The Treasury of Lives

Lama Lodro Rabsel (bla ma blo gros rab sal) was born in 1969 in Nakten Lhade (nags phran lha sden) in the center of eastern Minyak Rabgang (mi nyak rab sgang), one of the six ridges of Kham. From a young age, he is said to have had a sharp intellect, clear awareness, and innate wisdom that blazed like fire.

A lama named Kunzang Sonam (kun bzang bsod nams) gave him the name Lodro Rabsel, which means "pervading wisdom." At the age of five, he became a monk at Rabgang Ngagyur Chokor Ling (rab sgang snga 'gyur chos 'khor gling), where he started his education with reading and writing and began his training in the Nyingtik tradition. He mastered the traditional arts of chanting, musical notation, ritual dance, and drumming. Namtrul Lama Tubten Peljor (rnam sprul thub bstan dpal 'byor), who was considered an emanation of Vimalamitra, taught him the Testament of Padmasambhava (pad+ma bka' thang) and The Words of My Perfect Teacher (kun bzang bla ma'i bshad lung), Patrul Rinpoche's (dpal sprul rin po che, 1808–1887) commentary on the preliminary practices of the Longchen Nyingtik (klong chen snying thig). At the age of eighteen, he became a chant master at Gyelpak Monastery (rgyal 'phags dgon) near Teu, Kham.

In his early twenties he went into retreat in Larung Gar (bla rung sgar), in Serta, where he received empowerments, oral transmissions, and instructions from Khenpo Jigme Puntsok (mkhan po 'jigs med phun tshogs, 1933–2004), including the complete Guhyasamāja, Kālacakra, Bodhicaryāvatāra, and the Three Principal Aspects of the Path (lam gyi gtso bo rnam gsum)

In the fire-rabbit year of the seventeenth sexagenary cycle (1987–1988), when Jigme Puntsok led more than ten thousand Tibetans on a pilgrimage to Wutai Shan (ri bo rtse lnga), Lama Lodro Rabsel was one of the major convenors. While on the mountain, he recited numerous prayers, including Samantabhadra's Aspiration of Excellent Conduct (ārya-bhadracaryā-praṇidhāna-rāja; 'phags pa bzang po spyod po' smon lam) in front of the Śarīra Stūpa (ring bsrel mchod brtan), known in Chinese as the Great White Pagoda (大白塔), which is said to enshrine a relic of the Buddha.

The following year, in 1988, he went to Adzom Gar Wosel Tekchok Ling (a 'dzoms sgar 'od gsal theg mchog gling) in the Denkok region of Kham, where he studied with the Second Adzom Drukpa, Tubten Pema Trinle (a 'dzom 'brug pa 02 thub bstan pad+ma 'phrin las, 1926–2001). Adzom Drukpa Rinpoche transmitted the entire Longchen Nyingtik tradition as well as other core Nyingma teachings, such as Nyima Drakpa's (nyi ma grags pa, 1647–1710) arrangement of Karma Lingpa's (karma gling pa, fourteenth century) Great Liberation Through Hearing (thos grol chen mo), one of the main Nyingma teachings on the bardo.

At the age of twenty-eight, Adzom Drukpa Rinpoche recognized him as the reincarnation of a lama named Khyentse Zangpo (mkhyen brtse bzang po), who himself was considered an emanation of Yudra Nyingpo (g.yu sgra snying po), a disciple of Padmasambhava. He enthroned him at Tashi Choling (bkra shis chos gling) near Rongdrak (rong brag), or Danba in Chinese. Jigme Puntsok and Adzom Drukpa both encouraged him to practice the Longchen Nyingtik and pass it on to others. For many years he did so, residing both at Wutai Shan and sacred places in Tibet. Gyelpak Monastery, however, was his primary seat, and he returned frequently to teach and administer the community.

While Lodro Rabsel was in retreat at Wutai Shan, an elderly practitioner who worked as a principal in a nearby school, was performing a sādhana for the bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha, a major deity in Chinese Buddhism who is worshipped for his ability to rescue beings from hell realms. The elderly practitioner had a vision of the bodhisattva in which he saw the place the deity was residing, and also dreamed that his own lama was present. Spurred on by this vision, he searched the mountain and ultimately encountered Lodro Rabsel, whom he begged to take him as a disciple. This meeting marked the beginning of Lodro Rabsel's teaching. At Wutai and other places, including mountain retreat centers, he would spend 100 days teaching students the preliminary practices, Mind Training Preliminaries (sngon 'gro blo sbyong) the Dzogchen teachings known as "distinguishing saṃsāra and nirvāṇa ('khor sde ru shen), and so forth.

Following the death of Adzom Drukpa in 2001, Lodro Rabsel constructed a reliquary of white marble in a cave hermitage. He consecrated it on the second day of the waxing moon in the third month of spring.

In 2003, he built an additional stūpa at Gyelmo Murdo (rgyal mo dmu rdo) at a site near Rongdrak where there is said to be a naturally arisen mantra, and in 2005, he built another stūpa at the sacred mountain Gyelpak Pakmo (rgyal 'phags phag mo).

Lama Lodro Rabsel passed away on September 14, 2021.