The Treasury of Lives

Chagdud Tulku Pema Gargyi Wangchuk (lcags mdud sprul sku pad+ma gar gyi dbang phyug) was born into the prominent Tromge clan (khrom dge) of the Washul Trom (wa shul khrom) or Tromtar (khrom thar) region of Kham. His mother, Dawa Dolma (zla ba sgrol ma, 1910–1941), was a renowned delok ('das log)—someone who journeys into the afterlife and returns to tell about it. His maternal uncle was Tromge Trungpa Rinpoche (khrom dge drung pa), who was also one of his root gurus.

When his mother was around seventeen, she attended ceremonies led by the Fifteenth Chagdud Tulku, Tenpai Gyeltsen (lcags mdud sprul sku 15 bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan, d.1928), the leader of Chagdud Monastery (lcags mdud dgon) in Nyarong. When Chagdud Tenpai Gyeltsen saw Dawa Drolma in the crowd at his event, he called her into his presence, offered her a reliquary box, and told her that they would meet again before long. Shortly after, he passed away. This encounter, witnessed by many, was considered strong evidence for the future recognition of her son as the Sixteenth Chagdud Tulku.[1]

Shortly after that encounter, Dawa Dolma went to Lhasa with her family where they would stay for three years. While in Lhasa, she had a sexual relationship with the Fifth Khardo Tulku Kelzang Tubten Nyendrak (mkhar rdo sprul sku 05 bskal bzang thub bstan snyan grags, 1908–1951), a Geluk lama of Sera Monastery (se ra dgon).[2] Khardo Tulku was a close associate of the Fifth Reting Rinpoche Jampel Yeshe Gyeltsen (rwa sgreng 05 'jam dpal ye shes rgyal mtshan, 1912–1947), the regent of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama (ta la'i bla ma 14, b. 1935) and would be imprisoned for his political activity in 1947. With Khardo Rinpoche, Dawa Dolma conceived a child.

Soon after returning to Kham with her family, she received a letter from Dzogchen Rinpoche Tubten Chokyi Dorje (rdzogs chen rin po che thub bstan chos kyi rdo rje, 1872–1935) informing her that the child she was carrying was an important tulku. Around the same time, she also received a letter from Khardo Tulku that reiterated the child's importance and offered many predictions about his life. The child, Chagdud Tulku, was born in 1930.

Recognition and early training

From 1930 to 1933, Dawa Dolma raised her son at her family home in Tromtar. In 1933, monks from Chagdud Monastery searching for the rebirth of the Fifteenth Chagdud Tulku, selected Dawa Dolma's child after evaluating him with traditional methods. Dawa Drolma was away at the time and her father refused to allow the monks to take the child to Nyarong without her permission. He accepted the recognition, but informed them they would have to wait for Dawa Dolma to arrange his enthronement and training at Chagdud Monastery.

According to Chagdud Rinpoche's autobiography, his mother was angry that her father had informally promised her son to Chagdud in her absence, and she moved about a week away by horse to Tenpel Monastery (bstan 'phel), a Drukpa Kagyu monastery in northeast Derge. About his mother’s peculiar reaction, Chagdud Tulku writes,

Later the family would understand that it was necessary for her to leave them in order to fulfill an aspect of her destiny that had been prophesied long before, that she should stabilize the health and life of Tulku Gyurmed Namchag Dorje (sprul sku 'gyur med nam lcags rdo rje), a very old, frail lama who was the abbot of Tenp'hel Gonpa.[3]

She eventually married a Geluk lama named Sodga (bsod dga') who was associated with Bumsar Monastery ('bum gsar dgon). With him she would have another child, a daughter named Trinle Wangmo ('phrin las dbang mo). Chagdud Tulku lived with his mother in a house near the monastery until 1940.

In 1934, Chagdud Tulku's father, Sera Khardo Rinpoche, sent a nun to help train the child. He recalls that she was a severe disciplinarian who forced him to sit motionless all day and beat him when he could not wait for scheduled bathroom breaks. After several months of this draconian training, Dawa Dolma sent the nun back to Lhasa. Dawa Dolma then asked her personal treasurer, a gentle man named Lama Tsegon (bla ma tshe mgon), if he would train the child for a few hours a day. He took a very different approach and incentivized the young tulku to study by rewarding him with toys and playful recesses.

During this period, a Khenpo Ngawang Nyendrak (mkhan po ngag dbang snyan grags) gave Chagdud Tulku his first Vajrayāna empowerment and the young tulku completed a fourteen-day retreat on the practice of Mañjuśrī. He also continued his informal training under Lama Tsegon, who taught him the basics of ritual, shrine-keeping, and sādhana practice. At one point, Lama Tsegon had to travel and Chagdud Tulku recalls that he wasted no time causing trouble to his mother, family, and neighbors in his tutor's absence. Dawa Dolma sent the child to be supervised by a very austere, no-nonsense local practitioner named Lama Wanga (bla ma dbang dga'). For three months, Lama Wanga kept the boy on a strict schedule with increased intensity and rigor in his studies. He also had the boy accompany him in meditation in the meadows overlooking the valley. Despite the lama's intimidating personality, Chagdud Tulku came away impressed by the seriousness and sincerity of his lifestyle and practice.

Chagdud Tulku recalls that during these years he had frequent prescient dreams and waking experiences of clairvoyance. In one dream, two individuals from the nearby village were touched by noxious smoke. The two later died. Another time, he had a waking vision of Lama Tsegon's brother falling from a horse, which he told to Lama Tsegon. Shortly after, that same brother showed up, injured from a horse fall. In another dream, he saw strange things he would later learn were cars and heavy machinery, and he recounts meeting various past masters and strange beings in what seemed to be visions.

From a Lama Atse (bla ma a tshe), he learned the practice of Chod, and when he was eight years old, he was called on to preside over a Chod ceremony to dispel an outbreak of livestock disease in the area. Lama Atse also taught him the practice of powa ('pho ba) or transference of consciousness at death. Around this time, his stepfather Sodga taught him Śāntideva’s classic text, The Way of the Bodhisattva (bodhisattvacāryāvatāra, byang chub sems dpa' i spyod pa la ' jug pa).

Lama Tsegon gave Chagdud Tulku empowerments for Cakrasaṃvara, Vajra Yoginī, and Guru Drakpo (a wrathful form of Padmasambhava), and began to teach him the fundamentals of Buddhist theory and practice—most importantly, the Four Mind Changings (blo ldog rnam bzhi): the preciousness of human life, impermanence, karmic cause and effect, and the faults of saṃsāra. Each day, Lama Tsegon gave him a short teaching, which the boy would have to repeat back to him as accurately as possible. Often, Chagdud Tulku attended teachings Lama Tsegon gave at the monastery's three-year retreat center. Toward the end of the retreat, Lama Tsegon informed the boy that it would be his duty to teach the preliminary practices to the next group of retreatants, despite not having performed them yet himself. This inspired the tulku to learn his lessons well and to deepen his understanding.

At one point during his childhood, he briefly met the great Khenpo Ngawang Pelzang (mkhan po ngag dbang dpal bzang, 1879–1941), also known as Khenpo Ngaga (mkhan po ngag dga'), though the details of this encounter are not public.

In 1941, Dawa Dolma decided that her eleven-year-old son should not only be Lama Tsegon's teaching assistant, but that he should do the entire retreat as a participant. Only four months into the retreat, Dawa Dolma passed away. Chagdud Tulku briefly left retreat to attend her cremation; he also executed his mother's will and arranged to use her estate to build a large Vajrasattva prayer wheel at Tenpel Monastery. He then returned to the retreat.

After finishing the accumulations of the preliminary practices, the retreatants practiced Cakrasaṃvara, Vajra Yoginī, and the Six Yogas of Nāropa. During the second half of this retreat, Chagdud Tulku recalls,

For several months, I could see as if there were no walls in my room and I could read in the dark after the butterlamps were out. I could also see beings living in other realms of existence.[4]

While in retreat he contemplated the options for his life after retreat and decided that he would rather follow the path of a non-monastic yogi instead of remaining a monk, although he would not return his vows for over a decade.

At fourteen, he finished his retreat and lived off-and-on with his stepfather and half-sister, while taking frequent trips to receive teachings and empowerments from teachers throughout Kham.

One of these journeys was occasioned by the lamas of Tenpel Monastery who requested Chagdud Tulku to travel to Dzongsar Monastery (rdzong gsar dgon) to ask Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro (' jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse chos kyi blo gros, 1893–1959) to recognize tulkus associated with Tenpel. His stay at Dzongsar coincided with the bestowal of the Treasury of Revelations (rin chen gter mdzod), the collected treasure teachings of the Nyingma tradition. During this event, Chagdud Tulku first met Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (dil mgo mkhyen brtse rin po che, 1910–1991), who would later become one of his main gurus.

When Chagdud Tulku was sixteen, he visited his maternal relatives in Tromtar, where a delegation from Chagdud Monastery successfully exhorted him to return with them to Nyarong and assume his position as head of the monastery. In his autobiography he writes that at Chagdud Monastery he recognized many people from his past life and that he bent a sword, a feat that was expected of one bearing the Chagdud title. He also relates how he took a volume of scripture (Tibetan books are not bound) and told the monks, " I will throw this text out a window. If the pages scatter, it will indicate that my teachings will flourish in this place; if not, my teachings will take root elsewhere."[5] He tossed it and the book fell to the ground in one piece.

After only a few months performing rituals around Chagdud Monastery, he traveled with Lama Tsegon to receive teachings from Batur Khenpo Tubga (ba thur mkhan po thub dga', 1886–1956) who lived in a tent surrounded by students dwelling in tiny earthen huts. Chagdud Tulku studied under Batur Khenpo for a year and a half, reading classic texts by Śāntideva, Nāgārjuna, and others, gaining a solid foundation in Madhyamaka philosophy.

