Hor Püntsok Tashi

For more than four decades, Hor Püntsok Tashi –a monk of Golok’s Hor clan– played a central role in the unfolding of Düdjom Lingpa’s activity as a tertön, serving as one of his six earliest and most enduring disciples.

One of Düdjom Lingpa’s First Six Disciples

Born around 1835 into the Hor clan—one of the four principal tribal groups inhabiting the Mar Chu Valley in eastern Golok —Hor Püntsok Tashi was ordained at a young age as a Nyingma monk. He demonstrated exceptional aptitude as a calligrapher, eventually mastering all six classical styles of Tibetan script, a skill that would later prove indispensable in the transcription and preservation of Düdjom Lingpa’s terma revelations.

When Düdjom Lingpa was twenty-one, he experienced a visionary encounter with a radiant red dakini who prophesied that, should he leave his native village of Nubzur in the Ser Chu Valley and travel to the Mar Chu Valley in Golok, he would encounter disciples of exceptional capacity. Acting upon this instruction, Düdjom Lingpa departed Nubzur in 1857 in the company of Gili Wangli, a prosperous merchant from Dziteng who had agreed to sponsor him there. Shortly after his arrival, Düdjom Lingpa met Gili Wangli’s nephew, Gili Ngawang Gyatso (1814–1893), who became his first disciple in the Mar Chu Valley.

In 1858, while residing at the Gili family homestead in Dziteng, Düdjom Lingpa dreamed of a white dakini who foretold the imminent arrival of a disciple named Püntsok Tashi from the Hor clan of Golok. She declared that he would become one of Düdjom Lingpa’s principal scribes, entrusted with transforming visionary revelations into writing. She symbolically likened Gili Ngawang Gyatso to a snow lion, while Hor Püntsok Tashi would manifest, she said, with the force and majesty of an Indian tiger. The dakini exhorted him: ‘Throughout your life, never be separated from Püntsok Tashi. Engage him as your scribe and collaborator. This will bring immense benefit to countless beings!’

As leading merchants, the Gili family maintained extensive connections throughout the Mar Chu region. Through these networks, members of the Hor clan—then comprising some two hundred households, with branches extending into Kham and other parts of Golok —began introducing promising students to Düdjom Lingpa soon after his arrival. By this time, he had already acquired local renown as the Gili Tertön, the ‘treasure revealer of the Gili family’.

As a close friend of Gili Ngawang Gyatso and a fellow monastic, Hor Püntsok Tashi soon began attending Düdjom Lingpa’s teachings. In accordance with the earlier prophecy, Düdjom Lingpa formally engaged him as both scribe and custodian (chödak) of his emerging treasure cycles. Not long thereafter, a younger monk of the Hor clan, Horla Péma Tashi (c. 1840–1890s), also joined their circle, further consolidating the nucleus of Düdjom Lingpa’s earliest disciples.

A Prophesied Scribe

While traveling to the Mar Chu Valley with his patron, Gili Wangli, in 1857, Düdjom Lingpa recounts an encounter at the sacred site of Chaktsé Tak Yak, where members of a bridal procession offered him chang, or barley wine. He interpreted this auspicious gesture as an omen that his destiny would include the life of a householder, reliant upon a female companion and engaged in worldly activity. Yet it was not until seven years later, in 1864, after completing a succession of extended retreats with his earliest monk disciples—Goser Önpo Khyenrab Gyatso, Gili Ngawang Gyatso, Horla Pema Tashi, and Hor Püntsok Tashi—that Düdjom Lingpa met his first consort, Traza Sönam Tso.

From 1857 through 1870, Düdjom Lingpa’s periods of meditative retreat in Dziteng and at Dröpuk Khandro Dukhang, the ‘Radiant Dakinis’ Gathering-hall cave’, were devoted largely to consolidating his visionary revelations and transforming them into written treasure teachings. Hor Püntsok Tashi proved indispensable in this process from the outset. His role began with Düdjom Lingpa’s 1857 vision of Manjushri, through which the Daknang Yéshé Drawa—Wisdom Net of Pure Visions—was revealed, one of Düdjom Lingpa’s four earliest terma cycles.

