The Treasury of Lives

Sanggye Puntsok (sangs rgyas phun tshogs) was born in 1649 into the Namru (gnam ru) clan, also known as the Khyungpo (khyung po), among which many Bon masters and some important Buddhist figures such as Milarepa (mi la ras pa, 1040-1123), Lowo Khenchen Sonam Lhundrub (glo bo mkhan chen bsod nams lhun grub, 1456-1532), and Jamyang Kunga Pelzang ('jam dbyangs kun dga' dpal bzang) had emerged. He was born as the son of Yungdrung Khyab (g.yung drung skyabs) and Apam Budren ('a pham bu 'dren) in the nomadic settlement of Trepa (tre pa) in Lower Ngari (mnga' ris smad). This settlement was located in the mountain valley of Takgo (stag sgo), between the Sakya monastery of Dzongchung (rdzong chung), which had been founded by the aforementioned Kunga Pelzang, and the Geluk monastery of Pudrak (spug brag).

His father abandoned the family when Sanggye Puntsok was still a child, and they were taken care of by a maternal uncle, Sherab Lhundrub (shes rab lhun grub), known as Gelong Jamyang (dge slong 'jam dbyangs). This uncle was a monk and teacher at Dzongchung, whose monks went to Ngor Ewaṃ Choden (ngor e waM chos ldan) for further studies.

He was initially named Dakme (bdag med) by Dzongchung Ponlob Trinle Puntsok (rdzong chung dpon slob phrin las phun tshogs). He had a younger half brother on his mother's side who had become a monk prior to his own ordination.

Until his eleventh year, Sanggye Puntsok grew up living mostly with his mother and at times with his uncle in the monastery. At age eleven, he was sent to another, better circumstanced maternal uncle, Apa Tsepel ('a pha tshe dpal), with whom he spent the next two years.

When he was thirteen years old, Sanggye Puntsok received the vows of a lay practitioner (dge bsnyen, upāsaka) from Drubchen Sanggye Lhundrub (grub chen sangs rgyas lhun grub, 15th-16th century) at the hermitage of Changkulung (spyang ku/khu lung). At that time, Sanggye Lhundrub bestowed on him the name by which he is known, Sanggye Puntsok, by combining the name elements of two of his own teachers, Drangti Khenchen Namkha Sanggye (brang ti mkhan chen nam mkha' sangs rgyas, 17th century), who was the seventeenth abbot of Ngor, and Chakton Trinle Puntsok (phyag ston phrin las phun tshogs, 17th century).

Until his twenty-first year, Sanggye Puntsok stayed mainly at Dzongchung and studied under such masters as Nyakton Puntsok Dorje (gnyag ston phun tshogs rdo rje, 17th century) and Ponlob Kunga Lekpa (dpon slob kun dga' legs pa, 17th century). The latter had come up from Ngor making several stopovers at Dzongchung during his sojourn in Ngari. During one of those stays, Sanggye Puntsok took the vows of a novice monk (dge tshul, śrāmaṇera) at age sixteen, renouncing to eat after noon and abandoning the consumption of meat. He was led to abandon that practice about a decade later, owing to his physically exhausting sojourn in Kham (khams).

In his autobiography, Sanggye Puntsok relates his earlier attempts in becoming a monk and traveling to central Tibet for his further monastic training. However, these attempts failed due to lacking the consent of his relatives and the necessary economic support. For instance, when Kunga Lekpa returned to Tsang in about 1663, Sanggye Puntsok's uncle accompanied that lama as attendant. Although Kunga Lekpa suggested to take Sanggye Puntsok with them, the old uncle spoke against it, arguing that it was too early for his nephew to study at a monastic center. Later on, a lama from Kyetsel (skyes tshal) named Kunga Tsultrim (kun dga' tshul khrims) – whom he would later meet again at Ngor and honor with the extended title of Kyetsel Okmin Khenchen Ngaripa Tsoksok Rabjam Mawai Wangpo Kunga Tsultrim (skyed tshal 'og ma'i mkhan chen mnga' ris pa tshogs bsogs rab 'byams smra ba'i dbang po kun dga' tshul khrims) – came to enlist monks for his home monastery. But once again, Sanggye Puntsok was prevented from going because he lacked the necessary economic support.

