The Treasury of Lives

Tenzin Nyida (bstan 'dzin nyi zla) was born in the vicinity of Drilma Sangngak Choding Monastery (sgril ma gsang sngags chos sdings). This Barawa monastery is located east of Khambu (khams bu) in the Chumbi valley, a valley in southern Tibet wedged between Sikkim and Bhutan and known as Dromo in Tibetan. The founder of Drilma Sangngak Choding, Ngawang Gyeltsen (ngag dbang rgyal mtshan), invited Tenzin Nyida to his monastery and recognized him as the reincarnation of his teacher, the Barawa Kagyu lama Konchok Gyeltsen (dkon mchog rgyal mtshan, 1601–1687). Ngawang Gyeltsen also gave the young boy his religious name, Tenzin Nyida.

As part of his training, Tenzin Nyida repeatedly visited the Barawa headquarters in the Shang valley, Baradrak Dondrubding Monastery ('ba' ra brag don grub sding). Je Barawa Gyeltsen Pelzang (rje 'ba' ra ba rgyal mtshan dpal bzang, 1310–1391) had founded the Barawa Kagyu tradition in this valley, north of the city of Shigatse, and written his magnum opus Boat to Enter Liberation (thar pa'i 'jug pa'i gru bo) which expounds the entire Buddhist tradition in verse and prose commentary.

When Tenzin Nyida was about thirty years old, he attended the Barawa monastery Drumpa (grum pa dgon), lying on the way from Gyantse to Pakri in lower Chumbi. This monastery was an affiliate of Dondrubding and was home of the Drumpa Tulku (grum pa sprul sku), another Barawa incarnation lineage. During that time, Tenzin Nyida received a vision from his meditation deity Padmasambhava. He subsequently participated in the construction of the monastery that would be the seat of his incarnation line, Kagyu Gonsar Monastery (bka' brgyud dgon gsar), being built by his disciple Drubwang Tsampa Ngadak (grub dbang mtshams pa mnga' bdag). Tenzin Nyida was subsequently known as the Second Kagyu Tulku, and his previous incarnation, Konchok Gyeltsen was given the title of First Kagyu Tulku. After his teacher Ngawang Gyeltsen passed away Tenzin Nyida erected a reliquary shrine at the monastery.[1] Among his other disciples was Ngawang Chodrak Gyatso (ngag dbang chos grags rgya mtsho, 1722–1769), of the Jamling family ('jam gling) from Kyirong

Like his predecessor, Tenzin Nyida visited Sikkim. After his passing away in 1753, a portrait statue was manufactured at Dondrubding and delivered to the Kagyu Gonsar.[2]

No independent hagiography is accessible on this Barawa master. However, biographical notes are preserved in the hagiography of his subsequent incarnation, the Third Kagyu Tulku Ngawang Chokyi Gyatso (ngag dbang chos kyi rgya mtsho, 1755–1831), as part of the Golden Rosary of the Kagyu (Bka' brgyud gser phreng chen mo), and in written records from the Seventh Kagyu Tulku, Ngawang Tenpai Gyeltsen (ngag dbang bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan, 1939–2007).[3]