Gönpa Lama Chökyi Dorjé

As one of the thirteen destined chödak, or dharma custodians, of the Tröma Nakmo terma cycle, Gönpa Lama Chökyi Dorjé belonged to the small, inner circle of Düdjom Lingpa’s most devoted disciples who gathered along the banks of the Mar Chu between 1867 and 1875.

A Visionary Childhood

Gönpa Lama Chökyi Dorjé was born in 1847 at Chakri Öbar, ‘Iron Mountain Blazing Light’, a 3,500-meter mountain that rises above the village of Chakri Tang on the banks of the Mar Chu in eastern Golok. His father, Pasi, was of the Golok clan, and his mother was Shüldza Peldrön. Together, they raised Gönpa Lama, his two brothers, and their sister according to the rhythms of nomadic life in the high pasturelands of the Mar Chu Valley.

His birth was foretold in both kama and terma sources, most notably in prophecies attributed to Vairotsana, the great Tibetan lotsawa, who is said to have transmitted this prediction directly to Yudra Nyingpo, one of Guru Rinpoche’s twenty-five principal disciples. Signs of his visionary destiny appeared early. From the age of three, Gönpa Lama began receiving prophetic visions from dakinis. In 1855, at just eight years old, he experienced a vision of Guru Rinpoche placing a golden vajra upon his head and empowering him as one of his regents.

As he matured, his visionary experiences deepened in significance. At the age of thirty-two, he beheld Vajrapani—the lord of the eight great bodhisattvas and embodiment of the Buddha’s power—as well as Hayagriva, a manifestation of fierce compassion, and the celestial raptor, Garuda. He also encountered powerful protector deities such as Palden Rangjung Lhamo, Nyenchen Tangla, and Nyenpo Yütsé (Deity), together with further visions of Guru Rinpoche and Mandarava.

He reported additional visionary encounters with renowned masters from across Tibetan Buddhist history: The Kaygü founder Marpa Lotsawa, the eleventh-century translator and disciple of Naropa; the Tertön Khyungdrak Dorjé of Katok, the seventeenth-century student of Longsal Nyingpo; and Machik Labdrön (1055–1149/53), the pioneering female adept who, inspired by the Indian yogin Padampa Sangyé, established Tibet’s native lineage of Chö, the profound practice of ‘severing’.

Early Training under Nyakla Pema Düdül

During Gönpa Lama’s youth—from the time he was fifteen into his mid-twenties—Düdjom Lingpa was living nearby, absorbed in profound meditation and revealing some of his most important terma cycles at Dröpuk Khandro Düling, the ‘Radiant Dakini Gathering-hall Cave’. Yet despite their close proximity during these formative years, the two had not yet met.

Around 1870 or 1871, Gönpa Lama set out on a southward journey to further his spiritual training. The route was long and difficult, carrying him across rugged terrain until he reached Nyakrong, still marked by the aftermath of the Qing-Tibetan military campaign that, in 1865, culminated in the fiery death of the notorious warlord Nyaké Amgön Gönpo Namgyal (1799–1865).

In the valley of the Nyak Chu, he encountered the great tertön and Dzogchen master Nyakla Pema Düdul (1816–1872) at Kalzang Sangyé Chöling Monastery. Under Nyakla Pema Düdul’s guidance, Gönpa Lama received profound transmissions from the Dzogchen cycles of Longchen Nyingtik and Longsal Dorjé Nyingpo, together with other instruction in advanced tantric yogas involving the subtle channels, winds, and inner heat (tummo). His training continued uninterrupted until 1872, when Nyakla Pema Düdul, while traveling to Katok Dorjé Dén in Kham, dissolved his physical form into the radiant expanse of a rainbow body (jalü).

A Dharma Regent of Düdjom Lingpa

After the passing of Nyakla Pema Düdul in 1872, when Gönpa Lama was twenty-five, he returned to his homeland in the Mar Chu Valley. There he met Düdjom Lingpa for the first time at Puklung Gékyi Latok—which later became known as Mardo Tashi Chöling, a dharma community that Düdjom Lingpa had founded two years earlier after concluding his series of retreats at Dröpuk Khandro Düling. Over the following two years, Gönpa Lama devoted himself wholeheartedly to Düdjom Lingpa’s guidance. In turn, Düdjom Lingpa recognized him as one of his thirteen prophesied chödaks. In colophons to several of Düdjom Lingpa’s terma texts—most notably the Tröma Nakmo Ati Yoga cycle—Gönpa Lama appears under the abbreviated name ‘Chökyi’, affirming his role as a custodian of Düdjom Lingpa’s revealed teachings.

