Namkhai Norbu was a Tibetan Dzogchen master. When he was two years old, Namkhai Norbu was recognized as the 'mindstream emanation', a tulku, of the Dzogchen teacher Adzom Drugpa. At five, he was also recognized as a mindstreamemanation of an emanation of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel. From an early age, Namkhai Norbu undertook an accelerated course of study, attending monastic college, taking retreats, and studying with renowned teachers, including some of the most important Tibetan masters of his time. Under the tutelage of these teachers, he completed the training required by the Buddhist tradition in both Sutrayana and Tantrayana. At the age of sixteen, he met master Rigdzin Changchub Dorje, who became his principal Dzogchen teacher. In 1960, he came to Italy at the invitation of Professor Giuseppe Tucci, and served as Professor of Tibetan and Mongolian Language and Literature from 1964 to 1992 at the Naples Eastern University. Namkhai Norbu was widely recognized as a leading authority on Tibetan culture, particularly in the fields of history, literature, and Traditional Tibetan medicine and astrological sciences such as the Tibetan calendar. In 1983, he hosted the first International Convention on Tibetan Medicine, held in Venice, Italy. In 1976, Namkhai Norbu began to give Dzogchen instruction in the West, first in Italy, then in numerous other countries. He quickly became a respected spiritual authority among many practitioners, and has created centers for the study of Dzogchen worldwide. On 10 September 2018, the Italian government gave its highest award, Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, to him from President Sergio Mattarella. The Tibetan government in exile regarded him as having been “the foremost living Dzogchen” teacher at the time of his death in 2018.
Nomenclature, orthography and etymology
This section details the origins and meaning of the title Chögyal and the name Namkhai Norbu. Chögyal is a title most commonly associated with the monarchy of Sikkim, now a state in far-northern India. However, Chögyal is also a title conferred upon a special class of temporal and spiritual rulers of the Kingdom of Bhutan, who were recognized mindstream emanations of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, the 17th Century Tibetan-born founder of Bhutan. Namkhai Norbu, recognized at the age of five as an emanation of Ngawang Namgyel, holds the title of Chögyal in this context. Namkhai holds the semantic field of "sky", "space" and "aether," and has the possessive case ending, thus it may be rendered into English as "...of the sky". Norbu holds the semantic field of "jewel", "crystal", "gem", "cintamani". Therefore, Namkhai Norbu may be rendered in English as "Jewel of the Sky", "Gem of the Aether" or "Crystal of Space".
Biography
Recognition as a Tulku
Namkhai Norbu was a recognized tulku, a reincarnate master. At birth two of Namkhai Norbu's uncles, the Dzogchen masters Palyul Karma Yangsid and Shechen Rabjam believed him to be the reincarnation of their master, Adzom Drugpa Rinpoche. When Namkhai Norbu was two years old, this was confirmed by a senior tulku of the Nyingma school. Then when he was five years old, the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa and the Situ Rinpoche together recognized Namkhai Norbu as the mind emanation of the mindstream of another well known teacher, who was in turn the emanation of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, the 17th Century Tibetan-born founder of Bhutan. At a very young age, these recognitions conferred upon Namkhai Norbu a great deal of attention and prestige, as he himself remarks: "As I grew up, I was thus given quite a few names and titles, many of which are very long and grand sounding. But I have never used them, because I have always preferred the name my parents gave me at birth."
Already recognized as extremely knowledgeable in all aspects of Tibetan culture at the age of 22, he was invited to Italy by Professor Giuseppe Tucci to work at the ISMEO Institute in Rome for two years. In 1962, he took up a post in Naples at the Istituto Universitario Orientale, where he taught Tibetan language and literature until 1992. From the time of his residence in Italy, Namkhai Norbu focused his research mainly on the ancient history of Tibet, investigating thoroughly the native Bön tradition. His books include works on history, Tibetan medicine, astrology, Bön and folk traditions such as namkha. They have been highly appreciated by Tibetans as well as scholars throughout the world.
In 1971, Namkhai Norbu began to teach Yantra Yoga, an ancient form of Tibetan Yoga combining movement, breathing and visualization. A few years later, he started to give Dzogchen teachings to a small group of Italian students, with whom he founded the 'Dzogchen Community'. At that time, Dzogchen was relatively unknown in the West.
International Dzogchen Community
As interest in his teachings grew, Rinpoche dedicated himself to spreading Dzogchen and establishing 'gars', seats of the International Dzogchen Community, throughout the world. Today there are gars in Italy, the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Australia, Romania, Russia, Spain, Ukraine and China. Apart from his spiritual activity, he founded the International Shang-Shung Institute to preserve the cultural traditions of Tibet, and ASIA, a nonprofit organization in Tibet mainly dedicated to serving the educational and medical needs of the Tibetan people.
