The Treasury of Lives

Lowo Khenchen Sonam Lhundrub (glo bo mkhan chen bsod nams lhun grub) was born into the ruling house of Lo Montang (glo mon thang), also known as Mustang. He was the third son of ruler Amgon Zangpo (a mgon bzang po, b. 1420), of the Sanam (sa gnam) branch of the Khyungpo (khyung po) clan. His mother was named Pelkyong (dpal skyong), a member of the Takra Lugong (stag ra klu gong) clan. His birth name was Drub Tashi (grub bkra shis).

He was dedicated to the religious life at birth, his two elder and one younger brother all destined to become rulers of Lo. At age one, in the arms of his mother, he took refuge with a man who later became third abbot of Ngor Ewaṃ Choden (ngor e wam chos ldan), Jamyang Sherab Gyatso (ngor mkhan chen 03 'jam dbyangs shes rab rgya mtsho, 1396-1474), and received transmission and empowerment. He continued to received transmission in his infancy; at the age of two from Sonam Gyeltsen Pelzangpo (bsod nams rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po, d.u.) of Khachar (khwa char) monastery in Purang (pu hrang)

At the age of five or six he received a long-life empowerment from a Nyingma Lama Gelek Gyeltsen Pelzangpo (dge legs rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po, d.u.) who also gave additional empowerments related to Padmasambhava.

When he was eight Drub Tashi received the lay vows of upāsaka from Yonten Chogyel (thub bstan dar rgyas gling mkhan po yon tan chos rgyal, d.u.), abbot of the royal monastery, Tubchen Dargyeling (thub chen dar rgyal gling). Three years later, in 1466, at the age of eleven, he was granted the śrāmaṇera vows of the novice monk by Kunga Wangchuk (ngor mkhan chen 04 kun dga' dbang phyug 1424-1478) who later became the fourth abbot of Ngor. His ordination name was Sonam Lhundrub Lekpai Jungne Gyeltsen Pelzangpo (bsod nams lhun grub legs pa'i 'byung gnas rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po). Yonten Chogyel participated in the ordination.

Sonam Lhundrub then studied Madhyamaka, Prajñāpāramitā, and Pramāṇa for six years with Choje Rachenpa (chos rje ra chen pa, d.u.), Raton Yonten Pelzangpo (rwa ston yon tan dpal bzang po, d. 1509). At the age of seventeen he returned to Tubchen Dargyeling to study Madhyamaka with Yonten Chogyel and Pelden Tsultrim Gyeltsen (dpal ldan tshul khrims rgyal mtshan, d. 1476) who also taught him Vinaya and many subjects from Tantra including the Guhyasamāja Tantra.

To clarify his understanding Yonten Chogyel tasked Sonam Lhundrub with giving a three-day exposition of Abhisamayālaṃkāra and Pramāṇavārttika before nine hundred monks at the monastery, an event that did much to increase his reputation.

In 1472 the famous Sakya master Serdok Paṇchen Shākya Chokden (gser mdog pan chen shAkya mchog ldan, 1428-1507) arrived in Lo and stayed two years. He taught Sonam Lhundrub Vinaya and Prajñāpāramitā, and for some time Sonam Lhundrub considered him one of his main teachers. Relations between the two men later declined, after Shākya Chokden's teaching became controversial among the Ngor tradition. He declined a request of Sonam Lhundrub to compose a biography of Kunga Wangchuk, who died in Lowo in 1478. Shākya Chokden declined, and included in his response a disparaging verse about Kunga Wangchuk. Sonam Lhundrub publicly criticized Shākya Chokden, despite his eldest brother, Tsangpa Tashi Gon (tshang pa bkra shis mgon), then the ruler of Lo, who continued to support of Shākya Chokden. He later composed a biography of Kunga Wangchuk himself.

Among his other teachers were Konchok Gyeltsen (dkon mchog rgyal mtshan, 1388-1469), the founder of Yama Monastery (ya ma dgon in 1459), and the second abbot of Ngor, and Tsang-nyon Heruka (gtsang smyon he ru ka, 1452-1507), who visited Lo three times.

In 1477, at the age of twenty-two, Sonam Lhundrub received full ordination at Jampa Ling (byams pa gling) from Kunga Wangchuk, Yonten Chogyel, Raton Yonten Pelzangpo, and Kachupa Sanggye Gyeltsen (bka bcu pa sangs rgyas rgyal mtshan). Soon after he was appointed abbot of Tubten Dargyeling, a position he served for twelve years.

