The Treasury of Lives

The Seventh Chakra Tulku, Ngawang Pelden Gyeltsen Chokyi Wangchuk (lcags ra sprul sku  07 ngag dbang dpal ldan rgyal mtshan chos kyi dbang phyug) was born in Robgadzom in the Chamdo region (chab mdo'i mnga' 'og rob dga' 'dzom) in 1796, the fire-dragon year of the thirteenth sexagenary cycle. His father was called Pelgon (dpal mgon) and mother was called Akyi (a skyid).

The boy was identified as the reincarnation of the Sixth Chakra Tulku, Ngawang Trinle Pelzang (ngag dbang 'phrin las dpal bzang, 1730-1794), which was confirmed by use of the Golden Urn in front of the Jowo in the Jokhang Temple (jo khang) in Lhasa by the Eighth Dalai Lama, Jampel Gyatso (ta la'i bla ma 08 rgyal ba 'jam dpal rgya mtsho, 1758-1804). He was brought to Chakra Monastery (lcags ra dgon), the seat of his predecessors, and was enthroned to the seat of abbot of the monastery.

In Kham the young Chakra Tulku was tutored by the Fourth Zhiwa Lha Pakpa Gelek Gyeltsen (zhi ba lha 04 'phags pa dge legs rgyal mtshan, 1720-1799), and the Third Kondor Lobzang Chokle Namgyel (dkon rdor 03 blo bzang phyogs las fnam gyal, 1762-1839), the twenty-second abbot and twenty-fourth abbots of Chamdo Jampa Ling, respectively.

The Seventh Chakra Tulku furthered his studies in U-Tsang, where he matriculated in the Khenyin House of Sera Je College (ser byes mkhas snyan grwa tshang) of the Sera Monastic University (se ra dgon) near Lhasa. There he studied the five main texts of Geluk tradition under a number of masters and received teachings on both sutra and tantra from the Eighth Dalai Lama.

Sources do not mention the Pelden Gyeltsen's service in any particular monastery, but it is reasonable to presume that he resided at Chakra and Chamdo Jampa Ling (chab mdo byama pa gling) and gave teachings there. He passed away at the age of sixty-five, in 1860, the iron-monkey year of the fourteenth sexagenary cycle.