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Thegchog
Nyingpo was born in 1908, the fifteenth rabjung year
of the Earth Monkey. The fifteenth Karmapa Khakyab
Dorje prophesized that this child was indeed the
reincarnation of the third Karma Kuchen Rinpoche Do-ngag
Chokyi Nyima and gave him the name Karma Thegchog
Nyingpo Drimed Yong Drub, which means the Stainless
Fully Accomplished Essence of the Supreme Vehicle.
Thegchog
Nyingpo received every important transmission in the
Palyul lineage from the second Pedma Norbu, including
minor transmissions for ritual practice, ransoming
life, exorcism of negative forces and others. After
receiving all transmissions, Thegchog Nyingpo entered
into a three years retreat at the Palyul retreat
centre to practice Ratna Lingpa’s Three Kaya
Accomplishment.
After
successfully completing the retreat, Thegchog Nyingpo
began giving empowerments, transmissions and teachings
to large gatherings. He also commissioned the
paintings of ten thangkas of the Gongdu meditation
deities. He was always very generous toward the dharma
and greater sangha community, accumulating an
abundance of great merit.
In
1956, the year of the Fire Monkey, the communist
Chinese occupation of the
Tibet
began. In 1958, the year of the Earth Dog, Thegchog
Nyingpo was fifty-one years old when he was captured
and imprisoned by the Communist Chinese troops. After
undergoing a great amount of torture, he was taken to
the Mugngag Labour Camp. One day, Thegchog Nyingpo
told the prison guards that he was planning to leave.
Thinking he was planning an escape, the guards chided
him saying, “We will see how far you get.” They
intended that evening to watch him very closely, but
were distracted when a tigress with four cubs came
near the prison. All of the guards on duty rushed off
to hunt the tigress and what they found when they
returned is as follows: Some of the guards reported
that Thegchog Nyingpo had completely disappeared,
without leaving a trace behind (the great rainbow body
transference), others said they found him sitting
without breathing in meditative equipoise. The
announcement was made to the general public that
Thegchog Nyingpo had died suddenly of an unexplained
illness.
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