During his tenure as abbot he composed, in 1482, his first works: two commentaries on Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyeltsen's (sa skya paN+Di ta kun dga' rgyal mtshan, 1182-1251) Tsema Rikter (tshad ma rigs gter). These were the first of several commentaries of Sakya Paṇḍita's works, which were so highly regarded that Sonam Lhundrub later became considered an incarnation of Sakya Paṇḍita.

Several years into his tenure at Tubchen Dargyeling he moved to Riwoche Korlo Dompai Podrang (ri bo che 'khor lo sdom pa'i pho brang), which had been founded by Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (ngor chen kun dga' bzang po, 1382-1456) in 1436. The move was partly due to a visit of Guge Paṇchen Drakpa Gyeltsen (gu ge paN chen grags pa rgyal mtshan, d. 1486), and partly because his eldest brother was taking strict measures against critics of Shākya Chokden. He considered a trip to Tibet but his teachers, including Drakpa Gyeltsen, and students convinced him to stay.

In 1489 he completed a work that reflects the doctrinal dispute: a commentary on Sakya Paṇḍita's Domsum Rabje (sdom gsum rab dbye), much of it a refutation of Shākya Chokden. The work furthered the conflict between him and his brother, and finally, in 1489, Sonam Lhundrub left for Tibet, where he stayed until 1497.

He first stayed at Se Rinchentse (srad rin chen rtse) near Sakya (sa skya), and then moved on to Ngor by way of Tanak Tubten Namgyel Monastery (rta nag thub bstan rnam rgyal). At Ngor he taught the seventh abbot, Konchok Pelwa (ngor mkhan chen 07 dkon mchog 'phel ba, 1445-1514) and stayed in his residence. He returned to Se Rinchentse for the winter, and then to Tsedong (rtse gdong), having been invited by Namkha Tashi Gyeltsen Pelzangpo (nam mkha' bkra shis rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po, b. 1458), the father of his disciple Jamyang Kunga Sonam Drakpa Gyeltsen ('jam dbyangs kun dga' bsod nams grags pa rgyal mtshan, 1485-1533), to whom he gave lay vows in 1495 there at Tsedong. Later, back at Ngor, he gave the same boy novice ordination.

In the meantime his eldest brother died, and the second brother of the four, Aseng Dorje Tenpa (a seng rdo rje brtan pa), and he returned to Lo. On June 6 or 7, 1505 the central Himalaya region suffered a massive earthquake, recently estimated to have had a seismic movement (Mw) of 8.2. It destroyed buildings along a 500 kilometer swath of territory in southern Tibet, Lo, Dolpo and other kingdoms, as well as parts of northern India.

In the wake of the destruction, Sonam Lhundrub was invited to return to Tsedong. He left in 1506 and stayed in Tsang until 1509. He worked on additional compositions, including his biography, done at Ngor, of Gowo Rabjampa Sonam Sengge (go bo rab 'byams pa bsod nams seng ge), the sixth abbot of Ngor.

During the last decades of his life he continued to propagate the Ngor tradition of the Sakya teachings in Lo, teaching and writing there and in neighboring kingdoms. Among his patrons were the king of Gungtang (gung thang). He taught the men who would become the ninth and tenth abbots of Ngor: Lhachok Sengge (ngor mkhan chen 09 lha mchog seng+ge, 1468-1535) and Konchok Lhundrub (ngor mkhan chen 10 dkon mchog lhun grub, 1497-1557), who he also ordained; the "Lhundrub" aspect of their names come from him. In 1511 Sonam Lhundrub presided over the ordination of Ngari Paṇchen Pema Wangyel (mnga' ris paN chen pad+ma dbang rgyal, 1487-1542). In 1527 he composed a long commentary of Sakya Paṇḍita's Entrance Gate for the Wise (mkhas pa rnams 'jug pa'i sgo) at Samdrubling (bsam grub gling), requested by his patron, Namgyel Pelzangpo (rnam rgyal dpal bzang po), the religious preceptor to the Guge King.

Among other disciples were the Twenty-second Sakya Trichen, Jampai Dorje (sa skya khri chen 22 'jam pa'i rdo rje, 1485-1533) and Kunga Drolchok (kun dga' grol mchog, 1507-1565/66).

The most complete edition of the works of Khenchen Sonam Lhundrub contains two hundred fifty eight small texts collected into seven volumes, of which the first five are manuscript and the last two are of Derge block-prints. In addition to his commentaries on the works of Sakya Paṇḍita and other diverse topics are a history of the Sharpa lineage of Sakya, and a study of tathāgatagarbha theory.

Lowo Khenchen Sonam Lhundrub passed away at Samdrubling in 1532.