Things changed for the better when he made the acquaintance of Drubtob Gongdrukpa Kunga Lhungrub (grub thob sgong phrug pa kun dga' lhun grub), who had visited Dzongchung after his pilgrimage to the holy sites in the area of Tsari (rtsa ri) and Kailash (ti se). Together with this lama, by performing the funeral rites for a local nomad, he succeeded to secure both some financial and material means, and the lama also agreed to guide him down to central Tibet. In the end, he also received the approval from his old uncle Gelong Jamyang, who provided him with a letter requesting that his nephew would be committed to the care of the Tartse Labrang (thar rtse bla brang) of Ngor.

His uncle had a close relation with Ngor in general and with the Tartse Labrang in particular. He had been a student of Drangti Khenchen Namkha Sanggye, and had visited Ngor four times, sponsoring many communal and memorial tea servings. Especially, after the death of Drangti Khenchen Namkha Rinchen (brang ti mkhan chen nam mkha' rin chen, 1612-1657), the nineteenth abbot of Ngor, he very successfully took on the responsibility of collecting donations in Lower Ngari.

Thus Sanggye Puntsok finally succeeded in realizing his wish to journey to central Tibet for further studies. Accompanied by a small group of monks and guided by Gongdrukpa, he left his native land in 1669 at the age of twenty-one and travelled to Ngor. On their way, they encountered at Nubgon (nub dgon) his teacher Kunga Lekpa, who was sending off more than hundred yaks and dris('bris, the female of the species) as offerings to Sakya Monastery (sa skya). Joining that group, they headed to Sakya and after a short stopover continued to Ngor.

From 1669 until 1673, Sanggye Puntsok remained primarily at Ngor, at the Tartse Labrang, pursuing his monastic training under the monastery's most eminent masters as well as visiting scholars. During that time, he  took full monastic ordination (bsnyen par rdzogs pa, upasaṃpadā) from Drubkhangpa Pelchok Gyeltsen (sgrub khang pa dpal mchog rgyal mtshan, 1599-1673), the twenty-second abbot of Ngor, serving as presiding abbot (mkhan po, upādhyāya), Drangti Paṇchen Namkha Pelzang (brang ti paN chen nam mkha' dpal bzang,1611-1672), the twenty-third abbot of Ngor, as ceremony master (las kyi slob dpon, karmācārya), Lama Dampa Chosam Drubpa (bla ma dam pa chos bsam grub pa) as secret revealing preceptor (gsang ste ston pa, raho'nuśāsaka), and Umdze Sharmi Nyaktonpa Kunga Peljor (dbu mdzad shar mi nyag ston pa kun dga' dpal 'byor) as time keeper (dus go ba). One of the additional members of the monastic community that formed the necessary quorum was Choje Sonam Gyeltsen (chos rje bsod nams rgyal mtshan), also known as Dokham Lama Gyeltsen Bum (mdo khams bla ma rgyal mtshan 'bum) from Derge (sde dge).

Sanggye Puntsok received teachings from these preceptors as well as from the following masters: Sharpa Dakchen Yeshe Zangpo (shar pa bdag chen ye shes bzang po, d. 1695), Zhalu Khenchen Rinchen Sonam Chokdrub (zhwa lu mkhan chen rin chen bsod nams mchog grub, 1602-1681), Tartse Khenchen Sherab Gyatso (thar rtse mkhan chen shes rab rgya mtsho, d. 1694), and Khamton Sanggye Pelzang (khams ston sangs rgyas dpal bzang).

In 1671 Namkha Pelzang was appointed abbot of Ngor, and Sanggye Puntsok accompanied his master to Lhasa to pay their respects to the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobzang Gyatso (ta la'i bla ma 05 ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, 1617-1682). A year later Namkha Pelzang's health began to fail and Sanggye Puntsok attended on his sick master. After his death, he also performed various meritorious actions on his behalf.

With the death of Namkha Pelzang the Tartse Labrang had lost its head and thus Tartse Khenchen Sherab Gyatso was summoned from Kham to take over. In 1673 Sanggye Puntsok's period of monastic studies came to an end when he was ordered by his host, the Tartse Labrang, to travel east to Gato (dga'/sga stod) in Kham to collect offerings as funds for the Labrang's expenditures.

Leaving Ngor in the ninth month of 1673, Sanggye Puntsok travelled to Gato, where he would remain for more than ten years, until 1686. During that long period of time, he toured the local monasteries – such as the ones whose monks travelled to Ngor for full monastic ordination and further studies – collecting offerings by performing rituals and bestowing teachings and ordinations. He did not, however, grant the Lamdre (lam 'bras) or full monastic ordination, the bestowal of which was restricted to Ngor itself.

He recounts in his autobiography that during the time of his entire sojourn in Gato, he was able to send offerings to the Tartse Labrang eleven times and also to make offerings to the local monasteries and lamas. At the same time, however, he was somehow critical of this practice of exchanging the Buddha's teachings for material means. Observing that many such uninvited lamas were roaming around in Kham, he quotes a proverb used by the laity: "In Tsang, the lamas of Sakya wander from door to door, exchanging the empowerment of the Vajrāvalī for a goat" (gtsang sa skya'i bla mas sgo 'grim byed| |dbang rdo rje phreng ba ra dang brjeI).

While in Gato, his base became the monastery of Dongtre Samten Ling (gdong sprad bsam gtan gling), one of the twenty-one monasteries in the Denma (ldan ma) region that traditionally sent monks to Ngor for ordination. There he took over the encampment (sgar) previously led by his teacher Khamton Sanggye Pelzang.

He continued his scriptural studies and engaged himself in tantric propitiation retreats (bsnyen pa). Aiming to seclude himself in a strict retreat, he requested the Tartse Labrang to send a replacement for leading the encampment. In 1683 the Labrang sent Sheja Zangpo (shes bya bzang po, 1661-c.1702), who later served as the twenty-seventh abbot Ngor. Now freed from his responsibilities, Sanggye Puntsok went into retreat, applying himself to the practice of the Lamdre.

However, in 1686 word reached him that he was chosen to become the next abbot of Ngor, and his future plan of spending his life in retreat at Dontre was disrupted.

Sanggye Puntsok's autobiography offers a rare account of the procedures of appointing the abbot of Ngor in the seventeenth century and of the problems an incumbent abbot might face in heading a large monastic institution. With regard to the former, the picture emerges that the individual labrangs of Ngor appointed each a candidate whose names were then together forwarded by Ngor's central office to Sakya for approval. Sakya, in turn, contacted the Ganden Podrang (dga' ldan pho phrang) government in Lhasa for the final decision, the latter issuing an official decree directing which candidate had to be installed as abbot. During the abbot's installation ceremony at Ngor, representatives of the Ganden Podrang and Sakya would be present.

But that this process could even be more complicated is shown by the background of Sanggye Puntsok's installation. He relates that among the candidates to the abbacy, the Ganden Podrang approved the Luding Zhabdrung, Yeshe Zangpo (klu sdings zhabs drung ye shes bzang po, d. 1695). The latter, however, had no intention to become abbot and the Luding Labrang secretly sent a messenger to Lhasa to decline the position. When Ngor's central office came to know of this move, they dispatched Pangshar Lama Kunga Samten (spang shar bla ma kun dga' bsam gtan) to intercept the messenger. But in case it would be too late to stop Luding Zhabdrung's refusal, the mission also included a request that Sanggye Puntsok's name be added to the list of candidates. As it happened, the messenger succeeded in his mission, and the request of the Luding Labrang was granted. The new list sent by Ngor's central office was thus submitted to the Ganden Podrang, and Sanggye Puntsok was appointed the new abbot of Ngor.

This final decision reached Sanggye Puntsok in the seventh month of 1686 via a messenger, who carried with him the official decrees from Lhasa and Sakya, which had been issued respectively by Desi Sanggye Gyatso (sde srid sangs rgyas rgya mtsho, 1653-1705), who was then acting head of the Tibetan government, and Ngakchang Ngawang Kunga Tashi (sngags 'chang ngag dbang kun dga' bkra shis, 1656-1711), the Twenty-ninth Sakya Tridzin (sa skya khri 'dzin), as well as a letter by the incumbent Ngor abbot Lhundrub Pelden (lhun grub dpal ldan, 1624-1697). Although this story might have been recorded by Sanggye Puntsok to clarify that his appointment was officially authorized, it shows at the same time that Ngor monastery could not independently appoint its abbot, but had to rely on the approval of Sakya and the Ganden Podrang.