Within this cycle alone, Hor Püntsok Tashi served as scribe for more than thirteen individual practices. These included the léjang, or activity manual, for Yéshé Nyima, ‘Sun of Primordial Wisdom’; the infamous middle length practice of Tröma Nakmo; the Ngöndrö Nakdön Wang Gi Bumpa, outlining the foundational Vajrayana preliminaries; and the Néluk Rangjung Gi Gyü Dorjé Nyingpo, one of Düdjom Lingpa’s most renowned and extensive Dzogchen tantras.

In 1858, following a visionary encounter with Avalokiteshvara, Düdjom Lingpa revealed an additional treasure cycle, the Zabchö Gongpa Longdröl. Together with his fellow monastic disciples, Hor Püntsok Tashi again served as scribe, transcribing more than ten practices within this cycle. Among these was a corporal offering practice to sever the clinging to an I, entitled Zabchö Chö Kyi Gomrim Pungpo Shoksu Jinpa Ngardzin Tsené Chöpa.

For more than four decades—continuing even during periods of prolonged solitary retreat devoted to the very practices he had helped to bring into being—Hor Püntsok Tashi remained a devoted scribe to Düdjom Lingpa. Through this sustained collaboration, he contributed significantly to the compilation of over twenty thousand folios that comprise Düdjom Lingpa’s sungbum, or collected works.

A Journey to Shadrak Dorje Dzong

In 1859, prompted by the discovery of several khajang—prophetic terma registries—together with associated ritual objects, Düdjom Lingpa assembled his most trusted disciples from the Mar Chu Valley, among them Gili Ngawang Gyatso and Hor Püntsok Tashi, and undertook an expedition back to his homeland in the Ser Chu Valley. Their purpose was to reveal a prophesied earth treasure (sa ter), the Zabsang Khandro Nyingtik, ‘Profound Heart Essence of the Dakinis, concealed at a forested cliff known as Shadrak Dorjé Dzong.

Shadrak Dorjé Dzong rises from the slopes of Ngala Taktsé Mountain, overlooking the banks of the Ser Chu near Düdjom Lingpa’s home village of Nubzur. According to local tradition, Guru Rinpoché and Yéshé Tsogyal visited this site in the eighth century, concealing numerous treasures within the cliff face and leaving behind self-arising signs, symbolic marks, and spontaneously manifested sacred syllables.

In one of his autobiographical writings, the Namtar Shyal Sungma, Düdjom Lingpa recounts that upon arriving at Ngala Taktsé Mountain, the cliffs, hills, and forests were suffused with rainbows. ‘The earth, rocks, and trees did not appear to possess any substantial nature,’ he wrote. As they approached Shadrak Dorjé Dzong, however, the party encountered a musk deer caught in a hunter’s trap. Düdjom Lingpa opened the snare and released the animal. One of his companions, a disciple named Déchen, then asked what significance this event might hold.

‘This is an auspicious connection (tendrel),’ Düdjom Lingpa replied. ‘In the future, fortunate disciples will resemble wild animals freed from a trap. It is an omen that my terma teachings will liberate beings from the lower realms of existence.’

The group proceeded to perform one hundred tsok, or vajra feast offerings, and recited as many supplications as possible. Déchen remained at the base of the cliff, continuously reciting the Seven-Line Prayer to Guru Rinpoché, while Düdjom Lingpa turned his awareness toward the rock face of Shadrak Dorjé Dzong. At that moment, a doorway appeared. Although he could see no one, he heard a delicate, melodic female voice utter the following words:

‘É Ma! Wondrous! He has arrived; he has arrived—the guest has arrived! To give, to give—I have something to give you! If you’re skilled in the ways of deer and mountains goats that ascend steep slopes without encountering others, you will obtain supremely positive results. For a tertön lacking the foundational view of reality, auspicious connections rarely align. Although many termas lie hidden in Shadrak Dorjé Dzong, because you lack a consort, I will grant you no more than half. Take only that, and in their place conceal an excellent replacement!’

