Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo is remembered above all as a principal architect of the nonsectarian, or Rimé, renaissance in Tibetan Buddhism. Rather than promoting a single school, he actively received, preserved, and transmitted teachings from all the major traditions, including Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, Gelug, Jonang, and various tantric lineages. This broad embrace of the full spectrum of Tibetan Buddhist doctrine and practice helped counteract sectarian tendencies and safeguarded many rare transmissions that were in danger of disappearing. His example made it both legitimate and respected for serious practitioners to study and practice multiple lineages without abandoning loyalty to their own root tradition. In this way, his legacy is not merely institutional but also deeply attitudinal: a model of nonsectarian appreciation grounded in rigorous practice and scholarship.

A central aspect of this legacy lies in the preservation and revitalization of lineages. Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo traveled widely to receive empowerments, reading transmissions, and oral instructions from a great variety of masters, becoming a “universal holder” of teachings. He then passed these on to numerous students, ensuring the continuity of endangered tantric and scholastic traditions. His efforts underlie important compilations and collections that remain central to practice and study, and his collected writings include commentaries, liturgical compositions, and spiritual instructions. Through this vast activity of collection, compilation, and transmission, he served as a crucial link in maintaining unbroken lines of practice and realization across schools.

He is also revered as a great tertön, or treasure revealer, recognized as an incarnation of earlier masters and known for discovering and authenticating terma teachings, especially within the Nyingma tradition. These revealed instructions, including profound contemplative and tantric materials, enriched the living corpus of Vajrayana practice and offered fresh avenues of realization while remaining rooted in the ancient transmission. His life thus demonstrates how visionary revelation and careful preservation can work hand in hand, renewing the tradition from within rather than breaking with it.

The influence of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo extends through his reincarnation line and through the many teachers who trace key transmissions back to him. Later Khyentse incarnations became leading figures who carried his nonsectarian spirit into new contexts, and many contemporary lineages, especially within Nyingma, Kagyu, and Sakya, rely on transmissions he helped secure. For practitioners, his legacy offers a powerful paradigm: to hold one’s own lineage with unwavering devotion while cultivating a broad, unbiased appreciation of the diverse methods of the Buddhist path. In this sense, his life and work continue to shape how Tibetan Buddhism understands its own richness, diversity, and inner unity.