Our natural condition is self-perfected from the very beginning. What is necessary is that we reawaken and remain in our true nature. Through understanding and practice, we can rediscover the effortless knowledge of the self-perfected state that lies beyond our habitual anguish and confusion, and remain in this uninterrupted flow of contemplation, completely relaxed but fully present through all activities.

Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State

Religion & Spirituality

Chogyal Namkhai Norbu

Other Eastern Religions & Sacred Texts

Snow Lion

In The Crystal and the Way of Light, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu examines the spiritual path from the viewpoint of Dzogchen. He discusses the base path and fruit of Dzogchen practice, and describes his education and how he met his principal master who showed him the real meaning of direct introduction to Dzogchen. By interweaving his life story with the teachings, he both sets Dzogchen in its traditional context and reveals its powerful contemporary relevance. The book is richly illustrated with photos of Buddhist masters, meditational deities, and Dzogchen symbols.

The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen (Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy)

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Rainbow Body: The Life and Realization of a Tibetan Yogin, Togden Ugyen Tendzin, presents the remarkable life story of Togden Ugyen Tendzin (1888–1962), a Tibetan yogin who in death achieved the “rainbow body,” the release of the physical body in the essence of the five elements and one of the highest spiritual attainments of Dzogchen, recognized as the supreme level of Tibetan Buddhism. His nephew, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, one of the greatest living masters of Dzogchen, composed the book from his own recollections of his uncle as well as direct quotes from talks with the great yogin himself and his disciple Sala Karma Samten. The book traces the yogin’s childhood struggles, the circumstances that led him to his teacher, the eminent Adzom Drugpa, and his difficult path to self-realization. Finally, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu relates the story of Ugyen Tendzin’s death during imprisonment by the Chinese, when witnesses discovered that though his sheepskin robe still sat upright, his body was gone—a testament to its having dissolved into the rainbow body.

Rainbow Body: The Life and Realization of a Tibetan Yogin, Togden Ugyen Tendzin

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

North Atlantic Books

Birth, Life and Death meets two needs, often considered separate or mutually contradictory: on the one hand the natural tendency of a human being to seek health and well-being in everyday life and, on the other, the ever greater yearning for an authentic and unconditioned spiritual knowledge, which gives us the means to deal with the problems of birth, life and death in a profound though concrete way. 
The book has four major sections. In the first part, Introduction of Tibetan Medicine, the author enlarges on the fundamental characteristics of the human organism, based on the nature of its various physical components and their interactions, as seen by this ancient medical tradition. 
The Birth section offers the particular knowledge of the Tibetan medical tradition on such topics as the function of the elements in fetal development, the secondary causes which determine the sex of the child, and the seven possible constitutions of the child and what portends for his or her future health needs. 
In the Life section the author explains how each individual by cultivating a profound understanding of the three doors of the human organism - body, voice or energy, and mind - can realize physical, mental and spiritual health. The author makes clear that maintaining a constant flow of presence and awareness in each moment, an indipensable condition for practitioners on any spiritual path, enables us to relax our tensions, and live serenely in good health. 
The last section, Death, initially considers the nature of death and our attitudes towards it. What follows, however, is a kind of guide on the passage through the four "intermediate states" we will experience after leaving our human body. For Each of these states the author outlines the essential instruction that enables a person to attain liberation at that time. Finally, the profound knowledge contained in the Bardo Thodrol, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, is explained.

Birth, Life and Death

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Shang Shung Institute

One of the highest attainments of Dzogchen, an ancient spiritual path recognized as the supreme vehicle of Tibetan Buddhism, the rainbow body is the transmutation of the physical constituents of the body into the essence of the five elements. This book traces the life story of a twentieth century Tibetan yogin, Togden Ugyen Tendzin (1888-1962), whose amazing realization of the rainbow body at his death was witnessed in Eastern Tibet not only by his countrymen, but also, to their confusion and dismay, by the Chinese officers who were responsible for his continuing imprisonment. The author of this fascinating biography is ChÃ¶gyal Namkhai Norbu (b. 1938), one of the great living masters of Dzogchen, and nephew, on the paternal side, of the Togden, a title which means "endowed with realization," an expression accorded to highly realized yogins in Tibet. ChÃ¶gyal Namkhai Norbu, who received profound teachings from his uncle, based his book on extensive notes he took while with Togden in 1954 in Derge, and on information given to him by Sala Kama Samten (1919-1993), also a disciple and nephew of the yogin. Togden's master was Adzom Drugpa, Drodul Pawo Dorje (1842-1924), one of the greatest Dzogchen masters of the last century, renowned for the depth and clarity of his teachings. A short biography of this master is here included, together with a biography of the yogini Lhundrub Tso (1864-1946), also a close student of Adzom Drugpa and grandmother of the Author.

Rainbow Body: The Life and Realization of Togden Ugyen Tendzin

Shang Shung Publications

The 21 Semzin of Dzog-Chen Upadesa. On the Basis of Teachings By Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche at Prata, 1977, and Merigar, 1989

Bizzotto Rinpoche

Rinchen Edition

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Books by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu