The Treasury of Lives

Tsondru Sengge (brtson 'grus seng+ge) was born in the fire horse year, 1186. His father was Tashi Drakpa (bkra shis grags pa) and his mother was Chokyi Ge (chos kyi dge). His father was a member of the Rok (rog) clan. His eldest brother was the Nyingma master Rokben Sherab Wo (rog ban shes rab 'od, 1166-1244). His second brother was Zhikpo Rinchen Sherab (zhig po rin chen shes rab, 1171-1245).

He is reported to have been a studious and handsome young man, and began giving teachings at the age of fourteen. His first teachers were likely his father and elder brothers. The Blue Annals (deb ther sngon po) lists a lama from Chochangkyim (chos chang khyim) named Neljor Sengge (rnal 'byor seng ge) who taught him Nāgārjuna's Six Treatise on Madhyamaka (dbu ma rigs tshogs drug). He next studied Sanskrit grammar with Zhangton Konchok (zhang ston dkon mchog) of Drapchi Talampo (gra phyi rta lam po). At the age of twenty he studied further with a lama named Jope (jo pad, d. c. 1120) at Kharak Monastery (kha rag dgon).

He then set about besting opponents in debate, earning the epithet Mawai Sengge (smra ba'i seng ge), meaning "The Lion of Mañjuśrī's Speech."

At the age of twenty-two, in 1208, he was made abbot of Nyemdo Monastery (snye mdo), a Nyingma monastery in Dranang. According to the Blue Annals, because he had not completed his studies, his two brothers took control of the monastery. Years later when he was  asked to take control of the monastery a second time he declined.

The following year his teacher Jope passed away, and Tsondru Sengge assisted in the funeral rites. He spent the next fifteen years or so meditating in various locations. Following a session meditating on the Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti, he experienced a vision of Mañjuśrī surrounded by a retinue of seven deities ('jam dbyangs lha bdun). 

The Blue Annals states that when he was thirty-eight, in 1224, Tsondru Sengge spent time with the First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa (karma pa 01 dus gsum mkhyen pa, 1110-1193), which would have been historically impossible as Dusum Khyenpa had passed away long before then.

In his later years he visited Samye (bsam yas), Nyemdo and Drigung Monastery ('bri gung dgon), where he gave Mahāmudrā teachings to Chennga Drakpa Jungne (spyan snga grags pa 'byung gnas, 1175-1225), the abbot of the monastery.

He is said to have fathered three sons, at one of whom was a disciple, Nyemdowa Sonam Pel (snye mdo ba bsod nams dpal, 1217-1277)

He passed away in 1247 at the age of sixty-two.