Shortly after Sanggye Puntsok had been informed about his appointment, he embarked on his journey back to Ngor, paying visits on the way to Reting (rwa sgreng), Langtang (glang thang), Nālendra (nA lendra), sites in Lhasa, Kyetsel, Zhalu (zhwa lu), Ritil (ri mthil), and Gyengong (rgyan gong). He reached Ngor on the twenty-first day of the tenth month of 1686 and was installed one month later as new abbot on the twenty-second day of the eleventh month on the anniversary of the death of Pakpa Lodro Gyeltsen ('phags pa blo gros rgyal mtshan, 1235-1280).

In the account of his tenure in his autobiography, Sanggye Puntsok revealed some rather disturbing developments at Ngor that, eventually, led to his resignation. First, he reports that the financial management of Ngor's central office was not administered properly so that when the office of the abbot was handed over always a certain amount was missing. He even mentions that funds had been stolen. Moreover, he later reports, although the individual lama palaces (bla brang) received many donations, the central office did not, suggesting that the abbot carried a heavy burden of fundraising. Second, he faced strong opposition in administrative matters. For instance, when he wanted to appoint a new umdze (dbu mdzad), although he had secured the backing of Sakya, he faced the opposition of certain regional dormitories (khang tshan) at Ngor, ending in a tumultuous scene. Third, he reports that killings occurred between members of different regional dormitories, causing the district officer (rdzong dpon) to doubt his management skills. Thus, in line with many other abbots of Ngor who held office for only two or three years, he resigned in the ninth month of 1689. This vivid description of the conditions at Ngor can probably serve as one explanation why certain masters had no intention to serve as Ngor abbot and others hold that position for only a short period of time.

After he had stepped down from the abbacy, Sanggye Puntsok retired into the Zimtrukhang (gzims phrug khang), where he was based until he departed for the court of Derge in 1699. During that decade he spent his time in retreat or giving teachings. He also paid visits to other monastic establishments – such as Tropu (khro phu), Bodong E (bo dong e), Jago Shong (bya rgod g/shongs), Tsedong (rtse gdong), and Sakya – giving teachings at some of these sites as well. For instance, in the autumn of 1692, he travelled to U (dbus) to pay his respects to the officials of the Ganden Podrang regime. At that time, in the Potala, he also exchanged teachings with the Geluk master Neten Duldzin Jamyang Drakpa (gnas brtan 'dul 'dzin 'jam dbyangs grags pa, 17th century), who served under both the Fifth Dalai Lama and Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso (tshangs dbyangs rgya mtsho, 1683-1706/46). He subsequently visited Samye (bsam yas), Sangpu (gsang phu), and Chimpu (mchims phu) and returned back to Ngor with stopovers in Dorje Drak (rdo rje brag), Rawa Me (ra/rwa ba smad), Gongkar (gong dkar), and Rong Jamchen (rong byams chen), giving and receiving teachings, and bestowing ordinations.

In the autumn of 1696, while on pilgrimage in central Tibet, the Derge Lama Sanggye Pelzang (sde dge bla ma sangs rgyas dpal bzang), also known as Tsewang Dorje (tshe dbang rdo rje), paid a visit to Ngor, and in 1697 Sanggye Puntsok bestowed on him and his entourage the Lamdre. He relates in his autobiography that following his resignation as Ngor abbot in 1689, he had received repeated invitations from the house of Derge, but had declined them due to his weak physical condition, even as he recognized the importance of Derge as patron of both Sakya and Ngor.

Derge, however, did not give up so easily. Sanggye Pelzang secured an official decree from the Sixth Dalai Lama and in about 1698 once again approached Sanggye Puntsok, inviting him with great insistence. He also succeeded in overcoming the opposition from Sakya and ultimately it was decided that he would travel up to Derge. When this decision became publicly known, Sanggye Puntsok was approached from all sites with requests to bestow teachings before he left and thus was very busy for the next couple of months. On the twenty-fifth day of the sixth month of 1699, he finally embarked on his journey, making stops at Serdokchen (gser mdog can), Tsedong (rtse gdong), and meeting with the Sixth Dalai Lama and Desi Sanggye Gyatso in the Ganden Podrang at Drepung Monastery ('bras spungs). After he had participated in the Zhoton festival (zho ston) and visited the holy sites of Lhasa, he continued via Nālendra to Den Gato (ldan dga'/sga stod). There he was picked up by a delegation from Derge headed by Nyerpa Namgyel (gnyer pa rnam rgyal) and continued via the Mekong River on the Northern Route (byang lam) by way of Marong (rma rong) to Zipu Lhalung (zis phu lha lung), where he encountered the Sakyong Lama Sonam Puntsok (sa skyong bla ma bsod nams phun tshogs, d. 1714), and, eventually, reached Lhundrubteng (lhun grub steng), the royal monastery in Derge. At Lhundrubteng he was given an elaborate welcome and met with Sanggye Tenpa (sangs rgyas bstan pa, 1675–1710), who was the uncle to both Sanggye Pelzang and Sonam Puntsok.

According to the chronicle of the house of Derge, the official invitation had come from Sanggye Tenpa, who served both as ruler of Derge as well as abbot of Lhundrubteng. Prior to his ascent to those positions, he himself had visited Ngor and Sakya and had obtained full ordination and the Lamdre from Shar Minyak Tonpa Lhundrub Pelden (shar mi nyag ston pa lhun grub dpal ldan, 1624-1697), the twenty-fourth abbot of Ngor. It was, however, Sanggye Tenpa's nephew, Derge Lama Sanggye Pelzang, who took on the actual responsibility of inviting Sanggye Puntsok during his earlier pilgrimage in U-Tsang (dbus gtsang). The Sakyong Lama Sonam Puntsok, whom Sanggye Puntsok met on this way to Derge, was not involved in his invitation, but received teachings from him and took over as both ruler and abbot of Lhundrubteng after the demise of his uncle.

Sanggye Puntsok spent the last years of his life as court chaplain (dbu bla) in Derge, being one of the first Ngor masters who served in that function. Owing to his activities, this relationship was further deepened and would even further intensify over the course of the eighteenth century when almost continuously retired Ngor abbots acted as chaplains at the court of Derge.

In his position as chaplain, Sanggye Puntsok moved into the residence of his late teacher Pelchok Gyeltsen and bestowed teachings and ordinations in various monasteries in the Derge kingdom. He also enforced the strict observance of the Vinaya by both introducing a new monastic code (bca' yig), the Lhaksam Rabkar (lhag bsam rab dkar), and by banning liquor from monastic gatherings. Moreover, he newly instituted a variety of rituals and liturgies. He exchanged teachings with Tubten Khenchen Zangpo Gyeltsen (thub bstan mkhan chen bzang po rgyal mtshan), who had visited Derge following the invitation of Sonam Puntsok.

During this time Sanggye Puntsok was involved in what might have been the first printing projects in Derge, several decades before the establishment of the great Derge Printing House in 1729. He oversaw the cutting onto woodblocks of numerous texts, including some of his own writings. These texts included an edition of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, the first pages of which were written in Lantsha, Vartu, and Tibetan and adorned with illustrations of the twelve deeds of the Buddha. As the master copy functioned a bilingual edition from Ngor that had served as an object of worship for previous Ngor masters and had been given to Sanggye Tenpa by Sanggye Puntsok's teacher Pelchok Gyeltsen. For the Derge block print, Sanggye Puntsok wrote a register and eulogy (sngags brjod) and performed its consecration.

He also oversaw the cutting onto woodblocks of some of his own compositions. One was his completion of the Ngor Chojung (ngor chos 'byung), a history of Buddhism originally began by Konchok Lhundrub (dkon mchog lhun grub, 1497-1557), the tenth abbot of Ngor, which he had furnished with an extensive addendum. He had finalized this history in 1692 at Ngor and under the patronage of Sanggye Tenpa a block print edition was prepared in 1705. Sanggye Puntsok also oversaw the carving of his biography of Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (ngor chen kun dga' bzang po, 1382-1456), the founder of Ngor Monastery, which he had completed on the fifteenth day of the ninth month of 1688 at Ngor monastery, 232 years after Ngorchen's passing.

