Thinley Norbu

Thinley Norbu first came to the United States of America in the 1970s to seek medical treatment,[6] and then spent a number of years in Nepal before permanently settling in the US in the early 1980s.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, after spending a number of years in New York City, Thinley Norbu sought out a quiet place for practice in the countryside on the east coast of the United States.

After a long search, in 1991 he chose some land in the rolling hills of upstate New York and named it Kunzang Gatshal, Always Noble Joyful Park (Tibetan: ཀུན་བཟང་དགའ་ཚལ།, Wylie: kun bzang dga' tshal).

He helped with the final sculpting of the face of the Guru Rinpoche statue in Pema Osel Ling, and also gave many teachings there, including the full Dudjom Tersar empowerments during the summer of 1995.

[8] Most of his later years were spent at Kunzang Gatshal, giving spoken teachings and writing more than a dozen books, many of which were published posthumously, and several that still remain unpublished.

Thinley Norbu died in Palm Desert, California on December 26, 2011, which according to the Tibetan Buddhist Lunar Calendar is the 2nd day of the 11th month of the Iron Rabbit year.

[2] His body was transported to his temple at Kunzang Gatshal in upstate, New York where it stayed for several weeks before being flown to Paro, Bhutan and driven around the country so disciples could pay their respects.

Thinley Norbu's parents had seven children: Semo Dechen Yudron (Tibetan: སྲས་མོ་བདེ་ཆེན་གཡུ་སྒྲོན། English: Turquoise Radiance of Great Bliss.)

Thinley Norbu's wife was Sangyum Jamyang Chödrön (Tibetan: འཇམ་དབྱང་ཆོས་སྒྲོན། Smooth Melodious Lamp of Dharma), and like his parents they had seven children together, three daughters and four sons.