05/04/2026
Namkhai Nyingpo was born at Nyang Karda Shambu, into the Nub clan. He was ordained by Śāntarakṣita, and is counted as one of the twenty-five disciples of Padmasambhava.
He was sent to India alongside Vairocana, where he studied Yangdak Heruka under the siddha Hūṃkāra. Returning to Tibet, he was slandered by the pro-Bon ministers and exiled to southern Tibet. The ministers demanded his death, but Namkhai Nyingpo had previously cured the King of an illness, and so the King spared his life, exiling him instead to Lhodrak.
According to legend, while he was living in a cave there, his brother, a poor farmer, asked him for some seeds to plant. Namkhai Nyingpo had none, but feeling his brother's shame, he gave him some pebbles and told him: “Throw these pebbles on the field, and at least pretend you are planting something.” His brother did as instructed and the next summer he produced the best crop in the valley.
He was one of the co-authors, together with Kawa Peltsek, of the Denkarma catalog of Buddhist scriptures done in the early ninth century under imperial orders.
He is said to have worked with Yeshe Tsogyel, to conceal scripture for later revelation. Along with Gyelwa Jangchub, he transcribed and concealed the biography of Yeshe Tsogyel, revealed by Taksham Nuden Dorje in the seventeenth century.
According to legend, he once dropped his rosary while flying through the air. When he swooped down to the valley to pick it up, he left imprints of his five fingers in the earth. Flowers sprang out of these imprints, where stupas later appeared, built by ḍākinīs. It is said that when Namkhai Nyingpo departed for the celestial pure land, not a trace of his body remained behind.
南開寧波尊者（Namkhai Nyingpo）誕生於娘地卡達夏布（Nyang Karda Shambu）之努布氏族（Nub clan）。尊者依止寂護論師（Śāntarakṣita）受具足戒出家，並為蓮花生大士二十五大弟子之一。
其後，尊者與毘盧遮那（Vairocana）一同奉命前往印度，於大成就者吽迦羅（Hūṃkāra）座下修學揚達嘿嚕嘎（Yangdak Heruka）法門。學成返藏後，因遭親苯教大臣讒謗，遂被流放至西藏南方。群臣更屢請誅殺尊者，然因尊者曾醫癒贊普之疾，故國王念其功德，不忍加害，僅將其放逐至洛札（Lhodrak）地方。
相傳尊者隱居彼處山洞修持時，其兄以務農貧困，曾前來向尊者求取種子以備播植。然尊者手中並無種子，惟憐其兄心中困窘，乃授以石子數枚，囑曰：「且將此撒於田間，權作播種之相。」其兄依言而行。至翌年夏季，田中所生竟為全谷最勝之收成，眾皆驚異，咸歎尊者加持不可思議。
尊者亦曾與嘎瓦貝則（Kawa Peltsek）共同編纂《登噶爾瑪錄》（Denkarma Catalog），此乃奉王命於九世紀初所編定之佛典總錄，為後世佛法整理與流傳奠定重要基礎。
復次，傳云尊者曾與益西措嘉佛母（Yeshe Tsogyel）共同伏藏諸多教典，以待未來因緣成熟時再度出世。又曾與嘉瓦蔣秋（Gyelwa Jangchub）一同抄錄並伏藏益西措嘉佛母之傳記。此傳後於十七世紀由塔桑努殿多傑（Taksham Nuden Dorje）取藏弘揚於世。
另有一傳說云：尊者一日凌空而行，途中念珠忽然墜落。尊者遂自空中俯衝至谷地拾取，其五指觸地之處，地上遂現五指印痕。旋即於印痕中生出妙花，其後又由空行母於彼處建起佛塔，以為聖跡。又云尊者最終升往淨土之時，色身無有遺留，未曾留下一絲痕跡，示現成就自在、功德圓滿之相。