He then returned to Tenpel Monastery briefly, before making the three-day ride to Shechen Monastery (zhe chen dgon) where he would stay for eight months studying under Shechen Kongtrul (zhe chen kong sprul, 1901–1960). Shechen Kongtrul tutored him in Nāgārjuna’s texts, but his training emphasized Mahāmudrā and the deepening of meditation.

Back at Tenpel, with his stepfather Sodga Chagdud Tulku discussed whether he might leave the path of monastic celibacy to pursue the life of a non-celibate ngakpa. Wanting to give the tulku resources for dealing with his budding sexuality, Sodga gave him an empowerment for the Lotus Ḍākinī and together they performed a six-month retreat emphasizing the training of the body's subtle energies.

Sodga then arranged an audience for Chagdud Tulku with Shechen Rabjam Gyurme Kunzang Tenpai Nyima (zhe chen rab 'byams 'gyur med kun bzang bstan pa'i nyi ma, 1910–1959), specifically to ask the great lama which chosen deity the tulku should take as the center of his practice. Shechen Rabjam told him to focus on Green Tārā.[6]

Rededication to the religious path

Now in his late teens, Chagdud Tulku recalls how he began to feel some existential malaise. Outwardly and inwardly, his practice was progressing, but his realization was not stable. Around this time, some local men burglarized his room at Tenpel Monastery, and he fell into a depressed state. Seeking a change of scenery, he went to Tromtar to stay with his maternal relatives, and by his account, for several years he became lax in his spiritual practice and spent most of his time studying medicine and serving as a negotiator for his uncle's land disputes, including one that escalated into a full-blown gunfight. During this period, Chagdud Tulku visited a distant relative in the area, a lama named Tulku Arik (sprul sku a rig, 1908–1988) who was a close disciple of Khenpo Ngawang Pelzang. He recalls,

As I did prostrations before him, he looked at me sorrowfully, his eyes filling with tears. "Don't go this way. Whether you succeed or not there will be no benefit. It is only an obstacle to your dharma. Do practice instead."

That was all he said, but his compassion melted into my innermost heart. For a long time I wept, and as I did, the jagged ice of my hostility began to thaw. Before I left his presence that day, I resolved to go into a solitary three-year retreat immediately.[7]

In the summer of 1949 or 1950, he retired to his family's monastery, Tromge (khrom dge dgon), and began a second three-year retreat under the guidance of his uncle, Tromge Trungpa. This time, he focused on the Nyingma tradition, in particular, the Longchen Nyingtik (klong chen snying thig) preliminary practices, Tārā, and Dzogchen. In the final week of this retreat, Tromge Trungpa met with him to evaluate his results and to clarify any doubts. Shortly after, without showing any signs of sickness, Tromge Trungpa passed away. His body was left undisturbed for three days, then cremated on the day Chagdud Tulku finished his retreat.

Departure for central Tibet and India

After concluding his retreat, Chagdud Tulku was unnerved by the increase of the Chinese Communist presence in Kham. He remembers,

It was through the power of money that the Chinese steadily subverted Tibetan society. When they first arrived, they paid extravagantly in silver for the smallest favor. If they rented a horse to travel two or three miles, or if someone brought water to their campsite from the creek fifty feet away, they overpaid the service enormously. In their conduct the Chinese were friendly and accommodating and, if insulted, simply smiled and turned away. Tibetans began to think they weren't so bad, especially compared with the Central Tibetan military, which requisitioned men, horses and supplies, offered little if any compensation and tolerated no protest.[8]

During this time (mid 1950s), a Tromge family delegation rode to Dzongsar for an audience with Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro. Among other things, they asked his advice about whether it was time to seek refuge from the Chinese in the hidden land of Pemakod on the Tibetan border with Arunachal Pradesh, India. Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro told them that there was no hurry to leave. Chagdud Tulku later explained that Khyentse Rinpoche believed that there was a Chinese informant present and the family would incur serious trouble if they were caught trying to leave.

Comforted by Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro's reassurance, Chagdud Tulku began preparations for another long retreat. Just before his retreat, however, he was prevailed upon by his close friend, Tulku Jigme Namgyel (sprul sku ' jigs med rnam rgyal), to return to his seat at Chagdud Monastery.

In 1955, after perhaps a year or so at Chagdud Monastery, he decided to lead a group of his monks and nuns on pilgrimage to central Tibet. They passed through the town of Kandze where they first saw the road the Chinese were building into Kham—cars, trucks, and machinery were streaming over it. In Kandze, they arranged transportation over Trola Pass (khro la) to Derge Gonchen (sde dge dgon chen) and on to the large city of Chamdo. In Chamdo, he was struck not only by the imperious Chinese military presence, but also the climate of sectarianism on the part of the Geluk monastic community there. This was the first time he heard of the crusades of Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo (pha bong kha pa bde chen snying po, 1878–1941) who, in the 1920s and 1930s, had promoted his unique interpretation of the Geluk tradition, especially in Kham, where non-Geluk traditions were more prevalent. In the 1930s, Pabongka had even formed an alliance with a Chinese opium warlord whose help he wanted to take over the region's monasteries.[9] About this climate, Chagdud Tulku recalls,

