Chapter One: The Siddha is Born
On the Kham Tibetan highland, Semo Kangri stands with its ridge slightly raised, clouds and mist wreathed around its waist. Eminent peaks erect above the wavy clouds, one mountain top followed by another foothill. The layers of mountains tell the story of grandeur.
Boom! Boom! Boom! In the year of 1941, the rainy season was in for the right time. The thunder and the storm, mixed with the roaring sound from the adjacent Yangtze River, orchestrated the summer symphony for the Dhongkhor village. It seemed to be a usual year, yet on the contrary, unusual to the most.
The usual came as the wet season drew long, as the Gesang flower were still blooming for a long time, and just as the broken holes on the whips of old herdsmen were patched up over and over again.
The ancient wind chime, hanging in the corner of an old Tibetan-style house belonging to the Drongmed Family at the end of the village, began to tremble again, along with the seven-color rainbow splashed across the clear sky; the spring gushed out near the nomadic land naturally and unexpectedly; the brilliant light shone from the wind vent on the red wall pillars of the old house. All of these said something unusual about that day.
As the sun about to crack open the darkness, by the wall pillars, Drongmed’s mistress Tashi Lhamo gave birth to a baby boy. The boy was nothing but weak, with a slender body supporting a big round head. Later, the villagers gave him the nickname “Nyi-jau” – “Nyi” is a kind of goat, while “jau” means beautiful. This so-called animal has a very large head, and its life come to an end when the head is getting too heavy to support.
At that time, the villagers secretly exchanged the words, “the little son of this house sees no chance of life.”
However, since the birth of the baby, the poor Drongmed Family had a better condition as the days counted, with more and more cattle and sheep coming to the household. Therefore, the former Vinyo Master (the Lama leading the chanting services) of the Tuptin Monastery, Gelek Gyatso, who was in seclusion in the village for life, named the boy “Norsok Rinchen,” or Little Norsok. “Norsok” means “wealth.”
Ever since, Little Norsok’s family conditions continued to improve, and more peace and wealth resided in this household.