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The
fifth Dzogchen Rinpoche, Thubten Chokyi Dorje,
prophesized, “In a supreme and sacred place, in the
upper region of Powo, close to an attractive, large,
rocky mountain that is adorned with various trees,
surrounded by large and small lakes and a large cold
river flowing from the south, a child of noble birth
will be born in the year of the Water Monkey. His
parents of method and wisdom, will bear the names
Sonam and Kyid. I have received indications that this
child will be of great benefit to the doctrine and
sentient beings.” The great Khenpo Ngaga Rinpoche
supported this prophecy and recognized the new
incarnation, composing his long life prayer.
The
third Drubwang Pedma Norbu was born in 1932, the year
of the Water Monkey, in the twelfth month. He was born
in the ancestral heritage of Terton Duddul Dorje. His
father’s name was Sonam Gyurmed and his mother’s
name was Dzom Kyid. The third Drubwang Pedma Norbu was
invited to the Palyul monastery in 1936, the year of
the Fire Rat, and took his vows of refuge from the
great Khenpo Ngaga Rinpoche.
One
day at play, while still a small child, he
accidentally broke the horn of a very old and precious
vajra. Fearing that his teacher would reprimand him,
Pedma Norbu quickly glued it back together with his
own saliva, making the vajra much stronger than it had
been originally. On another occasion, during the
Cha-sum ceremony, he accidentally dropped his ritual
bell onto the stone floor. Everyone present assumed
that the bell had broken and yet, when Pedma Norbu
picked it up, the ring was much more melodious than
ever before. As a small child, the third Drubwang
Pedma Norbu displayed many miraculous signs of
accomplishment.
Pedma
Norbu took upasaka (lay) ordination from the second
Chogtrul Rinpoche and received the name Thubten
Lekshed Chokyi Drayang. At Dago monastery, he received
the Nam Cho Great Perfection one month preliminary
practice teachings of Buddha in the Palm of the Hand
and successfully completed all of the practices.
When
Pedma Norbu was thirteen years of age, at the Dago
retreat centre, he took novice ordination. During the
ceremony Khenpo Legshed
Jordan
was his khenpo, Khenpo Khentse Lodro was his sangton
(secret teacher) and Tsamdo Khenpo Sonam Dondrub his
helper.
From
Pedma Jigmed, the third Drubwang Pedma Norbu Rinpoche
received the transmissions of Jigmed Lingpa’s Nine
Volumes; the thirteenth chapters of Karma Chagmed’s
Ah Cho; and So Wangdrag Gyatso’s Ka Bum. While
receiving these transmissions, Pedma Norbu made
intricately woven knots in blessings cords with his
tongue. These sacred tongue-woven blessing cords are
extremely rare and can be made only by a highly
accomplished lama. He continued to make these wondrous
special blessing cords until 1958.
On
another occasion, Pedma Norbu casually drew in ink the
syllable “Ah” on a white conch shell. Later, when
the ink wore away, the syllable was luminously
embossed on the shell. This shell, cherished as an
object of veneration, is presently kept in the Palyul
monastery in
Tibet
. The third Pedma Norbu twice completed the full
retreat of the Illusory Body of Manjushri (a mind
Treasure of Mipham Rinpoche). Just at the conclusion
of the second retreat, a very melodious sound could be
heard coming from his room and brilliant light
radiated from the mirror on his altar.
In
the Darthang monastery, Pedma Norbu received all the
transmissions of the precious Kagyur and Tengyur, as
well as completing a Vajrakilaya retreat. He then
entered into retreat with his root guru, Chogtrul
Rinpoche, for four consecutive years. During these
four precious years that they remained together,
Chogtrul Rinpoche, who was already quite elderly,
suffered from extremely poor vision. It was with great
personal difficulty and hardship that he gave the
third Drubwang Pedma Norbu Rinpoche all the
empowerments, transmissions and secret oral
instructions of Terton Migyur Dorje’s Nam Cho, Ratna
Lingpa’s revelations and virtually every single
transmission practiced in the great Palyul tradition.
Pedma Norbu Rinpoche then successfully completed all
the stages of practice directly under Chogtrul
Rinpoche’s guidance. Among his accomplishments were
the root recitations of the Three Roots, the Nam Cho
preliminary practices, tummo-tsalung; the actual
foundation practices of the Great Perfection Buddha in
the Palm of the Hand, which include trekchod, clear
light togyal, inner togyal practice, darkness
practice, training in the dream state, the nature of
sound and the pure realms. It was during this time
that Chogtrul Rinpoche was known to have said, “If I
am unable to successively transmit all empowerments,
transmissions and teachings to the third Pedma Norbu
Rinpoche before I leave this world, then my precious
human rebirth will have been wasted.” The third
Drubwang Pedma Norbu Rinpoche is the only great lama
alive today who holds entirely the pure lineage of
Terton Migyur Dorje’s Nam Cho and Ratna Lingpa’s
revelations.
In
1957, in an attempt to reverse the onset of the
Chinese occupation, Pedma Norbu selected some monks to
perform, in individual groups, an extensive one month
Vajrakilaya accomplishment. While these
accomplishments were underway, various signs arose
indicating that the Communist Chinese occupation of
Tibet
was irreversible. It was then that the third Drubwang
Pedma Norbu Rinpoche made his decision to depart for
India
, leaving the Palyul monastery for the purpose of the
doctrine and sentient beings. On the long, dangerous
journey that followed, Pedma Norbu passed through
central
Tibet
and crossed over border into
India
. He was constantly befriended and safeguarded by the
meditational deities and dharma protectors during this
difficult journey.
Once
in
India
, he began activating expansive miraculous activities
and shortly after he decided to settle in
Mysore
,
South India
, close to the sacred Drekar Pungwa Stupa, where
Buddha first taught the Kalachakra Tantra.
In
1963, Pedma Norbu Rinpoche built the new Thekchog
Namdrol Shedrub Dargye Ling (Namdroling) monastery and
he established the sangha community. To date, this
monastery has a sangha community of about three
thousand lamas and has become the single largest
Nyingmapa monastic institution out of
Tibet
consisting primary school, higher scholastic
institute, a retreat centre, a nunnery, an old age
home and so forth. In fact it has all the facilities
to study the aspects of the Nyingmapa tradition.
In
India
, during one of the Dharma Medicine Accomplishment
Ceremonies of Nyingthig Palchen Dupa, rainbows arose
from the mandala, the nectar in the skull cup
overflowed and many other extraordinary signs of
accomplishment were viewed by many. For the last
thirty-seven successive years since arriving in
India
, the third Drubwang Pedma Norbu has continued the
annual tradition of performing the accomplishment of
the one hundred million mantra repetitions.
Since
1985, Pema Norbu Rinpoche has spread dharma and
established many centres in
United States
,
Britain
,
Greece
,
Canada
,
Hong Kong
,
Taiwan
,
Philippines
,
Nepal
, and
Singapore
, besides other monasteries around northern part of
India
.
The
third Drubwang Pedma Norbu Rinpoche continually
satisfies the needs and desires of his people by
performing ceremonies to stop or create rain, to
transfer the consciousness of the dead and dying, as
well as after-death intermediate period ceremonies,
exorcisms, long life blessings, healings, and so
forth. There is no limit to the extent of his
selfless, enlightened activities and powerful
miraculous deeds. His efforts for the doctrine and
sentient beings are equal only to the limits of space.
There is no doubt that his enlightened activities will
continue to illuminate the darkness of ignorance in
this world and that there will be good fortune to
continue his historical works for the benefit of the
Buddha’s doctrine and all sentient beings.
(Summarized
from the book called “A
Garland
of Immortal Wish-Fulfilling Trees”.)
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