Although there were doctrinal differences among the traditions, sometimes strongly disputed in formal debates, in Kham there was generally acceptance and cooperation. Since both my father and stepfather were Gelugpa lamas, my mother's family was Sakya and I was trained in both Kagyu and Nyingma traditions, any outer sectarian divisiveness would have inwardly fragmented me. I was spared this conflict until I listened to stories in Chamdo, and hearing them I felt uncomfortable and sad.[10]

After a short time in Chamdo, their party made its way slowly through Riwoche into Powo and over the Powo Chung Tola Pass (spo bo chung mtho la). Next, they visited Chumdo Monastery (chu mdo dgon) on the way to Kongpo, Tsāri (tsA ri), and Yarlung, where they visiting Yarlung Sheldrak Cave (yar klung shel brag) and other sacred sites around Trandruk Monastery (khra ' brug dgon).

Finally, they arrived at the great Nyingma monastery of Mindroling (smin grol gling) where Chagdud Tulku decided to stay, parting ways with his own monks who, as he related in his autobiography, had burdened him with their uncouth behavior throughout the journey. At Mindroling, he received teachings from Minling Khenchen Ngawang Khyentse Norbu (smin gling mkhan chen ngag dbang mkhyen brtse nor bu, 1905–1968). He then went on pilgrimage to Samye Monastery (bsam yas dgon). As soon as he arrived there, he learned that Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (bdud ' joms ' jigs bral ye shes rdo rje, 1904–1988) was conferring the empowerments of the Treasury of Revelations not far away. Chagdud Tulku went immediately and during a session break introduced himself to Dudjom Rinpoche, who had known his mother. The event was nearly over, but he stayed for several days receiving the final empowerments, during which time he made friends with Dudjom Rinpoche's son, Trinle Norbu ('phrin las nor bu).

Following the empowerments, running out of resources, Chagdud Tulku went back to Samye to fulfill his dream of doing retreat in the Chimpu caves (mchims phu) above the monastery.

After several months of retreat, Chagdud Tulku and a companion named Nego Lama (gnas mgo bla ma) visited a cave near Samye associated with Padmasambhava's disciple Ngenlam Gyelwa Chokyang (ngan lam rgyal ba mchog dbyangs). They then received the reading transmission (lung) of sections of Longchenpa's (klong chen pa, 1308–1364) Seven Treasuries (klong chen mdzod bdun) from Dudjom Rinpoche at Samye. He then did two more months of retreat at another Chimpu cave before going to Lhasa with Nego Lama.

In Lhasa, he stayed in the home of a member of the Pomdatsang family (spom mda' tshang) who had been a disciple of Tulku Arik back in Tromtar. The family's spare room was being occupied by Polu Khenpo Dorje (spo lu mkhan po rdo rje), but the khenpo agreed to let Chagdud Tulku share the space. He ended up staying for a year, receiving teachings from Polu Khenpo Dorje daily, especially on Dzogchen. During this time, Chagdud Tulku formally returned his monastic vows to Khenpo Dorje. About his momentous decision, Chagdud Tulku said,

In Tibetan Buddhism one can return unbroken vows to the lama from whom one received them. In my case this would have been Tulku Arig, who reinstated my vows during my second three- year retreat. However, in view of the impossibility of returning to Tromt'har to do this, it was appropriate to return them to Khanpo Dorje as my root teacher.[11]

In 1956, concerned with the increased Chinese presence in Tibet, the student and teacher agreed to journey to Pemakod. Chagdud Tulku set out first, transporting some of his teacher's books and religious items, but never made it to his destination, having to detour to Kongpo. Upon arriving, he performed a sixteen-day Nyungne (nyung gnas) retreat and co-led a Vajrakīlaya drub chen (sgrub chen) with a Khamwang Tulku (khams dbang sprul sku). He and Khamwang Tulku would later also lead a Padmasambhava drubchen that ran them afoul of the Chinese authorities because of the large crowd it drew. Khenpo Dorje eventually arrived and lived with Chagdud Tulku in a retreat house for six months.

They stayed in Kongpo for about a year and half, while tension under the Chinese occupation was growing. In spring 1958, Chagdud Tulku joined a team that included Katok Wontrul Tsultrim Yonten Gyatso (kaH thog dbon sprul tshul khrims yon tan rgya mtsho) to scout for a site in the Pemakod region that would be suitable for the resettlement of thousands of internally displaced people. They returned to Kongpo to prepare, and during this time Chagdud Tulku arranged to marry Karma Dolma (karma sgrol ma), a young woman from a respected Kongpo family. Regarding his marriage, Chagdud Tulku recounts,

A friend suggested that I call on the father of a certain well-respected Kongpo family and ask for the hand of one of his four fine daughters. After much discussion with my friend about the character of the family and my prospects for success, I went, taking a horse as a gift to the father. He accepted on behalf of his daughter Karma Drolma.