When the voice dissolved into emptiness, Düdjom Lingpa ascended the cliff face until he reached a half-moon-shaped opening in the rock. Striking it with a chisel, the stone parted to reveal numerous mounds resembling charcoal, covered with bits of juniper and birch. Within these mounds appeared many treasure boxes. According to his memoirs, the khajang he had previously revealed in the Mar Chu Valley authorized him to retrieve objects no more than three times. He therefore made three extractions, yielding a total of seven boxes. Lacking both a consort and a formally designated treasure custodian (chödak), he refrained from removing more. He then placed a substitute treasure within the cavity and ‘restored the seal of concealment exactly as it had been before.’

Following the extraction, Düdjom Lingpa and his companions returned to the Mar Chu Valley. He appointed Déchen, Gili Ngawang Gyatso, and Hor Püntsok Tashi as chödaks for the Zabsang Khandro Nyingtik cycle they had helped to reveal. They beseeched him to dictate a definitive version of the teachings, but Düdjom Lingpa replied, ‘The time for their full revelation has not yet come. We must seal them until six years have passed.’

In practice, however, the process unfolded gradually over more than fifteen years, as Düdjom Lingpa and his earliest disciples transformed the yellow terma parchments (shokser) into fully articulated written texts. As a master calligrapher, Hor Püntsok Tashi played a pivotal role in this endeavor. His name appears as scribe in nearly one hundred texts within the Zabsang Khandro Nyingtik corpus.

He is specifically credited as the scribe for the Lama Shyiwa Rigdzin Düpa sadhana cycle and its principal instructional text, the Yangsang Lamé Drubpa Ngödrub Tergyi Bumzang. He is also named in the colophons of the Lama Yangtrö Dorjé Drölo practice text, the Tamdrin Yangtrö Nakpö cycle associated with the wrathful black Hayagriva, and the Tukdrub Sangwé Gyachen and Phurba Deshek Nyingpo cycles centered on Dorjé Phurba (Skt. Vajrakilaya). Additional texts list him as scribe for rituals invoking Lhachen Wangchuk Chenpo, the tantric Buddhist form of Shiva, as well as the protector deity Nöjin Shenpa Marnak, the ‘Harmful Spirit, Dark Red Butcher’.

In 1861, Düdjom Lingpa revealed a further visionary cycle entitled Chönyi Namkha’i Long Dzö ('Vast Space Treasury of the Nature of Reality’). Hor Püntsok Tashi again served as scribe for many of its texts, including those associated with Rahula, the serpent-bodied protector of revealed treasures, depicted with four arms, nine heads, and a thousand eyes.

Beyond Düdjom Lingpa’s own revelations, Hor Püntsok Tashi also contributed his skills as editor and scribe to termas requested or revealed by Düdjom Lingpa’s close associates and descendants. These included Tulku Pema Dorjé (1867–1934), Khyentsé Tulku Dzamling Wangyal (1868–1907), Lhacham Péma Sal (1873–1930s), and Tulku Dorjé Dradül (1892–1959), further extending his influence across successive generations of the Düdjom lineage.

Activities in Mardo Tashi Chöling, Lama Rung, and Dartsang Kalzang

In 1871, Düdjom Lingpa relocated his base of activity upstream from the cave hermitage of Tröpuk Khandro Dükhang to a site that would later be known as Mardo Tashi Chöling. In the autumn of that year, Hor Püntsok Tashi, together with Düdjom Lingpa’s other close disciples, began laying the foundations for what became the tertön’s first permanent residence. Mardo Tashi Chöling subsequently developed into an important center for retreat, ritual practice, and the ongoing consolidation of Düdjom Lingpa’s revealed teachings.

According to oral lineage accounts, 1875, Hor Püntsok Tashi entered an almost six-year long retreat at Mardo Tashi Chöling. Even while maintaining extended periods of seclusion, he continued to serve Düdjom Lingpa as a trusted scribe, assisting in the transcription, editing, and organization of terma texts as they continued to emerge and mature. In his retreat practice, he aimed to bring forth the non-dual wisdom that arises from severing the distinction between subject and object, self and appearance. Through sustained identification with Tröma Nakmo as a fierce embodiment of ultimate wisdom, he gained confidence that gods, spirits, and demons are merely expressions of conditioned consciousness.

