The Treasury of Lives



Little is known of Sanggye Gyeltsen's life. He was a disciple of Je Barawa Gyeltsen Pelzang (rje 'ba' ra ba rgyal mtshan dpal bzang, 1310–1391) as well of Buton Rinchen Drub (bu ston rin chen grub, 1290–1364), who was also a teacher of Je Barawa.

Sanggye Gyeltsen was also a master of maṇi recitation, for which he was nicknamed Maṇiwa (ma Ni ba), and he was in the line of transmission of Niguma's teachings on Amitāyus.

Marlene Erschbamer is an independent scholar who holds a PhD in Buddhist Studies from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich. Her research interests include the Barawa Kagyu tradition, Sikkim Studies, Tibetan Buddhism and the role of gender, and the intersection of religion, nature, and culture in the Tibetan Cultural Area.

Published February 2024

Images

Barawa Kagyu Refuge Field

Nineteenth century (likely made after 1829) painting from Drumpa Monastery in southern Tibet near the border of Bhutan depicts the Mountain Dharma Trilogy transmission of Yanggonpa. The painting portrays Kagyu masters including lineages of the Barawa subsect of the Drukpa Kagyu. Annotations and analysis courtesy of Dr. Marlene Erschbamer.

དཔྱད་གཞིའི་ཡིག་ཆ་ཁག།

'Dzi sgar mkhan chen phrin las rdo rje. 2013.Don brgyud dpal ldan 'brug pa'i mkhas grub bla ma rgya mtsho'i rnam thar legs bshad nor bu'i gter mdzod, vol. 1, pp. 164–165. Mkhan po bshad sgrub bstan 'dzin, editor. Kathmandu: Khenpo Shedup Tenzin.

Erschbamer, Marlene. 2017.The 'Ba'-ra-ba bKa'-brgyud-pa: Historical and Contemporary Studies. Vienna: WSTB, p. 248.