The Gyalwang Drukpa

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Autobiography
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My father is a Dzogchen Master Zhichen Bairochana, nowadays people commonly call him Bairo Rinpoche. My mother Kelsang Yudron, commonly known as Mayumla, was from Lhodrak southern Tibet. They met there for the first time when my mother was nineteen years old and they met again in a sacred place of Guru Padmasambhava known as Beyul (Hidden valley) on the Tibet and Bhutanese border after three years.

I was born in Guru Padmasambhava's sacred place known as Tso Pema, (Rewalsar) Himachal Pradesh, when my parents were on their pilgrimage in India. The birth took place during a major ceremony of lama dances and a holy feast or ganachakra celebrating the birthday of Guru Padmasambhava under the guidance of the late HH Dudjom Yeshe Dorje, who was a realized and great renowned master of this age. It is unfortunate that my memory cannot go back all the way to the moment of my birth. According to the stories that I did gather from others, it was one of those rare, magnificent and unforgettably precious days that we can only expect once in a while. Most of the great realized Dzogchen masters who had just fled from Tibet not long before were present at that time, celebrating the birthday of Guru Padmasambhava with holy dances, along with cultural dances by the young boys and girls adorned with all sorts of colorful costumes, and accompanying an enormous feast or ganachakra with thousands of devotees and pilgrims from all over the Himalayan region. I am, as you might say, proud to be born on that particular day and in that particular place with the sublime support of my beloved parents. My name, Djigme Padma Aungchen was given by the holy Master Dudjom Yeshe Dorje with his traditional congratulations and divine blessings. Ever since then, I am blessed and entirely protected by him and Guru Padmasambhava forever.