This short history of Neding was composed by Khentrul Rinpoche in Tibetan and then translated into English.
Chatral Sangye Dorje Rinpoche bestowed upon Neding the Tibetan name Yang khrod Kun bzang Chos gling, meaning “Upper Hermitage, the Dharma Garden of Samantabhadra,” or, more broadly, “the place where all is good.” He regarded the site as comparable to the sacred mountain of Tsari and referred to it as the “Second Tsari.”
Chatral Rinpoche first came to Yolmo in 1980. In 1988, he formally inaugurated Neding as a retreat center and guided eight practitioners through a traditional three-year retreat. During this period, he conferred numerous important transmissions to large gatherings, including the Rdzogs pa Chen po Klong chen Snying thig, Bdud ’joms Gter gsar, Byang gter, and Rig ’dzin Srog sgrub cycles. These were accompanied by their respective empowerments (dbang), reading transmissions (lung), and oral instructions (khrid) according to the bnyan brgyud tradition.
Following the completion of the retreat, Chatral Rinpoche taught in Bentang on Yeshe Lama, Jigme Lingpa’s renowned Atiyoga manual of Dzogchen. His teachings included the preliminary practice of ’Khor ’das Ru shan (“Discerning Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa”).
In the years that followed, additional three-year retreats were held at Neding, accompanied by further teachings from Chatral Rinpoche. Among these were repeated instructions on Yeshe Lama, which he taught there on three separate occasions. He also transmitted teachings on Sangs rgyas sgom med (Buddhahood Without Meditation) and Snang sbyang (“Purifying Appearances”), one of Düdjom Lingpa’s most influential visionary texts on khregs chod (trekchö), the Dzogchen practice of cutting through conceptual elaboration.
Many years ago, it was translated by one of Khentrul Rinpoche’s students: