The Treasury of Lives

Jetsun Rigdzin Choying Zangmo (rje btsun rig 'dzin chos dbyings bzang mo) was born to a poor family of the Kheme Clan (khe smad), in northern India (probably in the Mandi area) in 1853, the year of the water-ox in the fourteenth sexagenary cycle, when her parents went to Tso Pema (mtsho pad ma) on a pilgrimage. Her dates are not entirely settled, however; scholar Hanna Havnevik argues that she was born around 1865. At birth she was named Chonga Lhamo (co lnga lha mo) meaning "Goddess of the Fifteenth," likely because she was a girl born on the full-moon (fifteenth) day of the month. Her father was Dondrub Namgyel (don grub rnam rgyal) and her mother was a Nepalese woman, probably born in Kathmandu area, named Penpa Drolma (spen pa sgol ma). While pregnant, Chonga Lhamo's mother is said to have carried, unsuccessfully, "boy stones" (bu rdo) on her back as a way of ensuring the child in her womb would be a son.

As a young child, Chonga Lhamo travelled with her itinerant parents throughout the region on pilgrimages to Lahaul, Spiti, Kullu, Rampur, Zanskar, and Garwal. They visited Alchi (a lci) in Ladakh to see the Vairocana murals, as well as the region of the former Guge kingdom of western Tibet, and to Barga Tazam, Khorchak, and Yolmo in Nepal. During this time the family's base was at Tso Pema, where they wintered. They spent summers in Zanskar at Sani Monastery (sa ni). The family chose to live their lives as pilgrims, begging for their food as they traveled between religious sites.

The young Chonga Lhamo had a sharp intellect and keen interest in dharma. In her youth, she earned a living for herself and her family as a maṇipa (reciter of mantras) and was renowned for her beautiful voice, attracting large crowd to her performances. Her autobiography describes her father as unfaithful and cruel, periodically erupting in abusive episodes that were fueled by alcohol. Yet he also encouraged her religious activities and saw to it that she studied with various prominent lamas. She and her mother enjoyed a loving relationship, so much so that when her mother died in the early to mid 1920's her grief pushed her to the edge of suicide. At some point, her parents separated, though later in life her father reappeared in her life, when she settled at Shukseb Monastery (shug gseb dgon).

Around the age of fifteen she worked with her mother as servant of a female practitioner called Tsering Butri (rnal 'byor ma tshe ring bu khrid). This allowed her to study dharma while also also earning a living. By the age of about sixteen she was performing the lama maṇi (bla ma ma Ni), a method of teaching basic Buddhist doctrine with the aid of paintings. She then had the opportunity to study under Lama Tashi Gyel (bla ma bkra shis rgyal, d.u.) who served as chief lama to the King of Ladakh. With him she learned about delok ('das log), people who have returned from the dead, primarily through the biographies of Nangsa Obum (snang sa 'od 'bum), Khampa Adrung (khams pa a khrung, b. circa 1508), and Gyelpo Yulha Lekpa Dondrub (rgyal po gyu lha legs pa'i don grub). She became skilled in publicly reciting their morality tales.

Later a King of Zahor (za hor gyi rgyal po), whose name is not currently known, invited Chonga Lhamo to his palace and requested she perform rituals and prayers in order that the queen give birth to a son. When the queen gave birth to a boy, Chonga Lhamo was apparently asked to stay on as a ritualist specialist for the household. However, it appears she did not remain long, instead travelling to Kyirong (skyid grong) in western Tibet near the border of Nepal.

In Kyirong she first encountered Lama Pema Gyatso (skyid grong bla ma pad+ma rgya mtsho d.u.), who had been a student of the famous tantric adept Zhabkar Tsokdruk Randrol (zhabs dkar tshogs drug rang grol, 1781-1851). As a poor beggar she was not easily welcomed into Pema Gyatso's community, but eventually he became her main teacher and she a close disciple. Following several years of receiving Pema Gyatso's teachings, Chonga Lhamo sat in retreat for three years in a remote hermitage called Belung Heri Ritro (sbas lung he ri khrod) in Nubri. She practiced the guru sādhana of Milarepa (mi la ras pa, 1104-1123) and mastered the "wind-vase" meditation (rlung bum can), a subtle-body practice involving the formation of air into a vase-shape at the navel level. As Pema Gyatso's disciple, she exchanged her beggar's clothing for the white cotton robe of a lay tantric practitioner. 

Chonga Lhamo remained with Pema Gyatso when he moved his disciples to Nubri Valley, but there she seems to have run into trouble, no doubt connected to her growing confidence in her practice; charismatic women in Tibet were almost universally viewed as threats by male lamas. Pema Gyatso beat her for alleged arrogance. He branded her on her forehead with a hot iron and banished her to Pokhara in Nepal. She eventually was able to return, and rejoined the group at Thak. There she began to have revelations, supposedly having visions of treasure texts and receiving from a local deity birch bark and ink to record them. A male teacher named Chozang (chos bzang) kicked her in the head and burned her writings, forbidding her from ever speaking of them. Pema Gyatso's male disciples maintained a hostile environment for her, refusing to allow her to visit Pema Gyatso's own teacher, Dharma Sengge (khams smyon d+harma seng ge) when the elder lama was dying, and they refused to give her the objects the lama had bequeathed her.

When Chonga Lhamo was twenty-three, she went with Pema Gyatso and his followers to the Kathmandu Valley where they whitewashed the three holy stūpas of Nepal: Swayaṃbhūnāth ('phags pa shing kun), Boudhanāth (bya rung kha shor mchod rten), and Namobuddha (stag mo lus sbyin mchod rten). She then travelled on her own back to Dingri (ding ri) in Tibet, from where she set out on a pilgrimage across central Tibet, visiting Shritsib (shri rtsibs), Dechen Phuk (bde chen phug), and Dramtso (gram mtsho). Around this time she reconnected with Pema Gyatso's group, which traveled together to Sakya (sa skya), Tashilhunpo (bkra shis lhun po), Pelkhor Chode in Gyangtse (dpal  'khor chos sde), and ultimately Lhasa, where she toured the Jokhang (lha sa gtsug lag khang), Potala (po ta la) and other holy sites. While in Lhasa in around 1887 she and other followers of Pema Gyatso had an audience with the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tubten Gyatso (tA la'i bla ma 13 thub bstan rgya mtsho).

Staying in Lhasa she sat in retreat at Jatson Chumik ('ja' tshon chu mig), a spring near Lhasa, and from there Pema Gyatso dispatched her to find a suitable location for him and his followers to settle down. She chose Zangyak Drak (zang yag brag), where Pema Gyatso went into retreat. Rather than stay in retreat with him, she continued her peregrinations, traveling southeast into Olkha (ol 'kha) and other regions.

She returned to Zangyak Drak by 1889, when an incarnation of Zhabkar Tsogdruk Randrol arrived there to visit Pema Gyatso; which Zhabkar incarnation this was is not clear. He gave teachings and empowerments, staying for several months. During this time, he gave Chonga Zangmo the name of Rigdzin Choying Zangmo, the name by which she became commonly known, and transmitted to her the complete works of Zhabkar, providing her with a solid foundation of Nyingma teachings. Soon after this visit Pema Gyatso fell ill, and she was tasked with performing long-life rituals for him. She was unable to prolong his life, and he died while traveling to Zangyak Drak from Lhasa.

At the suggestion of a Lama Sangye Tendzin (bla ma sangs rgyas bstan dzin, 19th century), who was a disciple of Patrul Rinpoche (dpal sprul rin po che, 1808-1887) around 1890 Rigdzin Choying Zangmo received novice monastic vows from Khenchen Ngawang Tenpai Nyima (mkhan chen ngag dbang bstan pa'i nyi ma, b. 19th century). She continued to receive Nyingma teachings, notably from Trulzhik Kunzang Tongdrol ('khrul zhig kun bzang mthong grol rdo rje, 1862-1922), the previous incarnation of the late Trulzhik Rinpoche Ngawang Chokyi Lodro ('khrul zhig ngag dbang chos kyi blo gros, 1924-2011). She began to spend her winters at Shukseb, and at some point sat another three year retreat at Zangyak Drak. She also continued to travel, visiting the sacred mountain Yarlha Shambu (yar lha sham bu) in Southern Tibet to engage in Vajrasattva practice.

Her reputation as a teacher was by this point fairly well established. Her early experience as a maṇipa and a reciter of the lama maṇi had provided her a foundation on which to expound the dharma before large and prominent audiences. For example, she was employed to read the Pajñāparamitā Sūtras to the noble Lhalu (lha klu) family, for which she received a full bucket of grain per day. She later wrote in her autobiography that monks from Dreyul Kyetsel Monastery ('bras yul kyed tshal) were enraged that a woman had been hired for the distinguished job and challenged her to a debate, which she won.

In about 1904 Rigdzin Choying Zangmo moved to Shukseb Monastery in the district of Chushur (chu shur) in the south-west of Lhasa, where the Lhasa and Yarlung rivers flow together. The monastery had been founded in 1181 by Gyergom Tsultrim Sengge (gyer sgom tshul khrims seng+ge, c. 1122-1240) and was run as a Kagyu institution and the seat of the Shukseb Kagyu tradition. The location is also said to have been a practice site of Machik Labdron (ma gcig labs sgron, 1031-1129). Just above Shukseb is Gangri Tokar, (gangs ri thod dkar) an important activity site of Longchen Rabjam Drime Ozer (klong chen rab 'byams pa dri med 'od zer, 1308-1364). Pema Gyatso had considered it for his residence back in the 1880s when he settled in the Lhasa area.

