Kyabje Choegye Rinpoche Biographical Series - Birth and Youth

Birth and Youth

The Kyabje Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, Ngawang Khyenrab Lekshe Gyatso, was born on the 4th of the 8th Tibetan lunar month of Iron Monkey year in September 1919 near Gyashar Kushang Monastery in Shigatse, in the Tsang Province of central Tibet. His father was Sonam Senge Wangchuk (1873-1928) and his mother was Chime Drolkar (1895-1963). His mother was also known as Namdrol Yeshe Sangmo, and she was a daughter of the Shukupa family of Nar Peling, a monastic estate of the Thartse Lhabrang of the Ngor monastery of the Sakya tradition.

From the ages of four until seven, Rinpoche went on pilgrimage with his parents, travelling as far as Mount Kailash in the western most part of Tibet. Rinpoche's parents were accomplished practitioners of the teachings of the Great Perfection (dzogpa chenpo). Their principal root guru was Degya Rinpoche, a close disciple of the celebrated Nyingma master Dudjom Lingpa. At the time that Kyabje Chogye Rinpoche was on pilgrimage with his parents, Degya Rinpoche was dwelling in western Tibet. He bestowed many teachings and blessings on Kyabje Chogye Rinpoche and his parents and made predictions regarding the family. Degya Rinpoche offered Rinpoche and his parents a letter containing a blessing in verse, which said:

"May Sonam Senge Wangchuk (Chogye Rinpoche's father) realise the view of Dzogpa Chenpo.
May Namdrol Yeshe Sangmo (Chogye Rinpoche's mother) perfect the four visions.
May the activities of Tsering Namgyal Dorje [Chogye Rinpoche] be equal to the sky."

Kyabje Chogye Rinpoche explained that this letter is a blessing and a prediction that his father would attain realization through the dzogchen practice of the view of ‘cutting through' (trek chod); and that his mother would attain realisation through the dzogchen practice of perfecting the four visions of the ‘direct crossing' (thogal); and that Rinpoche himself would perform activities that would spread far and wide. Kyabje Chogye Rinpoche's parents were surprised by the declarations of Degya Rinpoche's letter of blessing, since their young son had not been recognized as a tulku or chosen as a Lama.

Kyabje Chogye Rinpoche's father, Sonam Senge Wangchuk, was a great yogi who practiced meditation day and night. Before he passed away, he sat upright in meditation posture for two weeks in a kind of meditation state (thukdam) entered into by realized yogis either before or after death. During this two-week period it sometimes seemed that he might have already passed away, but then he would speak again. When finally he passed, his body was taken to the top of the family residence, and many rainbows appeared as it was cremated. These signs were witnessed by many people, including Kyabje Chogye Rinpoche's brother and uncle.

However, Kyabje Rinpoche once said that whilst his father must have been a great practitioner, his mother was greater. Whereas Kyabje Rinpoche's father mainly practiced Dzogchen trek chod, the wisdom practice of primordial purity, his mother persevered in Dzogchen thogal, the visionary practice of spontaneous presence, the fruition of which is said to be superior to that of trek chod. Kyabje Chogye Rinpoche would speak of his mother with the deepest respect, admiration, love, and affection. Rinpoche felt that she must have been a bodhisattva. She would never speak ill of anyone, and whenever someone was criticized, she would rush to defend the person, insisting that they could never do or say whatever they were accused of. She was a great yogini, a twenty-four-hour-a-day practitioner of meditation. Kyabje Chogye Rinpoche's sister, late Jetsun-ma Kunsang Tendron, mentioned that their mother would remain sitting in meditation throughout the night, and that she never dozed off for more than five or ten minutes at a time, all the while sitting upright. The family appreciated this, as no one had to worry about getting up at night to stir the fire ashes as the fire was always ready for the preparation of tea early in the morning! The day she passed away, she was lying with her head in Kyabje Chogye Rinpoche's lap. She told Rinpoche she was so happy and at peace that day resting there in her son's lap. Then she closed her eyes and passed away.

Extracted from the Life of My Perfect Teacher by Lama Choedak Rinpoche