The Treasury of Lives

ཐུབ་བསྟན་རྒྱལ་མཚན་འོད་ཟེར་ནི་ཀ ཿཐོག་དགོན་གྱི་དུས་རབས་བཅུ་དགུ་པའི་དགེ་རྒན་ཞིག་ཡིན་ལ། ཁོང་གིས་ཀཿཐོག་བྲག་དགོན་གདན་སར་བྱས་ཤིང་། སྐབས་རེར་ཡུལ་གཞན་ལ་སློབ་ཁྲིད་གནང་དུ་ཕེབས་པ་རེད། 




Tubten Gyeltsen Wozer (thub bstan rgyal mtshan 'od zer) was born in Nyarong Game (nyag rong 'ga' smad) in 1862, reportedly to a family that had produced many teachers of Bon and Buddhism. His father, Karma Tashi (karma bkra shis), was a student of Nyakla Pema Dudul (nyag bla pad+ma bdud 'dul, 1816-1872). His brother, Drime Osel Lingpa (gter ston dri med 'od gsal gling pa, d.u.), was a prominent treasure revealer (gter ston) and teacher who was known for building a new meditation hall at Katok Monastery (kaH thog rdo rje gdan).

He initially received teachings on the Longsel Dorje Nyingpo (klong gsal rdo rje snying po) from Lama Sonam Taye (bla ma bsod nams mtha' yas, d.u.), who is likely the man who gave him the name Sonam Tobden (bsod nams stobs ldan). Later he studied scripture in accordance with the Katok tradition, and eventually focused his study and practice on treasure (gter ma) teachings. He received the transmission of Longchen Nyingtik (klong chen snying thig) from Nyoshul Lungtok Tenpai Nyima (smyo shul lung rtogs bstan pa'i nyi ma, 1829-1901).

He studied with some of the great teachers of his era, including the First Jamgon Kongtrul ('jam mgon kong sprul, 1813-1899); the Second Dzaka Choktrul, Kunzang Namgyal (dzaH ka mchog sprul 02 kun bzang rnam rgyal, d.u.); Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo ('jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse'i dbang po, 1820-1892); Dza Patrul Orgyen Jigme Chokyi Wangpo (rdza dpal sprul o rgyan 'jigs med chos kyi dbang po, 1808-1887); the First Adzom Drukpa, Drodul Pawo Dorje (a 'dzom 'brug pa 'gro 'dul dpa' bo rdo rje, 1842-1924); The eighth abbot of Dzogchen, Pema Vajra (pad+ma ba+dz+ra, 1807-1887); Kusum Lingpa (gter chen sku gsum gling pa, d.u.); the Chaklung Tulku, Gyurme Bonying Dorje (lcags lung sprul sku 'gyur med bod dbyings rdo rje, d.u.); Mira Tulku (mi ra sprul sku, d.u.); and Gemang Jewon Norbu Tendzin (dge mang rje dbon nor bu bstan 'dzin, d.u.).

He eventually settled at Katok Drakdong Hermitage (kaH thog brag gdong ri khrod) and devoted most of his time to strict meditation. He continued to give empowerments, transmissions, instructions, and commentarial teachings from the Katok tradition, and occasionally visited and taught at other practice centers including Pelyul (dpal yul) and Garje (sga rje).

Samten Chhosphel earned his PhD from CIHTS in India where he served as the head of Publication Dept. for 26 years. He has a Master’s degree in Writing and Publishing from Emerson College, Boston. Currently he is an adjunct Assistant Professor at the City University of New York, and Language Associate in Columbia University, NY.

Published May 2012

དཔྱད་གཞིའི་ཡིག་ཆ་ཁག།

’Jam dbyangs rgyal mtshan. 1996.Rgyal ba kaH thog pa’i lo rgyus mdor bsdus.Chendu:Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, p.143.TBRCW20396

Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje. 2005. A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems: Biographies of Masters of Awareness in the Dzogchen Lineage. Junction City, California: Padma Publishing. pp. 508-509

གང་ཟག་འདིའི་གསུང་རྩོམ་ཁག་བོད་ཀྱི་ནང་བསྟན་དཔེ་ཚོགས་ལྟེ་གནས་སུ་འཚོལ།