The Treasury of Lives

Khyenrab Norbu (mkhyen rab nor bu) was born in a village near Jasa Lhakhang (bya sa lha) in the Tsetang region of central Tibet in 1883. He was the elder of the two sons of an astrologer Trang Goleb (krang mgo leb), also popularly known as Ngawoche (rnga bo che). His mother was named Yangchen (dbyangs can). Observing the natal star (skyes skar, Skt. janma-nakṣatra) positioned vertical to the child's crown, in consultation with the Swarodaya Tantra (dbyangs 'char gyi rgyud), his father exclaimed that the boy would become famous, perhaps even a great leader.^[1]

As a child, Khyenrab Norbu displayed qualities associated with accomplished religious masters such as kindness and compassion. His father took him along to wherever he visited to give astrological advice and consultations.

His parents enrolled him at the nearby Tsetang Monastery (rtse thang dgon), also known as Ngacho Dratsang (lnga mchod grwa tshang), where he received basic training in language, literature, and Buddhism. Around the age of thirteen he was chosen as one of the candidates for medical admission to Chakpori (lcags po ri), also known as Vaidurya Rikje Dropen Ling (bai Dur+ya rig byed 'gro phan gling). He later reminisced that it was during the selection that he first determined to pursue medicine as his field of specialization in order to serve others.^[2]

The thirteen-year-old Khyenrab Norbu left Tsetang in 1896 and headed for Chakpori. There he studied the fundamentals of medicine from Sera Jinpa Ngawang Choden (se ra sbyin pa ngag dbang chos ldan) and undertook all extracurricular duties tasked to the medical students. Biographers maintain that he and a monk friend, whose name is not known, made a pact that they would persevere in their studies to become the personal physician of the Dalai Lama and the throne holder of Ganden (dga' ldan khri pa) respectively.^[3]

As a monk student, Khyenrab Norbu was studious and utilized even the breaks between his kitchen duties to memorize medical texts and mnemonics. He lived a simple life. When his clothes worn and torn, he did not sew or patch them but instead knotted the tatters, thus earning the nickname Ngacho Gyadupa, meaning “the Hundred Knotted One from Ngacho.”^[4]

In 1897 the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tubten Gyatso (tA la'i bla ma 13 thub bstan rgya mtsho, 1876–1933), appointed Tekhang Jampa Tubwang (bkras khang byams pa thub dbang, d. 1922) and Jabuk Damcho Pelden (bya sbug dam chos dpal ldan) as his physician and junior physician, respectively, and tasked them training disciples to succeed them.^[5]

Yearning for more than his teachers taught in their classes, Khyenrab Norbu approached Tekhang Jampa Tubwang for private sessions. Recognizing his potential, Tekhang selected him and two others—Tenpa Yarphel (btsan pa yar 'phel) and Tsultrim Nyendak (tshul khrims snyan grags)—as the second cohort of special trainees for service to the Dalai Lama.^[6] Tekhang thus became one of his principal masters, from whom he studied The Four Tantras (rgyud bzhi), The Blue Beryl (bai DUrya sngon po) and its Supplement (man ngag yon tan rgyud kyi lhan thabs), and Instructions of the Forefathers (mes po'i zhal lung). Later, when Tsari Chichar Dungdzin (tsa ri ci car gdung 'dzin) suggested that mastering Tibetan grammar would enhance his comprehension of the medical and astrological treatises, Khyenrab Norbu received lessons in advanced grammar and poetry from him. Also, in view of the indispensability of astrology in Tibetan medical practice, Kyenrab Norbu turned to astrologer Dorje Gyaltsen (rdo rje rgyal mtshan) for training in Indo-Tibetan planetary astrology (skar rtis; jyōtiśa), Sino-Tibetan geo-planetary astrology (nag rtis), and Swarodaya astrology (dbyangs 'char). He also trained in producing almanacs, horoscopes, and other forecast materials. Each time he passed his exams he treated his friends to simple meals at Chida Hotel (spyi mda' za khang) in Lhasa.^[7]

