This auspicious, wish-granting stupa is a tamer of maras, meaningful to behold. May it be virtuous!

PALTRÜL RINPOCHE Ogyen Jigme Chökyi Wangpo is the speech incarnation of Jigme Lingpa. He was one of the great Nyingma teachers and writers, whose life and writings are cited even by scholars of other schools. Although he was one of the greatest scholars and adepts of the Nyingma school, he lived as a most humble and simple hermit. He spoke directly and loudly, but every word of his was the word of truth, wisdom, and caring.

 

He was born in the Getse Kongma tribe of the Mukpo Dong lineage at Karchung Ko-ö in Dzachukha Valley in the Earth Dragon year of the fourteenth Rabjung (1808). His father was Lhawang of the Gyalthok group, and his mother was Dolma of the Tromza group. Soon after his birth, he tried to say OM . . ., but it wasn’t clear. But on the fifth day he said OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ, very clearly. Also, the letters of the mantra OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ were visible on his neck, as was a HRĪḤ letter on his tongue.

 

Although he was a tülku of Jigme Lingpa, officially he was recognized as the tülku of Palge Samten Phüntsok by Dola Jigme Kalzang. Confirming the recognition, the first Dodrupchen said to Jigme Kalzang: “I am bestowing the mind entrustment and aspirational transmission of the complete Longchen Nyingthig teachings upon him with the name Ogyen Jigme Chökyi Wangpo.” Soon, Palge Könchok, a nephew of the last Palge, brought Paltrül Rinpoche to Palge Latrang, the residence of the last Palge.

 

Paltrül studied sūtric and tantric teachings with many teachers, including Dola Jigme Kalzang, Jigme Ngotsar, Gyalse Zhenphen Thaye, Sönam Palge, and Zhechen Thutop Namgyal. Sengtruk Pema Tashi of Dzogchen Monastery ordained him as a monk.

 

However, his root teachers were Jigme Gyalwe Nyuku and Do Khyentse. With Jigme Gyalwe Nyuku he studied from the ngöndro, the preliminary training, up to the teachings on tsalung and Dzogpa Chenpo. From Gyalwe Nyuku, he received Longchen Nyingthig ngöndro teachings twenty-five times, and undertook as many trainings on them. Later he wrote down the words of his teacher on the ngöndro as the famous text, Künzang Lame Zhalung (Words from the Mouth of the Samantabhadra Lama).

 

One day Do Khyentse, who was wandering while performing esoteric exercises, suddenly showed up outside Paltrül’s tent. Do Khyentse shouted, “O Palge! If you are brave, come out!” When Paltrül respectfully came out, Do Khyentse grabbed him by his hair, threw him on the ground, and dragged him around. At that moment, Paltrül smelled alcohol on Do Khyentse’s breath and thought, “The Buddha expounded on the dangers of alcohol, yet even a great adept like him could get drunk like this.” At that instant, Do Khyentse freed Paltrül from his grip and shouted, “Alas, that you intellectual people could have such evil thoughts! You Old Dog!” Do Khyentse spat in his face, showed him his little finger (an insulting gesture), and departed. Paltrül realized, “Oh, I am deluded. He was performing an esoteric exercise to introduce me to my enlightened nature.” Paltrül was torn by two conflicting feelings: shock over his own negative thoughts and amazement at Do Khyentse’s clairvoyance. Sitting up, he immediately meditated on the enlightened nature of his mind, and a clear, skylike, open, intrinsic awareness awakened in him. Thereupon, clear and total realization like a rising sun awakened in him, over the dawnlike realization that he already had as the result of the introduction he had received from Gyalwe Nyuku. Since then, he jokingly kept “Old Dog” as his esoteric or sacred name.

 

When Paltrül was about twenty, Palge Könchok, the chief administrator of Palge Latrang, died and Paltrül closed the residence of Palge and started to live as a wandering hermit.

 

At Dzogchen Monastery he received the Nyingthig Yabzhi and Longchen Nyingthig transmissions from the fourth Dzogchen Rinpoche and Gyalse Zhenphen Thaye. Then he meditated in long retreats at Shinje cave and Tsering cave near Dzogchen Monastery, where once Dodrupchen had done his years-long retreat.

 

Around 1851, from the great scholar Gyawa Do-ngak Gyatso, a disciple of both Paltrül and Zhapkar Tsoktruk Rangtröl (1781–1851), Paltrül heard the details of Zhapkar’s highly inspiring life. When he reached Golok on his way to see Zhapkar, he heard the sad news that Zhapkar had just died. He turned back and came to Yarlung Pemakö, the seat of Dodrupchen. At Yarlung, he joined Gyalse Zhenphen Thaye (1800–?), who was living there as the regent of the late Dodrupchen and was starting a forty-five-day annual teaching and practice of the Guhyagarbha-māyājāla-tantra. Paltrül received teachings on the Guhyagarbha-tantra from Gyalse and acted as his teaching assistant for the first year. Then he himself presided over the annual teachings for two more years.

 

He went around Ser, Do, Mar, and Dzika valleys and numerous times gave teachings on the Bodhicharyāvatāra and inspired the whole population to recite OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ. In those areas, he succeeded to a great extent in abolishing the system of serving meat to the lamas when they came to perform ritual services. He proclaimed rules against stealing and hunting. He brought Buddhism into everybody’s life and into every home, so that it was not limited to monks or the monasteries and gompas.

 

He visited Shukchung Monastery, and then for a long time he stayed at Shukchen Tago, the formal residence of the first Dodrupchen. Although Dodru chen had abandoned it about half a century before, it still was functioning as a hermitage. Here he recited the Kanjur three times and memorized many sūtras.

 

Then he lived at the foot of a tree at Ari Nak (aka Dhichung Phuk) for a long time. It was an elevated open field in the middle of a thick forest. No one ever went there, and the only people one might see occasionally were the travelers on the other side of the Do Valley, about a half mile’s distance across the Do River. Ari Forest is situated on the bank of the Do River halfway between Shukchen Tago and the present Dodrupchen Monastery.

 

First, Paltrül and Nyoshül Lungtok, who lived around Paltrül and studied with him for twenty-eight years, stayed alone at Ari Forest for six months. A small bag of tsampa for food, the clothes on their backs, and a couple of books were their only possessions. At midday they would get together and eat a little tsampa. Then they would tie the tsampa bag to a tree and leave it till the next day. After that, Paltrül would give teachings on a couple of verses of the Bodhicharyāvatāra to Lungtok. Then, wearing the white rag that was his only garment, with a cane in his hand Paltrül would disappear into the woods, loudly uttering, Ha! Ha! Ha! as a meditation exercise. The next day at midday, they would get together again and do the same thing.

 

Soon, many disciples arrived at Ari Forest, and Paltrül started to teach Semnyi Ngalso and Yönten Dzö and other teachings. Paltrül Rinpoche would give teachings, and then the disciples would meditate on them in the forest. As they weren’t paying much attention to their living arrangements, they had very little to eat. Although it was a thick forest, there was no edible vegetation. The tea that they drank was strong and tasty when they first made it with fresh tea leaves; but later they would add more and more water to the old tea, so that it had less and less taste and color. They joked about the different strengths of tea, calling it the “three-kāya tea.” Strong tea was the tea of the elaborate Nirmāṇakāya, weak tea was the tea of the simple Sambhogakāya, and tasteless tea was the tea of the emptiness Dharmakāya. Paltrül saw that property and desirable conditions, such as having plenty of food, good clothing, comfortable dwellings, and compliments and fame are more hindrance than support in spiritual progress. He wrote:

 

Suffering is good and happiness is not good.

Happiness enflames the five poisons of passion.

Suffering exhausts the bad karmas accumulated in the past.

Suffering is the grace of the lama.

Criticism is good and compliments are not good.

If I am complimented, I will be inflated with arrogance.

If I am criticized, my faults will be exposed. . . .

Poverty is good and prosperity is not good.

Prosperity causes the great pains of earning more and preserving it.

Poverty causes dedication and accomplishment of divine Dharma.

 

Next Paltrül went to Dzamthang Monastery, a great center of Jonang studies. There he gave lectures on Uttaratantra based on Künkhyen Dolpo’s interpretations. In Minyak he met Dra Geshe Tsültrim Namgyal, a great Geluk scholar, who was amazed at Paltrül’s scholarship. At Gyaphak Monastery, he gave empowerments and teachings of the complete Longchen Nyingthig, which he gave very rarely. In Golok, he tamed wild robbers and cruel hunters with the power of his presence and words of reason. In Marung he taught people to repeat the words of compassion, OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ, for they didn’t even know how to say it. Then he returned to the Ari Forest of Do Valley and stayed there for some time.

 

In 1856/57 Paltrül heard that Do Khyentse had arrived in the Yutse Mountains of Golok from Tartsedo. Paltrül went there, a distance of many days’ travel, to see Do Khyentse. Paltrül requested Do Khyentse to give him an empowerment of Yumka Dechen Gyalmo of Longchen Nyingthig. Do Khyentse said, “I have been keeping it secret for many years, but now I will confer it upon you,” and with great joy he transmitted it to Paltrül. Among the many prophecies given by Do Khyentse was one that Paltrül would live till the age of eighty. Then Do Khyentse, the second Dodrupchen, and Paltrül performed a sang ceremony together, which became a sign that they would be reborn as siblings. Paltrül returned to the Do Valley and gave teachings on the Bodhicharyāvatāra at many

places.

 

After living for about ten years around the Do and Ser valleys, around the seats of Dodrupchen, Paltrül returned to Dzogchen Monastery. At Padme Thang, Nakchung hermitages, and Shrīsiṃha college of Dzogchen Monastery, he taught the Bodhicharyāvatara, Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Madhyamakāvatāra, Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, Abhidharmakosha, Guhyagarbhamāyājāla, Yönten Dzö, Domsum Namnge, and many other texts for a number of years. He went to Kathok on pilgrimage and gave teachings on the Bodhicharyāvatāra. He received Tertön Chogyur Lingpa at Dzogchen Monastery and received transmissions.

 

Finally, he returned to Dzachukha, his home region. He visited almost every monastery and hermitage in Dzachukha Valley, especially Gekong and Changma hermitages, and taught the Bodhicharyāvatāra and other texts of Mahāyāna philosophy. But for most of the latter part of his life he lived around Dzagya Gön, the seat of his root teacher Gyalwe Nyuku, where Gyalwe Nyuku’s remains are enshrined in a reliquary. At Dzagya, he established a three-month annual Bodhicharyāvatāra teaching and practice, and a one-week teaching and practice on the Pure Land of Amitābha, the Buddha of Infinite Light. Whenever he entered the shrine where the remains of his teacher are preserved in a reliquary, he would always say the following aspirations loudly:

 

In all our successive lives, may we never be influenced by any evil friends. In all our successive lives, may we never violate even a single hair of others. In all our successive lives, may we never be separated from the light of holy Dharma. [Followed by a verse from the scriptures:]

 

Whoever receives teachings from me, and

Even sees me, hears me, thinks of me, or relates to me in conversations,

May the door of his rebirth in inferior realms be sealed,

And may he take rebirth in the Potala Supreme Pure Land.

 

At Mamö Do in Dhachukha he dedicated many years of effort to expanding a famous Dobum, an amazingly huge complex of walls of stones, and on each stone OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ is carved many times. This wall was started by Paltrül’s predecessor. For the first time he started to accept all the offerings he was given and used every piece of butter as the pay for the people who were hired to carve the prayers. When the stone wall was completed, he sent a messenger to request Khyentse Wangpo to consecrate it. On that particular day, blessing grains of consecration, thrown by Khyentse Wangpo from a distance of eight days’ journey by horseback, landed on the stone wall before everyone’s eyes.

 

At Tramalung, he taught and led the practice of unique preliminary trainings, Trekchö and Thögal. Later, his chief disciple, Tendzin Norbu (Tenli), remarked, “I had some understanding of Dzogpa Chenpo before, but at Tramalung I attained a complete understanding and realization of it.”

 

Around 1872, the third Dodrupchen, who was eight years old, came to Dzagya Gön to receive teachings and transmissions from Paltrül. After his teachings, at the request of Paltrül himself, Dodrupchen gave teachings on the Bodhicharyāvatāra to a huge public gathering, which included Paltrül himself. Then Paltrül sent the good news to Khyentse Wangpo saying, “Concerning the Dharma of learning, Dodrupchen has given teachings on the Bodhicharyāvatāra at the age of eight. As for the Dharma of realization, Nyakla Pema Düdül [1816–1872] has just attained the rainbow body. So the doctrine of the Buddha has not yet been diminished.”

 

At that time, Dodrupchen heard the voice of Paltrül through the walls from time to time, saying: “Great Lord Padmasambhava, please watch over me. I have no others to depend upon . . .”—the words of invocation to Guru Rinpoche from the Longchen Nyingthig ngöndro text. This indicates that ngöndro must have been one of his main practices.

 

From the age of seventy-one, he began to save food, enough for about a week, which he had never done before. Beyond that, he wouldn’t accept any offerings, or if he did accept any, he would send them immediately to the stone wall fund. Sometimes he would just leave food where it was offered to him, so that poor people used to follow him to collect offerings that he had left behind.

 

At the age of seventy-six, at the Dza Mamö field he gave teachings on The Aspiration Prayer of the Pure Land and Maṇi Kabum to about a thousand people. After that he didn’t give any public teachings. Whoever came to him, he would send to Tendzin Norbu for teachings. If people insisted, he would scold them instead, but the more he scolded people, the more devoted to him they became. That was because of his compassionate heart and unpretentious words.

 

At seventy-seven, he went to Dzagya Gön and invited the fifth Dzogchen Rinpoche, who was visiting Dzachukha, and they celebrated the tenth day of the Monkey month of the Wood Monkey year, the birthday of Guru Rinpoche.

 

At the age of seventy-eight, Paltrül returned to Ko-ö, his birth place. At the age of eighty, on the thirteenth of the fourth month of the Fire Pig year (1887), he started to have some health problems. On the eighteenth of the month he took his morning tea as usual. Then, before noon, he sat up naked in the Buddha posture and placed his hands on his knees. Khenpo Künpal was present, and Khenpo tried to put the clothes back on Paltrül, but Paltrül didn’t react. After a while, with his eyes open in the meditative glance, he snapped his fingers once and rested his hands in the gesture of contemplation, and his mind merged into the primordial purity. On the twentieth of the month, Tsamtrül Rinpoche performed the ceremony of awakening Paltrül’s mind from the absorption.

 

At his death, no materials of any value were left behind. There was one set of monk’s robes, an alms bowl, a yellow shawl, a lower garment, enough food for about ten days, a set of the five texts by Asaṅga, and a copy of the Madhyamakāvatāra. There were five silver coins and a few scarves, which he hadn’t yet sent to the stone wall fund. That is all he had.

 

The third Dodrupchen describes the teachings of Paltrül as follows:

 

Whatever teachings he gave, he never presented them with any trace of showing off his scholarship but with the intention that they should suit the listeners’ understanding. If his teachings are analyzed, they are seen to be logical and meaningful. If they are heard even by a dull mind, still they are easy to understand. As they are condensed, they are easy to grasp. They are of adequate length, related to the subject, enchanting, and tasteful.

 

Describing Paltrül’s personality, the third Dodrupchen writes:

 

Paltrül uses fearful and overwhelmingly tough words, but there is no trace of hatred or attachment in them. If you know how to listen to them, they are directly or indirectly only teachings. Whatever he says is solid like gold—it is true. He treats all people equally, neither flattering them in their presence nor backbiting in their absence. He never pretends to be something or someone else. So everybody, high or low, respects him as an authentic teacher. He is not partial to high people, nor does he have any disregard for ordinary people. Whoever is involved in unvirtuous activities, unless the person is unchangeable, he digs out that person’s faults at once and exposes them. He praises and inspires people who are pursuing a spiritual life. He seems hard to serve, yet however close you are to him, it is impossible to find a single instance of dishonesty, dubiousness, instability, or hypocrisy in him. He is unchanging in friendship, easy and relaxing to be with. He has patience concerning both good and bad happenings. It is hard to separate from him. Although he remained a hidden practitioner all his life, he was wholesome from every point of view, as he never deviated from the bodhisattva activities. As a proverb says: “Even if the gold remains underground, its light radiates into the sky.” To the extent that you examine him, you will find him clean and pure. To the extent that you think about him, your faith in him increases.

 

Describing Paltrül’s physical appearance, the third Dodrupchen writes:

 

His head is broad like a parasol. His face is like a blossoming lotus, and his sense faculties are immaculately clear. Usually he has very little sickness. From childhood he has been endowed with great wisdom and compassion, and he is a brilliant orator.

