Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche was born in eastern Tibet on the tenth day of the fourth Tibetan month in 1920 and passed away in Nepal on February 13, 1996. H.H. Khakyab Dorje, the fifteenth Gyalwang Karmapa, recognized him as an incarnate lama. He studied and practiced the teachings of both the Kagyu and Nyingma orders of Tibetan Buddhism.In the Nyingma tradition, Tulku Urgyen held the complete teachings of the last century’s three great masters: Terchen Chokgyur Lingpa, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, and Kongtrul Lodro Thaye. He had an especially close transmission for the Chokling Tersar, a compilation of all the empowerments, textual authorizations, and oral instructions of Padmasambhava’s teachings, which were rediscovered by Terchen Chokgyur Lingpa, his great-grandfather. Tulku Urgyen established several monasteries and retreat centers in Nepal. The most important ones in the Kathmandu region are at Boudhanath, the site of the Great Stupa; at the Asura Cave, where Padmasambhava manifested the Mahamudra Vidyadhara level; and at the Swayambhu stupa. He primarily lived at the Nagi Gompa Hermitage above the Kathmandu Valley. He is the father of tulkus Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche, Drubwang Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. Rinpoche instructed a growing number of Dharma students in essential mediation practice. He was famed for his profound meditative realization and for the concise, lucid, and humorous style with which he imparted the essence of the Buddhist teachings. His method of teaching was “instruction through one’s own experience.” Using few words, this way of teaching pointed out the nature of mind, revealing a natural simplicity of wakefulness that enabled the student to actually touch the heart of awakened mind.


From the Trade Paperback edition.