In 1880, in accordance with a prophecy he is said to have received at the age of four, Düdjom Lingpa departed Mardo Tashi Chöling and returned to his homeland in the Ser Chu Valley, where he established a small meditation community at Lama Rung. Hor Püntsok Tashi, together with a circle of committed Dzogchen practitioners, accompanied him there. Hor Püntsok Tashi undertook a second six-year period of intensive retreat, devoted primarily to the formless practices of Shamatha, Trekchö, and Tögal.

A decade later, in 1890, Hor Püntsok Tashi again followed his teacher, this time to Dartsang Kalzang Monastery in Dartsang, situated in the upper reaches of the Do Chu river. There, Düdjom Lingpa expanded his teaching activities, attracting a wider circle of disciples and patrons. Even while engaged with a third six-year meditation retreat, that ended in 1893, Hor Püntsok Tashi remained close to Düdjom Lingpa as a principal custodian (chödak) of his revealed teachings.

An Accomplished Tröma Nakmo Practitioner and Dzogchenpa

Throughout his life, Hor Püntsok Tashi served not only as a principal scribe for Düdjom Lingpa’s visionary revelations, but also as a devoted practitioner who tested those teachings through prolonged retreat. Among the many practices he received, he formed an especially intimate connection with the practice of Tröma Nakmo, which Düdjom Lingpa first introduced to him through a pure vision in 1857. Over succeeding decades, Tröma Nakmo became the core discipline through which Hor Püntsok Tashi confronted and dismantled the most subtle forms of dualistic fixation. Ha also served as the scribe for the Yéshé Nyima (‘Sun of Primordial Wisdom’), the léjang, or activity manual, of the Tröma Nakmo practice cycle contained within the Daknang Yéshé Drawa.

When he later presented his realization to Düdjom Lingpa, his teacher pointed out a subtle remaining fixation. Hor Püntsok Tashi, Düdjom Lingpa observed, was still identifying with Tröma Nakmo as a self-existent deity.

‘As long as you grasp at a deity,’ Düdjom Lingpa cautioned, ‘demonic forces will also arise. You have not yet unified absolute and relative truth.’

Recognizing this subtle dualism, Düdjom Lingpa instructed him to undertake a further six-year formless retreat at Lama Rung, devoted to Dzogchen meditation, so that both levels of experience might be fully equalized. As he explained: ‘If outwardly you see all phenomena as the display of mind, but inwardly cling to a vision of pristine awareness, you have not yet understood the authentic, nondual nature of rigpa.’

Hor Püntsok Tashi thus entered a second six-year retreat, cultivating the union of Shamata (calm abiding) and Vipashyana (direct insight) as the gateway to the recognition of Rigpa. When this retreat concluded in 1887, he returned to Düdjom Lingpa and declared that he had recognized demonic forces as illusory projections, going so far as to state that Tröma Nakmo herself—his former personal deity (yidam)—was an obscuring appearance.

‘As I now see it,’ he proclaimed, ‘all is one. There is nothing that can harm or benefit me. Even the pure vision of the deity is nothing other than the display of my own mind.’

Moved by gratitude, he praised Düdjom Lingpa’s compassion, confessing that devotion repeatedly brought him to tears. Yet Düdjom Lingpa responded with uncompromising clarity: although teachings had been given, Hor Püntsok Tashi was still subtly clinging—to his teacher. ‘You have not yet recognized your essential nature, Düdjom Lingpa told him. ‘You are grasping at me. Therefore, you must return once more to retreat.’

Accordingly, Hor Püntsok Tashi entered a third extended retreat, from 1887 to 1893, this time at Dartsang Kalzang. There he focused on the visionary dimension of innate awareness as presented in the Dzogchen practice of Tögal. When he finally emerged, he declared to Düdjom Lingpa that all phenomena—including his perception of Düdjom Lingpa himself as the ‘Gili Tertön’—were nothing other than the spontaneous display of Rigpa. There was, he asserted, nothing left to identify with.

