Throughout his life, Mipham showed a particular interest in the legend of the warrior king Gesar of Ling, a 12th century figure whose epic is well-known and widely celebrated in eastern Tibet, and about whom Mipham wrote extensively.

In particular, in the nineteenth century lamas of the Rime movement, particularly the great scholar Ju Mipham, began to " create a systematic interweaving of native shamanism, oral epic, and Buddhist tantra, alchemical Taoism, Dzogchen, and the strange, vast Kalachakra tantra ," and windhorse was increasingly given Buddhist undertones and used in Buddhist contexts.

The Nyingma and Kagyu rely heavily on the extensive, Jonang-influenced Kalachakra commentaries of Ju Mipham and Jamgon Kongtrul the Great, both of whom took a strong interest in the tradition.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries a woodblock edition of the story was compiled by a scholar-monk from Ling-tsang, a small kingdom north-east of sDe-dge, with inspiration from the prolific Tibetan philosopher Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso.

Upon the death of Chögyam Trungpa, the leadership of Vajradhatu was first carried on by his American disciple, appointed regent and Dharma heir, Ösel Tendzin ( Thomas Rich ), and then by Trungpa's eldest son and Shambhala heir, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

Trungpa Rinpoche's son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, appointed Chödrön an acharya ( senior teacher ) shortly after assuming leadership of his father's Shambhala lineage in 1992.

" He is a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, and follows the Shambhala Buddhist lineage.

Other high Kagyu lamas who support Ogyen Trinley Dorje include the Ninth Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche ; the Ninth Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche ; the Seventh Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and his Nalandabodhi organization ; the Twelfth Surmang Trungpa Rinpoche ; the Seventh Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche ; the Third Tenga Rinpoche ; the Third Bardor Tulku Rinpoche ; the Venerable Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche ; the Venerable Bokar Rinpoche ; the Venerable Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche ( abbot of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra ); Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and his organization, Shambhala International ; the Venerable Drupon Rinpoche, and Lama Norlha Rinpoche, among others.

In the Shambhala Buddhist community, a Primordial Rigden Ngöndro written by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is practiced as a preliminary to various terma-derived practices received by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

The term Shambhala Buddhism was introduced by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in the year 2000 to describe his presentation of the Shambhala teachings, originally conceived by Chögyam Trungpa as secular practices for achieving enlightened society, in concert with the Tibetan Buddhist Kagyu and Nyingma lineages.

The Shambhala Buddhist sangha considers Sakyong Mipham to be its head and the second in a lineage of Sakyongs, with his father, Chögyam Trungpa, being the first.

Part 2, Vajrayana Seminary, is led by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and authorizes students to begin their Shambhala ngöndro — the preliminary practices for receiving the Rigden Abhisheka.

A great deal of the teachings of the Shambhala lineage derive from the Epic of Gesar as propagated by Mipham the Great.

Dutsi-til Monastery is being steadily reestablished under the leadership of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the spiritual leader of Shambhala Buddhism and son of Chögyam Trungpa, the 11th Surmang Trungpa.

Eventually, the Vajradhatu organization was renamed Shambhala International by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

Trinley Thaye Dorje is the son of the 3rd Mipham Rinpoche ( Tshe-dbang Bdud -' dul lineage ) of Junyung Monastery, one of several persons believed to be a reincarnation of Ju Mipham, an important lama of the Nyingmapa school, and Dechen Wangmo, the daughter of a noble family descended from King Gesar of Ling.

Jamgön Ju Mipham, or Mipham Jamyang Namgyal Gyamtso ( 1846 – 1912 ) ( also known as " Mipham the Great ") was a master of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and one of the leading figures in the Ri-me ( non-sectarian ) movement in Tibet.

Together with Rongzompa and Longchenpa, Mipham is considered to be one of the three " omnscient " writers of the Nyingma tradition.

Among those are the " Five Lotuses " and " Five Swords ", short and intermediate-length commentaries on the essence of wisdom and language ; the Beacon of Certainty which is perhaps the most essential of Mipham's original writings ; and in many of Mipham's liturgies ( such as those of Gesar ), his essays of practical advice ( gtams-tshogs ), his verses of praise to Manjushri, Sarasvati and other persons, historical or otherwise ( bstod-tshogs ), and in one of his most famous compositions which is an ' aspiration ' ( smon-lam ), Mipham makes clear — either explicitly or using coded language — the centrality of Dzogchen / Great Perfection to his view, meditation, practice and experiential realization.

