The Treasury of Lives

Tubten Tsultrim Gyatso (thub bstan tshul khrims rgya mtsho) was born in Dilya (dil ya), a farming village in the lower Dza valley (rdza smad) in the Lingkar (gling dkar) region of Kham. His father was named Trokhen Ngawang (khro mkhan ngag dbang, d.u.) and his mother was named Tashi Tsomo (bkra shis mtsho mo, d.u.). The Fifth Dzogchen Drubwang, Tubten Chokyi Dorje (rdzogs chen grub dbang 05 thub bstan chos kyi rdo rje, 1872-1935) recognized the boy as the incarnation of Pugu Lama Tokden (phu gu bla ma rtogs ldan, d.u.).

He studied reading, writing, and general subjects at a young age and subsequently enrolled in Śrī Siṃha College (shrI sing+ha bshad drwa) at Dzogchen Rudam Orgyen Samten Choling (rdzogs chen ru dam o rgyan bsam gtan chos gling) where he studied the sutras, tantras, and Indian commentaries of the Śrī Siṃha curriculum with the eighth abbot of Śrī Siṃha, Pema Vajra (pad+ma badz+ra, c.1807-1884); the seventh abbot of Śrī Siṃha, Tubten Nyinje Gyeltsen (thub bstan nyin byed rgyal mtshan); the Second Gemang, Tenpai Nyima (dge mang 02 bstan pa'i nyi ma, 1857-1925/29), the fifteenth abbot of Śrī Siṃha, Domtson Konchok Drakpa (sdom brtson dkon mchog grags pa, b.19th century), and the eleventh abbot of Śrī Siṃha, Purtsa Khenpo Akon (phur tsha mkhan po a dkon, c.1830).

Around the age of thirty, Tubten Tsultrim Gyatso assumed the role of seventeenth abbot of Śrī Siṃha College, where he continued the tradition of elucidating the great Indian texts. Following the example of his predecessors, in his old age he retreated to an isolated hermitage where he practiced meditation in the style of a renunciate until his death.

Tawai Khenpo Konchok Zangpo (rta ba’i mkhan po dkon mchog bzang po, b. 1862) succeeded him as the eighteenth abbot of Śrī Siṃha College.