On the Final Words of Orgyen Tendzin Norbu

Translator's Introduction

Orgyen Tendzin Norbu (o rgyan bstan 'dzin nor bu, 1841–1900) is something of an elusive figure in recent Nyingma history. Not much has been written about his life, and the years of his birth and death are contested. His own writings appear to have been lost, and his final testament, recorded in the few brief biographies available to us, is decidedly enigmatic. Yet he was certainly important, especially in the Nyingma scholastic tradition, not least as an intermediary between his great uncle, Gyalse Shenpen Thayé (1800–1855), and Khenpo Shenga or Shenpen Nangwa (1871–1927). Shenpen Thayé was the founder of Shri Singha, the study college at Dzogchen Monastery, and a strong proponent of monastic discipline. Shenpen Nangwa was the founder of, and principal teacher at, several colleges, and, through his writings and teaching, helped to inspire the new scholasticism that took hold throughout Eastern Tibet in the early twentieth century. Yet Orgyen Tendzin Norbu was more than simply a human bridge linking these two more prominent lamas; he was also an important scholar, Dzogchen master and teacher in his own right.

Born in Gemang Kamchung in Dzachukha in the year of the Iron Ox (1841), Orgyen Tendzin Norbu entered the Shri Singha college at Dzogchen Monastery in 1853. There he took novice vows from his uncle, Shenpen Thayé, who died just two years later. From the age of seventeen, he followed his main teacher, Patrul Rinpoche, for thirty years, becoming one of his principal spiritual heirs. He also studied with many others, including the Fourth Dzogchen Rinpoche Mingyur Namkhai Dorje (1793–1870), Khenpo Pema Vajra (c. 1807–1884), Lingtrul Thupten Gyaltsen Palzang, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820–1892), Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa (1829–1870), Tsamtrul Kunzang Tekchok Dorje, Drupchen Sönam Palge (1800–1884?), Gemang Chöpa Jigme Tapke, and Nyoshul Lungtok (1829–1901/2). The full list of teachings Orgyen Tendzin Norbu received from these figures, but especially from Patrul, is strikingly long. Later he would say that while all his teachers were equal in terms of their qualities, it was Patrul who showed him the greatest kindness.

Tulku Thondup notes that from 1883, when Patrul stopped taking on any more students, newcomers were directed to Orgyen Tendzin Norbu instead—and this is how Khenpo Shenga came to study with him. After Patrul’s death, it was Orgyen Tendzin Norbu who made the funeral arrangements, and who initially gathered and compiled Patrul's writings.

As a teacher, Orgyen Tendzin Norbu was tireless. While living the simple life of a hermit—Tendzin Lungtok Nyima tells us that he had no attendant and thus had to boil his own tea until the age of 58—he passed on all that he himself had received. Just like Patrul, he was especially fond of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, and is said to have taught it more than two hundred times in total. In addition to the major scholarly treatises, he also lectured on grammar, poetics, medicine, astrology and the ritual sciences. And, of course, he taught Dzogchen extensively, especially through the writings of Longchen Rabjam and Jigme Lingpa.

When Orgyen Tendzin Norbu became ill in his sixtieth year, his students reminded him that Patrul had lived to eighty (by Tibetan reckoning, seventy-nine by Western calculation), and suggested that he should follow his guru's example for the benefit of the teachings and beings. He eventually agreed to remain for at least another thirteen days, but assured them that his commitment towards the teachings and beings would continue until the end of saṃsāra. A recent biography tells us what happened next:

OOrgyen Tendzin Norbu said, “Now, wherever I look, both by day and night, visions of buddha forms (kāya) and light spheres (bindu) are always present. Could they be empty forms? How amazing!” Another time, he said, “Last night, I dreamed of a person in fine ornaments who said, ‘I have come from the glorious mountain in Cāmara to collect you.’ But what validity can there be to such double delusion?” A few days later, while seated before his close disciples, he gazed into the sphere of the sky, and with his right hand in the threatening gesture and his left in that of equanimity, uttered the following:

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.

And with these final words, he passed directly to the glorious mountain of Cāmara.[1]

At first glance, what is most striking about this somewhat enigmatic testament is the bold assertion—“the lion’s roar”, as Jigme Tenpai Nyima calls it—contained in the first two lines. These are the four categories of stream-enterer, once-returner, non-returner and arhat, each of which can be further divided into emerging and established to give eight categories in total.[2]

The following text, entitled "Advice in Response to the Request of the Faithful, Diligent and Intelligent Deshul Drakden", is Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima's brief commentary on Orgyen Tendzin Norbu’s final words. It shows that the four lines are more than just a declaration of Dzogchen’s superiority, as they also convey an instruction for the moment of death. This makes Orgyen Tendzin Norbu's final words an apt reflection of his life: dedicated, as it was, not only to extensive study and practice but, above all, to guiding others—even until its very last moment.

Bibliography

bstan ‘dzin lung rtogs nyi ma. snga 'gyur rdzogs chen chos 'byung chen mo, Beijing: Krong go’i bod rigs dpe skrun khang, 2004.

Nor brang o rgyan. chos rnam kun btus. 3 vols. Peking: Krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang, 2008.

Nyoshul Khenpo. A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems. Translated by Richard Barron. Junction City, California: Padma Publication, 2005.

Tulku Thondup. Masters of Meditation and Miracles: The Longchen Nyingthig Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Shambhala, 1996.

Version: 1.0-20250502

Bstan 'dzin lung rtogs nyi ma 2004, 594: yang skabs shig da ni gang du bltas kyang nyin [595] mtshan kun tu sku dang thig les snang ba dang ‘bral mi shes pa stong gzugs lta bu ci yin na mtshar che gsungs/ yang mdang sum rnga yab dpal ri nas ‘ong khyed kyi bsu ma yin zer ba’i mi rgyan cha bzang po can zhig kyang rmi lam du rmis kyang nying ‘khrul la lta ci yod gsungs/ de nas zhag ‘ga’ song ba’i nyin zhig zhal slob rnams mdun du bzhugs bzhin pa’i skabs su spyan mkha’ dbyings su gzigs nas phyag g.yas sdigs mdzub dang g.yon mnyam bzhag mdzad de/ zhal nas/ nga o rgyan gu ru padma ‘byung/ skye ‘chi bral ba’i sangs rgyas yin/ byang chub sems la phyogs ris med/ zung bzhi ya brgyad kyi ming ‘dogs bral/ zhes ‘das rjes zhal chems dang bcas rnga yab dpal gyi ri bo mngon par gshegs so. ↩
See “skye bu zung bzhi’am gang zag ya brgyad” in Nor brang o rgyan 2008, vol.1, 493. ↩

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Advice in Response to the Request of the Faithful, Diligent and Intelligent Deshul Drakden

by Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima

Homage to the guru!

Our noble teacher, Orgyen Tendzin Norbu, trained in the five sciences and gained liberation through the Great Perfection's path of the Heart Essence. At the moment of his passing, he spoke the following verse as his final testament:

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.

I shall elaborate a little on the meaning of this.

Generally, all the various turnings of the wheel of Dharma by the Lord Buddha were offered purely in order to protect disciples from the miserable routine of birth, death and the intermediate state. Among these teachings, for the ultimate tradition of the Heart Essence, which is the vajra pinnacle, there is no delusion in the condition of great primordial purity, the original ground. And yet, not recognising this, the appearances of delusion, which are the creative energy of rigpa, arise. Through the three types of ignorance – seeming identity, co-emergent and imputational – thoughts involving dualistic grasping develop, one after another, in an endless chain. Then, through grasping, we are drawn into the endless cycle of suffering caused by karma and mental afflictions.

Recognising and becoming familiar with the actual nature of the essence, which is untainted by confusion, naturally averts the delusions of birth and death. Yet we cannot see the nature of this essence through intellectual speculation (rtog ge) or through a mind that is contrived. Instead, we must receive the nectar of ripening empowerments and liberating instructions from an authentic guru who has inherited the actual transmission. Then, by cultivating the devotion of seeing the guru as inseparable from the Vajradhara of Oḍḍiyāna, our mind will be inspired with blessings and the guru’s wisdom mind will merge inseparably with our own mind. Through this, we will recognise the mind's natural condition, without contrivance or contamination, as the all-perfect, deathless Padmākara himself. We must then firmly decide that this is so and gain stability. As this recognition is not generated through temporary causes and conditions, it is free from birth. And as it is not seen to increase or decrease or undergo transition or change, it is free from death. Thus, the attainment of birthlessness and deathlessness is bestowed naturally, there and then. And when we gain the confidence of not seeking buddhahood elsewhere, there can be the lion’s roar proclaiming:

I am Guru Padmākara of Oḍḍiyāna,
A buddha free from birth and death.

When the nature of this awareness or awakening mind manifests, appearances of birth and death are cast aside, the mind of fixated clinging is cut from within, and the cycle of conceptualisation is left behind.

