Last Updated on February 19, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
From the age of fifteen until he was twenty-eight, he spent his time meditating in silent retreat, living in isolated hermitages and caves, or sometimes simply under the shelter of overhanging rocks in the mountainous countryside.
He later spent many years with Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro (1893-1959) receiving empowerments and teachings. When he told his teacher that he wanted to spend the rest of his life in solitary retreats, Chokyi Lodro answered, “The time has come for you to teach and transmit to others the precious teachings you have received.”
Since then, Rinpoche worked for the benefit of others with the tireless energy that is the hallmark of the Khyentse lineage.
One of his students, Matthieu Ricard, said that Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche has spent around 20 years of his life in solitary retreat.
Another student was Sogyal Rinpoche, founder of Rigpa, who called him His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche:
https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Dilgo_Khyentse_Rinpoche
Nicholas of Flüe, Switzerland
Nicholas of Flüe (1417 – 1487) was a Swiss hermit and ascetic who is the patron saint of Switzerland. He is sometimes invoked as Brother Klaus. A farmer, military leader, member of the assembly, councillor, judge and mystic, he was respected as a man of complete moral integrity.
He is known for having fasted for over twenty years. Brother Klaus’s counceled to the Diet of Stans (1481) helped prevent war between the Swiss cantons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_of_Fl%C3%BCe
At the age of 50 he became a hermit until his death twenty years later. In his hermitage, as Brother Klaus, he led an intense prayer life. The focus of his reflections was the deepening into the passion of Christ. Again and again he is said to have been haunted by intense visions, the first of which are said to have taken place in the womb. It is said that for the last 19 years of his life he did not eat anything apart from Holy Communion and only drank water. This was confirmed by the responsible bishop after an investigation. According to other sources, when asked whether he had actually consumed anything other, Niklaus von Flüe did not answer this question.
The canonization of Nicholas of Flüe took place on May 15, 1947 by Pope Pius XII: