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The “Ringo” of the group, the one who gave it its “backbeat”, was the master, Chogyur Dechen Lingpa. Chogyur Lingpa was an immensely influential and prolific visionary mystic. Along with Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, he discovered a vast range of visionary treasures said to be concealed by Guru Padmasambhava and his spiritual wife, Yeshe Tsogyal, centuries earlier.

Ju Mipham Gyatso was the “George” of the group. Younger then Khyentse, Kongtrul, and Chogyur Lingpa, Mipham was an unusually gifted scholar. He followed the lead of Khyentse and Kongtrul yet distinguished himself in his own way through his brilliant, voluminous writings. He wrote on a range of topics and single-handedly redrew the philosophical curriculum for his school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Nyingma or “Old Ones”. Mipham’s curriculum continues to be used to this day. An important part of this literature are ritual texts and Mipham was deeply interested in writing liturgies centred on King Gesar. Nor was he alone. All the figures of the Ri-mé had personal connections to Gesar, his clan, and Ling, Gesar’s kingdom in Eastern Tibet.

What inspired my PhD was a statement by one of the 20th century masters, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche considered some of Mipham’s writings “mind-treasures”. Guru Rinpoche was said to have concealed mystical treasures and texts throughout the Himalayas with the help of his spiritual wife, Yeshe Tsogyal. In the case of “mind treasures”, these were treasures Padmasambhava concealed mystically within the mind of someone. This fascinated me because I associated the practice of treasure revealing with the other Ri-mé masters, Khyentse, Kongtrul, and Chogyur Lingpa, but not Mipham. Beyond that, however, I had no clue to the wider implications of Gesar and Mipham. I was climbing Everest blindfolded with no sherpas in sight.