The Treasury of Lives

Ngawang Dogyu Yonten Rabgye, one of two men holding the title of Eighth Tongkhor (stong 'khor 08 ngag dbang mdo rgyud yon tan rab rgyas), was born in a nomadic area near Awo Sera (a bo ser ra) Monastery, to the north of Tongkhor Monastery in northern Kham in 1853, the water-ox year of the fourteenth sexagenary cycle. His father was named Karma Dargye (karma dar rgyas) and his mother was named Kyiring (skyid ring). He was given the name Sonam Norbu (bsod nams nor bu).

According to his biography, following the death of the Seventh Tongkhor, Lobzang Dogyu Yeshe, officials from Tongkhor Monastery sent a delegation to Lhasa requesting assistance in locating his reincarnation. The Seventh Paṇchen Lama, Tenpai Nyima (paN chen bla ma 07 bstan pa'i nyi ma, 1782-1853) and Chubzang Yeshe Gyatso (chu bzang ye shes rgya mtsho, 1789-1856) offered prophesies regarding his birth and career. Further, it is said that while he was in his mother's womb a local Nyingma lama named Jikdrel ('jigs bral) after the boy's birth a local lama informed his father that the child would be a great lama.

In 1854 the delegation searching for Lobzang Dogyu Yeshe's reincarnation, after looking in Kandze, Ngakhok (rnga khog), Gartar (mgar thar), Nyikhok (snyi khog) and parts of Amdo, came into contact with Sonam Norbu and declared him as the best possible candidate. The recent deaths of the Paṇchen Lama and the Eleventh Dalai Lama, Khedrub Gyatso (tA la'i bla ma 11 mkhas grub rgya mtsho, 1838-1855), had made official recognition difficult. The delegation asked the Third Reting, Ngawang Yeshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen (rwa sgreng 03 ngag dbang ye shes tshul khrims rgyal mtshan, 1816-1863) to make the declaration. The Reting Lama affirmed the boy, and gave permission to the delegation to enthrone him at Tongkhor suggesting the name Ngawang Dogyu Yonten Rabgye be given him on the occasion of his initial monastic vows.

At the age of five the boy was publicly enthroned at Tongkhor Tashilhunpo. Bumdro Drongme Ngakrampa ('bum mdo'i grong smad sngags rams pa, d.u) served as the youth’s tutor. He received renunciation and novice vows from Lobzang Tendzin Tutob Gyatso (blo bzang bstan 'dzin thub stobs rgya mtsho, d.u), who gave him the name the Reting Lama had prepared for him. He also studied under a tutor named Lodro Chopel (blo gros chos 'phel, d.u.).

When he was seventeen he went to Lhasa for further education, returning to Kham two years later. Back at Tongkhor he received full ordination from Keutsang Lobzang Tenpa Dargye (ke'u tshang blo bzang bstan pa dar rgyas, d.u.). He renounced his vows roughly twenty-years later, at the age of thirty-nine. He passed away in 1895, at the age of forty-three.