Hopes and fears, or notions of adopting and avoiding, focused on a nirvāṇa that is beyond conceptual elaboration, do not bring about any fragmentation of pure awareness, which is itself unsupported. Rather, whatever appears is its self-appearance, and whatever arises does so as its self-expression. All that might be labelled as subjective or objective throughout saṃsāra and nirvāṇa simply arises as the evolving manifestation of this pure awareness that is beyond partiality and bias. And these expressions dissolve within the ground. Once the stronghold of the ground is seized in its own place, this is superior to the original ground, as there is awakening within the sphere of the dharmakāya, the youthful vase body, clear light beyond confinement or restriction. Thus, the testament says:

Awakening mind is impartial and unbiased.

Therefore, in this vehicle there is no system of positing the fruition as something separate, as there for the eight stages of the four pairs.[1] According to that approach, we regard delusory appearances as faults and train in a limited form of yoga, through which it is possible to overcome the ‘seeing discards’ of the three realms, but not the ‘meditation discards’ of the desire realm; or else, to enter that realm in order to discard them; or to discard most of the desire-realm afflictions; or to discard them all but not totally overcome the afflictions related to the two upper realms, with the result that the sufferings of birth and death are still not entirely overcome, and so on. Here, by contrast, out of the expanse of realisation of great, all-pervasive primordial purity, which is self-appearing and unbiased, all grounds and paths are traversed at once. This point must be spelled out in detail, so the testament says:

Beyond labels of the eight stages, the four pairs.

This also shows how Dzogchen is superior to the lower vehicles.

The meaning in a nutshell, then, is as follows. Merging your own mind inseparably with the guru’s wisdom, settle evenly—without deliberately settling—in the genuine expanse of rigpa-emptiness. Then, at death, none of the terrifying delusory appearances of the intermediate state will cause awareness to stray from its own place. This ‘seizing of the stronghold’ is the essential message of the first three lines. It is the ultimate instruction for the moment of death within this tradition, and is also known as the* ultimate dharmakāya transference through sealing with the view*. For this, there is much to understand, such as the way to sustain it right now, as well as the way to apply it at the time of death.

The final line shows how this path is superior to the other vehicles, all of which require effort; it means that certainty in one’s own path must be stable.

To put it another way: The first two lines show the means of achieving deathlessness through this path. Still, some might object that this alone would not make this the pinnacle of vehicles, because even the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas have a path that puts a stop to the sufferings of birth and death. In that case, it would suffice to offer the final line as a response and the third line as the reason.

In response to persistent requests from the faithful, diligent and intelligent Deshul Drakden, Tenpe Nyima quickly wrote down whatever came to mind on the third excellent day of the waning phase” (i.e., the twenty-seventh) of the Phālguna month in the Earth Bird year (1909).

| Translated by Adam Pearcey, 2015.

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition

’jigs med bstan pa’i nyi ma. "Dad brtson blo ldan ’das shul grags ldan ngor gdams pa" in rDo grub chen ’jigs med bstan pa’i nyi ma’i gsung ’bum. 7 vols. Chengdu: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003. TBRC: W25007, vol. 2, pp. 21-25

Secondary Sources

Nor brang o rgyan. Chos rnam kun btus. 3 vols. Peking: Krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang, 2008.

Nyoshul Khenpo. A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems. Translated by Richard Barron. Junction City, California: Padma Publication, 2005. pp. 482-486

Pearcey, Adam. Beyond the Ordinary Mind: Dzogchen, Rimé, and the Path of Perfect Wisdom. Boulder: Snow Lion, 2018.

______. "Orgyen Tendzin Norbu" on Treasury of Lives (www.treasuryoflives.com)

Tulku Thondup, Masters of Meditation and Miracles: The Longchen Nyingthig Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Shambhala, 1996.

Version: 1.7-20250502

i.e., the four categories of stream-enterer (rgyun du zhugs pa), once-returner (lan gcig phyir ’ong ba), non-returner (lan gcig phyir mi ’ong ba) and arhat (dgra bcom pa), each of which can be further divided into the emerging (zhugs pa) and the established (gnas pa) to give eight categories in total. (See “skye bu zung bzhi’am gang zag ya brgyad” in Nor brang o rgyan, Chos rnam kun btus, vol.1, 493.) ↩

On the Final Words of Orgyen Tendzin Norbu

Translator's Introduction

Bibliography

Advice in Response to the Request of the Faithful, Diligent and Intelligent Deshul Drakden

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition

Secondary Sources

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