Namkhai Norbu was a Tibetan Buddhist master of Dzogchen and a professor of Tibetan and Mongolian language and literature at Naples Eastern University. He was a leading authority on Tibetan culture, particularly in the fields of history, literature, traditional religions, and Traditional Tibetan medicine, having written numerous books and scholarly articles on these subjects.
When he was two years old, Norbu was recognized as the mindstream emanation, a tulku, of the Dzogchen teacher Adzom Drugpa. At five, he was also recognized as a mindstream emanation of an emanation of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel. At the age of sixteen, he met master Rigdzin Changchub Dorje, who became his main Dzogchen teacher.
In 1960, he went to Italy at the invitation of Giuseppe Tucci and served as Professor of Tibetan and Mongolian Language and Literature from 1964 to 1992 at Naples Eastern University. In 1983, he hosted the first International Convention on Tibetan Medicine, held in Venice, Italy.
In 1976, Norbu began to give Dzogchen instruction in the West, first in Italy, then in numerous other countries.