The Sixth Gungru Khandroma's life trajectory as one of the few female tulku in the Tibetan world was severely affected by the troubled times in which she lived: born in 1936, she witnessed the Chinese takeover of Tibet in the 1950s, which led her to embracing a political career. After being sexually assaulted by Communist officials, she renounced her Buddhist vows and spent the Cultural Revolution in a forced labor camp. She returned to her seat at Drakkar Monastery, and although she never again formally served in a religious capacity, she continued to be revered by her local community.

The Fifth Gungru Khandroma, Konchok Tenpai Wangmo was a Geluk incarnate female lama, and the head of Gengya Drakkar Monastery in Amdo. Her practice was centered upon Cakrasaṃvara and Machik Labdron, of whom the incarnation line is said to be an emanation.

Little is known about the life of the Second Gungru Khandro, Lobzang Drolma. She was an artist and a meditator in Amdo and spent a part of her life in Gengya Drakkar Monastery in Amdo. She is said to have been recognized as the reincarnation of the First Gungru Khandro, Lobzang Chodron, by the Ganden Podrang government in Lhasa.

Lhatse Ponmo Sonam, the First Gungru Khandro, was a seventeenth-century Geluk female practitioner who stayed in many places in Amdo, including caves at Gengya, from which she received the name of Gengyai Khandroma. The historical records disagree as to whether Lhatse Ponmo Sonam is the same woman as Lobzang Chodron, the name under which she received her incarnation title. While some resources consider them to have been separate individuals and the names of the First and Second Gungru Khandro, The Treasury of Lives treats the two names as referring to the same person.

Anam Chatralwa Choying Puntsok was a disciple of Dudjom Lingpa from the Golok region of eastern Tibet. Rejecting life in large religious communities, he dedicated nearly his entire adult life to secluded meditation practice, serving as an exemplar of the hermetic tradition.