The Treasury of Lives



Pema Tsewang Gyatso (pad+ma tshe dbang rgya mtsho) was born in Rudam Bakhok (ru dam ba khog) in Kham in 1902, the water-tiger year of the fifteenth sexagenary cycle. His father was named Troko Dronkyab (khro kho sgron skyabs) and his mother was named Kangtsai Mendi (rkang tsha'i sman sdis). According to his hagiography, Pema Tsewang Gyatso's parents had difficulties conceiving a son, and so approached the Fifth Dzogchen Drubwang, Tubten Chokyi Dorje (rdzogs chen grub dbang 05 thub bstan chos kyi rdo rje, 1872-1935) for a divination. The Dzogchen Drubwang advised them to read the Pema Katang (pad+ma bka' thang), a biography of Padmasambhava, one hundred times, and by doing so their son, an emanation of Vimalamitra, would be born through Padmasambhava's blessings.

When Pema Tsewang Gyatso was eight or nine years old, the Fifth Dzogchen Drubwang performed his tonsure ceremony; he then entered Dzogchen Monastery, Rudam Orgyen Samten Choling (rdzogs chen ru dam o rgyan bsam gtan chos gling), where he studied rituals chanting, religious music, monastic dance, painting, and other traditional topics. According to his hagiography, he became so skilled in these fields he came to be known as “Drachung Khepa” (grwa chung mkhas pa), or “the expert young monk.”

At Dzogchen he received a wide variety of teachings on the spoken word (bka' ma) and treasure (gter ma) traditions of the Nyingma school along with their related empowerments, instructions, and oral transmissions from a number of distinguished teachers, after which he enrolled at Śrī Siṃha College (shrI sing+ha bshad drwa), where he studied the thirteen texts of the school's curriculum with the famed nineteenth abbot of Śrī Siṃha, Zhenpen Chokyi Nangwa (gzhan phan chos kyi snang ba, 1871-1927)

In 1921, when he was around the age of twenty, Pema Tsewang Gyatso entered a study retreat in a secluded place named Chelgyi Drakar (dpyal gyi brag dkar). He remained there for nine years, studying and practicing; at one point, he spent several days focusing on a small stone-statue of Mañjuśrī that had belonged to Ju Mipam Gyatso ('ju mi pham rgya mtsho, 1846-1912), and is said to have experienced a vision of Mañjuśrī that dissolved into the statue.

He emerged from his retreat an accomplished scholar, and on the instruction of the Fifth Dzogchen Drubwang, served as the abbot for several of Dzogchen's branch monasteries, including Yakzer Gon (g.yag zer dgon) and Horkor Gon (hor skor dgon). Upon his return to the Rudam Valley he served as the personal tutor to the Sixth Dzogchen Drubwang, Jikdrel Jangchub Dorje (rdzogs chen grub dbang 06 'jigs bral byang chub rdo rje, 1935-1959) for several years. He was eventually enthroned as the twenty-eighth abbot of Śrī Siṃha College. He served in this position for four years, teaching and upholding the traditions of the college. He also reviewed the monastic code and its administration, and amended significant points to the rules of discipline in order to be more closely aligned with the Vinaya.

After retiring from the abbacy, he set for out for a pilgrimage to the Buddhist places in India. On his way back to Kham he stayed for few months at a newly established branch of Dzogchen Monastery, Gegyel Dzogchen Monastery (dge rgyal rdzogs chen dgon), where he gave teachings and helped establish its traditions. It is stated that a short time before his departure he gave his disciple, Gegyal Khenpo Tubten Namgyel (dge rgyal mkhan po thub bstan rnam rgyal, b.1922?), a photo of his own teacher, Zhenpen Chokyi Nangwa, and said, “It is possible that in the near future you may be alone here; at this time you must work hard to help the monastery.” According to his hagiography, this comment was referring to his premonition of the upcoming Communist take over of Tibet. After he returned to Rudam he settled at a retreat center named Tseringjong (tshe ring ljongs) where he gave regular teachings to his disciples and devotees. He also served as the personal tutor to the Third Pema Vajra, Pema Kelzang (pad+ma ba dz+ra sprul sku 03 pad+ma skal bzang, b.1943) for four years.