In Tibet almost all marriages were arranged by parents for their children, or at least by parents for their daughters. A suitor for a young woman might approach her father directly as I had done. My success with Karma Drolma's father was partly due to my stature as a lama, marriageable lamas being considered good prospects by many Tibetans. However the arrangements were made, marriage was considered a strong alliance of relatives and a very pragmatic matter, socially and economically. The character of the family remained a primary consideration.[12]

Following this arrangement, Khenpo Dorje returned to Lhasa to tie up some affairs, and his return was delayed by the deteriorating state of the Chinese occupation. When he arrived in Kongpo, he relayed stories of the fighting that had broken out on the outskirts of Lhasa itself.

That year, the Chinese began cracking down on the refugee population in Kongpo. They were particularly aggressive in their treatment of men from Kham, whom they feared would spearhead a rebellion. Being one of the important Khampa tulkus in the region, Chagdud Tulku went into hiding for several months. In early 1959, a battalion of Khampa rebels entered Kongpo, and requested Chagdud Tulku to lead a three-day Vajrakīlaya ceremony. As soon as it concluded, the Chinese troops opened fire on the gathering. As the Khampa fighters pushed back, Chagdud Tulku and Khenpo Dorje fled with everyone else who could walk. There was no time for him to gather his wife, Karma Dolma, and she remained with her family. For all the refugees, their destination was now India.

Chagdud Tulku made the journey in a large group, first crossing the Dakpo Pass (dwags po la) toward Sang-ngak Choling Monastery (gsang sngags chos gling) near the border with Arunachal Pradesh. Pursuing Chinese troops captured anyone that fell behind. They crossed the Lungjuk Pass (klung 'jug la) and stayed near Saru Mountain in the Arunachal Pradesh/Nagaland border region near Bhutan. There was very little to eat, and for highland Tibetans, the climate was sweltering. Finally, they reached an Indian army encampment where they stayed for a few days before it was attacked by the much stronger Chinese forces; both India and China continue to assert sovereignty over Arunachal.

Chagdud Tulku, Khenpo Dorje, and their considerably reduced party continued south for twelve more days to an army post at Lemigang where the Indian army was granting identification papers and food to the refugees. Chagdud Tulku, Khenpo Dorje, and Khenpo Dorje's brother were unable to continue walking and were flown by helicopter to a refugee center called Dakpo Richok (dwags po ri mchog), where they stayed for a month before being transferred to a large Tibetan resettlement camp in Missamari in the Indian state of Assam. Khenpo Dorje and his family were invited by a sponsor to relocate to Kalimpong; Chagdud Tulku remained in Missamari for many months, very ill for most of the time. There, Chagdud Tulku reunited with his wife, Karma Dolma, who had arrived with her family, and she gave birth to a son, who he believed to be a tulku of a Garzhe Khenpo. A week after the child's birth, however, he passed away.

India and Nepal

In 1960 Dudjom Rinpoche offered the extensive transmission of the Treasury of Revelations and the Nyingma Kama (snying ma bka' ma)—the collection of Nyingma teachings not classified as revelation—in Kalimpong, and Chagdud Tulku and Karma Drolma decided to resettle there. He was able to see Khenpo Dorje one last time before his teacher moved on to Darjeeling, and then to Bhutan, where he would pass away in 1970. Unable to see Khenpo Dorje anymore, Chagdud Tulku took Dudjom Rinpoche as his root guru and served him by overseeing building projects and carrying out administrative duties, and he cultivated a close relationship with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

In 1962, Chagdud Tulku and Karma Dolma again followed Dudjom Rinpoche, this time to Tso Pema (mtsho pad+ma). There, he alternated between retreat and performing tasks in service of Dudjom Rinpoche and the refugee community. At one point during this time, he encountered a monk who had been a disciple of Apaṃ Terton Choying Dorje (a paM gter ston dpa' bo chos dbyings rdo rje, 1895–1945). The monk held the lineage of Apaṃ Terton's Red Tārā treasure (sgrol ma dmar mo) and he shared the empowerment with Chagdud Tulku, who then embarked on an eight-month retreat to practice it.[13] For the rest of Chagdud Tulku's life, this Red Tārā practice would be at the center of his teaching, and he shared it with thousands of students all over the world.

Following his retreat at Tso Pema, and in need of an income, he worked as a foreman and doctor for Tibetan roadworkers around the Shimla and Chamba districts of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. After many months of this dismal, difficult work, Dudjom Rinpoche requested Chagdud Tulku to oversee a resettlement camp in Orissa, which he initially respectfully declined, thinking it would be even worse than the work he was doing. When Dudjom Rinpoche requested again, however, he was honor-bound to accept the responsibility.

For three years in Orissa, he oversaw the renovation of dwellings, the clearing and sowing of land, and the establishment of a Swiss-funded carpet factory that largely supported the settlement. In 1965, Karma Dolma gave birth to a son, Jigme Ngawang Norbu ('jigs med ngag dbang nor bu), who is now known at Tulku Jigme Tromge Rinpoche (sprul sku ' jigs med khrom dge rin po che). Chagdud Tulku recognized him as an incarnation of Yudra Nyingpo (g.yu sgra snying po), a disciple of Padmasambhava. Later on, he would be recognized by the Third Neten Chokling (gnas brtan mchog gling 03, 1927–1972) as a reincarnation of Chokgyur Lingpa's son, Tsewang Norbu (tshe dbang nor bu, 1856-1915/6), whose immediate reincarnation had gone unrecognized. One of the refugees at the Orissa settlement was the young Lama Sonam Tsering (bla ma bsod nams tshe ring), who much later Chagdud Tulku would invite to the United States.[14] Lama Sonam Tsering is now the resident lama of Pema Osal Ling (pad+ma ' od gsal gling), a large Nyingma center near Santa Cruz, CA.

