The Treasury of Lives

Dekyi Chodron (bde skyid chos sgron)—also named in sources as Dechen Chodron (bde chen chos sgron) and Mayum Degah (ma yum bde dga')—was born in the early 1830s in the Derge region. She was known to her family as Degah (sde dga'). Her father, a headman of Rakshul (rag shul), a district in northern Kham near Jyekundo, was named Rakshul Menla Dargye (rag shul sman bla dar rgyas).^[1] Her brother was the treasure revealer Barwai Dorje ('bar ba'i rdo rje, 1836–1920).

Her husband was the great treasure revealer Chokgyur Lingpa (mchog 'gyur gling pa, 1829–1870). It is not known when the two met, nor are the birth years of her two children recorded. It appears that their relationship began in Nangchen in the early 1850s, or very soon before Chokgyur Lingpa arrived in Derge in 1853. This is because while still in Nangchen Chokgyur Lingpa had announced that he was a treasure revealer, and his first revelation dates to 1848, which suggests he had already begun engaging in sexual yoga, a practice said to be necessary to perform revelations.

Dekyi Chodron had two children with Chokgyur Lingpa. The first child was Tsewang Drakpa (tshe dbang grags pa), also known as Wangchuk Dorje (dbang phyug rdo rje), who died at the age of twenty-four or twenty-seven. The second child was Konchok Peldron (dkon mchog dpal sgron, d. 1930s), who lived to the age of seventy. Wangchuk Dorje must have been born before 1856, the year Chogkyur Lingpa's second son, Kunzang Jigme Tsewang Norbu (kun bzang 'jigs med tshe dbang nor bu, 1856–1915/1916) was born. If Konchok Peldron was older than Chogkyur Lingpa's second son, then Tsewang Drakpa would have been born no later than 1854.

She is portrayed in a painting belonging to a monastery, which depicts the two-week-long consecration of the treasure site Rongme Karmo Taktsang (rong me dkar mo stag tshang), during the first half of November, 1866, during which time Chokgyur Lingpa and Khyentse Wangpo ('jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse'i dbang po, 1820–1892) revealed the Gradual Path of Wisdom Essence (lam rim ye shes snying po). In the painting she is shown—the only person there not wearing red—participating in rituals in the central cave of the site, Samdrub Keutsang (bsam 'grub ke'u tsang). Chokgyur Lingpa is across from her, with their son Tsewang Drakpa between him and Khyentse Wangpo, who is at the top of the group. The role of sexual consort is often depicted as a subordinate position in the process of treasure revelation, but her presence in this painting reveals that she participated publicly in the rituals of extraction and site sanctification.

Her great-grandson, Tulku Urgyen (sprul sku o rgyan, 1920–1996) described her as forceful, able to hold her own in arguments with her famous husband. She apparently drank alcohol from one of his revelations, the claw of a mythical garuḍa. When Chokgyur Lingpa angrily explained the rarity and sacredness of such an object, she poured herself another drink and said, "Whether it's made from a garuda's claw or a yak's horn, it holds drink really well! And that's what I'm going to use it for!"^[2]

Tulku Urgyen also relates how Khyentse Wangpo held her in high esteem, once standing outside with incense and a white scarf to greet her as she approached his residence in the 1880s.^[3]

She remained part of the community well past Chokgyur Lingpa’s death. Jamgon Kongtrul ('jam mgon kong sprul, 1813–1899) credited her with requesting the short supplication he composed after Chokgyur Lingpa's death, in which he described her as "the daughter of a noble family, the chief consort Dechen Chodron."^[4] She also appears in the colophon to Kongtrul's famous 1874 commentary on Gradual Path of Wisdom Essence, where she is again credited with having requested that he compose the text for many years. Kongtrul also credited her son Tsewang Drakpa with making the request. There Kongtrul described her as a "wise ḍākinī," and reports that she had given him a golden flower as encouragement.^[5]

Dechen Chodron died in the 1880s. Although neither of her sons fathered children, Konchok Peldron gave birth to two girls, Tashi Chime (bkra shis 'chi med) and Rigdzin Peldron (rig 'dzin dpal sgron), and four boys, Samten Gyatso (bsam gtan rgya mtsho, d. 1940?), Lama Sangngak (bla ma sangs sngags, 1886–1949), Tersey Tulku (gter sras sprul sku, d. 1956), and Chime Dorje ('chi med rdo rje, 1885–1948), the father of Tulku Urgyen. Tersey Tulku was the identified reincarnation of her eldest son, Wangchuk Dorje.

 

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