[1][2] Teachers from all branches of Tibetan Buddhism – Sakya, Kagyu, Nyingma, Jonang, Gelug, and Bon – have been involved in the promoting Rimé ideals.

[1][2] According to Sam van Schaik, eclectic and non-sectarian tendencies existed in Tibetan Buddhism before the 19th century, and figures like Tsongkhapa, Longchenpa and Shabkar are widely known to have studied with teachers from different traditions.

Samding Dorje Phagmo Most scholars of Buddhism explain Rimé as an "eclectic movement",[5][6][7] however one scholar has suggested that this is an inadequate rendering, saying "In fact this Rimé movement was not exactly eclectic but universalistic (and encyclopaedic), rimed (pa) (the antonym of risu ch'edpa) meaning unbounded, all-embracing, unlimited, and also impartial.

It is considered important that variety be preserved, and therefore Rimé teachers are generally careful to emphasize differences in thought, giving students many options as to how to proceed in their spiritual training.

Therefore the Rimé teachers always take great care that the teachings and practices of the different Schools and lineages and their unique styles do not become confused with one another.

[11] Rimé was initially intended to counteract the novel growing suspicion and tension building between the different traditions, which at the time had, in many places, gone so far as to forbid studying one another's scriptures.

The Rimé approach cautions against developing that viewpoint, while at the same time appreciating that the debate and discussion is important and that arguing which views are higher and lower is still valid discourse.

According to tibetologist Sam van Schaik:This ideal of nonsectarianism – of not just tolerance, but a genuine appreciation and support for all schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon – was not unique to Derge.

The change began with the great sectarian wars that blighted Central Tibet in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, setting the Kagyu schools against the Gelug.

The final victory of the Gelug school, on the shoulders of the Qoshot Mongol armies, sounded the death knell of the nonsectarian ideal.

[14] The Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, is also known as a terton who revealed a cycle of Dzogchen teachings known as the Sangwa Gyachen (Bearing the Seal of Secrecy).

"[20] Rachel H. Pang has noted that non-sectarian ideals are also strongly present in the works of Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol (1781–1851), even though he predates the movement by about three decades and never met with any of the Rimé masters from Kham.

A poem in Shabkar's autobiography criticizes sectarian tendencies:[21] Due to the kindness of holy forefathers of the past, In the snow ranges Many profound Dharma teachings spread.

That are Madhyamaka, Dzogchen and MahāmudrāTwo of the founding voices of Rimé were Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Jamgon Kongtrul, both from different schools; the epithets Jamyang (Wylie: jam dbyangs, Sanskrit: Mañjughoṣa) and Jamgön (Wylie: jam mgon, Sanskrit: Mañjunātha) in their name indicating that they are considered to be emanations of Manjushri.

At the time, Tibetan schools of thought had become very isolated, and both Wangpo and Jamgon Kongtrul were instrumental in re-initiating dialogue between the sects.

[24] The aim of the movement was "a push towards a middle ground where the various views and styles of the different traditions were appreciated for their individual contributions rather than being refuted, marginalized, or banned.

Beginning in the 17th century, the Gelug view and politics increasingly dominated in Tibet and the minority lineages were at risk for losing their traditions.

The message was so strong and unambiguous that Chandra Kirti had to defend Nagarjuna's treatises on Madhyamika by saying, "If, by trying to understand the truth, you dispel the misunderstandings of some people and thereby some philosophies are damaged – that cannot be taken as criticising the views of others" (Madhyamika-avatara).

[28] David Kay notes that Dorje Shugden was a key element in Pabongkhapa Déchen Nyingpo's persecution of the Rimé movement: As the Gelug agent of the Tibetan government in Kham (Khams) (Eastern Tibet), and in response to the Rimed movement that had originated and was flowering in that region, Phabongkha Rinpoche and his disciples employed repressive measures against non-Gelug sects.

A key element of Phabongkha's revival movement was the practice of relying upon Dorje Shugden, the main function of the deity now being presented as "the protection of the Ge-luk tradition through violent means, even including the killing of its enemies.

"[30]The Rimé movement, primarily composed of the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma schools, arose in the first place as a result of Gelug persecution.

[3] The movement's achievements have been successful in the 20th century where taking teachings and transmissions from different schools and lineages has become the norm amongst many monastic students, lamas, yogis as well as lay practitioners.

[37][38] Bön teacher Tenzin Wangyal cautions, however, that even this so-called non-sectarian attitude may be taken to an extreme: A problem that seems very difficult to avoid involves the tendency of spiritual schools either to want to preserve their traditions in a very closed way or to want to be very open and nonsectarian; but there is often the danger that this very nonsectarianism can become a source of self-justification and lead to as closed an attitude as that of the sectarians.

[40]Modern proponents of the Rimé movement have played an important role in preservation of the mind teachings of Tibet found in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages.