Naldjor - སྒྲུབ་ཐོབ་ཀར་མ་གྱུར་མེད་འུ་ལི་ཐང་གྱི་
སྒྲུབ་ཐོབ་ཀར་མ་གྱུར་མེད་འུ་ལི་ཐང་གྱི་་མཚམས་ཁང།།
Drubthob Karma Gyurme’s retreat hut at Uli Thang (sgrub thob kar+ma gyur med ‘u li thang gyi mtshams khang).
Drubthob Karma Gyurme aka Lopön Karma Gyurme, also spelt Karma Jurmey, was born 1954 at a place called Jike (sbyis rged) in lower western Trongsa district (khrong sar = gdrong gsar) (wood-horse year of the 16 rab byung). His father was Chöden Drangchung (chos dran drang chung) and his mother was Chödzema Pema Budar (chos mdzad ma padma bu dar). Already as a young boy he showed interest in living a spiritual life and at age six he entered the monastic college of Chökhor Rabtentse Monastery (chos ‘khor rab brtan rtse ‘dus sde) in the village of Chui (bcuis tshun), where he learnt reading, writing, calculating as well as the basic prayers, invocations and sciences such as constructing a mandala and tormas.
In Paro Tagtsang Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche bestowed upon him the complete transmission of the Collection of Revealed Treasures or Rinchen Terdzö (rin chen gter mdzod). Then, he travelled to Tago Monastery (rta mgo chos dbyings rdzong), Thimphu, where he remained for more than one year receiving the complete transmission, including the empowerments and instructions, from Khyabgön Tendzin Döndrub (skyabs mgon bstan ‘dzin don grub) and Je Gendün Rinchen (rje dge ‘dun rin chen). Following this he accompanied Tendzin Döndrub to Nepal where he continued his studies.
Thereupon, he went back to Bhutan in order to complete his studies and practice under the greatly accomplished Drugpa Kagyü master Drubwang Sönam Zangpo (grub dbang bsod nams bzang po, 1888-1982). Thus, he practiced for more than ten years with Lopön Sönam Zangpo at various wild and deserted places such as Lungtso Gön and Dorangthag gi Gön in Sharchyog Dewathangtheyul (lhung mtsho dgon dang shar phyogs bde ba thang thed yul rdo rang thag gi dgon pa). During these years he received from Drubwang Sönam Zangpo the all empowerments, transmission, instructions , and secret oral instructions of
Dzogchen and Mahamudra in their entirety while he completed the more outer and general preliminary and main practices as well as the extraordinary inner and secret practices related to the subtle channels, vital energies and vital essences as well as to the nature of mind. Through this particular
experiential transmission and practice based on direct experiences he gained complete certainty of the Natural State (nyams len thag chod par mdzad). Following the advice of Drubwang Sönam Zangpo he went into strict retreat and practiced at his master’s place Sela Dorjeden Wensa (se la rdo rje gdan gyi dben gnas) until his master passed into Parinirvana.
Then, after returning back to Khyabje Tendzin Döndrub Rinpoche (skyabs rje bstan 'dzin don grub rin po che) he received further profound Dharma instructions, which clarified all his remaining questions related to the methods of progressing on the path to [[complete liberati sman rtsi phug dang), the Four Places of
the Wild Tigers and Yaks (gling gzhi stag 'brong), and the White-Tailed Eagle Cave (thang dkar phug). Thus, while Drubthob Karma Gyurme continuously remained practicing in these isolated hermitages and mountain retreats for many years he made great efforts to practice throughout day and night without leaving his simple meditation cushion made of mountain grass and concentrating one-pointedly on the main practice of Dzogchen and Mahamudra.
Finally, in 1993, at age forty, for the benefit of future disciples he decided to leave his retreat and settle at the residence of the mind emanations of Zhabdrung Rinpoche (zhabs drung thugs sprul rim byon rnams kyi gdan sa) establishing the hermitage and retreat center at Talo, Punakha, known as Pang Karpo Drubde (spungs thang ta lo'i dben gnas spang dkar po sgrub sde), where he remains as retreat master (sgrub dpon) instructing the meditation
class of yogic practitioners (dkar po sgrub sde). It is at this place that Drubthob Rinpoche, Naldjorpa Yeshe Phüntsog (grub thob rin po che rnal ‘byor pa ye shes phun tshogs, 1916-2017) started his first three year retreat in 1939.
From 1993 until the present day many fortunate disciples have trained under Drubthob Karma Gyurme. While accomplishing their three or six-year retreats
or while practicing according to their own capacities each of these fortunate practitioners receives all the necessary empowerments, transmissions, instructions and especially the secret oral instructions gained from direct experience (nyams myongs gdams ngag) according to his own mental and emotional predispositions and capacities (blo dang 'tshams pa).
