Kathog’s Awareness-Holder (Rigzin) – Padma Wangchen is a Mongolian descendent. 

When he was young, Rinpoche was recognised by the great terton Khamtsang Rinpoche, Dragkar Rinpoche, Payul Monastery’s Karma Chakme Rinpoche, Jadral Rigtsal Rinpoche, Tulku Gopa Rinpoche, and others, as an incarnation of the Kathog Rigzin – Tsewang Norbu.

Amongst his teachers, the first Thubten Norbu, was a father figure to him. He had tutored Rinpoche when he was 7 till he was 16. He taught him the Tibetan language, the different liturgies of Tibetan’s tantras, hand mudras, chanting, how to teach the dharma, how to recite verses, how to explain the dharma, about Tibetan medicinal herbs, sky/space dharma, and how to read scriptures. Through Thubten Norbu who was also a medical doctor, Rinpoche also received part of the very unique dharma of the Kathog Rigzin Chenpo (Tsewang Norbu), the ear-whispered lineage Chakrasamvara teaching of Taranatha lineage, and the secret teachings of Tara of Dolpopa lineage. 

As he was receiving these teachings, Rinpoche also did the practice of the Path of the Bodhisattva for both this world and the transcendence world. In winter and summer, Thubten Norbu would bring him to receive from Tulku Gopa, the complete teachings of the Six Dharmas of Naropa, Kagyupa’s Mahakala activities and subjugation, and others. From Khenchen Yisie Gyatso, Rinpoche also received these teachings: Tripitaka, A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, The Five Treatises of Maitreya, The Four Preliminaries, and Tibetan’s tantric practice of channel energies. 

From Khamtsang Rinpoche, he received the 12 sets of terma teachings that Khamtsang Rinpoche uncovered personally, and some teachings from the collection of two of Kathog’s two foremost tertons: Apang and Aja, including the different empowerments, oral transmissions and explanations of Tantric Medicine Buddha.

Khamtsang Rinpoche who had extracted the Hayagriva terma, said that,“The 6th Kathog Rigzin Chenpo is the holder of the Hayagriva lineage and he will expound the teachings for the benefits of sentient beings.”   

From Payul’s Karma Chakme, he received the commentary notes on the generation of siddhis by Do-Tenpe Nyingma, and the empowerment, oral transmissions and explanations of some parts of Payul’s Sky/Space Dharma (Namcho).

From Jadral Rigtsal, he received oral transmissions and explanations, of the 13 Deities of Kathog  Rigzin Chenpo’s lineage, the activity section of Rahula, the Five Siddhis of Vajrasattva, and the Three Spaces of Dzogchen.

From Kathog’s Zhichen Ontul Rinpoche, he received empowerment and teachings of the Three Roots. This is a terma teaching uncovered by the two tertons from Kathog – Dudul Dorje and Longsal Nyingpo. From Ontul Rinpoche, he also received the teachings of energy channel, wind, and thigles of the Kathog Rigzin Chenpo Lineage (a collection compiled by Rigzin Tsewang Norbu, comprising the teachings of the three tertons, namely, Dudul Dorje, Longsal Nyingpo and Pema Dechen Lingpa). 

In his early years, Rinpoche wrote scriptures based on the mind termas that he uncovered. Terma teachings had flowed forth like a spring from his mind. When he was 12, hewrote the Dharma collection titled, “ The Secret Treasury of the Intentions of all the Buddhas”.  After reading it, both Gopa Rinpoche and the yogi Soken (a direct disciple of the great accomplished one Yuthog) were astonished. 

Between 17 and 18, Rinpoche studied under Gelugpa’s Lanja Rinpoche and Ake Tsultrim. The subjects he studied included Tibetan history, classical literature, the Siddhis of the Path of a Bodhisattva, and the pith instructions and teachings of Tara of Atisha’s lineage.

