Tseten Yudron was born in 1904 to the noble Rakashar (ra ka shar) family from the Yarlung Valley.[1] According to her son, Thinley Norbu Rinpoche (phrin las nor bu rin po che, 1931–2011), she resisted her family's early attempts to marry her to an aristocrat, insisting that she would only partner with a lama who would help support her Buddhist practice.[2] Accordingly, in her teens or twenties, she became romantically involved with the renowned scholar Kyungtrul Pema Wangchen Tenzin Trinle (khyung sprul pad+ma dbang chen bstan 'dzin 'phrin las, 1870–1930) while he was staying in central Tibet. With him, she had a daughter named Nordzin.[3]
Kyungtrul Rinpoche passed away in 1930 at the age of sixty, and Tseten Yudron married Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdrel Yeshe Dorje (bdud 'joms rin po che 'jigs bral ye shes rdo rje, 1904–1987) who had been a colleague of Kyungtrul Rinpoche.[4] With Dudjom Rinpoche, Tseten Yudron would have seven children. The eldest was Semo Dechen Yudron (sras mo bde chen g.yu sgron, d. 2007); second was Thinley Norbu Rinpoche ('phrin las nor bu, 1931–2011) a renowned siddha and teacher; third was Dola Tulku Jigme Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche (rdo la sprul sku 'jigs med chos kyi nyi ma, d. 2000); fourth was Semo Pema Yudron (sras mo pad+ma g.yu sgron, d. 2021); fifth was Phende Norbu Rinpoche (phen bde nor bu rin po che); sixth was Se Dorje Pelzang (sras rdo rje dpal bzang); and the seventh was Tsering Yangchen (tshe ring dbyangs can), who passed away very young in Tibet.
Among their children, Dola Tulku Jigme Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche was the father of one of Dudjom Rinpoche's reincarnations, Dudjom Sangye Pema Shepa (bdud 'joms sangs rgyas padma bzhad pa, 1990–2022), and Thinley Norbu Rinpoche had several children, including the successful teachers Dzongsar Khyentse Norbu (rdzong sar mkhyen brtse nor bu, b. 1961) and Dungse Garab Rinpoche (gdung sras dga' rab rin po che, b. 1965).
Once Tseten Yudron and Dudjom Rinpoche started a family, she seems to have dedicated herself to raising the children and practicing at home. At some point during the 1930s or 1940s, she and her daughter Nordzin met the woman who would become their root guru, the renowned female master Shukseb Jetsun Choying Zangmo (shug gseb rje btsun chos dbyings bzang mo, 1853/1865–1951) who by the late 1930s had become the leader of Shukseb Monastery (shug gseb dgon) near Lhasa.[5] By this time, the family seems to have lived mostly around Lhasa, with regular visits to Kongpo, where Dudjom Rinpoche had established a complex of temples and communities, including a personal retreat center named Rigdzin Gatsel Ling (rig 'dzin dga' tshal gling) for him and Tseten Yudron.
By 1944, Tseten Yudron and Dudjom Rinpoche separated. According to Dudjom Rinpoche's journal, on the eighth day of the ninth month of the water-sheep year (1943–1944) she escorted her daughter Dechen Yudron to Lhodrak to potentially marry a Machok Tulku (smra lcog sprul sku) from Mawochok Monastery (smra bo lcog dgon) in Lhodrak (lho brag), the historical seat of the terton Nyangrel Nyima Wozer (myang/nyang ral nyi ma 'od zer, 1124–1192). Surprisingly, however, Dudjom Rinpoche records on the eleventh day of the ninth month of the wood-monkey year (1944–1945) that his daughter Dechen returned home and that Tseten Yudron herself married the Machok Tulku.[6] Another oral history says that she exercised her right to movable property granted by Tibetan law, and took most of the belongings and furniture from Dudjom Rinpoche's house. It is said that Dudjom Rinpoche accepted her decision with considerable equanimity and that his disciples, taking pity on him, refurnished his home for him.[7] From 1944 until Tseten Yudron left Tibet in the mid 1950s, they shared custody of their children, who went back and forth between their parents' homes in the Lhasa area.[8]
It is not clear what became of Tseten Yudron's relationship with the Machok Tulku. However, at some point in the late 1940s or early 1950s, her daughter Nordzin married the Sikkimise scholar and nobleman Sonam T. Kazi ( bsod nams stob rgyal ka dzi, 1925–2009) who was living in Lhasa. In 1954, Nordzin and Sonam T. Kazi had a daughter who was recognized by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama (ta la'i bla ma 14, b. 1935) and the Sixteenth Karmapa (karma pa 16, 1924–1981) as the reincarnation of Shukseb Jetsun Choying Zangmo;[9] she would become known as Jetsun Pema Rinpoche (rje btsun pad_ma rin po che). In 1955, Nordzin, her husband, and their daughter left for Sikkim, most likely bringing Tseten Yudron along with them.[10]
At some point in the 1970s, Tseten Yudron had moved to one of Sonam T. Kazi's homes in Kalimpong, where she enjoyed support from other members of her family and from Dudjom Rinpoche's many devotees. By then, the other children she shared with Dudjom Rinpoche were scattered: Semo Dechen Yudron stayed in Lhasa and, from 1989, rebuilt and managed her father's center in Kongpo, Lama Ling (bla ma gling); Thinley Norbu Rinpoche went to India and Bhutan and settled in the United States; Dola Tulku Jigme Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche stayed in Qinghai, China and later offered the Dudjom Tersar lineage to Tare Lhamo (tA re lha mo, 1938–2002) and her consort Namtrul Jigme Puntsok (nam sprul 'jigs med phun tshogs); Semo Pema Yudron remained in Tibet, it seems through the Cultural Revolution, most likely with Tseten Yudron, before making her way to Nepal, and then back to Lama Ling in Kongpo; Phende Norbu Rinpoche (phen bde nor bu rin po che) eventually settled in Nepal; and Se Dorje Pelzang (sras rdo rje dpal bzang), who was based around Lama Ling in Kongpo, was killed as a resistance fighter during the Cultural Revolution.
