Shechen Gyaltsap Gyurmé Pema Namgyal - Practicing the Great Perfection: Instructions on the Crucial Points

Shechen Gyaltsap Gyurm Pema Namgyal, the author of this short collection of essential instructions, was born in the iron sheep year of the fifteenth sexagenary cycle (rabjung) (1871) in the region of Derg, in Eastern Tibet. He received his birth name from his father, Adro Sherab, a hidden yogi of high accomplishment. Even if he were to be examined a hundred times, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo declared, no error would be found. He was duly enthroned and received the name Gyurm Pema Tendzin Khedrup Gyatsoi D. Later, on receiving his first monastic vows from Dzogchen Khenpo Damch zer, he was given the name Gyurm Pema Namgyal, by which he is more generally known.

As one might expect, Shechen Gyaltsaps birth and early youth were attended by numerous auspicious signs. In particular, it is recorded that the bodhisattva instinct and the habits of compassion were so strong in him that from his earliest years, far from ever consuming meat, he could not bear even its taste or smell. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche records that simply to drink soup made in vessels that had been used to cook meat would, it seems, produce an allergic reaction in his mouth. This may well have been regarded as one of the authenticating signs of his identity since it was recorded that the previous incarnation had often remarked on the faults of eating the flesh of animals slaughtered for food, the consumption of which he considered to be the cause of the illnesses that were to shorten his life. In any case, like the famous Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol and Patrul Rinpoche before him, Shechen Gyaltsap abstained from meat throughout his life, and this was no mean accomplishment in the cold highlands of Kham, where the only alternative foods were dairy products, tsampa flour made from roasted barley grains, and the sparse vegetables imported from lower, more fertile regions.

Shechen Gyaltsap received full ordination from Gemang Khenpo Ynten Gyatso, otherwise known as Khenpo Ynga, the author of the celebrated three-volume commentary on Jigme Lingpas Treasury of Precious Qualities. Natural inclination disposed him to monastic discipline, and he maintained a lifelong and utterly unblemished observance of the vows. Having gone forth into homelessness, to use the traditional expression, it is said that he never again crossed the threshold of a laypersons house. His life henceforth consisted of study, teaching, and prolonged meditative practice.

Endowed with a keen intelligence, a prodigious memory, and a natural inclination to study, he immersed himself in the world of Tibetan scholarship and practice, which in his day had been brought to vigorous life by the