He continued his training in astrology, linguistics, poetry, and Buddhist philosophy and tantra under Rongta Lobzang Damcho Gyatso (rong tha blo bzang dam chos rgya mtsho, 1865–1917), Amdo Jampel Rolpai Lodro (a mdo 'jam dpal rol pa'i blo gros, 1888–1936), the Second Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo (pha bong kha 02 bde chen snying po, 1878–1941), Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen (khu nu bla ma bstan 'dzin rgyal mtshan, 1894–1977), and Khangsarwa Orgyen Tenzin Gyatso (khang gsar ba o rgyan bstan 'dzin rgya mtsho).^[8]

In his mid-twenties, during the Great Prayer Festival (smon lam chen mo) in Lhasa, he assisted the senior physician at a free medical camp, where he attended to the rising cases of fever at that time. Then, in 1911, at twenty-eight,^[9] he practiced medicine at one of the medical camps at Drepung Monastery ('bras spungs dgon). While there he composed almanacs and wrote books on human anatomy, childbirth, medical herbs and substances, and commentaries on medical treatises such Moonstone Necklace: Treatise on Human Anatomy (lus thig zla ba nor bu'i do shel) and Universal Healing Mirror: Manual on Childbirth (byis pa btsa' thab kun phan me long). 

In 1913, Khyenrab Norbu accompanied the Tibetan prime minister Shatra Peljor Dorje (bshad sgra dpal 'byor rdo rje, 1860–1919) as his official physician during a visit to India, where he treated many patients and held discussions with Indian and British physicians from other medical traditions.^[10]

At around the end of 1913 or mid-1914, when the Thirteenth Dalai Lama heard that the Sikkimese princes^[11] had fallen ill, he ordered Khyenrab Norbu to travel to Sikkim and treat one or both of them. Khyenrab Norbu conducted a Swarodaya planetary calculation and informed the Thirteenth Dalai Lama that the ailing prince would not live until the audience. Upon further insistence, he departed with the entourage and received a telegram at Nakartse (sna dkar rtse), informing them of the message of the prince's demise. While other members of the goodwill delegation returned, Khyenrab Norbu remained in Tsang for six months at the advice of Tekhang Jampa Tubwang, the senior physician to the Dalai Lama, to educate the healthcare providers on childbirth and childcare.^[12]

In 1916 the Tibetan Government halted plans to build an English-medium school at Torgya Ling (gtor rgyag gling) in Luguk (klu sgug, also klu sbug), Lhasa. Tekhang Jampa Tubwang requested the Thirteenth Dalai Lama to use the site for a medical school. The following year the Dalai Lama established an institute for medicine and astrology in Lhasa that came to be known as Lhasa Mentsi Dropen Ling (bod ljongs lha sa sman rtsis 'gro phan gling), or Lhasa Mentsikhang (lha sa sman rtsis khang).^[13] Having appointed Tekhang as the president,^[14] the Dalai Lama recruited Khyenrab Norbu as a Tibetan government official and appointed him the dean of both Chakpori and Mentsikhang.^[15] Khyenrab Norbu is credited with designing the medical programs and courses, determining assessments and evaluation, and awarding academic degrees and accreditations at the new institution. His reputation grew, and students from across the regions of Tibet and from Bhutan, Sikkim, Ladakh, Lahaul, and Spiti came to seek his teachings. It is said that by 1945, Khyenrab Norbu trained around 300 physicians from Tibet and neighboring regions.[16]

As a college dean, he also lectured and gave guided hands-on training in cutting, bloodletting, moxibustion, and spooning to the students. He also saw patients in the college clinic, and whenever treatment involved the use of burning, perforating, and dissecting tools, he tested them first on the head of dead sheep. In the autumn seasons he took students on medical expeditions to the nearby mountains of Drak Yerpa (brag yer pa) and Luknak Tselka (lug nag tshal ka) to introduce herbs and plants to assist in the study of Tibetan pharmacology.

In 1918, when the junior physician Jabuk Damcho Pelden retired, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama appointed Khyenrab Norbu as his junior physician. With added responsibilities, his day at his residence in Luguk began as early as three am, full of prayer and meditation, administration, lectures, and clinical duties. When the stars filled the night sky he lectured his students on astronomy and astrology students and then finished his day with prayers.

In October 1932, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama unexpectedly relieved Khyenrab Norbu from his position as a personal physician. His residency at Mentsikhang, involvement in all Mentsikhang activities, and an unimpressive academic assessment of Chakpori students were viewed as some of the possible reasons. When the Dalai Lama fell ill that year, with what many considered the common cold, his attendant Chensel Tubten Kunpel (spyan gsal thub bstan kun 'phel, 1905–1963) and a physician Jampa Yeshe (byams pa ye shes) administered medication. The Dalai Lama died on December 17, 1933. The Tibetan government banished Jampa to Kongpo on the charges of administering the wrong medication. Khyenrab's dismissal the year before therefore functioned to shield him from these controversies and enabled him to continue his work at Mentsikhang.^[17]

After the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (tA la'i bla ma 14 bstan 'dzin rgya mtsho, b. 1935) arrived in Lhasa from Amdo and was enthroned on February 22, 1940, Khyenrab Norbu produced an extensive natal horoscope stating that the young Dalai Lama would later grow into "a world religious and political leader if the karma of the Tibetans would sustain and justify it."^[18] To further avert the impediments of the Dalai Lama's first "obstacle year" he conducted and commissioned longevity rituals and meritorious activities such as building a new meditation hermitage at Luguk dedicated to Hayagrīva.

According to his biography, when once examining the murals at the cave hermitage he established at Luguk, a tiger-faced female commitment deity (dam can) from one of the paintings allegedly lifted her tiger-skin frock and revealed male genitalia. Following this experience he commissioned a new image of the deity portrayed as male.^[19] Similarly, when commissioning a painting of Shambhala Kingdom, he asked the artist to include him and his disciples to create the karmic auspices for future rebirth in the celestial kingdom.^[20] Also, he once studied his natal horoscope learned that he would die at sixty-one. However, he later maintained that he had a vision of Goddess Tārā in 1944, and that the deity handed him a self-effacing letter assuring that he would live up to eighty-one.

Between the Thirteenth Dalai Lama's demise and the Fourteenth Dalai Lama's assumption of political rule, the Fifth Reting, Tubten Jampel Yeshe Tenpai Gyaltsen (rwa sbreng 05 thub bstan 'jam dpal ye shes bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan, 1912–1947) and the Third Takdra Rinpoche Ngawang Sungrab Tutob (stag brag 03 ngag dbang gsung rab mthu stobs, 1874–1952) served as regents. The period of regency was marked by allegations of a coup led by Takdra and an insurgency headed by Reting. Takdra is said to have warned the incumbent regent Reting, on the basis of a divination, of ominous harm to his life and advised an atonement meditation retreat. Reting thus entrusted the regency in the hands of Takdra. After the retreat, when Reting returned to resume his position of regent, Takdra was said to have refused to hand over power, accusing Reting of conspiring to assassinate him. Consequently, Takdra imprisoned Reting in Sharchenchok Prison (shar chen lcog) at the Potala (po Ta la). When Khyenrab Norbu reported for a prison checkup, Reting was said to have expressed pleasure on seeing "Tibet's King of Medicine," as he called him. Reting confided that he was well, yet he insisted that Khyenrab Norbu check his pulse and administer him Agar-35 (a gar so lnga)^[21] to form a Karmic bond. When Reting died under suspicious circumstances and his aides were charged with his murder, Khyenrab Norbu appealed for leniency on their behalf. He argued that an unduly punitive response could negatively affect the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, then in his thirteenth year, which, according to astrology, is a year rife with obstacles.

