Patrul Rinpoche

Dza Patrul Orgyen Jikmé Chökyi Wangpo (1808 to 1887), known as Patrul Rinpoche, was born in the nomadic region of Dzachukha in northern Kham. He was recognised as the incarnation of Palgé Samten Phuntsok, and “Patrul” is short for Palgé Tulku. Around the age of twenty he gave up the estate that came with the title and chose the life of a wandering student, teacher and hermit.

His root teacher was Jikmé Gyalwé Nyugu, one of the main lineage holders of Jikmé Lingpa’s Longchen Nyingtik. Patrul is said to have received his teaching on the Longchen Nyingtik preliminary practices some twenty-five times, and to have completed the practices the same number of times. He studied widely with other masters as well, including Longchenpa’s Trilogy of Finding Comfort and Ease, Shantideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva and the works of Sakya Pandita and Tsongkhapa, without sectarian bias. Gyalwé Nyugu first introduced him to the nature of mind; the accounts say his full realisation came through the eccentric yogi Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje.

He spent long periods in the hermitages above Dzogchen Monastery, and later nearly a decade as a hermit in the Do valley with his student Nyoshul Lungtok. From about the age of thirty he travelled and taught across eastern Tibet: at Dzogchen’s Shri Singha college, at Katok, at Sershul and among the nomads of Dza, Golok and Serta, most often on The Way of the Bodhisattva. He rarely gave empowerments. He is credited with persuading communities to stop offering meat at gatherings and with curbing hunting and banditry. Disciples included Nyoshul Lungtok, Ju Mipham, Adzom Drukpa and the second and third Dodrupchen incarnations, and also teachers of the Sakya, Geluk and Kagyu schools.

He is best known for The Words of My Perfect Teacher, his record of Jikmé Gyalwé Nyugu’s instructions on the Longchen Nyingtik preliminaries, written in retreat in the Yamantaka cave above Dzogchen Monastery. Another of his most acclaimed works is The Special Teaching of the Wise and Glorious King, a short Dzogchen instruction on recognising the nature of mind. Alak Zenkar Rinpoche notes that his surviving writings fill six volumes, and that he wrote to suit each student rather than to display learning.

Lotsawa House calls him a great Rimé master. When Chokgyur Lingpa revealed the Demchok Sangye Nyamjor treasure, he appointed Patrul as its custodian. Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo wrote a hymn to him that alludes to him as an incarnation of Shantideva, and he was regarded as Shantideva’s emanation. He died in 1887.