In one short text he prescribes various methods of divination ( all drawn, Mipham emphasizes, from Tantric scriptures and commentaries ) that make use of unusual sources of augury such as: the vicariously overheard chatter of women ; sudden appearance of various animals, especially birds ; weather phenomena ; the shape, size and color of flames in the agnihotra or fire puja ; the quality of burning butter lamps, especially the size of the flame, the amount and shape of smoke that arises ; and the size and shape of the carbon deposit on the wick.

According to one account shortly before he died, Mipham told his attendant:

The guru Padma Karpo spoke of " thoughts ... following one after the other as if in a continuous stream "; Mipham Nampar Gyalba observed, the " stream of images flows unbroken "; and in the Vow of Mahāmudrā, there is reference to ' the mind river '.

This scholastic movement led by Khenpo Shenga came on the heels of the work of Mipham, who " completely revolutionised rNying ma pa scholasticism in the late 19th century, raising its status after many centuries as a comparative intellectual backwater, to arguably the most dynamic and expansive of philosophical traditions in all of Tibetan Buddhism, with an influence and impact far beyond the rNying ma pa themselves.

As scholar Robet Mayer remarks, Mipham " completely revolutionised rNying ma pa scholasticism in the late 19th century, raising its status after many centuries as a comparative intellectual backwater, to arguably the most dynamic and expansive of philosophical traditions in all of Tibetan Buddhism, with an influence and impact far beyond the rNying ma pa themselves.

Although Mipham wrote on a wide range of subjects, Prof. David Germano identifies the most influential aspect of Mipham's career in that he " was the single most important author in the efflorescence of Nyingma exoteric literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Mipham ’ s most important students were Dodrub Rinpoche, Terton Sogyal, the Fifth Dzogchen Rinpoche, Gemang Kyab Gon, Khenpo Padmavajra, Katog Situ Rinpoche, Sechen Rabjam, Gyaltsab Tulku, Palyul Gyaltrul, Karma Yangtrul, Palpung Situ Rinpoche, Ling Jetrung, Adzom Drukpa ( 1842-1924 ), Tokden Shakya Shri, Ngor Ponlob, and others.

Besides his texts explicitly concerned with Dzogchen, many of Mipham Rinpoche's other works are written with Dzogchen in mind — if not as the subject, then as an overriding theme.

Among Kagyupas and Nyingmapas, the noted 19th century Nyingma lama Ju Mipham wrote works both supportive and critical of Shentong positions, as did the 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje.

In his work on Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso's < i > Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection < i >, John Pettit clarifies the various usages and implications of the term < i > Dzogchen < i > that are often conflated:

It may appear that Mipham did not write extensively on Dzogchen ( The Great Perfection ) however there are many references to it throughout his original compositions.

When some of his scholarly rivals thought it inappropriate for a monk to devote so much time to matters of future events, Mipham wrote a short essay explaining the purpose of divination, citing sources in the Sutras and Tantras where the utility and value of divination are explained.

Mipham also wrote extensively about astrology which was, in his words, a " delightful game " that he mastered in his teens but later applied to more serious topics such as medicine ; these two topics, with various texts on more or less related topics of divination, occupy perhaps 2, 000 pages of his writing.

Ju Mipham, the 19th century rime movement commenter, wrote in his commentary on Śāntarakṣita's synthesis, that the ultimate view in both schools is the same and each path also leads to the same ultimate state of abiding.

* Shantarakshita & Ju Mipham ( 2005 ) The Adornment of the Middle Way Padmakara Translation of Ju Mipham's commentary on Shantarakshita's root versus on his synthesis.

The Nyingma commentary of Ju Mipham from a Dzogchen view, has been rendered into English by Duckworth ( 2008 ).

Ju Mipham ( 1846 – 1912 ) in his commentary to the Madhyamālaṃkāra of Śāntarakṣita ( 725 – 788 ) says:

Mipham Rinpoche regretted the incompleteness of the Trilogy but nevertheless it is a mine of profound commentary on Great Perfection, especially in defending those teachings against its critics, and clearing up misconceptions and misinterpretations of Dzogchen, such as confusing it with certain aspects of teachings of the New Tantras as was common in Mipham's day.

Some of his history is detailed in a 19th century commentary by Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso drawn from sources like the Blue Annals, Büton, and Taranatha.

As part of that movement the 19th century Nyingma scholar Ju Mipham wrote the first commentary in almost 400 years about Shantarakshita's Madhyamakalankara.

The Adornment of the Middle Way: Shantarakshita's Madhyamakalankara with commentary by Jamgön Mipham.

The sixth Kenting Tai Situpa, Mipham Trinlay Rabten, was born in Mesho, Dege to the family related to Dege King Kunga Phuntsok Phundo.