The great meditator Ngawang Norbu Gomchen Gampala (ca. 1901–84) was born in Gampa Dzong, a town near Sakya county, Tibet. Gomchen-la was an emanation of the renowned fifteenth century Tibetan lama, Thangtong Gyälpo—mahasiddha, healer, scholar, poet and scientist—who invented a method of forging steel and developed chain-link bridges in Tibet. Gomchen-la lived in a cave high in the mountains of Solu Khumbu, Nepal.