When Rigdzin Choying Zangmo arrived at Shukseb the administration of the site was apparently a matter of controversy and the monastery was in disrepair. She and her followers spent years rehabilitating the site, collecting donations from nearby families.

Around 1912 she gave a Chod empowerment at Shukseb according to the tradition of Machik Labdron to a gathering of about hundred devotees. She frequently engaged in Chod practice and at numerous points in her life she was recognized as a manifestation of Machik Labdron.

While Rigdzin Choying Zangmo was developing Shukseb, a lama named Semnyi Rinpoche (sems nyid rin po che, d.u.) seems to have been given control of the community by its custodians. She herself appears to have brought him there; her mother had apparently asked him to take her daughter as a disciple, and it was he who is said to have consoled her after her mother passed away in the 1920s. Rigdzin Choying Zangmo went into long-term retreat at Gangri Tokar, during which time Semnyi Rinpoche appointed another woman, Orgyen Chodzom (o rgyan chos 'dzom) to be his successor at Shukseb. He is also said to have turned away several prominent figures who had come to gain audience with Rigdzin Choying Zangmo, which suggests he was attempting to prevent her from becoming the leader of the community. Orgyen Chodzom, however, was taken by another lama as a consort and went with him into retreat, but she died soon after, around 1933. Despite these actions, Rigdzin Choying Zangmo apparently maintained her faith in Semnyi Rinpoche; she later identified and trained reincarnations of both him and Orgyen Chodzom.

Semnyi Rinpoche died sometime in the 1930's, at which point Choying Zangmo, who apparently was not yet the official head of the community, briefly considered moving from Shukseb to Jomo Kharek (jo mo mkha' reg) in Tsang, a site associated with Yeshe Tsogyel (ye shes mtsho rgyal). Instead she remained at Shukseb and led the community from then on. The monastery grew considerably under her direction, with as many as three hundred women coming to live at the site. Choying Zangmo had the women take novice vows and Shukseb was thereafter considered a proper nunnery.

Many prominent figures visited Shukseb to have an audience with Choying Zangmo, including the Fifth Reting Rinpoche Thubten Jampel Yeshe Tenpai Gyeltsen (rwa sgreng 05 hu thog thu 05 thub bstan 'jam dpal ye shes bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan, 1912/1919-1947), the King of Lingstang (gling tshang rgyal po), Trulzhik Rinpoche, the Sixteenth Karmapa Rangjung Rikpai Dorje (karma pa 16 rang byung rig pa'i rdo rje, 1924-1981), the Sixth Shechen Rabjam, Nangze Drubpai Dorje (zhe chen rab 'byams 06 snang mdzad grub pa'i rdo rje, 1911-1959), the Tenth Peling Sungtrul, Pema Osel Gyurme Dorje (pad gling gsung sprul 10 pad+ma 'od gsal 'gyur med rdo rje, 1930-1955), and the father of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Chokyong Tsering (chos skyong tshe ring, 1899-1947).

The prominent government official and scholar Lobsang P. Lhalungpa (lha lung pa blo bzang phun tshogs, 1926-2008), whose family were devoted followers of Choying Zangmo, and who had aunts living as nuns at Shukseb, recalls meeting her there as a young man, in the mid 1940's, during his travels throughout central Tibet:                   

I met with Jetsun Lochen for several hours a day, sometimes in the company of her main disciples. She was an extraordinary woman, small in stature, with a serene face radiating compassion and sensitivity. Only her white hair betrayed her age: she died a few years later at the age of one hundred thirteen. In her presence we felt an awesome power that permeated her whole stream-being. Her teachings and blessings have given me inner strength ever since.  To me she was the personification of the great woman teachers of Tibet.

Endorsing my eclectic attitude, she said to me: "I always looked upon every Buddhist order as being a different vehicle capable of transporting fortunate seekers across the great ocean of samsara." (Tibet: The Sacred Realm, p. 33.)

Her disciples repeatedly requested her to compose an autobiography but she did not begin to tell her story until 1937, working on it only briefly. She returned to the project in 1949 and completed it that year. Gen Trinle (rgan 'phrin las) a nun-disciple who later died in Drapchi prison, and Drubchen Dawa Dorje Rinpoche (grub chen zla ba rdo rje), the reincarnation of Pema Gyatso, were tasked with scribing the work. The woodblocks were completed and readied for printing in 1951.

Jetsun Rigdzin Choying Zangmo passed away in 1951. Her age at the time of her death is not known; she may have been ninety-eight, or, following Havnevik, she was eighty-six. Other accounts, such as the passage from Lhalungpa included above, considerably exaggerate her age.

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