In the Drukpa lineage, empowerment and transmission unfold as a living encounter with a qualified lama who holds the unbroken stream of blessings from the lineage founders. Such a teacher carries the threefold transmission of empowerment (wang), oral transmission (lung), and instruction (tri), and offers them in formal, face‑to‑face settings. The relationship is not merely institutional but heart‑to‑heart, grounded in refuge, bodhicitta, and a sincere commitment to the path. Through this meeting, the practitioner is woven into the fabric of the Drukpa tradition and entrusted with its methods for awakening.

Empowerment, or wang, is conferred through elaborate Vajrayana initiation ceremonies. These rituals may include sacred water, crown, vajra, bell, and other symbolic implements, together with visualization and mantra recitation. During such an empowerment, the disciple takes refuge and bodhisattva commitments, accepts tantric samaya, and receives permission to engage in specific deity practices and meditation techniques. The ceremony is understood as opening the potential to recognize and cultivate the enlightened qualities that the deity embodies, rather than simply granting an external authorization.

Transmission then continues through lung and tri, which carry the living energy of the teachings into the disciple’s study and practice. Lung, or reading transmission, is the oral recitation of texts—sutras, tantras, commentaries, or sādhanas—by a lineage holder, while the disciple listens with attentive faith. This establishes a karmic and sonic connection to the text and to the Drukpa lineage, and authorizes the practitioner to read, recite, and practice those teachings. Tri, or instructional transmission, consists of detailed explanations of meditation methods, philosophical points, and practical application, given either individually or in group settings.

Within this framework, pointing‑out instructions (ngo sprod) occupy a special place, especially in relation to Mahāmudrā. Here, the lama directly introduces the disciple to the nature of mind, relying on the foundation laid by empowerment, lung, and prior instructions. For more advanced transmissions of this kind, teachers often look for signs of commitment to study and practice, completion of preliminary practices, and a stable understanding of tantric commitments. When these conditions come together, the blessing lineage is maintained not only through ritual form but through realization, as the disciple gradually embodies what has been received and, in time, becomes capable of transmitting it further.