The Treasury of Lives

Dawa Drolma (zla ba sgrol ma) was born the daughter of Jigme Trogyel ('jigs med khro rgyal), a lama of the Tromge (khrom dge) clan who resided in the Washul Trom (wa shul khrom) region of Kham, also known as Tromtar (khrom thar). Her paternal uncle was a prominent tulku named Drime Kacho Wangpo (dri med mkha' spyod dbang po). Her brother was Tromge Trungpa Rinpoche (khrom dge drungs pa rin po che), and she had another older brother named Pelchen (dpal chen).

According to her autobiography, Delog: Journey to Realms Beyond Death, as translated by Richard Barron, as a toddler she enjoyed being generous to the poor and often gave away items of great value to beggars who showed up at her family's large tent. At a young age, she accumulated many recitations of mantras and prayers, and she claims to have had countless visions of various deities, many of whom shared prophesies with her.

As an adolescent, she experienced a number of inauspicious visions, dreams, and bouts of sickness, suggesting that her life was in danger. To counteract obstacles to her life, her brother Tromge Trungpa and her root guru, Tromge Kundun Sonam Rinchen (khrom dge sku mdun bsod nams rin chen), performed extensive rituals and her health improved.

In her autobiography, she recounts how her uncle Drime Kacho Wangpo guided her through a visionary experience in which she was able to ask deities for advice about her health and future activities. She was instructed to do extensive recitations of the mantras of the long-life deity Amitāyus, Śrī Samyak, and Vajrakīlaya. Drime Kacho Wangpo then initiated her into these practices based on the treasure teachings of Lekyi Dorje (las kyi rdo rje, 1326–1401). After receiving these empowerments, she recounts that she gained profound and stable insight into the true nature of reality.

In 1924, when she was sixteen, she recounted many of her dreams and visions to Tromge Kundun, including a prophecy she received from Tārā predicting that she would, before long, spend about a week in a state of deep sleep, or in a death-like coma. This alarmed Tromge Kundun and Tromge Trungpa, who urged her to avoid entering such a perilous state and to focus on conventional longevity practices, rituals, and animal life-ransoming. Headstrong, she did not follow the advice of her gurus and felt that she could not avoid the experience that Tārā had foretold.

Two days later, at a gaṇacakra feast with her teachers and friends, she announced that she would soon go on her journey beyond the threshold of death. Tromge Kundun, now resigned to her plan, gave her final advice about how to handle herself in the intermediate states, or bardo (bar do).

Dawa Drolma instructed them to lock her in her room and to not disturb the solemnity of the environment. She underwent elaborate preparations and requested that her teachers perform continuous rituals to dispel any problems during her experience. On the evening of the twenty-fifth day of the eighth month, she recounts that she settled into a spacious, nonconceptual state of meditation and her journey began.

Sometime the next morning she had a vivid vision of White Tārā and many of her attendant goddesses. She traveled with them through ethereal realms while experiencing intense and shifting meditative experiences. Eventually, she said that she reached Padmasambhava's divine abode, the Copper-Colored Mountain, where she was granted an audience with the great master and offered him prostrations, confession, and maṇḍala offerings. She remembers that Padmasambhava smiled and was friendly and shared blessed food with her.

Her vision continues with a ḍākinī escorting her into the presence of the great nineteenth-century master Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo ('jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse'i dbang po, 1820–1892), to whom she also extended many gestures of respect and devotion. Interestingly, about this audience, she recalled, "The lama seemed to have a very harsh and intractable character; he spoke not a single word and deliberately avoided looking at me."

As her physical body remained as if dead for a full five days, she recalls that her mind continued to journey, meeting countless deities, ḍākinīs, and beings in other realms. She recorded the names of many of the beings she encountered, and it is said that she was later able to convey messages to the relatives they had left behind in the human realm.

Finally, she said that the deity Tashi Tseringma (bkra shis tshe ring ma) directed her to return to the human realm, and she woke up in the presence of Tromge Trungpa. After resting for a few days, she began recounting her adventures, which were written down by Gyazur Tulku (rgya zur sprul sku). This experience earned her the title of delok ('das log), loosly translated as "one who returns from death."

Around the following year, Dawa Drolma attended ceremonies led by Chagdud Tenpai Gyeltsen (lcags mdud bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan), the leader of Chagdud Monastery ( lcags mdud dgon). Intrigued by the young woman, Chagdud Rinpoche called her into his presence, offered her a reliquary box, and told her that they would meet again before long. Shortly after, he passed away.[i] This encounter, witnessed by many, was considered strong evidence for the future recognition of her son as the reincarnation of Chagdud Tenpai Gyeltsen.

Dawa Drolma went next to Lhasa on pilgrimage where she had a secret intimate relationship with the important Geluk lama, the Fifth Khardo Tulku Kelzang Tubten Nyendrak (mkhar rdo sprul sku 05 bskal bzang thub bstan snyan grags, 1908–1951), of Sera Monastery (se ra dgon).[ii] Khardo Rinpoche was involved in the Tibetan government as a close friend and associate of the Fifth Reting Rinpoche Jampel Yeshe Gyeltsen (rwa sgreng 05 'jam dpal ye shes rgyal mtshan, 1912–1947), the regent of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama (ta la'i bla ma 14, b, 1935). She conceived a child with Khardo Tulku who was later recognized as the Sixteenth Chagdud Tulku, Pema Gargyi Wangchuk (lcags mdud sprul sku pad+ma gar gyi dbang phyug, 1930–2002). Khardo Rinpoche acknowledged the tulku by letter to Dawa Drolma and even sent a nun from Lhasa to train the child for a brief period. Khardo was imprisoned for his political activity in 1947. He was released after a few years, but he passed away in 1951.

Dawa Drolma lived with her parents in Tromtar until about 1934, when she began a relationship with a Geluk lama named Sodga (bsod dga') who was associated with Bumsar Monastery ('bum gsar dgon) near the larger Tenpel Monastery (bstan 'phel dgon). They relocated near Tenpel Monastery, where she lived as a respected teacher and ḍākinī who was often invited to confer empowerments and conduct rituals. With Sodga, she would give birth to a daughter, Trinle Wangmo ('phrin las dbang mo, b. 1940), who is widely recognized as an advanced practitioner.

In 1941 Dawa Drolma was invited to perform rituals by a powerful Derge minister. Upon their conclusion, she spoke about impermanence and asked the minister and his family to take care of her children if anything happened to her. A few months later, in her mid-thirties, after giving birth to a baby boy, she passed away. The child also passed away two years later.

It is said that her body remained in meditation posture for several days and that during her cremation, vultures circled the fire and rainbows appeared in the sky.

 

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