The Treasury of Lives

The Nineteenth Ngor Khenchen, Namkha Rinchen (nam mkha' rin chen) was born in Sakya in 1612, the water-mouse year of the tenth sexagenary cycle. He was a nephew of the seventeenth abbot of Ngor Monastery, Pel Evaṁ Choling, Drangti Namkha Sanggye (brang ti nam mkha' sangs rgyas, d.u.).

He began studying reading, writing, and the memorization of the daily prayers under the tutorship of his uncle. He enrolled at Ngor where he studied Lamdre and other the Sakya traditions under his uncle and the eighteenth abbot of Ngor monastery, Sherab Jungne (shes rab 'byung nas, 1596-1653).

In 1653, at the age of forty-two, he was appointed to the abbacy of Ngor monastery, becoming the Nineteenth Ngor Khenchen, a post he held until his death in 1657 at the age of forty-six.