Namkhai Norbu - Rainbow Body: The Life and Realization of a Tibetan Yogin, Togden Ugyen Tendzin

O THER B OOKS BY C HGYAL N AMKHAI N ORBU

Dzog Chen and Zen

The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen

Drung, Deu and Bn

Journey among the Tibetan Nomads: An Account of a Remote Civilization

Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light

Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State

The Mirror: Advice on the Presence of Awareness

The Supreme Source: The Fundamental Tantra of the Dzogchen Semde (with Adriano Clemente)

Dzogchen Teachings

Yantra Yoga: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement

Birth, Life and Death According to Tibetan Medicine and the Dzogchen Teaching

Longchenpas Advice from the Heart

Healing with Fire: A Practical Manual of Tibetan Moxibustion

The Lamp That Enlightens Narrow Minds: The Life and Times of a Realized Tibetan Master, Khyentse Chkyi Wangchug

A History of Zhang Zhung and Tibet, Volume One: The Early Period

Copyright 2012 by Chgyal Namkhai Norbu. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books.

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and

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Cover painting by Anna Artemyeva, www.a-artemyeva.ru
Cover design by Kasia Skura
Rainbow Body: The Life and Realization of a Tibetan Yogin, Togden Ugyen Tendzin is sponsored by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences, a nonprofit educational corporation whose goals are to develop an educational and cross-cultural perspective linking various scientific, social, and artistic fields; to nurture a holistic view of arts, sciences, humanities, and healing; and to publish and distribute literature on the relationship of mind, body, and nature.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Namkhai Norbu, 1938
[Grub rje Rtogs-ldan U-rgyan Bstan-dzin gyi rnam thar ung bsdus dam pai al lu. English]
Rainbow body: the life and realization of a Tibetan yogin, Togden Ugyen Tendzin / Chgyal Namkhai Norbu; Translated from the Tibetan, edited, and annotated by Adriano
Clemente.
pages cm
Translated from Tibetan.
Includes bibliographical references.
eISBN: 978-1-58394-526-1
1. U-rgyan Bstan-dzin, Rtogs-ldan, 1888-1962. 2. YogisChinaTibet Autonomous
RegionBiography. I. Clemente, Adriano, translator, writer of added commentary. II.
Title.
BQ992.R47N3613 2012
294.3923092dc23
[B]
2011051755

IPC - 602EN10 - [292E] - Approved by the International Publications Committee of the Dzogchen Community founded by Chgyal Namkhai Norbu.

v3.1

KYE HO!

Intelligent being, listen!

If you practice the dharma according to the real

situation, all becomes virtuous .

The instant presence of your primordial state

Is self-perfected in its very nature .

This is marvelous!

Ugyen Tendzin

T HESE VERSES ARE the only written statement of Togden Ugyen Tendzin, a yogin who in a single lifetime transcended the limitations of dualistic phenomena in the total freedom of authentic reality.

They were given to his nephew Chgyal Namkhai Norbu, the author of this book, the last time that they met.

It was the summer of 1954, and Togden was living on the upper floor of the palace of Chag Tobden, and other teachings, besides taking notes on the events of his uncles life that are narrated here. Chgyal Namkhai Norbu also asked for personal advice in written form, as was customary in Tibet at the moment of taking leave from ones lama. The day that they parted, Togden simply asked him to get paper and pen and to write down what he dictated.

In the spring of 1955, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, on the way back to Lhasa from China, stopped at the same palace for a few days, and on that occasion met Togden, who offered His Holiness a long-life pill. Eventually, the palace of Chag Tobden was taken over by the Chinese revolutionists, and Togden was imprisoned in a small barn where nomads stabled animals in summer and used as sleeping quarters in winter. He remained there, practicing as if in retreat, until he dissolved his physical body into the rainbow body, one of the highest results of Dzogchen practice.

Dzogchen, or total perfection, is a teaching that reveals the original state of every individual, a condition that is presented as perfect because of its infinite potentiality to manifest in the variety of all phenomena of existence. The essence of Dzogchen practice is also known as guruyoga , or union with the master, because the state in which ones master lives and that is transmitted to the student is the same authentic condition of primordial potentiality. Therefore the master, in Dzogchen, is the very embodiment or expression of ones ultimate nature. Union with the master means to abide in this authentic condition.

Togdens master was Adzom Drugpa, Drodul Pawo Dorje (18421924), one of the greatest Dzogchen masters of the last century, renowned and praised for the clarity of his teachings. After studying with extraordinary teachers such as Jamyang Khyentsei Wangpo (18201892), Nyagla Pema Dddul (18161872), and Paltrul Rinpoche (18081887), Adzom Drugpa settled as a ngagpa , or lay married yogin, in Adzom Gar, a spiritual center where he used to give teachings in two main periods, summer and winter.

The young Togden, mentally ill as a consequence of psychological shock and resulting chronic depression, was brought there by the yogin Lhundrub Tso (18641946), his sister-in-law. Through the blessing and power of Adzom Drugpa, he slowly recovered from his illness while at the same time his mind started to unfold to the truth of his authentic nature as revealed in the Dzogchen teaching.

Lhundrub Tso, Chgyal Namkhai Norbus grandmother, was raised by her uncle Wang Chen Zhi, an important official of the Chinese emperor a close friend of the family, who took him into his care.

She traveled alone to Derge, until she finally arrived at the feet of Adzom Drugpa, who at that time was also one of the spiritual advisers to the king of Derge. She remained many years at Adzom Gar, practicing in strict retreat, and after her master passed away, she lived her last years with the Norzang family, in which Chgyal Namkhai Norbu was born. She died in 1946, showing the signs of realization of the Dzogchen path.

I have included short biographies of both Adzom Drugpa and Lhundrub Tso in Appendix A and Appendix B, respectively. The first was written by Lhundrub Tso, the second by Jamyang Chdrn (19211985), the authors sister and a devoted student of Lhundrub Tso.

disciple and nephew of Togden Ugyen Tendzin, whose last years were spent in retreat in Nepal.

In the text, the two different sources are distinguished for claritys sake by symbols at the start and close of each account, Togden Ugyen Tendzin by the letter