Jigdal Dagchen Sakya Rinpoche (Tibetan: འཇིགས་བྲལ་བདག་ཆེན་ས་སྐྱ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།, ZYPY: Jigchä Dagqên Sa'gya Rinboqê; alt. Jigchai Dagqên Sa'gya Rinboqê; born November 2, 1929) is a Tibetan Buddhist teacher educated in the Sakya sect. He was educated to be the head of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism as well as the successor to the throne of Sakya, the third most important political position in Tibet in early times. Dagchen Rinpoche is in the twenty-sixth generation of the Sakya-Khon lineage descended from Kön Gönqog Gyäbo and is regarded as an embodiment of Manjushri as well as the rebirth of a Sakya from the Ngor sub-school, Ewam Luding Khenchen (The Great Abbot from the Luding family) Gyase Chökyi Nyima.
Dagchen is a title meaning “Lineage Holder.” Among his followers he is known as Dagchen Rinpoche, or simply as Rinpoche (“Precious One”). His formal title of “His Holiness” indicates the high degree of esteem with which the Tibetan Buddhist community holds him.
He immigrated in 1960 to the United States with his family, one of the first groups Tibetans-in-exile in North America. He is the first Head of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism to live in the United States. From the Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism in Seattle, Washington, and its precursor (which he co-founded in 1974), he has taught and preserved Tibetan culture and religion. Because he is also a non-sectarian master within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, he has defined Sakya Monastery as a non-denominational and ecumenical center for teachings about Tibetan Buddhism. His work has also included the foundation of Tibetan Buddhist communities overseas in India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Nepal, Bhutan, and Southeast Asia, and teaching at Buddhist centers around the world.