H.H. Shabdung Rangrig Dorjee Nyima, the twenty-sixth Shabdrung of the Taklung Gazi family chain of descendents, was born with auspicious signs in 1991 to a couple named Gazi Sonam Topgyal and Sadu Sonam Lhamo. In 2000, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama formally enthroned him as the lineage holder of the Taklung Kagyu and honored him with the name, "Tenzin Gyurme Choekyi Wangchug" (the Unchanging Doctrine Holder, the Sovereign Lord of Dharma). In the same year, a grand enthronement ceremony was carried out in Jangchub Choling, the seat of the glorious Drikung Kagyu, in the presence of Taklung Matul Rinpoche, Drikung Kyabgon Rinpoche and many other great masters. He received a year and a half of traditional Buddhist training of listening, contemplation and meditation at Dzongsar Institute. Presently, he is studying at Institute of Buddhist Dialectics at Dharamsala, India.