The Treasury of Lives

Orgyen Tendzin Norbu (o rgyan bstan 'dzin nor bu) was born in Gemang Kamchung (dge mang skam chung) in Dzachukha in 1841, the year of the iron-ox. His father, Sonam Dargye (bsod nams dar rgyas) was a nephew of Gyelse Zhenpen Taye (rgyal sras gzhan phan mtha' yas, 1800-1855), the founder of Śrī Siṃha College (shrI sing+ha bshad grwa) at Dzogchen Monastery (rdzogs chen dgon). He entered Śrī Siṃha in 1853, the year of the water-ox and was ordained by Zhenpen Taye, who died only two years later.

From the age of seventeen, for the next thirty years, he followed his main teacher, Dza Patrul Orgyen Chokyi Wangpo (rdza dpal sprul o rgyan chos kyi dbang po, 1808-1887), becoming one of his principal spiritual heirs. His other teachers included the Fourth Dzogchen Rinpoche Mingyur Namkhai Dorje (rdzogs chen 04 mi 'gyur nam mkha'i rdo rje, 1793-1870), Khenpo Pema Vajra (pad+ma badz+ra, c.1807-1884), Lingtrul Tubten Gyeltsen Pelzang (gling sprul thub bstan rgyal mtshan dpal bzang, d.u.), Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo ('jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse'i dbang po, 1820-1892), Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa (mchog gyur bde chen gling pa, 1829-1870), Tsamtrul Kunzang Tekchok Dorje (mtshams sprul kun bzang theg mchog rdo rje, d.u.), Rokza Sonam Pelge (rog bza' bsod nams dpal dge, 1800-1884), Gemang Chopa Jigme Tabke (dge mang gcod pa 'jigs med thabs mkhas, d.u.), and Nyoshul Lungtok (smyo shul lung rtogs, 1829-1901/2). The full list of teachings Orgyen Tendzin Norbu received from these masters, especially from Patrul, is vast. Later he would say that while all his teachers were equal in terms of their qualities, Patrul was the greatest in terms of kindness. 

From 1883, Patrul stopped teaching newcomers and directed any prospective students to Orgyen Tendzin Norbu instead. One of his two primary disciples, the famed scholar Zhenpen Chokyi Nangwa (gzhan phan chos kyi snang ba, 1871-1927), also known as Khenpo Zhenga (mkhan po gzhan dga'), came to him this way. After Patrul's death, it was Orgyen Tendzin Norbu who made the funeral arrangements and initially gathered and compiled his writings.

As a teacher, Orgyen Tendzin Norbu was tireless. Staying in mountain hermitages rather than monasteries or villages and living very simply – Tendzin Lungtok Nyima tells us that he boiled his own tea until the age of fifty-eight – he passed on all that he had received. Like Patrul, he was especially committed to transmitting the Bodhicaryāvatāra, and is said to have taught it more than 200 times in all. In addition to the major scholarly treatises, he gave instructions on grammar, poetics, medicine, astrology and the ritual sciences. And he imparted Dzogchen teachings extensively, especially through the writings of Longchen Rabjam (klong chen rab 'byams, 1308-1364) and Jigme Lingpa ('jigs med gling pa, 1729/30-1798).

He had two main students, the renunciant Kunga Pelden (kun dga' dpal ldan, 1878-1944/5), who is said to have inherited the lineage of practice, and Zhenpen Chokyi Nangwa, who inherited the lineage of study. His other students included Minyak Kunzang Sonam (mi nyag kun bzang bsod nams, 1823-1905), the Third Mura, Pema Dechen Zangpo (mu ra 03 pad+ma bde chen bzang po, d.u.), Khenpo Yonten Gyatso (mkhan po yon tan rgya mtsho, d.u.), and Khenpo Kunzang Pelden (mkhan po kun bzang dpal ldan, 1862-1943).

When Orgyen Tendzin Norbu suddenly became ill in his sixtieth year, some of his students reminded him that Patrul had lived to eighty (by Tibetan reckoning) and suggested that he should do the same for the benefit of the teachings and beings. He is said to have agreed to remain for at least another thirteen days and assured them that his commitment towards the teachings and beings would continue until samsara itself was emptied.

Soon afterwards, he is recorded as having said, "Now, wherever I look, throughout both day and night, these visions of buddha-forms (kāya) and light-spheres (bindu) are always present. Could they be empty forms? How amazing!" Another time, he told those around him, "Last night, I dreamt of a person in fine ornaments who said, 'I have come from the glorious mountain in Cāmara to collect you.' But what substance can there be to such double delusion?" A few days later, it is said, while he was seated before his close disciples, staring into the sphere of the sky, with his right hand in the threatening gesture and his left hand resting in equanimity, he uttered the following testament just before his death:

I am Guru Padmākara of Oḍḍiyāna,
A buddha free from birth and death.
Awakening mind is impartial and unbiased,
Beyond labels of the eight stages, the four pairs.

Among this master's writings, most of which appear to have been lost, were annotation commentaries (mchan 'grel) on Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and Candrakīrti’s Madhyamakāvatāra; notes on Finding Rest in the Nature of Mind (sems nyid ngal gso), Three Sets of Vows (sdom gsum), Letter to a Friend (bshes spring), the Sūtra of Recollecting the Three Jewels, and other texts; a topical outline (sa bcad) of the Aspiration towards Sukhāvatī (bde smon); shorter and longer texts in praise of ethical discipline; panegyrics of Longchen Rabjam, Ārya Tārā, and Patrul Rinpoche; and works of spiritual advice and songs of realization.