Who is DK? - Jon Eden Khan
People who are first connecting to the Trans-Himalayan teachings often wonder who the initials DK refer to, as these initials are often mentioned by students of the teachings.
First of all, DK is the initials used by the master who has given much of the Trans-Himalayan teachings. DK stands for Djwhal Khul, and he describes himself often simply as 'The Tibetan'.
He is understood to be a liberated being - a master - who as part of the global community of liberated beings that the teachings call Hierarchy, has been transmitting teachings in this tradition dedicated to supporting humanity's collective awakening.
In this piece, I'm exploring who his possible previous incarnations were.
DK is described in some early Theosophical texts as having previously incarnated as the revered Buddhist master, Aryasangha, in a previous life. Aryasangha is one of the most famous of the Buddhist masters, who initiated with his brother, Vasubandhu, the Yogachara school of Buddhist philosophy and practice.
Incidentally, the Master KH, who DK names as his master, is understood to have incarnated as the great Buddhist philosopher, Nagarjuna, who initiated the Madhyamika school, which is as core to Buddhism as the tachings of the Buddha himself. Nagarjuna is considered by many to be one of the greatest philosophers to ever lived.
As for later incarnations of DK, this has as been a topic of speculation among Trans-Himalayan students. Some have suggested it seems very likely he was / is a Kalachakra master. This is owing to the correspondences between his teaching with Bailey and the microcosm / macrocosm focus of the Kalachakra Tantra.
There have been a number of Tibetan Buddhist masters of the last centuries that have been considered as candidates.
DK describes himself in the Bailey teaching a couple of times as the abbot of a lamasery - so a teacher of Tibetan lamas. At first in the teachings he names Shigatse in Tibetan as where he and some other masters are based.
Toward the end of the Bailey teaching, which was just before the Chinese invasion of Tibet, he references that he is now based in Northern India, which is interesting, as if there was pre-knowledge of the Chinese invasion that was to come.
Personally, in terms of his previous incarnations in Tibet, I've always had a strong sense of Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé (Jamgon Kongrul the Great) as perhaps a good canditate for who DK was that we know about from other sources.
The qualities of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great definitely match DK. Jamgon was a master of Mahamudra, Dzogchen, and Kalachakra. He was widely known as one of the greatest Tibetan Buddhist masters of the 19th century. He's known for synthesizing the knowledge and experience of the many lineages of Buddhism in Tibet, and was one of the two beings, with Jamgyang Khyentse Wamgpo, who initiated the Rime movement, which sought to have the different Tibetan Buddhist schools recognise each other as streams of one river. And he was a genius and polymath in the domains of astrology, scholarship, medicine and other fields, we are told: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamgon_Kongtrul
If we go with the esoteric teachings on what happens to the body of initiates as they take the 5th degree, the dates could work out. Jamgon Kongtrul is said to have died in 1899, having been born in 1813. DK was first encountered by the early Theosophists in the 1870's or so, I think, and he is described as looking old then.
DK says that unlike some other masters, he kept his same physical body after taking the 5th initiation, which meant that he maintained a physical body into his work with Bailey that would have seemed pretty old. Hypothetically, it could be that Jamgon Kongtrul's death date of 1899 relates to when DK took the 5th degree, which would have affects on the body beyond what we currently understand.