury is the central monastery for the Drikung Kagyu in Ladakh, and was found by Naropa after he had reached enlightenment after 12 years of meditation in Kashmir according to the instructions he had received from Naropa. 

​Drupon Sangye's first Guru was the renown Ladakhi Vajra King, H.E. Togdan Rinpoche, who was trained in Tibet and is widely revered as one of the great yogis still alive today. Togdan means enlightened. In the below short video clip Rinpoche shares with us his first meditation retreat experience when he was 9 years old.  

​Drupon Sangye later met his root guru, H.H. Chetsang Rinpoche, the supreme leader of the Drikung Kagyu order of Tibetan Buddhism, and was taken under his care. His Holiness later sponsored Drupon Sangye's traditional long solitary retreat in Almora retreat center, where Drupon stayed for almost 4 years in solitary confinment in continuous meditation practice. 

During this time Drupon did not lie down to take sleep, but simply leaned his back against the wall, to continue meditation immediately upon waking up. ​In his own words Drupon explained: 

​"I would go to sleep around 9:30pm and wake up 2:30am. In the night I had prepared hot water in the termos. I slept in the same small wooden box where I meditated during the days, and upon waking up everything was right there. Thangkas (for practice) were in front, altar on the left and termos on the right. I would drink some water, and start meditation practice."

After having spent 3 years and 8 months in the meditation retreat, Drupon requested his root Guru, H.H. Chetsang Rinpoche for permission to go and stay in a mountain retreat near his home village. His Holiness had other plans for his disciple. Giving him the honorary title Drupon meaning "retreat master", His Holiness sent Drupon Sangye to Estonia to open a Drikung center and teach meditation in the Baltic area. Now 15 years later, rest is history. 

Drupon Sangye with his Root Guru H.H. Chetsang Rinpoche

While Drupon's wish is to go back to solitary meditation retreat in the Himalaya's, he continues to selflessly serve beings in the Baltic region by allowing us access to a rare and special meditation practice tradition going back a thousand years. The below clip provides a historical overview of the tradition Drupon is a recognized meditation master in.