The Treasury of Lives

A Biographical Encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia, and the Himalaya

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Sungrab Gyatso

b.1896 - d.1982
BDRC P1642

Sungrab Gyatso was a prominent Tibetan scholar who contributed significantly to the preservation of the Tibetan language through his work on contemporary dictionary projects, language textbooks, newspapers, radio programs, and teachers' training schools. He initiated many of the Tibetan-language projects developed under China’s occupation of Tibet, yet his legacy remains overlooked in both Tibetan and Western scholarship.

Lama Dribdel

b.1946 - d.2018

Lama Dribdel was a twentieth-century Dzogchen practitioner from Serta who is reported to have attained the rainbow body. He spent most of his life in retreat in remote locations around Northern Kham and southern Amdo.

Rigdzin Chodron

b.1893? - d.1939?
BDRC P2LS290

Rigdzin Chodron was a member of the Delek Rabten family by birth and joined the Tsarong family in marriage. She was widowed at a young age when her husband, Samdrub Tsering, the eldest son of the Tsarong family, was murdered along with his father. To continue the Tsarong family she married to Dasang Damdul Tsarong. She did not have any children of her own, although she was very involved in the care of her nieces, nephews and sisters-in-law. By the 1920's she had taken religious vows and lived on one of her family's estates in the Shigatse region until her death in the 1930s.

Tartse Khenpo Jamyang Kunzang Tubten Chokyi Gyeltsen served as the sixty-seventh abbot of Ngor Monastery. He served two tenures, from 1927 to 1930, and again from 1940 to 1942. He was a maternal uncle of Chogye Trichen.

Wara Zhabdrung Tenpai Nyima

b.1870? - d.early 20th cent.

Wara Zhabdrung Tenpai Nyima was a monk of the Tartse Labrang at Ngor Monastery. He was a disciple of Jamyang Loter Wangpo and a teacher to Jamyang Chokyi Lodro. His maternal nephew was Chogye Trichen.