Shortly before the Communist takeover of 1950, Pema Tsewang Gyatso is reported to have emphasized impermanence in his teachings, indicating radical changes were forthcoming.  He spoke of a dream he had to a large gathering in which all lamas and monks of Dzogchen Monastery were riding north on donkeys, moving their holy objects and passing beyond a mountain. He described his dream as an inauspicious sign and recommended that the disciples who had traveled from far away to study with him return their homelands. He told his relatives that they would be soon be separated, emphasizing that it was a natural law that they must accept. In the early part of 1959 he was arrested by the Chinese authorities and jailed. According to his hagiography, Pema Tsewang Gyatso, having gained control of his process of birth and death, voluntarily passed away in the evening of his first day in the jail while sitting in meditation. He was fifty-seven.

Pema Tsewang Gyatso produced a large number of scholarly disciples including Pema Kelzang; the Sixth Dzogchen, Jikdrel Jangchub Dorje; Akyong Tokden Lodro Gyatso (a skyong rtogs ldan blo gros rgya mtsho, 1930-2004); Terton Osel Dorje (gter ston 'od gsal rdo rje, d.u.); Jigme Dorje Pawo ('jigs med rdo rje dpa' bo, 1879-1940/41); Jigme Damcho Gyatso ('jigs med dam chos rgya mtsho, 1898-1946);  the Third Zenkar, Tubten Nyima (gzan dkar 03 thub bstan nyi ma, b.1943); Tubten Chokyi Drakpa (thub bstan chos kyi grags pa, b.1916); Mewa Khenchen Jampel (rme ba mkhan chen 'jam dpal, c.1919); and Katok Khenpo Jamyang (kaH thog mkhan po 'jam dbyangs, 1929-1999).

His compositions encompassed notes and commentaries on a vast range of subjects and genres, including commentarial notes ('grel mchan) on Zhenpen Chokyi Nangwa's the Annotations on the Great Texts (gzhung chen mchan 'grel); a Commentary on the Four Minor Texts of Mādhyamaka (rigs tsogs chung ba bzhi'i 'grel ba); Descriptive Notes on the Three Vows and Epistemology (tshad ma dang sdom gsum gnyis kyi mchan 'grel); Notes on Critical Points of Mādhyamaka, Prajñāpāramitā, Vinaya, and Abhidharma (dbu phar 'dul mngon bcas kyi dka' gnad zur bkol); Descriptive Notes on a Letter to a Friends (bshes spring mchan 'grel); a manuscript on the summer retreat rituals (dbyar gnas cho ga'i zin bris); an Analytical Division of  the Seventeen Basic Vinayas ('dul ba gzhi bcu bdun gyi rab dbye); a commentary on the Aspiration of the Copper-colored Mountain (zangs mdog dpal ri'i smon lam gyi 'grel ba); a Comprehensive Commentary on the Eight Teachings (bka' brgyad  rnam bshad); Descriptive Notes on the Guhyagarbha (gsang snying mchan 'grel);  Praise of the Seventeen Tantras (rgyud bcu bdun gyi bstod pa); a General Description to the Outlines of the Seven Treatises (mdzod bdun sa bcad dang 'grel ba'i spyi don); and the Biography of the Fifth Dzogchen Drubwang (grub dbang lnga pa'i rnam thar). These texts existed as handwritten manuscripts, and all of them are thought to have been destroyed during the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

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 March 2012

དཔྱད་གཞིའི་ཡིག་ཆ་ཁག།

Bstan 'dzin lung rtogs nyi ma. 2004. "Mkhan chen pad+ma tshe dbang rgya mtsho (mkhan rabs 28)." InSnga 'gyur rdzogs chen chos 'byung chen mo, pp. 469-472. Beijing: Krong go'i bod rigs dpe skrung khang. TBRCW27401.

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