‘I have reached the fundamental ground,’ he said. ‘All phenomena are equalized. If a Buddha appeared before me, I would not bow. If I saw a being suffering horribly, I would not react. ‘Good’ and ‘bad’ no longer apply. Everything is the single taste of Rigpa, clear and boundless space.’

Having spoken these words, he made a few prostrations at Düdjom Lingpa’s feet and departed.

Through the practice of Lhündrup Tögal—the leaping over to spontaneous presence—Hor Püntsok Tashi had transcended conceptual Vajrayana frameworks altogether. Gods and demons, virtue and vice, meditation and meditator had dissolved into the indivisible expanse of awareness. Having passed beyond even subtle attachment to guru yoga and deity practice, he directly realized his innate buddha nature, embodying the fruition of the Dzogchen path.

Attaining a Rainbow Body and Rebirth in Pemakö

On the night of the tenth day of the first summer month of 1893, Hor Püntsok Tashi’s close Dharma brother, Gili Ngawang Gyatso, passed away. Shortly thereafter, he appeared to Düdjom Lingpa in a visionary encounter, adorned with the resplendent ornaments of the sambhogakaya—the subtle body of enlightened enjoyment—arising amid an expanse of intermingled clouds and rainbows. Prostrating before his master, Gili Ngawang announced that he had taken rebirth in a blissful pure land. He exhorted Düdjom Lingpa that all karmically destined disciples should practice the united path of Trekchö and Tögal, so as to attain liberation either through the dissolution of the physical body into rainbow light or by merging directly with the expanse of primordial space. He further prophesied that Hor Püntsok Tashi would pass away later that same year and take rebirth in Béyül Pemakö, the hidden land of dense jungles and precipitous gorges lying beyond the southeastern edge of the Tibetan plateau.

From as early as the age of three, in 1838, Düdjom Lingpa himself had received multiple prophecies and visionary indications that, as a destined tertön, he would one day open the gateway to Pemakö. In the final months of 1903, sensing that the activities of his present lifetime were drawing to a close, he reassured his son, Tulku Drimé Özer, that he was not dying, but rather that the time had come for him to journey to the hidden land of Pemakö.

Recognizing that conditions in Tibet would soon deteriorate, Düdjom Lingpa instructed his disciples to prepare for departure. ‘Very soon,’ he warned, ‘foreign armies will flood this land, and there will be little peace or opportunity to practice the Dharma. Therefore, while continuously supplicating Guru Rinpoché, you should all leave Dartsang Kalzang without delay and travel to Béyül Pemakö, the sacred realm blessed by Padmasambhava.’

Inspired by this injunction, hundreds of his followers began preparing for the arduous journey from Golok to the southeastern borderlands. Many sold or relinquished their possessions, retaining only what was essential for travel. Some departed for Pemakö while Düdjom Lingpa was still alive; others undertook the journey after his passing in December 1903. Still others—among them Hor Püntsok Tashi—were said to have taken rebirth there through the power of realization itself.

According to lineage accounts, Hor Püntsok Tashi passed away in 1893, in accordance with the prophecy, and attained the rainbow body, dissolving the gross elements of his physical form into luminous emptiness and leaving behind only hair and nails. His reincarnation was subsequently identified in Béyül Pemakö, where he had already been reborn when, in 1904, Düdjom Lingpa himself took rebirth there as Düdjom Jigdrel Yéshé Dorjé (1904–1987). Thus, the rebirth of Hor Püntsok Tashi preceded that of his master’s final incarnation by more than a decade.

A jalüpa

Hor Püntsok Tashi belonged to the extraordinary circle of Düdjom Lingpa’s earliest close disciples who fully realized Dzogchen—the Great Perfection—through attainment of a rainbow body. Having progressively severed external and internal grasping, relinquished fixation on deity, guru, and view, and unified relative and absolute experience into a single expanse, he arrived at the definitive recognition of rigpa. In this way, his life stands as a paradigmatic expression of the Düdjom Tersar path: the maturation of visionary revelation through disciplined retreat, the exhaustion of conceptual elaboration, and the consummation of practice in the spontaneous presence of primordial wisdom.

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