The Treasury of Lives

The details of Dordzin Gowoche's (rdor 'dzin mgo bo che) parents and birth are unknown. He took ordination with Jikten Gonpo Rinchen Pel ('jig rten mgon po rin chen dpal, 1143-1217) the founder of Drigung Til Monastery ('bri gung mthil). He became a holder of the teachings on the three vows.

When Jikten Gonpo was seventy-three years old he is said to have sent 55,525 disciples to Tsari, the region around the great mountain Dakpa Shelri in southern Tibet; several competing traditions of the Kagyu were developing Tsari for religious practice. Several of Jikten Gonpo's disciples had already been sent to the mountain, including Nyo Gyelwa Lhanangpa (gnyos rgyal ba lha nang pa, 1164-1224), Gar Dampa Chodingpa (mgar dam pa chos sdings pa, 1180-1240) and Pelden Chokyi Yeshe (dpal chen chos kyi ye shes, 12th century).

Before the first of this group left Drigung, Jikten Gonpo empowered Dordzin Gowoche as retreat master and also praised the qualities of Tsari with these words:

Chief among the twenty-four sacred places,
This great terrifying charnel ground,
Is the holy place, noble Tsari.
Fortunate ones, pray to it fervently-
You shall receive all of the ordinary and extraordinary siddhis.
The extraordinary sacred place of Tsari
Is indistinguishable from unchanging Bodhgaya.
It possesses all the qualities of a Buddhafield
Without lacking a single one.
Completely adorned with the sublime ornaments,
It is the bounty of those possessing merit,
It is the destination of devoted ones
And the object of prayer for those with faith.
It is where we are guided to after death,
Where all negative seeds are burned,
Where the crop of merit multiplies
And the antidote to evil spirits and obstacles.
This holy place of the ḍākinī -
The mere sound of its name
Causes the devoted to quiver
And their hairs to stand on end.
Merely seeing it purifies all of the veils
And just by circumambulating it
Tremendous qualities spring forth.

Having received Jikten Gonpo's blessing, Dordzin Gowoche and the first group of retreatants set out for Tsari. Eventually, as more and more practitioners arrived, they spread to the neighboring regions of Kongpo (kong po), Jar (byar) and Dakpo (dwags po), building retreat places in the mountains and valleys of those regions.

Dordzin Gowoche built monasteries in Dotsan (rdo mtshan) in the Yulto (yul stod) region, and at Khandro Bumdel (mkha' 'gro 'bum del) east of Chozam (chos zam). He also took care of the retreatants who had arrived in Tsari earlier.

He continued his work at Tsari until he passed away.