The Treasury of Lives

Sumpa Zhabdrung Puntsok Namgyel (sum pa zhabs drung phun tshogs rman rgyal) was born in a small town called Sumpa near Gonlung Jampa Ling Monastery (dgon lung gi nye 'dabs sum pa grong tsho) in Tso-ngon in north-east Amdo, presumably in the second half of the seventeenth century. He was identified as the reincarnation of a certain Sumpa Zhabdrung (sum pa zhabs drung) about whom no details are currently known, and thus called Sumpa Zhabdrung Puntsok Namgyel.

At a young age he was admitted to Gonlung Jampa Ling and ordained as a monk. He was given basic training and education in the monastic life, and then he studied primary logic and philosophical texts.

At the age of seventeen Sumpa Puntsok Namgyel travelled to Lhasa and studied Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Madhyamika, Abhidharmakosha, Pramanavartika and Vinaya, the five main subjects of the Geluk monastic curriculum, presumably in one of the three Geluk seats of learning. He stood for examination for the title of Rabjampa (rab 'byams pa) at Ngamring (ngam ring). Subsequently he received the full ordination from the Second Paṇchen Lama, Lobzang Yeshe (paN chen bla ma 02 blo bzang ye shes, 1663-1737) and then returned to Amdo.

He initially served as the lama of Jangchub Ling (byang chub gling), a remote hermitage. He was then said to have travelled to Beijing for the audience of the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1722-1735), and then to Lhasa where he made prayers and abundant offerings to the lamas and monks of the Geluk monasteries in U-Tsang in honor of his previous incarnation, the Sumpa Zhabdrung.

On his return to Amdo he served as the lama of Tashiling (bkra shis gling), but soon the Second Changkya Lama, Ngawang Lobzang Choden (cang skya 02 ngag dbang blo bzang chos ldan 1642-1714) passed into nirvana and Puntsok Namgyel again travelled to Lhasa for organizing nirvana-prayer, again returning to Amdo.

In 1723, during a period of great unrest in Amdo, at Mangdu (mang 'dus), Puntsok Lungpa (phun tshogs lung pa) and Jangchub Ling hermitages Puntsok Namgyel taught a large number of monks who had fled from many monasteries.

In 1729, the year of earth-bird of the twelfth sexagenary cycle, Sumpa Puntsok Namgyel was enthroned as the Twenty-seventh abbot of Gonlung Jampeling and he served the abbacy for five years, giving comprehensive teachings on a great variety of topics from both the sutra and tantra. Although he was not widely known for his scholarship, he was highly revered for his simplicity and moral character, serving as model for the monks engaged in serious practice. Some sources have that Sumpa Puntsok Namgyel died in 1702 in Beijing but this is an error if his enthronement in 1729 is correct. The dates of his birth and death are not known but it can be presumed that he was born in the second half of the seventeen century and passed into nirvana in the first half of the eighteenth century.