Growing restless after three years in Orissa, Chagdud Tulku went again to Tso Pema to meet with Dudjom Rinpoche, who allowed him to leave Orissa to be the resident lama for a small, remote monastery near a village called Titsa in the Chamba district north of Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh. There, his daughter, Dawa Lhamo, was born, and for three years he performed the duties of a provincial lama, conducting ceremonies and giving practical teachings to villagers. While it was a welcome change from the difficult life in Orissa, he was not satisfied, wanting to teach more extensively than the position allowed, and he traveled to Darjeeling to ask Dudjom Rinpoche's permission to leave his post. Dudjom Rinpoche was not home, however, his wife, Sangyum Rigdzin Wangmo (gsang yum rig ' dzin dbang mo, 1925–2014), gave Chagdud Tulku the blessing to pursue other opportunities.

He then moved his family to a Tibetan settlement in Bir, where he enjoyed a strong connection with the Third Neten Chokling Rinpoche. At this time, his marriage to Karma Drolma began to strain and they separated. Chagdud Tulku moved to Delhi by himself, where he unsuccessfully attempted to get a visa to the United States. At first, he stayed with a family from Nyarong, then he moved to Majnukatilla, a large Tibetan settlement by the Yamuna River, where he helped establish a new non-affiliated temple.

In 1977, Chagdud Tulku went to Boudhanath, in Kathmandu Nepal, to receive the Dudjom Tersar (bdud ' joms gter gsar) empowerments from Dudjom Rinpoche, and the Chokling Tersar (mchog gling gter gsar) empowerments from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. There, from a renowned yogi named Lama Ladakh Nono (bla ma la dwags no no), he requested a mirror divination. According to his autobiography, the lama told Chagdud Tulku that he should travel to the West to teach and that he would soon meet a woman named Chokyi Drolma, who would be very good for him. Soon after, he met a Western woman named Jane Dedman, whose Tibetan name was Chokyi Drolma. Dedman had requested a divination of her own from Tai Situ Rinpoche (ta'i si tu rin po che, b. 1954), who told her she would marry Chagdud Tulku.

In Kathmandu, while his son was enrolled at a school run by Khetsun Zangpo (mkhas btsun bzang po, 1920–2009), Chagdud Tulku did some retreat and settled into a life of companionship with Jane. He also taught in the Boudha area and deepened his relationship with Dudjom Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Dudjom Rinpoche asked him to return to Orissa, and when Chagdud Tulku asked to be excused from the task Dudjom Rinpoche sent him to the United States instead.

United States

On October 24, 1979, Chagdud Tulku and his attendant Ngodrub (dngos grub) arrived in the United States. For the first few years, he, Jane, and a small band of students lived in various places in northern California and Oregon, eventually settling in Cottage Grove, Oregon, where they converted an old house into a dharma center. With his students, Chagdud Tulku sculpted a statue of Padmasambhava and a larger-than-life size image of Red Tārā, the deity that, together with the Dudjom Tersar preliminary practices, would form the foundation of most of his students' practice.

In 1982, Chagdud Tulku’s student, Naomi Mattis, requested that he compose a simple Red Tārā liturgy in English. They published the resulting booklet under the name of Padma Publishing. In 1985, Chagdud Tulku commissioned Sarah Harding to translate the extensive liturgy for Dudjom Lingpa's Black Troma treasure. In 1986, Padma Publishing released Life in Relation to Death, based on a teaching Chagdud Tulku gave in Salem, Oregon, as well as a concise commentary on Red Tārā practice by his wife, Jane Tromge.[15] Later, they would also publish Chagdud Tulku's autobiography, Lord of the Dance and his Gates to Buddhist Practice, among others. In 1986, he began a long and fruitful relationship with the translator Richard Barron, who for the next fifteen years would translate most of the Chagdud community's practice texts, in addition to several classics of Nyingma literature, including Dudjom Lingpa's Buddhahood Without Meditation (khregs chod snang sbyang), Nyoshul Khenpo's Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems (ngo mtshar nor bu bai DUrya'i phreng ba), and several of Longchenpa's Seven Treasuries.

For most of the 1980s, Chagdud Tulku's main seat remained Chagdud Dechen Ling in Cottage Grove, Oregon, but practice groups formed in other cities where he had disciples. One of his close students, Jaime Kalfas, offered a large parcel of secluded woodlands near Williams, Oregon, where over the years hundreds of students have performed intensive practice, including traditional three-year retreats. Chagdud Tulku named that land Rigdzin Gatsel. At Ridzin Gatsel, in 1982, Chagdud Tulku began teaching Dzogchen to students who had completed the Dudjom Tersar preliminary practices. These teachings were usually delivered in annual six-week long retreats.[16] In 1983, Chagdud Tulku and his students established the Chagdud Gonpa Foundation, allowing them to raise funds and establish dharma centers as nonprofit religious organizations.

