Name Variants: Drungchen Kachopa; Khachopa Namkha Gyaltsen; Namkha Gyaltsen

Drungchen Kachopa Namkha Gyaltsen was born in 1370 in Chamdo Ngomyul. His father was Gyalwa Zangpo and his mother was Genja Zachodron.

When he was just a boy of four, Namkha Gyaltsen went to the Taklung Kagyu Riwoche Monastery where he studied reading, writing and ritual services.

At the age of nine he requested instructions on the Nigu Chodruk, the Six Dharmas of Niguma, from Lama Sanggye Gyaltsab, and for a month he received teachings from him.

At the age of about twenty, he took four wives and pursued both religious and householder activity. He then traveled the region around Markham via boat, touring regions that were under his control with Sanggye Gyaltsab and Konchok Pal, who taught him the Kandro Nyintik and other teachings, and writing out the Prajnaparamita in one hundred thousand, twenty-thousand, and eight-thousand verses in turquoise, gold and silver ink. Renouncing his throne, his grandson, Sanggye Zangpo was appointed ruler.

Namkha Gyaltsen was quite wealthy, and sent much of his treasure to monasteries before taking ordination with Khenpo Gyalwangpa. He relied on about 130 teachers to train in sutra and tantra, including the Karma Kagyu lama Karma Konchok Shonnu, the Sakya masters Yakdrukpa Sanggye Pelwa (1350 - 1414), Sabzang Pakpa Shonnu Lodro (1358-1412/1424) and Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa (1357 -1419).

Chief among his teachers, however, were Tokden Tsokarwa Jangchub Gyaltsen, Tokden Yontan Rinchen and the Fifth Karmapa, Deshin Shekpa (1384-1415). He studied with many of these Lamas while in Tibet some time in his youth.

Namkha Gyaltsen returned to his homeland, up the Mekong River from Chamdo, to a valley called Drabyul, where he founded a monastery that later became known as Namgyal Gang. He also built a bridge over the Mekong.

From there Namkha Gyaltsen went to China to have an audience with the Emperor, presumably the Yongle Emperor, who reigned from 1402 to 1424. He performed the funeral services for one of the Emperor's wives, gave his son tantric initiations and received considerable gifts for his work. He then returned to the Chamdo region, where he remained for some years.

During this time there was unrest between Riwoche, Darawa Monastery and Ngepa, and Namgyal Gang was burned to the ground. The Khyungpo region (which includes Riwoche) then raised an army and established peace. Repairing Namgyal Gang, Namkha Gyaltsen also established a monastic college there.

At the age of 60 Namkha Gyaltsen went to U a second time. When he was 63, he went to Kampo Nenang, a Karma Kagyu monastery near Litang founded by the 1st Karmapa and entered a one-year retreat. When he completed his retreat in 1433, he went to Emei Shan, a mountain in southern Sichuan that is sacred to the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra and known as Gyanag Langchen Gyingri.

Sources

1. Grags pa byung gnas. 1992. Gangs can mkhas grub rim byon ming mdzod. Lanzhou: Kan suu mi rigs dpe skrun khang, pp. 893-895.
2. Si tu paN chen chos kyi byung gnas, and Be lo tshe dbang kun khab. 1972. Sgrub brgyud karma kaM tshang brgyud pa rin po chei rnam par thar pa rab byams nor bu zla ba chu shel gyi phreng ba. New Delhi: D. Gyaltsen & Kesang Legshay, vol. 1, pp. 501-508.
3. Alexander Gardner December 2009
4. http://www.tibetanlineages.org/biographies/view/173/6489