The printing colophon of that biography contains the names of the project's patrons in form of a versified eulogy: Sanggye Pelzang (here named Tsewang Dorje), Sanggye Tenpa, and Sonam Puntsok. The scribe of the Ngorchen biography was named Gelong Tashi Wangchuk (dge slong bkra shis dbang phyug) and one of the carvers was Umdze Lhakyab (dbu mdzad lha skyabs). Gelong Tashi Wangchuk would later author the biography of Sanggye Puntsok's disciple and biographer Shar Minyak Rabgangpa Jampa Tsultrim Pelzang (shar mi nyag rab sgang pa byams pa tshul khrims dpal bzang, 1675-1710), the twenty-eighth abbot of Ngor.

Two texts on the practice of Vajrabhairava were still other works of Sanggye Puntsok printed at Derge. The first work, the Dpal rdo rje 'jigs byed kyi bskyed rdzogs kyi nyams khrid rwa rste sems 'dzin gyi man ngag sku gsum lam byed snying gi thig le, was written at the behest of Trichen Sanggye Tenpa and printed at Lhundrubteng in 1703. Sanggye Puntsok had finished the second work, the Dpal rdo rje 'jigs byed kyi sgrub thabs bdud 'joms snang ba'i go don bdud rtsi'i nying khu, already at Ngor and it was later on printed at Lhundrubteng under the patronage of Sonam Puntsok. Similarly, he wrote the Thugs rje chen po'i dmar khrid nges don dpyid kyi thig le at Ngor, which was later on printed by a certain Sonam Sengge (bsod nams seng ge) at Lhundrubteng according to the order of Sonam Puntsok.

Sanggye Puntsok is also credited with having encouraged another important printing project, namely the production of a wood block edition of the Kangyur. This enormous project was, however, not undertaken during the reign of Sanggye Tenpa, but later on by Tenpa Tsering (bstan pa tshe ring, 1678-1738), the founder of the famous printing house of Derge.

The four volumes of Sanggye Puntsok's collected works were carved and printed in Derge as well, although unfortunately only a few sections seem to have survived. It is currently unknown when they were cut onto woodblocks, but it seems reasonable to suppose that Sanggye Puntsok brought his collected writings with him to Derge and had them printed there, at least in part. In his autobiography, he relates that after he had decided to travel to Derge, his attendant Pelden Sherab (dpal ldan shes rab) and his secretary Sherab Lhundrub (shes rab lhun grub) suggested that he have his collected works compiled. Subsequently, his writings were copied with great urgency by whatever scribes were available and compiled into four volumes. While in Derge, at the request of Sanggye Tenpa, he also composed an addendum to his autobiography, dealing with his invitation to and sojourn in Derge.

Along with the biography of Ngorchen and the completion of the Ngor Chojung, Sanggye Puntsok also wrote the first abbatial history (gdan rabs) of Ngor and composed biographies of later Ngor abbots, which were all xylographed at Derge as well. The lamas whose biographies he wrote, all of whom were his own teachers, were: Drubkhangpa Pelchok Gyeltsen, Shar Minyak Tonpa Lhundrub Pelden, Drangti Khenchen Namkha Sanggye, Drangti Khenchen Namkha Rinchen, and Drangti Paṇchen Namkha Pelzang. He also supplemented the biography of Gyeltsewa Jangpa Ngawang Sonam Gyeltsen (rgyal rtse ba byang pa ngag dbang bsod nams rgyal mtshan, 1598-1674), the twentieth abbot of Ngor.

Although Sanggye Puntsok received letters from Sakya, Ngor, and Tsedong urging him to return to Tsang, he spent the last years of his life in Derge. When he fell sick in the second month of 1704, he moved to the retreat of Drama Gong (dra ma sgong), where he spent about one year in religious practice. But complying with the insistent request of the Derge ruling house, he moved back to Lhundrubteng, though his physical condition had not improved, and he passed away on the eighteenth day of the eighth month of 1705.

His disciple Sonam Pelden (bsod nams dpal ldan, 1669-1713), who would later serve as the twenty-ninth abbot of Ngor, was then in Derge and supervised the funeral rites.