Yeshe Tsomo was likely born between 1585 and 1596 in a village named Karma Drongsar (karma grong gsar), in Kongpo (kong po). Her father was named Jowo Dondrub (jo bo don 'grub), and her mother was named Karma Drolma (karma sgrol ma). She was also known as Kacho Pelmo (mkha' spyod dpal mo).[1]
The First Jorra Chungtsang, Trinle Namgyel (sbyor ra chung tshang 01 'gro mgon 'phrin las rnam rgyal) identified her as the reincarnation of the Fourth Samding Dorje Pakmo, Orgyen Tsomo (bsam sding rdo rje phag mo 04 o rgyan mtsho/gtso mo, c. 1545–1595) and enthroned her at Samding Monastery (bsam sding dgon). She is said to have mastered all the teachings and practices of the Bodong tradition.
She is credited with supervising the construction of a two-story Mañjuśrī temple at Samding.
She served as the fourteenth abbot of Shekar Chode (shel dkar chos sde) in Tsang, at a time when the Bodong tradition enjoyed the strong support of the Tsang rulers.
In his autobiography, the Fifth Dalai Lama (ta lai bla ma 05, 1617–1682) reports encountering the Dorje Pakmo at Samding when he was three years old, in 1620. This would have been Yeshe Tsomo, although the uncertainty of the dates of most of the Dorje Pakmo incarnations allows for the possibility that it was her previous incarnation, Orgyen Tsomo.[2]
As with the year of her birth, the year of her death is uncertain, but it seems likely to have been around the year 1640. Rase Konchok Gyatso (ra se dkon mchog rgya mtsho, b. 1969) gives her age at her death as fifty-four.[3] Her reincarnation, the Sixth Dorje Pakmo, Dechen Trinle Tsomo (rdo rje phags mo 06 bde chen 'phrin las mtsho mo) was born in 1641.
[1] Ra se dkon mchog rgya mtsho, p. 142.
[2] Diemberger, p. 278.
[3] Ra se dkon mchog rgya mtsho, p. 142.
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Bibliography
Diemberger, Hildegard. 2007. When a Woman Becomes a Religious Dynasty; The Samding Dorje Phagmo of Tibet. New York: Columbia University Press.
Ra se dkon mchog rgya mtsho. Gangs ljongs skyes ma'i lo rgyus spyi bshad. 2003. Lhasa: Bod ljong mi dmang dpe skrun khang. TBRC: WA29229
Bla rung ar+ya tA re'i dpe tshogs rtsom sgrig khang. 2017. Bsam sding rdo rje phag mo 'i 'khrungs rabs dang sku phreng rim byon gyi mdzad rnam by Rdo rje dpal mo bde chen chos sgon and Grwa thub bstan rnam rgyal, in Mkha' 'gro'i chos mdzod chen mo, vol. 14, pp. 156-172. Lhasa: Bod ljongs bod yig dpe rnying dpe skrun khang. MW3CN2459
Deji Zhuoma (Bde skyid sgrol ma). 2003.Zangchuan fojiao chujia nüxing yanjiu (A Study of Tibetan Buddhist Nuns). Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe.
Rdo rje phag mo bde chen chos sgon and Grwa thub bstan rnam rgyal. 1994. "Bsam sdings rdo rje phag mo'i 'khrungs rabs dang/ sku phreng rim byong gyi mdzad rnam/ yar 'brog bsam sdings dgon gyi dkar chag bcas rags tsam bkos pa." Bod ljongs nang bstan, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 31–58.
Ngag dbang skal ldan rgya mtsho. 2012. Shel dkar chos 'byung. Lhasa: Bod ljongs mi dhangs dpe skrun khang. Pp.118-119. TBRC: W1KG16556