nyingma masters

Kyabje Khyentse Chokyi Lodro of Dzongsar was the greatest master of many lineages of this century. He was born in the Water Snake year of the fifteenth Rabjung (1893) at Rekhe Ajam near Kathok Monastery. His father was a tantric master called Gyurme Tsewang Gyatso, the grandson of Terton Dudul Rolpatsal of Ser Valley of Amdo, and his mother was Tsultrim Tso of Ser Valley of Amdo. His father named him Jamyang Chokyi Lodro.

He accomplished many meditations and recitation of numerous sadhanas of both Old and New traditions of tantra, including the fivefold hundred-thousand accumulation of ngondro (for prostrations he did only forty thousand accumulations) and the recitation of the sadhanas of Takhyung Barwa, Sengdongma, Ladrup Thigle Gyachen, Vajrakila, Tara and Palchen Dupa of Longchen Nyingthig, and the Ladrup of Khandro Yangtig.

He gave numerous transmissions of Nyingma, Sakya, and Kagyu teachings to disciples of various Buddhist traditions of Tibet, including the empowerments of Yabzhi three times and of Longchen Nyingthig many times and the teaching on Yonten Dzo three times.

At the age of sixty-three, traveling through Lhasa he reached India and survived the political turmoils of Tibet. He went on a pilgrimage to all the sacred places of Buddhism in India and Nepal. Then he made the Palace Chapel of the king of Sikkim his main temporary residence and continued to give endless teachings and transmissions to devotees from all walks of life.

At the age of sixty-seven, on the sixth day of the fifth month of the Earth Pig year of the sixteenth Rabjung (1959), he passed away amid signs of lights, earthquakes and sounds. Today most of his remains are preserved in a small golden stupa at the Royal Chapel of Sikkim, which Khandro Tsering Chodron takes care of while dedicating her life to meditation and prayers.

He had many visions, accomplished many attainments, and manifested many spiritual powers, but because of his humility he only indicates a few of them in his autobiography:

If I had been trained myself in logic, I could have acquired good knowledge of reasoning, but it would have brought little benefit.
As I was able to memorize he Three-Root Sadhanas, the Magon, and other prayers of Longchen Nyingthig, and some assembly prayers of the Ngor tradition, I had good habits [or memories] of the past lives.... I remembered the glorious Sakya Monastery, clearly in my mind again and again, and taking birth in the Khon family, in my past lives.
I remembered being Ngan Panchen, great Lhatsun, Ngawang Lobzang Gyatso, Tsang-yang Gyatso, Palkhyen, and others.... Thangtong Gyalpo introduced me to the nature of intrinsic awareness with the support of a crystal. In dreams I saw Aryasthavira Angaja, Vimalamitra, and Longchenpa.
I received long-life empowerment from Khyentse Wangpo.
From the great bodhisattva Paltrul I received instruction on the ngondro of Longchen Nyingthig. From Nupchen Sangye Yeshe I received entrustments of many tantras.
I experienced or dreamed of the receiving of blessings from some lamas of Lamdre, Milarepa, and Tsongkhapa. I was shown the tantric disciplines by Lhatsun Namkha Jigme.

At fifty-six, he married Khandro Tsering Chodron (b. 1925) of the Aduk Lakar family as his spiritual consort. According to his own prophecies and those of Khyentse Wangpo and Kongtrul Yonten Gyatso, this union was for dispelling the obstructions of his life and for promoting his enlightened activities.

Khandro Tsering Chödrön (Tibet, 1925) is a member of the Aduk Lakar family and lives more or less withdrawn in a small house in Sikkim; doing her meditation practice.
However, in recent years she has become widely known by being described, in Sogyal Rinpoche's The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, as being the foremost female master in Tibetan Buddhism. In addition, Sogyal invited her to come West and to participate in several retreats organized by Sogyal's Rigpa organization.

Previously, from 1952 to 1959, Khandro Tsering Chödrön has been the wife, spiritual partner and secret consort (Tib.; gsang-yum) of the influential Rimed master Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (1896-1959). In this role, she in fact cared for and partly educated Sogyal Rinpoche, who was a student of her husband. As secret consort to Jamyang Khyentse, so chosen in order to dispel the obstructions in his life - especially his health - and to promote his enlightened activities. The marriage between the 56 year old Lama and the 27 year old woman proved successful and Jamyang Khyentse recovered his health for several years. An alternative name for Khandro Tsering Chödrön is Khyentse Sangyum (Khyentse's Secret Mother).
Khandro Tsering Chödrön currently (2005) still lives in Sikkim, close to the stupa that houses the remains of Jamyang Khyentse. Photographer Don Farber once asked to interview her, yet she declined. After this meeting, he described her with the following words: "just being in her presence, experiencing her warmth and kindness and seeing how she lived, was a great teaching and blessing in itself."
This photograph shows this living dakini (Tib.; khandro) at age 77 and clearly corroborates the above description. Her voice can be heard on the Rigpa produced CD "The Vajra Guru Mantra".