In 1987, at the invitation of his sister Tinle Wangmo, Chagdud Tulku returned to Tibet to visit his family, friends, and monks in Tromtar, Tenpel Monastery, and Chagdud Monastery. On that trip, he visited his guru Tulku Arik, who had inspired him to do his second three-year retreat back around 1950. Now very old, Tulku Arik was practicing as diligently as ever in retreat, although he made an exception to grant a brief audience to Chagdud Tulku. After just a few minutes together, Tulku Arik said,

Please do not insist that I see the others. You know that before I was in strict retreat and didn’t see anybody. Now it is almost time for me to go, this year, next year. I must practice as much as I can. We won’t see each other again. Now don’t stay longer. My practice time is being lost.

Chagdud Tulku was filled with insecurities and doubts after this reunion with the teacher he esteemed so highly. After struggling for some time, he recalls,

Then I checked my mind. Tulku Arik had always ended his interviews like this, as a way of demonstrating the preciousness of each moment in the human body. Why, at the last minute, should he suddenly alter his habit?

For the rest of his life, Chagdud Tulku would often talk about this encounter with his beloved teacher, and how it always reminded him that there is no time to waste.

In 1987, Chagdud Tulku was offered several acres of land in the California wine country. He named it Ati Ling and it became the main seat of his son, Tulku Jigme Tromge. The following year Chagdud Tulku and his disciples acquired 286 acres of land in northern California's Trinity Alps, near the town of Weaverville. Over the next decade, they built a large temple, eight stupas, a large Padmasambhava statue, a shop for books and practice items, and residences for staff and retreatants, to which Chagdud Tulku gave the name Rigdzin Ling.

Starting in the mid-1980s, and increasingly through the 1990s, Chagdud Tulku conducted elaborate annual drubchen ceremonies requiring the assistance of guest Tibetan lamas and Western students trained in shrine-keeping and ritual music and dance. These included drub chens for Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche's revelation Essence of the Self-Arisen Lotus, (rang byung pad+ma' i snying thig); Pegyel Lingpa's (pad rgyal gling pa, 1924–1988) Red Vajrasattva practice from his treasure cycle Enlightened Intent of the Three Bodies (sku gsum dgongs ' dus); Dudjom Rinpoche's Vajrakīlaya treasure The Razor That Destroys at a Touch (spu gri reg phung); Dudjom Lingpa's Black Troma (khros ma nag mo); Tromge Kachod Wangpo's (khrom dge mkha' byod dbang po) Avalokiteśvara treasure; and Taksham Nuden Dorje's (stag gsham nus ldan rdo rje) guru yoga sādhana for Yeshe Tsogyel.

Throughout the 1990s, many lamas were invited to give teachings and transmissions at Rigdzin Ling. These included Gochen Tulku Sang-ngak (sgo chen sprul sku gsang sngags, b.1952);[17] the Ninth Gangteng Tulku, Kunzang Rigdzin Pema Namgyel (sgang steng sprul sku 09 kun bzang rig 'dzin pad+ma rnam rgyal, b.1955); Kusum Lingpa (sku gsum gling pa, 1934–2009); the Forty-First Sakya Trizin (sa skya khri 'dzin, b.1945); Namkha Drime Rabjam (nam mkha' dri med rab 'byams, b. 1938); Tulku Urgyen (sprul sku o rgyan, 1920–1996); Lama Zhenpen Dorje (bla ma gzhan phan rdo rje) of Chagdud Monastery ; Lama Pema Dorje (bla ma pad+ma rdo rje, 1942–2018 ), who taught tsalung yogic practices (rtsa rlung); and Khentrul Lodrö T'hayé (mkhan sprul blo gros mtha' yas) who has gone on to found his own network of Katok centers throughout the United States.

Chagdud Tulku himself conferred the Dudjom Tersar in 1991 and the Nyingtik Yabzhi (snying thig ya bzhi) in 1994. In the spring of 1993, he brought Khenpo Jigme Puntsok (mkhan po 'jigs med phun tshogs, 1933–2004) to Ati Ling,[18] and he invited Lingtrul Rinpoche Kadak Choying Dorje (gling sprul ka dag chos dbyings rdo rje) to confer the revelations of Longsel Dorje Nyingpo (klong gsal rdo rje snying po, 1625–1692) treasures,[19] and in 1996, he invited Dzongsar Khyentse Norbu (rdzong gsar mkhyen brtse nor bu, b. 1961) to confer the treasures of Sera Khandro Kunzang Dekyong Wangmo (se ra mkha' 'gro kun bzang bde skyong dbang mo, 1892–1940).

Chagdud Tulku regularly invited his Western disciples to accompany him on trips to Nepal, where he went in 1986, 1994, and 2001;[20] to Wutai Shan in 1987;[21] Bhutan in 1992; and to Tibet in 1994.

