Zeu Drakpa Tsondru (grags pa brtson 'grus) was born into the Ze (ze'u) clan in 1253, the water-cow year of the fourth sexagenary cycle. His birthplace was called Chumiklung (chu mig lung), located in Yangtod Gyadrakpel (myang sdod rgya brag spel) in Tsang.
At some point he was brought to Nartang Monastery (snar thang dgon) where he studied with, among other masters, Droton Dutsi Drakpa (gro ston bdud rtsi grags, 1153-1232), the fourth abbot of Nartang, and Kyoton Monlam Tsultrim (skyo ston smon lam tshul khrims, 1219-1299), the eighth abbot. He was also a disciple of Chomden Rigpai Reldri (bcom ldan rigs pa'i ral gri, 1227-1305), and he later prepared an edition of his collected works.
He is said to have been summoned to Beijing and served as the tutor to a son of Kublai Khan (1215-1294).
Back in Tsang, in 1305 he was enthroned as tenth abbot of Nartang, a post which he served until 1314.
He passed away in in 1316, the fire-dragon year of the fifth sexagenary cycle.
He is known to have written what may have been a biography of Chim Namkha Drak (mchims nam mkha' grags, 1210-1289), the seventh abbot, who was likely a teacher to him. The text, titled The History of the Kalyāṇamitra Chim (dge ba'i bshes gnyen mchims pa rnams kyi lo rgyus), does not appear to be extant.
དཔྱད་གཞིའི་ཡིག་ཆ་ཁག།
Bkras lhun dgon lo rgyus rtsom 'bri tshogs chung. 2003. 'Dul 'dzin grags pa brtson 'grus kyi rnam thar mdor bsdus. In Dpal snar thang chos sde’i lo rgyus mdor bstus, p. 35. Lhasa: Bod ljongs ni dmangs dpe skrun khang. TBRC W1CZ2413.
Grags pa 'byung gnas and Rgyal ba blo bzang mkhas grub. 1992. Gangs can mkhas grub rim byon ming mdzod. Lanzhou: Kan su'u mi rigs dpe skrun khang, pp. 887. TBRC W19801.
van der Kuijp, Leonard. 1994. "On Some Early Tibetan Pramāṇavāda Texts of the China Nationalities Library of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing," Journal of Buddhist & Tibetan Studies, vol. 1, pp. 1‑30.