 

Khenpo Künpal, who was with Paltrül for many years in his later life, writes that one of his main prayers was the Mañjushrīnāmasahgīti. Not only did Paltrül have no worldly possessions, but he did not have many religious books, which for a scholar-teacher are thought to be most important. Sometimes he had a copy of the Bodhicharyāvatāra and a Mañjushrīnāmasaṅgīti, which were his daily prayers. But even those he would sometimes give away, as he knew the texts by heart. He didn’t have paper or a bamboo pen. So, wherever he was, when he stood up, he was ready to leave a place instantly.

 

Paltrül gave teachings on philosophical texts of sūtra, tantra, and Dzogpa Chenpo and awakened or transmitted ultimate realization to the minds of many fortunate disciples. However, it seems that only on very few occasions did he give empowerments or performed elaborate ceremonies.

 

He was nonsectarian in his teaching, writing, and practicing. He studied, practiced, and taught the complete Buddhist traditions of Tibet. He saw the masters of different schools equally as the Buddha of Wisdom:

 

Lord Sakya Paṇḍita, who brought the dawn of the five knowledges,

Lord Tsongkhapa, the source of the teachings of sūtra and tantra, and

Longchen Rabjam, the master of the complete teachings of the Buddha,

Are the true Mañjushrīs of the Land of Snow [Tibet].

 

A person of great humility and simplicity, he was nonetheless able to accommodate many noble, rich, powerful and famous scholars as his disciples. Many disciples in brocade attire surrounded by hosts of retinues came to the feet of this solitary dweller in old, ragged, patched cloth, who hardly had enough tsampa to eat or fuel to make tea. There were even occasions when his humility shamed the brocade-wrapped, horse-riding people and exposed their weaknesses.

 

Once, Paltrül traveled through a nomadic camp, on foot as usual. He stopped at a family with a huge tent and asked them to let him rest for a couple of days as he was exhausted. The family said, “Can you read prayers?” He answered, “A little bit.” Then they gladly allowed him to come in and let him settle in the lower corner of the tent. Many people were busy making ritual objects, putting up tents, building high seats, and cooking good food for a great lama and his party who were coming to perform an important ceremony. After a couple of days, they got word that the great lama was arriving, and everybody rushed out to receive the lama. Paltrül didn’t go out. People shouted at him and almost dragged him out to present himself before the lama. The lama, attired in brocade, came with all the pomp of about forty horsemen in attendance, holding banners in their hands, as if in a play. Paltrül had no choice but to go before the great lama, so he did. When the grand lama saw Paltrül, he jumped off his horse and fell at the master’s feet, ashamed at his meaningless pompous display before the meaningful, humble presence of the great Paltrül. The lama was Minyak Kunzang Sönam, a disciple of Paltrül who wrote a famous commentary on the Bodhicharyāvatāra. From that day, the lama renounced his pompous way of life, became a hermit, and never rode a horse again, but walked whenever he traveled around. People believed that Paltrül had foreseen the outcome of this encounter through his clairvoyance, an ability he had shown many times.

 

His writings are collected in six volumes, on Dzogpa Chenpo, tantra, sūtra, advice, poetry, and drama. His best-known works are the elaborate instruction on the preliminary practice of Longchen Nyingthig, entitled Words from the Mouth of Samantabhadra Lama; a short but amazing instruction on Dzogpa Chenpomeditation, entitled The Three Words That Hit the Crucial Points, and a commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra.

 

In Eastern Tibet, Paltrül was perhaps the most instrumental of anyone in making the Bodhicharyāvatāra (The Way of Bodhisattva Training) a handbook for many monks; The Aspirational Prayer for Taking Rebirth in the Blissful Pure Land of Amitābha a daily

prayer for many laypeople; the Guhyagarbha-māyājāla-tantra the foundation of Nyingma tantric tradition; Dzogpa Chenpo teachings not only a textual tradition but a meditative realization; and above all, OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ as the perpetual breath of many people.

 

Among his incarnations were Jigme Wangpo of Dzagya Gön and Namkha Jigme of Dzachukha, a son of Düdjom Lingpa.

 

*Above Contents from Masters of Meditation and Miracles: Lives of the Great Buddhist Masters of India and Tibet by Tulku Thondup (1999).