| Library / Biographies |
Patrul Rinpoche Biography
Patrul RinpocheDza Palge Tulku was born in 1808 in Dzachukha, the nomadic area of northern Kham, to a family with the name of Gyaltok.
He was recognized by Dodrupchen Jigme Trinlé Özer as the incarnation of Palgé Samten Phuntsok and was given the name Orgyen Jigme Chökyi Wangpo (Fearless Lord of Dharma from Orgyen). He was later known as Dzogchen Patrul Rinpoche.
He learned to read and write from an early age and took ordination with Khen Sherab Zangpo.
With Dola Jigme Kalzang, Jigme Ngotsar, Gyalsé Shenpen Thayé and other teachers, he studied the Trilogy of Finding Comfort and Ease1, The Way of the Bodhisattva2, Secret Essence Tantra3 and many other works related to sutra and tantra, as well as the ordinary sciences.
From Shechen Öntrul Thutob Namgyal, he received the reading transmission4 for the Translated Word of the Buddha (Kangyur) and teachings on Sanskrit grammar.
He received the transmissions for the Kangyur and Tengyur in their entirety, together with the writings of Longchen Rabjam and Jigmé Lingpa of the Nyingma tradition, as well as the works of Sakya Pandita, Je Tsongkhapa and other great masters, without sectarian bias.
From his main Guru, Jigme Gyalwé Nyugu, Patrul Rinpoche received instruction on the preliminary practices (Ngöndro) of the innermost secret teachings of Dzogchen (Longchen Nyingtik) some twenty-five times and completed the required practices the same number of times.
In addition, he received instruction on tsa-lung (Skt: nāḍī-vāyu) and atiyoga (Dzogchen) practice. Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje introduced him to the pure awareness of rigpa (Skt. vidyā). He trained for a long time in the Longchen Nyingtik tsa-lung practices, and he received many teachings from Dzogchen Rinpoche Mingyur Namkhé Dorje and other masters.
Shinje Druphuk, or Yamantaka Cave, where Patrul Rinpoche wrote "The Words of my Perfect Teacher."While remaining for long periods near Dzogchen Monastery in the isolated hermitages of Rudam, such as the Yamantaka Cave and the Long-Life cave, he put his energy into the practice of meditation and attained realization.
From the age of thirty, he travelled to Serthar, Yarlung Pemakö and other places, teaching extensively on the Secret Essence Tantra.
In Serthar and the Do valley taught The Way of the Bodhisattva, Mani Kabum, Aspiration Prayer of Sukhavati and so on. He made efforts to put an end to robbery and banditry and abolished the custom of serving meat at special gatherings.
He went to Dzamthang and studied the Six Yogas with Tsangpa Ngawang Chöjor, and then he went to Minyak, where he had extensive discussions with Dra Geshe Tsultrim Namgyal on the Prajñāpāramitā and other topics. In this way, he went about as a renunciate, having abandoned all worldly concerns, and worked impartially for the sake of others, without any fixed agenda or itinerary.
In Shri Singha college at Dzogchen Monastery and at Pemé Thang and other places he taught the treatises of Maitreya, the Middle way, Abhidharma, Secret Essence Tantra, Treasury of Precious Qualities, Ascertainment of the Three Vows and other topics.
At monasteries like Kathok, Sershul, Labtridu and Chuhor of different traditions, he gave extensive explanations on The Way of the Bodhisattva to assemblies of monks. While Patrul Rinpoche rarely gave empowerments or conducted public rituals, he established a teaching center in the vicinity of Dzagyal Monastery. His disciples included masters of the Nyingma, Sakya, Gelugpa and Kagyü schools.
According to his attendant, Sönam Tsering, on the 17th day of the fourth month of Male Fire Pig Year (1887), Patrul ate a little, recited the Tantra of Immaculate Confession, did a few prostrations and performed the fivefold yogic exercises of the twenty-one exercises in the Longchen Nyingtik trulkhor.5
On the 18th, early in the morning, he ate some curds and drank some tea. At sunrise, he took off his clothes, sat upright in vajra posture, and rested his hands on the knees[...] At one point, Patrul gaze into space and snapped the fingers of both hands.6 He rested his hands in the mudra of equanimity. Then Patrul entered in the infinite luminous space beyond birth and death, pure from the very beginning. (M. Richard, Enlightened Vagabond).
Patrul Rinpoche's writings were not collected by the master himself or by his attendants, and thus many of them were never carved into printing blocks. Those which were printed, and which are now to be found, comprise six volumes.
These include works of various styles and genres, including commentaries on and structural outlines for the treatises of Maitreya, The Way of the Bodhisattva, Treasury of Precious Qualities and other texts, such as The Words of My Perfect Teacher, and miscellaneous writings.
Sources
• https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Patrul_Rinpoche
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrul_Rinpoche
• https://kuenselonline.com/lung-authorisation-and-transmission
• Enlightened Vagabond: The Life and Teachings of Patrul Rinpoche, by Mathieu Richard
Footnotes
1. Trilogy of Finding Comfort and Ease (Tib. Ngalso Kor Sum) — a trilogy of Dzogchen writings by Longchen Rabjam: (1) Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind; (2) Finding Comfort and Ease in Meditation; (3) Finding Comfort and Ease in the Illusoriness of Things.
2. Skt. Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra or Introduction to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life – Shantideva's classic guide to the Mahayana path. It is included among the so-called "thirteen great texts"
3. Skt. Guhyagarbha Tantra (aka Tantra of the Web of Magical Illusion), is the main tantra of the Mahāyoga, or Great Yoga.
4. Reading transmission (Tib. Lung) is one of the three modes of transmission of the teachings in Vajrayāna Buddhism alongside empowerment (Tib. Wang) and instructions (Tib. trhi). Wang is the rite of initiation or empowerment while lung gives the recipient the transmission of the teachings and the authorization to access it. Trhi is the actual didactic instruction on how to meditate or practice.
5. Tsa lung trul khor (Skt. vāyu-adhisāra "magical movement instrument, channels and inner breath currents"), known in short as trulkhor "magical instrument" or "magic circle" (adhisāra) is a Vajrayana discipline which includes prāṇāyāma (breath control) and body postures (āsana).
6. When great practitioners pass away they snap their fingers to request the peaceful and wrathful deities residing in the various places of the mandala of their body to leave the body, as it soon would be lifeless.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