Brazil and Passing

In 1991, Chagdud Tulku began teaching regularly in Brazil. In 1994, he established a seat there—Khadro Ling—near the city of Porto Alegre in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. In 1995, he made Khadro Ling his primary residence and set about building temples, stupas, statues, a publishing house, retreat facilities, and an enormous prayer wheel there. In 1996, he gave the first Dzogchen retreat at Khadro Ling, and he taught widely throughout Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina, establishing other centers in the region. In 1998, Namkha Drimed Rabjam Rinpoche was invited to Khadro Ling to confer the collected treasures of Taksham Nuden Dorje (stag gsham nus ldan rdo rje, b 1655).[22]

Meanwhile, back in Nepal, he constructed a retreat center dedicated to the Katok lineages in the hills above the village of Pharping. For the retreat master, Chagdud Tulku recruited Katok Getse Gyurme Tenpa Gyeltsen (kaḥ thog dge rtse 'gyur med bstan pa rgyal mtshan, 1954–2018), who led several cycles of retreats there.

From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Chagdud Tulku's health was increasingly affected by diabetes and heart problems. In 2002, he canceled a scheduled trip to the United States and remained in retreat at Khadro Ling, doing longevity practice. When Chagdud Tulku determined that he would not recover, he arranged to teach powa the following week.[23] Despite the short notice, more than 200 of his disciples arrived for the instructions. He did not feel well during the teachings, but could not be persuaded to consult a cardiologist. On November 16, 2002, he stopped teaching around 9:30 pm and returned to his quarters at the top of the temple. According to the Snow Lion Publications Newsletter of that year,

At about 4:15 a.m., Brazilian daylight time, he suffered massive heart failure while sitting up in bed. He remained in meditation for five days, during which his body maintained a natural posture and showed no signs of deteriorating. Many could feel his presence as a wealth of indescribable blessings.

On the morning of the sixth day, just as Jigme Rinpoche and several other lamas were about to perform a ceremony to request that he interrupt his meditation, Rinpoche's consciousness finally left his body. Although this seemed regrettable, it was then possible to handle the body according to Brazilian regulations.[24]

Within days, Chagdud Tulku’s body was flown to Nepal, and the traditional forty-nine-day funerary observances took place at the Katok retreat center he had constructed years before. The rituals were led by Katok Getse Gyurme Tenpa Gyeltsen and Chagdud Tulku's son, Tulku Jigme Tromge. Other lamas paid their respects, including Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche (chos kyi nyi ma rin po che, b. 1951) and Tsikey Chokling (rtsi ke mchog gling, 1953–2010). The ceremony was concluded by the ranking lama of Katok Monastery (kaH thog dgon), Katok Moktsa Jigdrel Lodro Tenpe Gyaltsen (kaH thog rmog rtsa ' jigs bral blo gros bstan pa' i rgyal mtshan, 1930– 2022), who traveled from Tibet for the occasion.[25]

Chagdud Tulku's reincarnation was recognized in Tibet by Khenpo Ngakchung, the rebirth of Khenpo Ngawang Pelzang. The Seventeenth Chagdud Tulku has remained in Tibet receiving traditional training, supported in large part by his Western students who expect him to eventually return to teach and give transmissions.

Chagdud Tulku authorized several Western students to teach in his lineage. When he first began meeting Western students in India and Nepal in the 1970s, he recalled,

some Tibetans warned me not to become involved with Westerners, saying they were not loyal students and went around from lama to lama, never really applying what they heard. That has not been my general experience, and over the years I have encountered Western students whom any lama would value as pure holders of their lineage.[26]

A large number of Chagdud Tulku's Mahāyoga lineages passed to his son, Tulku Jigme Tromge Rinpoche, who continues teaching in the United States and Brazil. Jane, who is now known as Chagdud Khadro, is known to hold several lineages, including Apaṃ Terton's Red Tārā, Dudjom Rinpoche's Vajrakīlaya, and Longsel Nyingpo's Amitābha and powa. Another American, Lama Tsering Everest, has transmitted Apaṃ Terton's Red Trā teachings internationally since the mid 1990s, and Lama Pema Gyatso (Richard Baldwin) is a lineage holder of Tromge Kachod Wangpo's Avalokiteśvara treasure. Chagdud Tulku entrusted his Dzogchen lineage to his American student Lama Drimed Norbu (b. 1955), appointing him in 1995 as the resident lama of Rigdzin Ling, where he taught and did retreat until 2010. Lama Drimed Norbu also holds a number of other lineages, including Dudjom Vajrakīlaya and Black Troma.

Other notable students of Chagdud Tulku include Lama Sonam Tsering (b.1951), current resident lama of Pema Osel Ling in Santa Cruz, CA; Lama Inge Sandvoss, the first Westerner that he ordained; Lama Sherab Dolma, the resident lama of Khadro Ling; Lama Shenpen Drolma of Iron Knot Ranch in New Mexico; and the translator Suzanne Fairclough.[27]