Thinley Norbu Rinpoche characterizes Tseten Yudron as an extremely devout Buddhist practitioner who was also very eccentric, to the point that many people questioned her soundness. He remembers that she did not like electric lights, so her home was covered in the wax drippings of candles, and that she was so eager to offer fresh water on her Buddhist altar that she would run outside in the rain to collect the purest water, and that she was sometimes seen climbing trees to gather fruit for offerings.[11]
Through late 1970s until her passing in 1982, she lived comfortably in Kalimpong, regularly visited by family and taken care of by attendants, whom she is said to have tried to avoid, feeling that they stifled her freedom. When she behaved strangely and made things difficult for her caretakers, Thinley Norbu recalls that she would reply to their complaints, "There is no meaning to correct worldly custom, so how can I act according to it? There is no substance to correct Dharma custom, so how can I act according to it?"[12]
Jetsun Pema Rinpoche's daughter was recognized as Tseten Yudron's reincarnation, making her her own great-granddaughter.
[1] Bell, p. 66.
[2] Thinley Norbu, p. 16.
[3] Rigpa Shedra "Sangyum Kusho Tseten Yudron" note 2.
[4] Tulku Urgyen, p. 249.
[5] Flaws.
[6] Cathy Cantwell, personal communication, Oct. 20, 2023. Cantwell is one of the few people with access to parts of his as-yet unedited journals. The rough dates and title suggests it could be Mawochok Kunzang Tenzin Gyatso (smra bo lcog kun bzang bstan 'dzin rgya mtsho), who wrote a 1994 article about Mawochok's abbatial line in which he claims patrilineal descent from Guru Chowang (gu ru chos kyi dbang phyug, 1212–1270) and matrilineal descent from Nyangrel Nyima Wozer. If not him, perhaps it was his predecessor, Namgyel Kunga Chowang (rnam rgyal kun dga' chos dbang). See Rma bo lcog kun bzang bstan 'dzin rgya mtsho, p. 33.
[7] Cantwell, p. 56.
[8] Thinley Norbu, p. 23.
[9] Lama Pema Chopel, written communication, Nov. 1 2023; Flaws.
[10] Lama Pema Chopel, written communication, Nov. 1 2023
[11] Thinley Norbu, p. 16.
[12] Thinley Norbu, p. 17.
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དཔྱད་གཞིའི་ཡིག་ཆ་ཁག།
Cantwell, Cathay. 2020. Dudjom Rinpoche’s Vajrakīlaya Works: A Study in Authoring, Compiling, and Editing Texts in the Tibetan Revelatory Tradition. Sheffield and Bristol: Equinox Publishing.
Flaws, Bob. “Journey to the East, ch. 12.” Blog now archived on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/notes/blue-poppy/journey-to-the-east-chapter-12/209224796707/
Rigpa Shedra, "Sangyum Kusho Tseten Yudron." https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Sangyum_Kusho_Tseten_Yudron
Smra bo lcog kun bzang bstan ’dzin rgya mtsho. 1994. "Mnga' bdag nyang nyi ma 'od zer gyi mdzad rnam gdung rabs dang/ smra bo lcog dgon gyi dkar chag mdor bsdus." Bod ljongs nang bstan, no.1: 27–35. BDRC W20819.
Thinley Norbu. 2014. A Brief Fantasy History of a Himalayan. Boston & London: Shambhala.
Tsewang Dongyal. 2008. Light of Fearless Indestructible Wisdom: The Life and Legacy of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche. Ithaca, N.Y: Snow Lion Publications.
Tulku Ugyen. 2005. Blazing Splendor: The Memoirs of the Dzogchen Yogi Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. Boudhanath [Nepal]: Rangjung Yeshe Publications.