The Treasury of Lives

Lodro Gyeltsen was born in 1402 in Lhelungpa (lhas lung pa), central Tibet, near Lelungpa Dra Monastery (lhas lung pa grwa dgon). Lodro Gyeltsen’s ancestral lineage is called Gyer Dramze Lhenang (dgyer bram ze lhas gnang), and it seems that has father, Chokyab, held some leadership position in the clan. His mother's name was Jomo Lama Bum (jo mo bla ma 'bum). Lodro Gyeltsen's title chennga (spyan snga) or "attendant" has led some to speculate that he had some connection to the Pakdru Kagyu tradition, but it is not clear what that may have been.

He began to learn how to read and write very early on, and at age seven he was tonsured by his paternal uncle Kunga Lodro (kun dga' blo gros, b. fourteenth century) at Gyama Rinchen Gang (rgya ma rin chen sgang), receiving the monastic name Lodro Gyeltsen. His uncle was also, apparently, the source of the Kadampa teachings about which Lodro Gyeltsen wrote extensively later in life.

After taking novice vows, Lodro Gyeltsen then returned to Dra Monastery, where he pursued the study of Prajñāpāramitā and Pramāṇa, or Logic, under the abbot of the monastery, Sonam Sherab (bsod nams shes rab, d.u.). He then went to the monastery of Kyormolong (skyor mo lung) to study Vinaya. At age seventeen, he traveled to Riwo Dangchen Monastery (ri bo mdangs can) in Tsang, where he received Madhyamaka and various other teachings from Khedrubje Gelek Pelzang (mkhas grub rje dge legs dpal bzang, 1385-1438) and his student Lodro Chokyong (chos rje blo gros chos skyong, 1389-1463). After just a year he went to Zhalu (zhwa lu) and Nenying (gnas rnying) to sit for exams—called "monastic rounds" or drakor (grwa skor)—on four subjects: Prajñāpāramitā, Madhyamaka, Vinaya, and Pramāṇa. Lodro Gyeltsen then traveled to central Tibet. He sat for more exams at Tsetang (rtsed thang), a famous center of learning, and having reached the age of twenty, he was ordained at that same monastery under Yonten Rinchen (yon tan rin chen, b. fourteenth century).

After his ordination he went to Gyelteng Monastery (rgyal steng dgon) in Meldro to study under Tsongkhapa's student Tokden Jampel Gyatso (rtogs ldan 'jam dpal rgya mtsho, 1356-1428), whose biography he would later write. While there, Tokdenpa was apparently ordered by the deity Mañjuśrī to give Lodro Gyeltsen all of the oral instructions he had received. After receiving all of these very secret teachings, Lodro Gyeltsen went to Wolkha to study under the abbot of Dzingchi Monastery (rdzing phyi dgon), Zangpo Kyongwa (bzang po skyong ba, b. fourteenth century). They developed a close relationship, judging from a work of praise of Zangpo Kyongwa found in Lodro Gyeltsen's collected works.

Lodro Gyeltsen met and studied with the most important early masters of the Geluk tradition, including Tsongkhapa Lodro Gyeltsen (tsong kha pa blo gros rgyal mtshan, 1357-1419), but his four main teachers were Khedrubje, Lodro Chokyong, Tokden Jampel Gyatso, and Wolkha Zangpo Kyong. One biographer tells us that he also received Mahāmudrā and Zhije teachings under Drakpa Jungwa (chos rje grags pa 'byung ba), who may be the same as the renowned Kagyu master Godruk Drakpa Jungne (rgod phrug grags ps 'byung gnas, b. 1364). His interests in Mahāmudrā are reflected in his collected works, which contain several texts of the subject.

On completing his studies Lodro Gyeltsen then entered into retreat. Because of his reputation, the monks of the nearby Kamkam Monastery (skam skam dgon) invited him repeatedly to be their abbot. Lodro Gyeltsen never liked monasteries; he considered them dens of intrigue, disputes, and attachments. But after many requests, and out of a sense of responsibility for the teachings, he finally agreed to serve as abbot of Kamkam.

Lodro Gyeltsen's most extensive biography goes into great detail about all of the statues and paintings he commissioned while he served as a monastic administrator. Paṇchen Sonam Drakpa (paN chen bsod nams grags pa, 1478-1554) states that Lodro Gyeltsen served as abbot of Kamkam Monastery for six years, as abbot of Rinchen Gang for eighteen months, and that he lived thereafter in retreat. Jamyang Loter Wangpo ('jam dbyangs blo gter bang po, 1847-1914) quotes two verses in his Selected Lojong Teachings (blo sbyong gces btus) that suggest Lodro Gyeltsen’s love of solitude:

The benefits of solitude are inconceivable.
Because there aren’t any evil influences, faults cease on their own.
Because there are no distractions, virtue increases naturally.
Because awareness is clear, certainty about the Dharma grows.

You might protest that ordinary people can't live in solitude
and that highly evolved people don't need to do so,
but who then were the Victors addressing, O child of Śākya,
when they praised a life lived in solitude.

In other verses he compares concerns with wealth and fame to a latrine, and extols the hermit's life as supreme. While in retreat, on the rare instance that he agreed to see visitors, he did so through a hole in his door.

In his old age Lodro Gyeltsen was invited back to Rinchen Gang where he "quelled disputes" and gave many teachings. The monastery's patrons built him a retreat house, and he decided to stay. Although he visited his two other monasteries, Dra and Kamkam, he quickly returned to his residence at Rinchen Gang and spent the rest of his life there.

As Lodro Gyeltsen's health started to decline, he told his disciples, "I'm thinking of going to Ganden to be with the glorious Atiśa (982-c.1055) and the Victor Tsongkhapa." Lodro Gyeltsen died at Rinchen Gang in 1472 at the age of seventy amidst a miraculous rain of flowers. His skull and ashes were kept in a reliquary stūpa at that same monastery. A teacher to a whole generation of Geluk scholars, many of whom bore the title rabjampa (rab 'byams pa), "master of myriad teachings," his most famous student was probably Monlam Pelwa (smon lam dpal ba, 1414-1491), the eighth throne-holder of Ganden Monastery (dga ldan).

A prolific writer, Lodro Gyeltsen’s collected works contains texts of many different genres, from "elegant verses" and letters to philosophy and ritual. He composed a number of "summaries" (bsdus don) of important Indian texts like the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, the Bodhicaryāvatāra, and the Suhṛlekha, as well as a number of advice texts (bslab bya) on Vinaya. His writings on Madhyamaka in the practice-genre known as tatri (lta khrid), "teachings on the view," were both extensive and influential. But by far, the greatest portion of his collected works—dozens of texts that together constitute over half of his oeuvre—are devoted to the Lamrim and Lojong—Stages of the Path and Mind-Training. Of these, his Opening the Door to the Dharma (chos kyi sgo 'byed), a series of contemplations to be practiced prior to engaging in Lamrim meditation, seems to have been especially popular. Copies of his collected works were found in the libraries of Sera Monastery (se ra dgon) and the Potala (po ta la) in the early 2000s, and in 2010 a critical edition of Lodro Gyeltsen’s collected works in six volumes was published in Tibet.