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Rahor Choedrak (Tib. རྭ་ཧོར་ཆོས་གྲགས་, Wyl. rwa hor chos grags) or full name is Rahor Palden Chokyi Drakpa (if-1901)— one of the main disciples of Khenpo Shenga (Shenpen Chökyi Nangwa).

Rahor Palden Chokyi Drakpa, another heart son of Zhenga Rinpoche, lived at Rahor Monastery in his youth. At the age of twenty, he completed the preliminary practices of the Dzogchen approach, as well as personal retreats focusing on the deities of the Three Roots. He then made a vow to his guru, who presided over the monastery, to abandon everything related to this life. His guru accepted his vow and instructed Rahor Chodrak to go to Shri Simha Shedra at Dzogchen Monastery, where with Zhenga Rinpoche he studied the sutras, tantras and other fields of knowledge. With constant devotion and great diligence, Rahor Chodrak relied on his mentors for sixteen years, reaching the pinnacle of erudition and spiritual attainment.

Since everyone who attended Shri Simha Shedra was a scholar- there was no one who was not learned-it was difficult to acquire a reputation as someone erudite. However, among Zhenga's heart sons, the "two named Chodrak" did achieve this status, and people said, "Rahor Chodrak is most learned in the tantric approach."

While at the shedra, he had few provisions and endured many hardships for the sake of the teachings. At his full monastic ordination, he did not even have a formal robe, so his guru, Zhenga Rinpoche, lent him one. Zhenga would praise him to the skies, saying things like, "Chodrak is such a yogin, always absorbed in his practice; no one can rival him." Chodrak then returned to his own monastery of Rahor, where he founded a shedra and turned the wheel of the dharma for more than three years, teaching many fortunate people the sutras, tantras, and other fields of knowledge. Many of his students became learned and accomplished masters in their own right.

Rahor Chodrak went back to Shri Simha, where he served with body, speech, and mind as his guru's personal attendant. During that time, he did not take so much as a cup of water from his guru, for as he said, "To misappropriate something belonging to one's guru is more serious than taking something from others." Never careless in even the smallest matter of karmic causality, Rahor Chodrak set an example that inspired awe in the faithful.

One day, Zhenga Rinpoche was invited to teach Chung-rampa, a general in the Tibetan army. The guru replied, "I cannot come, but will send Chodrak instead." He gave Rahor Chodrak a set of three monastic robes and a ceremonial hat and told him, "Go to Lhasa in central Tibet to serve as tutor to Chung-rampa. You have students to guide in Drigung to the north of Lhasa, my son; go there as well." Accordingly, Rahor Chodrak set out, planting the victory banner of practice while applying the teachings of the ultimate heart essence. He journeyed in stages through eastern, central, and southern Tibet, as well as to the southern borders and Bhutan, visiting all of the holy places. He finally took up residence at the hermitage in the valley known as Cholung, near Nyima Chang-ra Shedra at Drigung. There he dwelled like the lord Milarepa, a true king among renunciants and a crown jewel among a hundred siddhas.

Day and night, he pursued his spiritual practice, [2.207a] living an incredible life and bringing all who saw, heard, thought of, or touched him to various levels of realization. He completed intensive retreats on numerous peaceful and wrathful deities-primarily those of the Three Roots- and experienced signs of success; in particular, he completed four hundred million repetitions of the mantra of the great and glorious Vajrakumara, in addition to the supplementary repetitions.

In the later part of his life, Rahor Chodrak continued to tum the wheel of the dharma, teaching the sutras and tantras. On two occasions, he bestowed the empowerment for the peaceful and wrathful deities of The Web ofMagical Display and explained the tantra The Heart Essence ofSecrets. He directed his students and patrons from the Drukpa Kagyii school to found a shedra, which was later renowned as Druk Monastery, located near the five stupas of Zung Khardo

Having thus completed his life and his mission, Rahor Chodrak passed away. From the thirtieth day of the twelfth month in an Iron Rat year until the nineteenth day of the first month in an Iron Ox year,23 he sat upright in an utterly lucid state of meditation. Amid amazing signs, the display of his emanated form resolved back into basic space. When his remains were cremated, a rain of large and small relics fell, and the fortunate ones present were moved to faith.

Of his many students who upheld the transmission of the theory and practice of the teachings, his heart son Lama Tendzin Ozer and Khen Sonam Dondrup together greatly benefited the teachings and beings by restoring the shedra and meditation center at Tarpa Ling, which had been the Omniscient One Longchenpa's seat, and by founding others. His heart son Perna Namgyal became the headmaster of the Semtok Kharik School; for many years, he gave teachings four or five times daily without fail on the source texts of fields of secular knowledge. Perna Namgyal was also responsible for printing new woodblock editions of both the thirteen great source texts and the commentaries on them, as well as tables of contents and secular treatises. With far-reaching vision, Rahor Chodrak founded Orgyen Shedrup Ling in Tsangkha, a shedra- complete with interior furnishings and appointments-for the study of the source texts, fields of secular knowledge, and astrology. He thus carried out boundless enlightened activities, contributing to an impeccable transmission of the theory and practice of the teachings.

Biographies of Masters of Awareness in the Dzogchen Lineage A Spiritual History of the Teachings of Natural Great Perfection NYOSHUL KHENPO JAMY ANG DORJE Translated by Richard Barron (Chokyi Nyima)

Teacher: Khenpo Senga Shenpen Chökyi Nangwa