Ngawang Kunzang Dechen Wangmo (ngag dbang kun bzang bde chen dbang mo) was born in 1857, the fire-snake year of fourteenth sexagenary cycle.[1] Very little is known about her life.
In 1882, at her seat of Samding Monastery (bsam sding dgon) she received the Bengali scholar Sarat Chandra Das (1854–1917), during his second journey in Tibet. Das had fallen ill on the way to the monastery, and Dorje Pakmo predicted that while his illness would be severe, it would not be fatal, and she provided him with medicine. On his request she performed a life-strengthening ritual (tshe grub) for him, which included a ransom rite and a rescue ceremony (srog blus). On his recovery she performed a Hayagriva ceremony on his behalf in her residence, with Das in attendance.
Das wrote of her, referencing a noble woman, or lhacham (lha lcam) who had provided the introduction to the lama
She wears her hair long; her face is agreeable, her manners dignified, and somewhat resembling those of the Lhacham, though she is much less prepossessing than she. It is required of her that she never take her rest lying down; in the daytime she may recline on cushions or in a chair, but during the night she sits in the position prescribed for meditation.[2]
Das's observance that she wore her hair long is evidence that she was not ordained.
The Tenth Dorje Pakmo was entrusted as a protector of the Removal of All Obstacles (bar chad kun gsal), a revelation of Chokgyur Lingpa (mchog 'gyur gling pa, 1829–1870). [3]
She passed away at the age of forty, in 1897, at Gyeltse Nenying Monastery (rgyal rtse gnas rnying chos sde).
[1] Ra se dkon mchog rgya mtsho, p. 144.
[2] Das, chapter 5.
[3] Rdo rje phag mo bde chen chos sgon and Grwa thub bstan rnam rgyal, p.43.
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དཔྱད་གཞིའི་ཡིག་ཆ་ཁག།
Diemberger, Hildegard. 2007. When a Woman Becomes a Religious Dynasty; The Samding Dorje Phagmo of Tibet. New York: Columbia University Press.
Das, Sarat Chandra. 1904. Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet. London: John Murray.
Ra se dkon mchog rgyal mtshan. Gangs ljongs skyes ma'i lo rgyus spyi bshad. 2003. Lhasa: Bod ljong mi dmang dpe skrun khang. BDRC WA29229
Bla rung ar+ya tA re'i dpe tshogs rtsom sgrig khang. 2017. Bsam sding rdo rje phag mo 'i 'khrungs rabs dang sku phreng rim byon gyi mdzad rnam by Rdo rje dpal mo bde chen chos sgon and Grwa thub bstan rnam rgyal, in Mkha' 'gro'i chos mdzod chen mo, vol. 14, pp. 156-172. Lhasa: Bod ljongs bod yig dpe rnying dpe skrun khang. BDRC MW3CN2459
Deji Zhuoma (Bde skyid sgrol ma). 2003.Zangchuan fojiao chujia nüxing yanjiu (A Study of Tibetan Buddhist Nuns). Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe.
Rdo rje phag mo bde chen chos sgon and Grwa thub bstan rnam rgyal. 1994. "Bsam sdings rdo rje phag mo'i 'khrungs rabs dang/ sku phreng rim byong gyi mdzad rnam/ yar 'brog bsam sdings dgon gyi dkar chag bcas rags tsam bkos pa." Bod ljongs nang bstan, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 31–58.