[1][2] His teacher was the master Nyoshul Lungtok Tenpai Nyima (1829–1901), an incarnation of the abbot Shantarakshita, who spent twenty-eight years in the company of Patrul Rinpoche, receiving all the Nyingtik teachings, practicing them under his orientation and attaining the utmost accomplishment of the Great Perfection.
He completed all the stages of the practice – the preliminaries, sadhana recitations, yogas, and the two aspects of the Great Perfection, trekchö and thögal.
Fully realized in the Longchen Nyingtik teachings, he is the author of the book The Guide to the Words of My Perfect Teacher, a theoretical explanation of The Words of My Perfect Teacher, written by Patrul Rinpoche, the main master of Tenpai Nyima, his root lama.
Tenpai Nyima later explained that this dream predicted the destruction of the doctrine in the East and its spread to the West.
[3] Ngawang Pelzang was a holder of Nyingtik tradition and had many disciples, among them Nyoshul Shedrup Tenpai Nyima, Golok Khenchen Munsel Rinpoche,[4] Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö and Chatral Rinpoche.