The strength of Khyenrab Norbu's medical practice lay in his emphasis and combined application of Swarodaya astrology, calculation of the "mother-son and friend-foe dynamics in elemental and temporal matrices" (ma bu dgra dgrogs),^[22] and close reading of pulse with emphases on "the seven-fold distinctive pulse beats" (ngo mtshar gyi rtsa brtag thabs bdun). For example, by reading the "thorny-thudding pulse" (skyer tsher rtsa)^[23] of Sonam Yangzom (bsod nams yang 'dzom), the wife of Kashopa Nyima Lhundrub (bka' shod pa chos rgyal nyi ma lhun grub),^[24] Khyenrab Norbu was held to have forewarned the ominous suffering that loomed large over the family, which in fact unfolded with the arrest and banishment of her husband Kashopa to Nedong. The following year, after feeling an "enemy pulse" (dgra rtsa)^[25] on Sonam Yangzom, he predicted that the painful ordeal would soon end. Then, when the sixteen-year-old Fourteenth Dalai Lama assumed political power on November 17, 1950, he ordered a mass amnesty that saw the release of Kashopa.^[26] Only months prior, when an earthquake hit Lhasa on August 14 and the Tibetan government consulted Khyenrab Norbu for Swarodaya calculation, he revealed this as a sign for the impending exchange of power in the near future. Similarly, his astrological calculations were put to services of national significance such as predicting a victory in a battle for the Tibetan traditional government[27] or other uses such as confirming the authenticity of lamas' reincarnations or solving missing account entries as a chief administrator at Mentsikhang.

His contribution to Tibetan medical studies and practice includes restoring a set of seventy-nine medical thangkas commissioned by Desi Sangye Gyatso (sde srid sangs rgyas rgya mtsho, 1653–1705) and preserved at Mentsikhang. Khyenrab Norbu also commissioned new anatomical and laboratory charts on bloodletting and moxibustion and had a painter Lhodrak Tenzin Norbu (lho brag bstan 'dzin nor bu) draw human anatomy based on a human corpse.[28]

One of Khyenrab Norbu’s contributions to social developments in Tibet is his initiative in the Tibetan government’s founding of Trangkhang (sprang khang), meaning ‘Beggars’ House,’ in Lhasa in 1955. The house served as a medical shelter for the homeless and underprivileged in and around Lhasa. He also began a mobile unit comprising of physicians and trainees to visit the house, the streets of Lhasa, and the bedbound patients in Lhasa. This government-approved program was later sustained by his disciples after his death and during the post-Cultural Revolution period.[29]

His books, commentaries, manuals, and mnemonics on medicine and astrology include Essence of the Ocean of Medical Studies: A Primary Treatise on The Root Tantra (rtsa ba'i rgyud kyi sdong 'grems gso rig rgya mtsho'i snying po), The Marvelous Golden Ears of Grain: Materia Medica of Plants and Herbs (sngo sman 'khrungs dpe bsdus pa ngo mtshar gser gyi snye ma), The Good Vase of Nectar: A Book on Pharmacology (sman sbyor bdud rtsi'i bum bzang), and The Heart Essence of the Kalki: Instruction on the Fundamentals of Astrology (rtsis gzhi'i man ngag rigs ldan snying gi thig le).

After the Red Army occupied Tibet, the Chinese government re-appointed him the president of Mentsikhang, where he continued his service in those challenging years. Then, during the Cultural Revolution and its sociopolitical purging, several students accused him of anti-communist charges. Concerned by this turn of painful events, he advised a group of students on the importance of teacher-disciple relations in traditional studies. He died the next day, October 28, 1962. The cause of death is unknown. 

Khyenrab Norbu is remembered as an unequaled master that best embodied the altruistic ideals of Tibetan medicine and astrology. His reputation in some ways outshone the Lhasa Mentsikhang that he helped build and the Chakpori Mentsikhang that he helped administer, and an association to this master served as a noteworthy credential for many Tibetan physicians of the twentieth century, especially in the post-1959 era. Today, his legacy is sustained by over a thousand direct and indirect disciples at Tibetan medical institutes and communities worldwide. ^[30]

 

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Publication of this biography was made possible through support of National Endowment for the Humanities.

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