Charged with disseminating Düdjom Lingpa’s terma corpus, Gönpa Lama was specifically entrusted as chödak of the ‘Concise Inventory of the Water Treasure of the Eight Commandments’, a khajang, or prophetic guide, outlining the precise timing and unfoldment of Düdjom Lingpa’s revelations. Düdjom Lingpa also designated him as guardian of key teaching cycles such as Tokchö Salwé Melong (‘Luminous Mirror of the Dharma of Realization’) as mentinones in the Terma Inventory called Sangchen Nyamjung Gyi Zhaldam Salwé Adarsha. Further acknowledgments appear in the Guru Drakpo Wangchok Ter Gyi Bumzang (The Guru Drakpo empowerment manual), the Tröma Chenmo Khajang (‘Inventory of the Great Tröma Nakmo’), and the Yeshé Rabbar Tsawé Gyü (‘Root Tantra of Blazing Primordial Wisdom’).

In addition to these responsibilities, Gönpa Lama served as the scribe for Düdjom Lingpa’s Kasung Zachok Chenpo Tsadrub Soktsa Marlen, the profound Rahula protector practice associated with the Tröma Nakmo cycle.

A Katok Lineage Holder

In 1875, Gönpa Lama experienced a vision of Jikmé Yönten Gönpo (1837–1898?), the Third Drimé Zhingkyong of Katok Dorjé Den—the earliest of the Six ‘Mother’ Nyingma monasteries, founded by Katokpa Dampa Deshek in 1159 above Horpo in Kham. Inspired by this vision, he departed from Mardo Tashi Chöling and traveled southwest to Katok Dorjé Den, where he remained for seven years, from 1875 to 1882. During this time, he received extensive oral transmissions, empowerments, and instructions directly from Jikmé Yönten Gönpo, immersing himself in the Katok tradition’s practice lineages of Rigdzin Düdul Dorjé and Longsal Nyingpo. To internalize these teachings, he undertook a prolonged retreat in the meditation cave of Katokpa Dampa Deshek, the monastery’s founder.

While residing at Katok Dorjé Den, Gönpa Lama also received instruction from the Third Chaktsa Tulku, Kunzang Jampa Sengé (c.1850–c.1890). He later became a close student of the Third Katok Situ, Chökyi Gyatso (1880–1925), an eminent scholar of the Katok lineage and the nephew and spiritual heir of the great Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo.

During and after his time at Katok, Gönpa Lama guided many students. Most notably, he taught Anam Jadralwa Chöying Püntsok (1859–1930), one of Düdjom Lingpa’s twelve principal disciples from the Mar Chu Valley. Recognizing karmic destiny, Gönpa Lama designated Anam Jadral as the chödak of his own terma, the Shintu Sangwa Guru Draktrö, an intensely wrathful Guru Rinpoche cycle. To establish the necessary spiritual connection, he bestowed an empowerment and asked Anam Jadral to briefly practice the main sadhana of the cycle. Although Anam Jadral accepted the role of chödak, the two did not go on to form a particularly close guru–disciple bond.

Other prominent students of Gönpa Lama included Gyalsé Kyenrab Dorjé, Gyalsé Da’ö Dorjé, Gyalsé Nangsal Dorjé (also known as Tulku Nangsal Dorjé), the Second Katok Chamtrul, Tertön Rangshar Dorjé, Tertön Sangyé Öser, Troter Drag Ngag Lingpa, Trakor Lama Lordö Sangpo, Dziteng Lama Sungchok Dorjé, Trala Gyaltsen Norbu, Trala Djinpa Gyatso, Lama Mindröl, and Kya Lama Shedrub.

The Founding Abbot of Mardo Tashi Gakyil

In 1880, Düdjom Lingpa left Puklung Gékyi Latok (i.e., Mardo Tashi Chöling) and resettled at Lama Rung, near his home village of Nubzur in the Ser Chu Valley. His departure left Mardo Tashi Chöling without a resident master. In 1882, Jikmé Yönten Gönpo, the Third Drimé Zhingkyong of Katok Dorjé Den, requested that the thirty-five-year-old Gönpa Lama return to the Mar Chu Valley and establish Mardo Tashi Chöling as a branch monastery of Katok Dorjé Den. Accepting this charge, Gönpa Lama settled at Puklung Gékyi Latok—the site of Düdjom Lingpa’s original teaching settlement—and was soon recognized as the first in a line of esteemed reincarnations of Katokpa Dampa Deshek (1122–1192), the founder of Katok Monastery. In this capacity, he assumed leadership as the founding abbot of the newly renamed Dotok Mardo Tashi Gakyil.

