Lama Wangyal is abbot of the pilgrimage site Muktinath-Chumig Gyatsa in the Himlalayas of Nepal. His family guru is Chatral Rinpoche. Lama-la has been born in Muktinath Valley in the Himalayas of Nepal. At the time his grandfather, Jampal Rabgyé Rinpoche, was the head of the Gye Lhaki Dung. This lineage is popularly known as the 'Lama Domar family', an unbroken lineage of Tibetan Buddhist Nyingma lamas from Muktinath Valley who have the pilgrimage site Muktinath-Chumig Gyatsa* as their religious seat.

When Lama Wangyal was thirteen his grandfather, Jampal Rabgyé Rinpoche, declared that his grandson Wangyal would be his successor as head of the Gye Lhaki Dung and abbot of Chumig Gyatsa. Thereafter Lama Wangyal went into retreat under the direct guidance of his grandfather. This was a retreat of 3 years, 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days.
In the Year of the Horse (1978) Jampal Rabgyé Rinpoche died at 71 years and Lama Wangyal became abbot of Chumig Gyatsa, or as the Nepali people say, 'Muktinath Lama'. Like all lamas of Chumig Gyatsa were, Muktinath Lama Wangyal became a Ngagpa, a Buddhist tantric practisioner having a householders live.

Lama Wangyal had a difficult start. Being the head of the family he had to focus on earning money to support his family - which he did by trading carpets - while his beloved guru, Jampal Rabgyé Rinpoche, died in an early stage of his education.
In spite of being the head of a strong lineage and receiving teachings and empowerments of other great lamas, for many years Lama Wangyal lived a spiritually undisciplined life. In the early nineties of the last century this situation slowly started to change and in 1995 he decided to stop any trade. Before the great stupa in Boudhanath he vowed to abstain for the rest of his live from eating meat, fish and egg and from drinking alcohol, and so he did.

Nowadays the Dharma and guiding the nuns of Muktinath-Chumig Gyatsa, who are the traditional caretakers of Muktinath, is central to his live. The ones he teaches consider themselves very fortunate. By direction of Chatral Rinpoche Lama Wangyal never travelled outside India and Nepal.**

* In 1818 Shabkar connected himself to this pilgrimage site, as we can read in Shabkar's autobiography.
** See also the recently published public declaration of Chatral Rinpoche, at Dudjomba.Org.

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