The Treasury of Lives

Lodro Gyeltsen (bdag chen blo gros rgyal mtshan) was born in a village named Chammo Moyang (lcam mo mo gyang) near Sakya, in 1444, the wood-female mouse year of the seventeenth sexagenary cycle. His father, was the Eighteenth Sakya Tridzin, Jamyang Namkha Gyeltsen ('jam dbyangs nam mkha' rgyal mtshan, 1398-1472). His mother was named Machik Peljung Gyelmo (ma chig dpal 'byung rgyal mo). His elder brother, Sherab Gyeltsen, served as the Twentieth Sakya Tridzin (shes rab rgyal mtshan, 1436-1494) from1463 to 1472.

He studied under his father, who gave him empowerments, transmissions and instructions in Lamdre (lam 'bras) and other teachings of the Sakya tradition.  

At the age of seven he received the preliminary vows from Jamyang Konchok Zangpo ('jam dbyangs dkon mchog bzang po) who gave him the name Lodro Gyeltsen Pelzangpo (blo gros rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po). In the following year he matriculated at Sakya Monastery (sa skya dgon), where he studied Dharmakīrti's Seven Treatises on Valid Cognition, Nāgārjuna's Fundamental Treatise on the Middle Way, and Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyeltsen's (sa skya paN Di ta kun dga' rgyal mtshan,1182-1251) Elucidating the Sage's Intent (thub pa'i dgongs pa rab gsal). His teachers included the second throne holder of Ngor Monastery (ngor dgon), Muchen Konchok Gyeltsen (mus chen dkon mchog rgyal mtshan, 1388-1470), Jamyang Konchok Zangpo ('jam dbyangs dkon mchog bzang po), Konchok Lodro (dkon mchog blo gros), and the fourteenth abbot of Jonang Monastery (jo nang), Konchok Zangpo (dkon mchog bzang po, 1398-1475).

At the age of fourteen he was made throne holder of the Zhitok Labrang (gzhi thog bla brang), one of the four hereditary palaces Sakya Monastery. In the following year he was granted novice vows by Muchen Konchok Gyeltsen, who also gave him full ordination at the age of twenty-one.

Starting at the age of twenty three he spent five years traveling in Kham giving teachings and collecting donations for Sakya Monastery.

In 1472, when he was twenty-nine, his elder brother passed away, and Lodro Gyeltsen was elevated to the throne of Sakya as the Twenty-first Sakya Tridzin. In following years, he gave extensive teachings on Lamdre and other subjects at Sakya, Pelkhor Chode (dpal 'khor chos sde), and elsewhere.

Several of his compositions survive, including a biography of Muchen Konchok Gyeltsen and liturgical and instructional texts.

He passed away at the age of fifty two, in 1495, the wood-female rabbit year of the eighteenth sexagenary cycle.