Although Gönpa Lama’s period of close association with Düdjom Lingpa at Mardo Tashi Chöling had lasted only a few years, ending with his departure for Katok in 1875, their spiritual connection remained strong. As one of Düdjom Lingpa’s principal lineage holders, Gönpa Lama maintained a lifelong dedication to his teacher’s revelations. At Margyi Dozuk Karyol—a site in the Mar Chu Valley whose natural formation resembles a stone dharmodaya, the inverted triangle symbolizing feminine wisdom and the source of phenomenal appearance—he vowed to diligently uphold the Yéshé Nyima (‘Sun of Wisdom’) Tröma Nakmo cycle that Düdjom Lingpa had revealed there.

Acting on Jikmé Yönten Gönpo’s guidance, Gönpa Lama gradually shifted Mardo Tashi Gakyil’s ritual and scholastic orientation from Düdjom Lingpa’s terma cycles to the transmissions of the Katok tradition. He emphasized especially Rigdzin Düdul Dorjé’s Dorjé Drolö terma, the Heart Essence of Manifest Embodiment, a cycle that Düdjom Lingpa himself––an avowed reincarnation of Düdül Dorjé––had incorporated into the earlier Mardo Tashi Chöling curriculum. Rigdzin Düdül Dorjé (1615–1672) had revitalized Katok Monastery in 1656 and played a pivotal role in the opening of the hidden land of Béyül Pemakö during the Qosot Mongol incursions into Tibet.

Gönpa Lama also introduced the teachings of Longsel Nyingpo (1625–1692), a disciple of Rigdzin Düdül Dorjé and the revealer of a major Guru Drakpo terma tradition. Over the subsequent decades, Mardo Tashi Gakyil became home to numerous eminent Katok lineage holders, many of whom were recognized as reincarnations of Gönpa Lama’s own masters. As his activity as a tertön expanded, Gönpa Lama came to be widely known as Terchen Rigzin Deshek Lingpa.

Among his principal terma collections is the Daknang Sangwé Chökor (‘Secret Dharma Cycle of Pure Vision’), which includes his most renowned revelation, the Pema Drakpo Yangtrö Guru Tuktik—‘Extremely Fierce Padma Drakpo, the Heart Essence of the Guru’. His other treasure cycles include the Gongter Gyikor (‘Cycle of Mind Treasure’); the Dzéter Shokser Gyikor (‘Cycle of Material Treasure of the Yellow Sroll); the Torbü Kor (‘Cycle of Instructions’); and Gurtsok Dang Damngak Chokdü Pöchik Ché (‘A Single Volume of Songs and Oral Instructions from All Directions’).

Gönpa Lama primarily focused his practice on his own innermost terma, the ‘Sādhana of Guru Senge Dradrok’. Through this practice, he attained the view of Trekchö and accomplished the path of Tögal, the core practices of Dzogchen.

A Householder Yogin

As a householder yogin, Gönpa Lama fathered several children (nothing is known of the mothers). Two of his sons were recognized as reincarnations of his teachers from Katok Monastery in Kham. His eldest son, Pema Trinlé Gyatso (c.1890–c.1950), later known as the Fourth Chaktsa Tulku, was identified as the reincarnation of Kunzang Jampa Sengé, Katok’s Third Chaktsa Tulku. He became a close disciple of Déwé Dorjé Sera Khandro (1892-1940) and composed a Dzogchen treatise entitled Rigpé Kujug, the ‘Cuckoo of Awareness’. Gönpa Lama’s second son, Tulku Pema Nangsal Dorjé, was recognized as the Second Katok Chamtrul Rinpoche and dedicated his life to furthering the Katok lineage.

To ensure the flourishing of the newly established Mardo Tashi Gakyil, Gönpa Lama undertook a series of pilgrimages to Golok’s most sacred sites. He first traveled to Amnyé Machen, the mountain abode of Machen Pomra, Golok’s principal protector deity. He then journeyed to Drak Kar Treldzong, a site where many tertöns, including Tulku Drimé Özer, had revealed spiritual treasures. His pilgrimages also brought him to Drongri Mukpo in the Ser Chu Valley and to the sacred mountain Drak Kar Drel Dzong in northern Golok. Given the prestige of the Katok tradition in Kham, these activities and connections served to elevate the standing of Mardo Tashi Gakyil. Although Düdjom Lingpa’s terma traditions were no longer actively practiced there, Anam Thubten, a contemporary lama of Mardo Tashi Gakyil, relates that until the Cultural Revolution—when the monastery was largely destroyed—a physical seat of Düdjom Lingpa remained preserved, even as the monastery’s practices aligned exclusively with the Katok Dorjé Den tradition.