From 18 to 21, he received these teachings from Kathogpa’s great accomplished one at Yanglesho – Chatral Sangye Rinpoche: some teachings of the Kathog Rigzin Chenpo lineage; some of Kathogpa’s kama and terma teachings, the complete set of Longchenpa’s Dzogchen; the common and uncommon, preliminaries, main practice and great completion teachings of the new treasures of Dudjom. 

During this period, he also visited Vajrayogini’s sacred place in Kathmandu, Lakeside Pokhara in Gurkha, “bodhi” springs, unknown peaceful snow mountains, and others. Whilst in a three-year retreat, Chatral Rinpoche who was his instructor, permitted him to receive empowerments, oral transmissions and pith instructions of the complete teachings of Kathog Rigzin Chenpo’s lineage, from the ngagpa named Made-Mate. 

From the throne holder of Nyingma, Penor Rinpoche, he received empowerments, of the Rinchen Terzod, Hitting the Essence in Three Words, and many other kama and terma teachings. 

From the lineage holder of Longchen, Dodrupchen Rinpoche, he received empowerments, oral transmissions of the complete set of Longchen’s Dzogchen, activities section of the protector Tsiu Marpo, and oral transmissions and pith instructions of the wrathful mantra of Ning-Nyima Woser’s lineage – a terma teaching. 

From Trinley Norbu Rinpoche, Rinpoche received the new treasure teachings of Dudjom, in which he was entrusted to widely propagate this Dharma in the future.

From the Dharma King Khenchen Pema Tsewang, he received oral transmissions and explanations of the Three Self-Liberations in Dzogchen, and the Hitting the Essence in Three Words. 

From the great omniscient scholar of Jonang Lineage, Ake Delalaji, Rinpoche received the explanations of Jonang’s special teachings titled One Hundred and Eight Teaching Manuals which includes the Eight Great Chariots (eight major practice lineages of the Tibetan system). The renown ones from the snow mountain Terton Apang, Tare Lhamo, and Namtrul Rinpoche Jigme Phuntsok and many others had this prophecy about Rinpoche – “You will be the one to expound Guru Padmasambhava’s lineage teachings.”

The renown Kathog yogi of Dzogchen, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche gave Rinpoche this earnest instruction, “Now, I bestow upon you the sacred heirloom of the Kathog lineage – the skull of Kathog’s founding patriarch, Kadampa Desek, with the hope that you will uphold the authentic lineage through the three wisdoms of listening, contemplation, and meditation, and further propagate the teachings of the Vajrayana.”

Thus, in the context of Tibetan Buddhism, Rinpoche holds the lineages of Kathog, Payul, Longchen, Dudjom, Kagyu, and Jonang. 

Due to the power of Rinpoche’s truthful speech, besides being a profound Buddhist scholar, he is also skilled in composing different genres of Tibetan poetry. In fact, he was once recognised by the Mirror Newspaper of East India’s Tibetan community as the best young poet. He was also selected by the editorial team of Nepal’s Voice of the Himalayas Magazine as the best young writer. He once served as a Tibetan literary reviewer for several newspapers and magazines.

Rinpoche authored more than 13 books. He wrote about Tibetan Buddhism, the history of Tibet, biographies, poems and novels. In addition, he had compiled all the collections of Kathog Rigzin Chenpo -Tsewang Norbu’s dharma teachings, and Jonang Taranatha’s collection of teachings. 

In addition to teaching the Dharma in the Tibetan and Chinese languages, Rinpoche has been  tirelessly translating the dharma from Tibetan to Chinese. There are now no less than 25 volumes of the Rigzin Chenpo’s dharma series that have been published. 

Taking the advice of his teachers, Rinpoche built a retreat centre in Taichung, Taiwan in 2000. This centre named Theg Chog Ling, is approximately 1,400 square metres. There are also two other retreat centres in the US and Malaysia. 

More recently, he has established a Buddhist institute, and is currently building a monastery, both in  New Zealand.