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Longchen Rabjampa (also Longchen Drimey Oser, or simply Longchenpa) was born in central Tibet. His father began to teach him about Buddhist tradition when he was a boy of five.
At age 19, Longchenpa entered the monastery of Sangphu, an important philosophical center where he studied classical Indian Buddhist texts. His scholarship and insight was quickly recognized and he was given the name Rabjampa, meaning "One who is in abundance."
Deeply upset by the behavior of certain monks from Eastern Tibet, Longchenpa eventually decided to leave the monastery to become a solitary hermit, but he was initially dissuaded by his students. Later, however, he did in fact take up the life of a wandering mendicant.
During his journeys, Longchen Rabjampa began to have deeper mystical experiences and he eventually met his guru who initiated him in Dzogchen. Through his practice of Dzogchen (the "Great Perfection," the pure awareness that all of reality is an expression of one fundamental truth), Longchenpa began to have a series of mystical encounters with a protectress spirit who revealed to him secret inner teachings on Dzogchen. Through this mystical insight and relationship, Longchen Rabjampa became one of the recognized authorities on Dzogchen practice. His writings on the subject are studied even today in the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
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