In the 1890s, Gönpa Lama received a visionary admonition from Düdjom Lingpa’s second daughter, Lhacham Pema Sal (1873–c.1930), who urged him to sustain his connection to Düdjom Lingpa’s revelations, particularly the Tröma Nakmo Dzogchen cycle for which he was a designated chödak. Responding to this vision, Gönpa Lama traveled west in 1896, at the age of forty-nine, to reunite with Düdjom Lingpa at his family seat in Dartsang Kalzang. There, Gönpa Lama offered auspicious rites from the Dongtrug Drupchen Korwa Kündröl, the Minling Dorsem, and the Namdröl Lamsang. Düdjom Lingpa praised him warmly and presented him with a newly woven woolen shawl.

Düdjom Lingpa then proposed that Gönpa Lama marry Lhacham Pema Sal so that together they could propagate his teachings—especially the Tröma Nakmo cycle—in the Mar Chu Valley. The union, however, did not come to pass. As a result, the Düdjom Tersar never took deep root in the region, which remained firmly a stronghold of the Katok lineage. Some local accounts claim that the protector deity Yungdrung Chaktsé (deity)—regarded as a devoted supporter of Düdjom Lingpa—was displeased by this turn of events and may have played a role in Gönpa Lama’s early demise.

Gönpo Lama’s Passing and Reincarnations

In 1908, at the age of sixty-two, Gönpa Lama delivered his final testament before a gathering of disciples, declaring his intention to be reborn in Zayül—a subtropical region on Tibet’s southeastern frontier bordering India, Burma, and China’s Yunnan province. His words echoed Düdjom Lingpa’s prophecy, issued four years earlier, that he would take birth in Béyül Pemakö. After offering a vajra song, Gönpa Lama entered the expanse of dharmata and passed away peacefully.

Gönpa Lama served as the head of Mardo Tashi Gakyil until his death, after which he was succeeded by Gönpa Lama Lobsang Norbu, a monk recognized as his direct incarnation (notably not from Zayül). Lobsang Norbu left no descendants, and following his tenure the leadership passed to Gönpa Tulku Lhatsam—also known as Tertön Jikmé Dorjé (died c.2019). After Tulku Lhatsam’s passing, responsibility for Mardo Tashi Gakyil was entrusted to Tulku Jikmé Dorjé, recognized in childhood by Kangsar Tenpé Wangchuk (1938–2014) as an incarnation of Gara Terchen Düdul Wangchul Lingpa (1857–1910), a Düdjom Tersar lineage holder.

Tulku Jikmé Dorjé cultivated a close connection with Lama Pödar, an apparent emanation of Sera Khandro Déwé Dorjé (Gara Terchen Düdul Wangchul Lingpa’s former consort), and revealed numerous termas that have since become integral to the Mardo Tashi Gakyil tradition. One of his sons was identified as a reincarnation of the renowned Dzogchen master Khenpo Münsel (1916–1993).

Several incarnations

Several incarnations of Gönpa Lama Chökyi Dorjé have been recognized over the years. The first, Gönpa Lama Lobsang Norbu, remained a monk throughout his life and ultimately led Mardo Tashi Gakyil. Although he left no written works, he was remembered for his humility and kindness. Another incarnation, Lama Garwang (1924–2012), studied under Tulku Dorjé Dradül (1892–1959), Sönam De’utsen (1910–1959), and two incarnations of Düdjom Lingpa’s son, Dzongter Künzang Nyima (1904–1959). Lama Garwang became one of the major twentieth-century lineage holders of the Düdjom Tersar in Golok and was also regarded as an emanation of Lingtrül Péma Lungtok Gyatso (1846–1912)—a ‘heart-son’ of Düdjom Lingpa and one of the principal editors of his autobiographies and Chöd practices.

During the Cultural Revolution, Mardo Tashi Gakyil suffered extensive destruction. Beginning in the 1970s, it was gradually rebuilt and today comprises two temples and a residential complex that houses approximately one hundred and sixty Nyingma monks. While the practices of the Katok Dorjé Den tradition have been fully restored, Düdjom Lingpa’s Tröma Nakmo cycle has in recent years been incorporated into the monastery’s three-year retreat program.

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