The Treasury of Lives

Katok Sonam Zangpo (kaH thog bsod nams bzang po) was born in 1295, the wood-sheep year of the fifth sexagenary cycle. No details about his parents and childhood are available. At a young age he studied at Katok Monastery under Lama Yenpa (bla ma gyen pa) and Drubwang Jangchub Bum (grub dbang byang chub 'bum, 1284-1347), the sixth abbot of Katok. He studied a wide range of traditional subjects covering both Sūtra and Tantra, focusing on the traditional tantric teachings of the Katok tradition such as the Guhyagarbha Tantra, the main tantra of the Mahāyoga class and the primary Tantric text studied in the Nyingma tradition; and Atiyoga (Dzogchen).

At the age of fifty-seven, in 1347, the fire-pig year of the sixth sexagenary cycle, Sonam Zangpo was enthroned as the seventh abbot of Katok. He served the Katok abbacy for about ten years, until 1357.

Wangchuk Pel (dbang phyug dpal, 1332-1384) who later served as the Ninth Abbot of Katok, was among his disciples.

In 1357, on the tenth of the first month of the year of fire-bird in the sixth sexagenary cycle, Sonam Zangpo passed into nirvana at the age of sixty-three. He was succeeded by Kunga Bum (kun dga' 'bum, 1332-1381), the eighth abbot of Katok.