Dzamling Gar Founder

An eminent scholar of tibetan culture and a master of life, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu was a unique figure in the contemporary spiritual world

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu’s Biography

In 1959, when Chögyal Namkhai Norbu was invited to Italy by the
renowned Italian Tibetologist and Orientalist Giuseppe Tucci, he
was already noted as a scholar and spiritual master. He had
taught the Tibetan language in Chengdu, China, and for a year
had been living in Sikkim, India, where he worked as a writer of
essays in Tibetan. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu chose to live in Italy,
after having had received other offers, in particular due to his
interest in the important library of Tibetan texts that Professor
Tucci had collected over the years.
Thus, barely twenty, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu collaborated with
Prof. Giuseppe Tucci on the catalogue of Tibetan texts of the
ISMEO (Institute for the Middle and Far East) in Rome, and in
1962 became professor of Tibetan language and literature at the
University of Naples “l’Orientale,” where he continued teaching
until 1992.
This is how Chögyal Namkhai Norbu came to live in Italy. In 1971
he began teaching Yantra Yoga, and in 1976, on the request of
students of various backgrounds and origins, he gave the first
teachings on Dzogchen Atiyoga.
For more than 50 years he dedicated his life to introducing this
ancient teaching, an authentic heritage of humanity, to thousands
of people all over the world.
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu received many awards and honors, both
in his homeland and abroad, for his vast cultural activities and his
untiring social commitment. One honor that deserves special
mention is the Commander Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy,
conferred on him by President Sergio Mattarella in 2018.

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu passed away peacefully in his residence
at Gadeling, Arcidosso, Grosseto, Italy, on September 27, 2018.