The first Mingyur Rinpoche - Yonge Mingyur Dorje Trakpo Nuden Tsal, was foretold by Guru Rinpoche who predicted that he would have the potential to find 108 termas and that if all were found then Tibet would be safe and happy for all time. 

However he lived in difficult times and found only three root termas: one to Dorje Drollo, one long-life terma; Khajor Tsedrub Thabshe, and one to Guru Rinpoche; Pema Benza. These are source termas from which many auspicious texts have sprung.

Born in Lhatok in 1628 he studied and practiced the Dharma and at 22 had a vision of the second Karmapa from which evolved the Karma Pakshi Guru Yoga. 

He traveled extensively throughout Tibet and bound seven of eight great demons to the Dharma. But the eighth he was unable to tame... a demon that was the spreader of the Hon plague that decimated Yak herds in Tibet. Contemplating the problem alone on a mountain, Yonge Mingyur Dorje suddenly leapt up and, grabbing a sling, killed a wild mountain goat and mixing it's stomach contents with it's blood produced a cure for the hon plague. Sitting back down on the mountain he was just wondering what to do with the remedy when along came a man. Mingyur Dorje asked him his name and finding it highly auspicious handed him the cure saying that it was now his responsibility to spread the remedy. The man was called Nyamtso Tsang - containing, expanding like the ocean. It was found that although the mixture at first made the yaks and dzi (a female yak) very sick, they quickly recovered and from then on had immunity to the hon sickness. Furthermore the blood from a treated animal could be used on the rest of the herd. 

He spent much of his life in retreat, and in study and there are many other examples of his foreknowledge and great accomplishments.

He was recognized as the lama in Guru Rinpoche's prediction and given his name by the 10th Karmapa - Choying Dorje, who attributed the chanting of his Trollo terma with the turning back of the Mongolian army which was at the gates of his monastery Tsurphu.

Yonge Mingyur Dorje was supported by the Bachen Tsang family of Lhatok, and although they repeatedly requested him to visit their home, and he proclaimed that he would visit repeatedly until the very door steps that led into the house were worn away, in that incarnation he never found the time. However his next two incarnations were born into the family.

The second Mingyur Rinpoche - Rinzin Chodrub Wangpo, was born with three eyes which so upset the grandmother that she poked out the center eye. He also should have found many termas but his tutor stopped him from taking a consort and so he was unable to fulfill his potential (it is necessary for all Lamas who find physical termas, as opposed to mind termas, to have a consort). He established the Yonge Terton monastery in Chamdo and the Nalung monastery eight hours horse-ride away.

The third Mingyur Rinpoche - Ri-Ngag Nudhen Dorje, was born into the same family and was famous for his great meditative experiences.

The fourth Mingyur Rinpoche - Ri-Ngag Tenzin Namgyal, the fifth Mingyur Rinpoche - Karma Jigme Chodrak Palzang and the sixth Mingyur Rinpoche - Karma Ngeden Dechen Thrinlay Pel Zangpo (1934-1974), will all have biographies here in the future.