Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Poster

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Poster, Artwork by Glen Eddy. 17.5in x 27in.

This poster is a reproduction of a large thanka, or Tibetan scroll painting, painted in the Karma Gadri style (one of the traditional styles of Tibetan painting) using natural colors made of ground-up stones. It was painted by the American thanka painter Glen Eddy, who studied Tibetan painting in the traditional manner and is considered to be a master painter of the Tibetan sacred art.

The central figure of the thanka is the Dzogchen master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, who was born in Tibet where he was recognized as a reincarnated lama. After receiving in Tibet the full traditional education of a 'tulku,' Chögyal Namkhai Norbu came to the West where he founded the Dzogchen Community, an association of his students dedicated to the practice and preservation of the contemplative tradition known as 'The Great Perfection' or Dzogchen.

The painting was made following the instructions of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. He is shown seated in contemplation, in a form befitting of a great exponent of the tradition of the Mahasiddas, with his right hand raised in the 'mudra' or gesture of the 'Direct Introduction,' while his left hand presses on one of the points that enable a practitioner to control the flow of subtle energy in the body in order to favor the development of a particular aspect of practice. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu is seen wearing the 'onra,' a kind of short trousers traditionally worn by practitioners of Yantra Yoga, with a 'Melong' or small mirror on a cord around his neck. The Melong is a symbol used in Dzogchen teachings to explain the nature of the mind.

Above Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and to his right in the thanka, one of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu's masters, his uncle Togden Ugyen Tenzin, appears in a luminous 'thigle,' or sphere of rainbow light.

Togden Ugyen Tenzin was a great yogi who at the end of his life accomplished the supreme realization of the 'Rainbow Body.' While Chögyal Namkhai Norbu was a young man he practiced in retreats in a cave in Tibet with this uncle, who taught him the system of Yantra Yoga, which Chögyal Namkhai Norbu has in turn taught to his students in the West.

At the top of the thanka, in another thigle of rainbow light, appears the form of Garab Dorje, the first master of Dzogchen on this planet in this time cycle. From Garab Dorje the Dzogchen teachings have been handed down from master to master in an unbroken lineage to the present day, a lineage represented in the essential form by the images of this thanka.

In the foreground of the painting are Ekajati (on the left) and Dorje Legpa, two of the principle guardians of the Dzogchen teachings, protectors of the 'Great Secret Treasure of All the Enlightened Ones,' as the Dzogchen teachings are sometimes known.

To the right of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, in the background, can be seen 'The Temple of the Great Liberation,' the teaching and practice hall at Merigar, the principle European seat of the Dzogchen Community, at Arcidosso, on Monte Amiata, in the province of Grossetto, Italy.