Ngawang Namgyal

Ngawang Namgyal (1594–1651), known colloquially as The Bearded Lama, was a Tibetan Buddhist Drukpa Kagyu school Rinpoche, and the unifier of Bhutan as a nation-state. He was later granted the honorific title Zhabdrung Rinpoche, approximately "at whose feet one submits") (Tibetan: ཞབས་དྲུང་ངག་དབང་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་, Wylie: zhabs drung ngag dbang rnam rgyal; alternate spellings include Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel). In addition to unifying the various warring fiefdoms for the first time in the 1630s, he also sought to create a distinct Bhutanese cultural identity separate from the Tibetan culture from which it was derived.

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Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel is the immediate and true reincarnation of 4th Gyelwang Drukpa Kuenkhen Pema Karpo. Many prophecies are made by Guru Rinpoche that the boy name Ngawang Namgyel will be born and his legacy will be heard all over the world.