Event : Mandarava Retreat by HE Namkai Norbu Rinpoche
Date : Mar31 - Apr4
Venue : To Be Announced
Website : http://atiyoga.org/
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu was born on the eighth day of the tenth month
of the Earth-Tiger year (8 December 1938) in the village of Geug in
Derge, East Tibet . He was recognised as the reincarnation of Adzam
Drugpa, one of the great Dzogchen Masters of the early part of the
twentieth Century, when he was two years old. Adzam Drugpa was a
disciple both of Jamyang Khyentsei Wangpo (1820-92) the first
Khyentsei Rinpoche, and Paltrul Rinpoche (1808-81). Adzam Drugpa
was a terton, a discoverer of hidden treasure texts, receiving
visions directly from Jigmed Lingpa (1730-98).
At the age of eight, the young Norbu Rinpoche was recognised as the
mind-incarnation of Lhodrug Shabdrung Rinpoche by both the
sixteenth Karmapa (1924-1981) and the eleventh Palpung Situ
Rinpoche (1886-1952). The first Shabdrung, Ngawang Namgyal
(1594-1651), himself the reincarnation of the great Drugpa Kagyüd
master Kunkhyen Padma Karpo (1527-92), was the founder of the
Drukpa Kagyüd in Bhutan . His reincarnations were the temporal and
spiritual rulers of Bhutan until 1904, when the current monarchy
was established. The title ’Chögyal’, meaning Dharma King, is given
with this recognition.
From a very young age Chögyal Namkhai Norbu received a vigorous
spiritual training from the Rimed or non-sectarian masters of East
Tibet. Then, from the time he was eight years old until he was
twelve, he attended the Sakya college at Derge Gönchen Monastery.
During this time he also studied with Jamyang Khyentsei Chökyi
Lodrö, at Dzongsar. In 1951 when he was fourteen years old, he
received the initiations for Vajrayogini according to the Sakya
lineages of the Ngorpa and Tsarpa. He was advised by his tutor to
seek out a woman living in the Kadari region, who was regarded as
the living embodiment of Vajrayogini herself, and take initiation
from her. This woman master, Ayu Khandro Dorje Paldrön (1838-1953)
was 113 years old at this time and had been in dark retreat for
some fifty-six years. She was an elder contemporary of Adzom
Drugpa, as well as a direct disciple of both the great Jamyang
Khyentsei Wangpo, and of Nyagla Padma Dündul (1816-61) who attained
the Rainbow Body of Light. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu received several
transmissions from her including those that he initially requested,
as well as the Longchen Nyingthig, and her own
mind-treasures.
